On another forum I participate in the topic of dry fire practice came up.

I was surprised that a few members there did not believe in it and thought

it was "silly". Some guy though it actually would make you worse.

 

I cannot contemplate how anyone can argue against the effectiveness of

dry fire practice. It's preached by every single professional competition

shooter that I know of. Law enforcement uses things such as laser trigger/

weapon systems which just another form of dry fire.

 

Does this mentality just baffle you guys as well? Or is there actually an

anti dry-fire league out there somewhere?

Nope. I don't do it anymore. I feel i was just becoming to complacent about pulling the trigger.

I don't dry fire and never want to. I want myself to always be in that mindset that when I pull the trigger, something that will take someone's life will be coming out the front of that firearm.

I do alot of dry firing, if you want to become a better shooter it cant hurt to want to practice. I'll occasionally not load a cylinder or two when shooting my revolvers to make sure im not pulling the trigger , or flincing, you will visual see any imperfections in your trigger pull

Can you explain dry firing practice? Do you mean using snap caps?

I dry fire all the time with dummy rounds. I am right now. Dry firing is a great way to get trigger time as well as practice weapon manipulation in regards to malfunctions, holster draws, etc.

 

I see no reason not to - pending it won't damage your firearm.

It definitely works for helping flinches and improving your trigger pull.

All the time, but only with azoom snap caps. Even in striker fired guns.

I don't dry fire and never want to. I want myself to always be in that mindset that when I pull the trigger, something that will take someone's life will be coming out the front of that firearm.

 

... only if you hit what your aiming at. And that takes practice - which dry firing excels at since it mimics all muscle interactions, involves getting a quick & clear sight picture, can be done in your home or at the range, and it's free!

 

If you owned a glock would you never field strip it because it involved pulling the trigger, and you could take someone's life while cleaning it? Just saying...

Can you explain dry firing practice? Do you mean using snap caps?

 

Yes no ammo. You can use snap caps if you like or if your gun needs them

It means to practice maintaining a proper sight picture as you squeeze the trigger. Building proper muscle memory.

Dry firing is a hell of a lot cheaper

The only thing you can't practice with dry fire is recoil control. It is very obvious who has spent time dry firind and who has not when you get to the range. Sloppy draws, grip, stance, movement are all skills that are very easily improved thru dry fire

I'm getting this soon -- http://nextleveltraining.com/content/nlt%E2%80%99s-dry-fire-training-pistol-overview just to get lots of dry fire pratice

You can buy a new gun for the cost of that practice slide, I believe in dry firing and getting your muscle memory in place and technique figured out. Someone saying they don't want to do it because they don't want to get complacent or have the mindset of whenever trigger is pulled expect a bullet to come out is no good. There is a difference between respect for a firearm and fear,if you follow gun safety properly all the time you will never have a issue. Air soft guns with blow back are great for practice and get you a little closer to the real thing without putting wear on your real gun and of course its safer.

I don't dry fire and never want to. I want myself to always be in that mindset that when I pull the trigger, something that will take someone's life will be coming out the front of that firearm.

Nope. I don't do it anymore. I feel i was just becoming to complacent about pulling the trigger.

 

 

What ? I mean seriously how does that make ANY sense ? You might as well say you shouldn't practice at all, it makes about as much sense.

I have always wanted to, but never purchased snap caps. Would there be any concern dry firing a CZ-85 or a Sig 226? Think it would be great practice, just never would want to hurt my guns.

I'm getting this soon -- http://nextleveltrai...pistol-overview just to get lots of dry fire pratice

 

We will have these soon enough for the forum. =)

I'm getting this soon -- http://nextleveltrai...pistol-overview just to get lots of dry fire practice

 

While that isn't a bad idea, the thing is, I want to practice with the gun I will be using. At this time that would be my CZ, in a few weeks it will be my STI.

 

Now if you want a nice little system Laserlyte has laser rounds you put in the chamber, each time you dryrire the firing-pin will hit that back of the Laserlyte insert and flash a laser beam of light at your target. They even have a Laserlyte target that registers the hits.

I have always wanted to, but never purchased snap caps. Would there be any concern dry firing a CZ-85 or a Sig 226? Think it would be great practice, just never would want to hurt my guns.

 

Should be no problem at all, Most center-fire guns are just fine, now rim-fire can be another story. Either way, always check your owners manual and see if there are any recommendations not to dry-fire your particular gun.

I have always wanted to, but never purchased snap caps. Would there be any concern dry firing a CZ-85 or a Sig 226? Think it would be great practice, just never would want to hurt my guns.

 

No. Only with Rimfire.... you do not want to dryfire on an empty chamber.

 

One easy workout for anyone concerned.... pick up some spent brass that you fired out of the gun, and put it in the chamber and dry fire that.

Keep in mind dry firing entails actions outside

of pulling the trigger. Reloads, draws, movement,

sight aquistion, transitions, all are actions that do

not require you to pull the trigger and are critical

to proficient shooting defensively or competively.

 

Those of you who don't dry fire are you saying you

only practice the above with live ammo only?

 

If that's the case then it's one of two things. Either

you have tons of money and lots of range time. Or

you are not practicing that much except when

you have ammo and time to go to the range.

 

Given the cost of ammo and the fact that most

ranges limit your ability to do many drills my guess

is it's the latter. I have a feeling those who don't

subscribe to dry firing simply don't practice much

at all.

 

Every accomplished shooter I've spoken to

has advised me to dry fire a lot to get better.

I find it hard to believe they are all on the wrong track.

 

I dry fire on an empty chamber all the time with

all my guns. 1911, Glock, Sig, Beretta, HK.

I don't believe it damages anything. Maybe

after 1000s and 1000s of times but then you

can just replace a firing pin. I heard of a couple

cases of this but I also know of cases where

the firing pin broke on a faily new gun.

 

In other words no one has brought any conclusive

evidence of dry firing without snapcaps to be

harmful to the gun.

Any company with decent CS will replace damaged parts as a result of dry-fire practice assuming the user's manual says nothing about it.

As its been mentioned, dry firing isn't about just depressing the trigger. Its about the application of the proper mindset, while practicing the fundamentals of shooting-- plus the addition of drawing from a holster/sling if one wants, etc. I agree that randomly depressing the trigger for sh-ts and giggles is probably pointless, but then I wouldn't consider that 'dry firing,' I would consider it 'depressing the trigger in a pointless and possibly unsafe manner.'

 

In short, dry firing is a function of training. And if said training doesn't have a purpose or done correctly (to include having the proper mindset), then it is no longer training, but a detriment (see 'training scars').

Ben I would say even pointlessly pulling the trigger does benefit you.

 

Jerry M has a dry fire mechanism built up for him, just so he can dry fire while driving, etc.

 

At the very least, you are going to build up strength in your trigger finger, as well as you are going to get that much more attuned to the trigger.

Anyone who has shot NRA Bullseye and owned a S&W M52 Master learned that the switch on the slide was NOT a hammer decocker but a firing pin block. (The hammer simply fell on the block.) It was enabled so the user could practice dry-firing. One-handed drills are a must. When a wadcutter loafs out of a barrel at only 650fps-700fps, a steady hand is necessary.

 

For rifle, I have a 3/8" black dot taped to the wall that I practice standing dry-fire with. You should eventually get yourself to the point where you can "call your shots" without firing a single live round at the range.

mindset that when I pull the trigger, something that will take someone's life will be coming out the front of that firearm.

 

So, you don't shoot at the range, or any competitions? You only shoot in defense?

As an LE Firearms Instructor its a great tool. We use it all the time with recruits as well as in-service officers. You can teach proper grip, trIgger pull, trigger reset etc.

I used to dry practice daily from 10 to 30 minutes. Not only did it reinforce the neuromuscular pathways from my brain to my hand, it exercised my eye focus and concentration. Probably one of the greatest tools I used to improve my handgun skills.

 

Today, I don't do it anymore b/c I don't shoot that much handgun. When I hit the range, I can see the sloppiness.

 

With that being said, I have started dry firing for precision rifle the past couple weeks. I only do it maybe twice a week for 15 minutes. Even with that minimal time, I am seeing my shot groups shrink when I do hit the range.

It's amazing how someone asks a question, a member answers it, then has to defend his answer to a handful of people because it's against their beliefs and practices. And people talk about me being too opinionated. I don't practice dry firing. It's as simple as that. I already said that I don't dry fire because when I pull that trigger, I'm assuming something will come out the front of it that has a high probability of destroying what it hits. What's wrong with that? I get my trigger practice at the range, with live rounds, several times a week. Best part is, I pull the trigger and get to see where the bullet hits. Let's see how you dry-firing type pull that off . I'm not a hunter, I'm not planning to join any shooting competitions. I shoot at paper and worse case, at an intruder, although I hope that I never have to go through that. As long as I can hit a 6" target as 20' or less with a handgun, I'm set as far as I'm concerned. You guys want to go around all day dry firing, go for it, put please don't put me down because I don't. The way you feel about me dry firing is not even close to my feelings of your apparent obsessive compulsive behavior with pulling your trigger on a unloaded firearm, however I never choose to mention that or fault you for that, until now, since I've been backed into the corner. To each their own, for their own reasons. That's all I'm saying.

Ray, It's your choice, and thats cool, the only thing I think everyone is trying to point out is that dry-firing is a great learning tool. There are probably some here that dry-fire at a 10:1 or greater ratio to live fire. Now I know a lot of people that shoot 1000 rounds a month and dry-fire practice. To get the same amount of trigger time, that would be a minimum of 11000 rounds a month and that will get expensive real fast.

 

You can do what you want, and people getting on you for not doing it, well tell them to pound sand, after all it's your choice, however on the other side of that coin, the people who dry-fire practice will probably have better trigger control. After all there is no substitute for practice.

 

Now as far as your comment, how is dry-firing your gun going to show you where you hit, well when I use my Laserlyte stuff, I know exactly where I hit, it's a pretty cool system. You can check it out here . Who knows, you might like it and decide this is a system you may feel comfortable with, if not, hey, no skin off any of our backs. After all you have to do what you're comfortable with.