How do you dry practice?

[TxD]

Every shooting competition is won by mindset and fundamentals.

Every fundamental required to win can be simulated and imprinted by
dry fire before taken to the live fire range. The secret is correct
dry fire so as not to imprint negative habits.

Mindset in the chaos of competition can be introduced in dry fire
by the use of a timer.

In my opinion, Steve Anderson's book below is a shortcut to "Master" class.
http://www.andersonshooting.com/refinement.htm

Amateurs practice till they can get it right.
Professionals practice till they can't get it wrong.

[Lodge2004]

It took me several years before I finally got serious about dry fire practice. Everything I read and heard was telling me that it was a necessary part of my training, but I resisted. When my skill level stopped improving, I gave it a try and discovered its value on my next visit to the range.

Recent events have severly curtailed my ability to get out and visit the range for live fire. Dry fire practice, because its about all I can do lately, has become a daily obsession with me. When I do get to visit a range, about once per month, I view it as an opportunity to validate the daily training.

Daily drills include: Presentation from the holster - strong hand, weak hand, from concealment, with 90 and 180 degree turns, while moving. Malfunction drills: tap and rack, speed reload, tactical reload. Getting sights on target quickly.

Some of the items that I have found useful are a blue gun, training magazines, shot timer, full length mirror and digital video camera.

The blue plastic Crisis Resolution Training Magazines (available from Dillon Precision) are the same weight as a fully loaded Glock 17 magazine and are less expensive than a real magazine.

If your digital camera can record video, it can be worthwhile to position it to record you from a variety of angles. I have found numerous errors in my technique that I would not have noticed otherwise.

In addition to working with my primary sidearm, I also try to incorporate airsoft and basic marksmanship work using a pellet pistol. The two training pistols I use are: Daisy 747 and KWA G19.

Although I would prefer to be at the range using live ammunition, I have found that dry fire practice does improve my skills in a variety of ways and has helped me significantly. Besides, how many ranges will allow you to practice drawing your sidearm from concealment while navigating a room filled with obstacles in low light?

[jbirds1210]

Amateurs practice till they can get it right.
Professionals practice till they can't get it wrong.

I am going to have to keep you around! Could you please just write all of these gems down for me or do I just get them one eye dropper full at a time?!

The quote above is exactly the kind of thing I am looking for.......very good stuff. Thank you!

[jbirds1210]

9mmGuy has addressed a very real problem with dry-fire training: it's only realistic with DAO guns, unless you define "realism" to mean "draw and fire one round".

I do dry-fire, but I'm always aware that my DA/SA becomes DAO in dry-fire mode. That reduces the training value. I use dry-fire for training on a smooth draw and rapid acquisition of sights. Or, I use it for "retreat from contact" drills, transitioning from hip-shooting at contact distance, to two-hand aimed fire at 3+ yards.

I agree with both of you guys that it can be a real challenge.

One of the drills that TxD taught me a while back was to put five rounds into the berm....fast.......very fast. There is no target as the front sight should be getting 100% of the attention. Where does it go after your shot? Up and left....down and right? Once I learned where my sights go after breaking the shot, I was able to simulate this in my imagination during dry fire practice.

It is much easier to get my sight back to where it is supposed to be if I already know where it is going. I am not claiming to have perfected this, but TxD did not imagine this stuff.....it works IT feels like you are shooting much slower until you take a look at the shot timer!

[ELB]

In regards to the issue of a safe backdrop for dry fire practice:

Safe Direction LLC makes a "composite armor board" for dry fire practice, clearing, and so forth. You can see it here:

http://www.safedirection.com/ballisticc ... board.html

I have one that I use when I chamber-check or load/unload my pistol, and when in the house I only do those things with the armor board. I used to use it for dryfire in the house, but now am fortunate enough to be able to go in my backyard and use a berm for a backdrop.

Even Col Jeff Cooper said he used the TV for dry fire practice, which is OK I guess if you are willing to buy a new set if you boo-boo, AND if the area behind the TV can contain any rounds that pass on through. I am just as happy to have the armor board, tho.

I have found dry fire practice very useful. One method that helped me a bunch was to use a solid white target, no bull or other marks, so I could concentrate on focusing on the front sight. It not only helped with my focus, but showed me I was pushing the sight to the left when I pulled the trigger on my revolver, and I was able to correct that.

Best wishes.

elb

[HighVelocity]

One of the drills that TxD taught me a while back was to put five rounds into the berm....fast.......very fast. There is no target as the front sight should be getting 100% of the attention. Where does it go after your shot? Up and left....down and right? Once I learned where my sights go after breaking the shot, I was able to simulate this in my imagination during dry fire practice.

It is much easier to get my sight back to where it is supposed to be if I already know where it is going. I am not claiming to have perfected this, but TxD did not imagine this stuff.....it works IT feels like you are shooting much slower until you take a look at the shot timer!

It's interesting to me how alike and how different we think sometimes. I have never paid any attention to where my front sight goes when the shot breaks. I just know where it's going to be WHEN the shot breaks.
Call it the Gretzky approach if you will. I don't look where the front sight is going, I look where the front sight is going to be.

[TxD]

One of the drills that TxD taught me a while back was to put five rounds into the berm....fast.......very fast. There is no target as the front sight should be getting 100% of the attention. Where does it go after your shot? Up and left....down and right? Once I learned where my sights go after breaking the shot, I was able to simulate this in my imagination during dry fire practice.

It is much easier to get my sight back to where it is supposed to be if I already know where it is going. I am not claiming to have perfected this, but TxD did not imagine this stuff.....it works IT feels like you are shooting much slower until you take a look at the shot timer!

It's interesting to me how alike and how different we think sometimes. I have never paid any attention to where my front sight goes when the shot breaks. I just know where it's going to be WHEN the shot breaks.
Call it the Gretzky approach if you will. I don't look where the front sight is going, I look where the front sight is going to be.

HV,
It's all about shot calling and getting proper visual imput to the brain.

I'll use the analogy of a new student driver.
They get in the car and try to drive in the center of a lane by looking just over the hood and mentally trying to measure the distance to the lane edges. Here's what is happening. They have asked their brain to keep the car in the center of the lane but are not providing proper info from the eyes to accomplish the task. The instructor then says to look further up the road and driving becomes much easier because the brain is receiving useful info from the eyes.

Now, back to high speed shooting.
The fundamentals of a high scoring shot on target are; grip, stance, sight
alignment, trigger control, and follow through. In order for the brain to confirm that these elements are performed correctly, we can look for the hit (call the shot
on the target) with the eyes. Only then is the brain ready for the next command.

This type of confirmation (looking for hits on target) is too slow in multiple shot high speed shooting.
We must be able to call the shot without moving the eyes to the target.
We may think that if the sights were in proper alignment when the shot was fired that this would be sufficient. However, the brain knows that if the grip was wrong or the trigger management was incorrect, the shot will be off, even though the sights were correctly aligned. This is readily apparent in weak/strong hand shooting.

The brain wants confirming info after the shot is fired.
We are looking at the sights already so no time is wasted by seeing them cycle up and back down into the notch for the next shot. If all the fundamentals were correct, the sight will cycle the same way every time. In high speed shot calling, this happens without thought, without trying, and only by observing.

Now for an example, back to the driving analogy.
When you drove to work this morning, I will bet that at no time did you think about the mechanics of driving. Your eyes told your brain how to drive you to work. You didn't consciously have to think Ok, there is a stop sign ahead, I am approaching at 55 mph so I will need to apply the brakes about here, etc, etc. You drove the car by observing with your eyes and the brain told the rest of your body what to do without further conscious thought.
Also note that if you start looking at your cell phone to enter a number, your driving suffers until you look outside again.

Ultimate high speed shooting is the same. Drive the gun with your eyes by observing the front sight and the brain will control the rest of your body.

The other method that I frequently employ is to get a sight picture, close my eyes , and yank the trigger twice......... as fast as I can.

Please note the disclaimer in my tag line below.