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This article first appeared in the Network's membership journal. by J. Vincent Shuck Is there any chance you want to be a better shot with your handgun(s)? Better at mag changes/reloading? Faster at drawing and getting off that first shot? You and I probably share these and other range goals. One solution for me has been the use of dry fire practice. It’s cheap, can be done right at home and has many supporters and followers, including some of the best professional shooters on the circuit. Dry fire is pulling the trigger without live ammunition in the firearm. You are doing everything you would do at the range with live ammunition, but there is no explosion in your hand when the hammer drops. (Well, there’s not supposed to be.) Here’s how dry fire practice has helped me and how it may address some of your shooting issues. First, the obligatory safety lecture. This activity can be dangerous, but following important and critical safety procedures, the danger can be alleviated. First, make sure the handgun is unloaded and even then, follow all gun handling safety rules. Make sure there is no live ammo in your dry fire practice room. That includes the full magazine you just removed from your carry gun, if that’s what you intend to use during the session. And, even after you have unloaded your firearm and verified that it is unloaded by both sight and feel, it is still a functioning firearm. Thus, it must be treated as if it were loaded. In this regard, never point the dry fire gun at anything you are not willing to shoot. This brings up the need for a deliberately selected target/backstop – one that will absorb a bullet, should one leave the “empty” gun. What is a safe target and backstop? Well, certainly not the sleeping dog next to the fireplace or an interior wall that has family members on the other side. Just follow this important rule: don’t point the gun at anything you are unwilling to shoot. In other words, if you are willing to shoot the urn holding grandpa’s ashes, then go ahead and use it as a target. If not, find something else. Final safety rule is to concentrate on what you are doing and if interrupted, you must start again with the unloading and verification process. I know it’s virtually impossible for a gun to load itself, but if I’m called away from my practice session to take out the trash, I’ll either end the dry fire practice for this session or completely verify that the firearm is unloaded when I return. What condition should you be in before starting a dry fire practice session? In short, a good one. You will be handling a firearm and you will be pressing the trigger. Concentration will be important and you must not mix guns and any adult beverage. This is not the time to claim, “since the gun is unloaded, it’s OK to add that drink.” What about snap caps? Many gunsmiths, including the Technical Support staff at Brownells, Inc., recommend using snap caps to protect the firing pin or other parts of the action. If you want, consult your firearm manual or check with your gun manufacturer for their recommendation. Frankly, I rarely use snap caps. I’ve found that my practice sessions can be used to offer attention to one issue or to a sequence of issues. Pick what you believe needs work (that’s usually not too difficult for me) and begin your session. But, as you move from session to session, don’t forget what was practiced before. If you need to remind yourself of a previous fundamental, make it a step in the new session. Any of these fundamentals can be practiced separately or as part of a sequence: stance, grip, sight alignment, sight picture, trigger control, follow through, drawing, holstering, and reloading. During reloading practice, I’ve discovered some efficiency can be added to your practice if you drop your empty magazine on a bed or other raised platform; it reduces the distance and time to recover the dropped magazine. Start with an empty magazine in the gun, eject the magazine, grab a fresh one from your belt, insert the magazine and put your front sight back on the target. You can incorporate a trigger press if you desire. A slide lock reload can be practiced with the firearm on target and the slide locked back, drop the magazine, reload from your belt with a magazine that has several snap caps or inert practice rounds, rack the slide or use the slide release and complete the procedure with a clean trigger press. Don’t forget to notice – did the front sight move when the trigger was pressed? Depending on which gun forum you read, tactical reloads are either necessary and should be practiced or unnecessary and should never be practiced. Which ever side you are on (this week) you can practice tactical reloads during one of your dry fire sessions. Besides, knowing how to do a smooth tactical reload looks cool at the range, so why not get better at it? During your practice sessions, focus on being smooth. Use a mirror, as long as that gives you an acceptable back stop. If you decide you are going too fast for accurate shots or for a perfect trigger press, slow down. Use a timer to start your draws and set a par time that gives a second beep that tells you when the set time is up. Do you want to draw and fire (accurately of course) your first shot in less than 2 seconds? Less than 1.5 seconds? Set the timer and practice! With all of this practice, how do you know if you are improving? The timer previously mentioned is a good way but I’ve found that a laser can usually tell the awful truth about my trigger press. On a laser-equipped firearm, you should observe the laser dot reacting to the hammer fall/striker movement and tell whether that trigger press was perfect. The laser shows the amount of movement and where the muzzle was pointing at the time of “discharge.” If there was movement, you have some more work to do. But don’t just add another 10 minutes of time, repeating what you did wrong, analyze whether the problem was from a poor stance, weak grip or poor trigger press - or from all of them - and then work on the problem(s). In summary, dry fire practice works to give you muscle memory through repetition. Follow all safety rules and concentrate on improving each of your shooting fundamentals. And now knowing that I may have just given my range competitors too many suggestions, I’m off to my own session of dry fire practice ... Copyright © 2008-2010 Armed Citizens' Legal Defense Network. All rights reserved. Reproduction without written permission is strictly prohibited. |
