Dry Fire Practice

With winter settling in for much of the United States, outdoor range time can be limited, and not everyone has access to a nice, cozy, climate-controlled indoor range. For those people, I'd like to talk about dry fire practice. 

Dry fire uses all the elements of shooting except for live ammunition. Stance, grip, sights, trigger control, and (to a degree) follow through can all be practiced in comfort. If done properly, dry fire practice can improve trigger control, accuracy, and confidence. 

Safety

The most important things to keep in mind when engaging in dry fire practice are:

1. No ammunition in the area while practice is occurring! Check everything several times to make sure both the gun and the room are clear of all ammunition.  
2. The Four Rules of Gun Safety must still be followed. Even though it isn't loaded, it's still a real gun (or gun-shaped object, in the case of simulators).

 

By maintaining vigilance at all times, we can reduce negligent firearm incidents. The life we save may be our own -- or that of an innocent director of photography. 

Dry Firing Your Firearm

As with any skill, practice is necessary to maintain proficiency, and shooting is no different. The purpose of dry fire practice is to achieve the perfect trigger pull while keeping your sight picture. Since live ammunition isn't being used, there's no loud noise and recoil to startle you, meaning you're less likely to anticipate the recoil or flinch from the noise. 

Try to engage in dry fire practice on a regular basis. A good start is 15 minutes a day every other day, and if possible, move this up to every single day. The benefits on the range will make themselves known in short order. 

1. Practice the same way you shoot. Keep everything as identical as possible: stance, grip, sight picture, and trigger control.
2. Aim your safe and unloaded firearm at a target. For my target, I like to use something I don't use on the live fire range. This helps segregate the two environments. Dry firing on a hot range isn't an issue, but the opposite certainly would be.
3. Pull the trigger. If you've done everything correctly, you'll hear a click, not a boom.
4. Reset and go again. 

When dry firing, try to incorporate as many operational elements as possible, such as drawing from the holster, magazine changes, one handed ( both primary and off hand) and different positions.

Semi-Auto Solutions

Dry fire practice with a revolver is in many ways much easier than with a semi-auto, since the trigger can simply be pulled over and over without any additional steps throughout the process. However, with a semi-auto, the firing mechanism needs to be reset manually after each trigger pull. There are really only three options to deal with this issue, and there are pros and cons to each:

1. Manual: Rack the slide or re-cock the hammer after each shot. 
• Pros: Least expensive method, and great for a beginner or  for maintaining muscle memory.
• Cons: Only able to fire single shots, which quickly becomes frustrating.
2. Magazine Accessory: Get a dry fire magazine solution, such as the appropriately named Dry Fire Mag. 
• Pros: Resets the pistol after each shot, and keeps the feel and trigger experience of the host handgun. 
• Cons: Expensive (around $100 per magazine), limited to certain models of handgun, and many won't work with a firing pin activated laser cartridge.
3. Simulator: Buy a dedicated dry fire simulator such as the SIRT (Shot Indicating Resetting Trigger) pistol. 
• Pros: Fully simulates operating the pistol, including (depending on brand and model) magazine release, slide manipulation, and recoil. 
• Cons: Most expensive of all solutions, starting at "used pistol" prices at the low end and reaching "new pistol" prices at the high end. 

While dry firing won't damage a modern centerfire firearm, it's not recommended with rimfires. This is because the firing pin protrusion in a rim fire may impact the edge of the chamber, possibly damaging the firing pin, displacing the metal from the breech into the cartridge feed path, or both. Certain older centerfire handguns, such as the CZ 52, are also known for having weak firing pins. One way to reduce this issue is to place a fired cartridge in the chamber or chambers, in the case of a revolver. However, with a striker fired semi-auto, it'll likely get ejected each time the mechanism is reset. 

Accessories

A shot timer is a good thing to have, both for dry and live fire practice. The initiating beep can be set for a random amount of time, and some of the newer ones can detect dry fire operation.

Snap Caps are plastic or aluminum cartridges with a rubber cushion in the primer position. With most handgun calibers, they come 5 or 6 to a pack. This allows multiple rounds to be cycled through the gun during practice. 

If you reload, you can also make your own snap caps by following the same process Movie Armorers used to make what are called hero rounds: 

1. Take an empty cartridge case.
2. Drill and chamfer a couple of holes through it so that it's visibly different from a live round.
3. Toss in a few BB's for weight and to add an audible difference.
4.  Seat a bullet and crimp as normal. 
5. Put a drop of silicone caulk in the primer pocket to act as a cushion for the firing pin. 

There are also systems like the MantisX, which incorporates a movement detecting sensor that connects to a smartphone app via Bluetooth. This allows us to practice and record our results for later review. I'll discuss this system next week.

Of course, there are always books on the subject. I recommend the following:

• DryFire Reloaded by Ben Stoeger
• The Dry Fire Primer by Annette Evans
• Refinement and Repetition by Steve Anderson

Have fun, and safe shooting.