Dry fire practice

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Do you Dry Fire practice?

Poll ended at Fri Oct 07, 2005 5:18 pm

Yes. It augments my live fire practice.
33
92%
No. Never heard of it.
0
No votes
No, but I'll give it a try.
0
No votes
No. Don't need to. I was born an expert shot.
1
3%
I'd rather be poked in the eye with a sharp stick.
1
3%
M1 carbine
1
3%
 
Total votes: 36

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JU-87
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Dry fire practice

Post by JU-87 »

How many of you Dry fire practice? Many of you may be. But for others who are new , or have not read/heard of this , a brief description follows.

Dry fire (DF) practice is practicing the fundimentals of pistol marksmanship with an empty pistol. Through many repetitions, you will improve trigger control,etc., and your scores at the range will improve.

I try to practice 10-15 min dry fire each day. I include drawing from concealment in this routine.

Make sure your gun is unloaded! Some suggest putting all live ammo in another in another room.

Put your "target " in front of a safe backstop such as a basement cement wall.

If your flinching, or jerking the trigger, it will show up in DF practice.

Think of it as going to the range without leaving home.
"A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun... Let your gun, therefore, be the constant companion of your walks." Thomas Jefferson, 1785.

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Post by SMMAssociates »

A suggestion:

If you can do it, put a target (or just a piece of paper) on a wall, and stick a pencil in the bore.

Firing from a few inches (the pencil should not completely leave the bore), you should be able to see what you're doing from where the dots appear on the paper.

It is highly recommended that you put something behind the paper, or use an expendable wall.

(Unless, of course, you're single.)

This is iffy with revolvers unless you remember to cock the gun first and then insert the pencil. Kinda fun with semi's with bobbed hammers, too....

There is a downside to this mode of practice, btw. Some of us (i.e., me) find that they can hold the thing steady enough to do long time exposures with a cheap camera when dry, but wobble like a slinky when the gun's going to bash back. That's why we do live fire too.... :twisted:
Stu.

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(Why do those who claim to wish to protect me feel that the best way to do that is to disarm me?)

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Post by MDM »

I use my Lasermax for dry fire practice. You can watch the dot and see if you`re pulling your shot when you sqeeze the trigger. For newbies, this is usually caused by improper finger placement on the trigger. Curing the problem will help your live fire immensely.
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Re: Dry fire practice

Post by jgarvas »

JU-87 wrote:How many of you Dry fire practice? Many of you may be. But for others who are new , or have not read/heard of this , a brief description follows.
One of my favorite drills to do on the range after a class has gone from proving their safety skills to the instructors to trying more "interesting" techniques is to cause intentional misfires. This has multiple benefits shows recoil anticipation dramatically, shows your student knows how to handle a hang/misfire, and lets you teach students how to clear real jams under pressure.

Some places do this by reloading a magazine with a spent casing in the middle, but since the gun isn't yours the safer way (in my opinion) is to put an orange plastic training round into a magazine between live rounds. Don't tell the student where it is in the magazine, or how many you put in.

If you have a friend or a student who you think is anticipating recoil this is a great way to get it through to them. When they get to that fake "cartridge" they'll hear click and watch the nose of the firearm dive like a submarine if they're anticpating recoil.

The benefit of using a spent casing is that in most cases it will end mising the chamber and partially ejecting or stovepiping, causing a jam. Great opportunity to teach clearing a jam quickly. Also, using spent casings in a revolver makes this trick work since they won't see a big honking orange cartridge rotating around.

There is a higher risk to using spent casings for this in a semi-auto magazine, so consider making the last 2-3 rounds all empty casings to force a stove pipe. I have seen cases where the spent casing ejects, a round from below gets partially into the chamber, and a second round is pushed into the primer of that round, or on a glock the horizontal bar (I forget what its called) that is pointing down the barrel gets uncomfortably close to the primer of a cartridge that is NOT in the barrel.
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Post by TunnelRat »

SMMAssociates wrote:stick a pencil in the bore.

Firing from a few inches (the pencil should not completely leave the bore), you should be able to see what you're doing from where the dots appear on the paper.
Dag, Stu, it must take you forever to write a note.... 8)
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Post by TunnelRat »

MDM wrote:I use my Lasermax for dry fire practice. You can watch the dot and see if you`re pulling your shot when you sqeeze the trigger. For newbies, this is usually caused by improper finger placement on the trigger. Curing the problem will help your live fire immensely.
Yup, when I had my Crimson Trace grips installed I would practise that way. It is remarkably effective.

Our laserless friends can check themselves by dry firing with a dime balanced on the front sight. If the dime falls off when you pull the trigger, your shot is not gonna go where you want it to... :?
TunnelRat

"Applying the standard that is well established in our case law, we hold that the Second Amendment right is fully applicable to the States." ~ McDonald v. Chicago

When your only tools are a hammer and sickle, every problem starts to look like too much freedom.
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Post by SMMAssociates »

tommcnaughton wrote:
SMMAssociates wrote:stick a pencil in the bore.

Firing from a few inches (the pencil should not completely leave the bore), you should be able to see what you're doing from where the dots appear on the paper.
Dag, Stu, it must take you forever to write a note.... 8)
Tom:

Yup.... Dot-matrix printers are too expensive, so I use my 1911.... :twisted:

Seriously, I took about three years of typing in High School (after the first year, my classmates were rather better looking than I was :wink: ), and as a programmer and consultant, while I'm not the best typist in the world, I'm pretty good.

The real problem is that I tend to run off at the keyboards 'cause I can do it quickly....

Regards,
Stu.

(Why write a quick note when you can write a novel?)

(Why do those who claim to wish to protect me feel that the best way to do that is to disarm me?)

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Post by haspelbein »

I like to balance a penny on the front sight of my Glock while I pull the trigger during dry-firing practice. Unless you isolate the movement of the trigger finger the penny will slide, and jerking the trigger will also cause it to fall.

It's not that hard with both hands, but it gets harder one-handed.
"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity." Sigmund Freud, "General Introduction to Psychoanalysis"
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Post by SMMAssociates »

Haspelbein:

Good idea....

If your gun has a flattish top :D .

My 1911's are a little rounded, and some of the sights are, too.

Beats tearing up the wall, though.

We won't mention the half-inch hole in some fiberglass sheeting covering the walls around a workshop in my parent's basement.

(.38 cal plastic "practice" loads, primer powered. The box of shredded newsprint was supposed to be good enough. I guess I bought better primers.... :twisted: )

Regards,
Stu.

(Why write a quick note when you can write a novel?)

(Why do those who claim to wish to protect me feel that the best way to do that is to disarm me?)

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haspelbein
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Post by haspelbein »

SMMAssociates wrote:Haspelbein:

Good idea....

If your gun has a flattish top :D .

My 1911's are a little rounded, and some of the sights are, too.

Beats tearing up the wall, though.

We won't mention the half-inch hole in some fiberglass sheeting covering the walls around a workshop in my parent's basement.

(.38 cal plastic "practice" loads, primer powered. The box of shredded newsprint was supposed to be good enough. I guess I bought better primers.... :twisted: )

Regards,
Well, a rounded front sight does indeed increase the level of difficulty. :mrgreen:

And please, no discharging of firearms in poorly ventilated areas. Those primers probably contained lead. :lol:
"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity." Sigmund Freud, "General Introduction to Psychoanalysis"
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Post by SMMAssociates »

Haspelbein:

Two answers:

Lead hadn't been invented yet,

or,

after (now nearly 50) years in Ham Radio, and all that soldering, a little lead is good for me.

Besides, it was a big basement....

Regards,
Stu.

(Why write a quick note when you can write a novel?)

(Why do those who claim to wish to protect me feel that the best way to do that is to disarm me?)

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