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Does anyone use a dummy gun to dry practice for COMPETITION?


ambluemax

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Had a thought today:

I travel a lot for work...a lot, and it really cuts into my practice time. I don't fly, I have a rural blue collar type job (in fact may co-workers have crappy ARs or other types of critter blasters in their work trucks), and its no secret that I'm a gun/competition shooting guy. I don't want to bring my match guns with me for a whole host of reasons, and I go to great lengths to hide my carry gun from co-workers (sometimes hotel roommates) but a dummy gun would be pretty easy to thow in my bag and mess around with in the evenings.

On one hand I think gun-in-hand time is gun-in-hand time, might as well hold a blue gun instead of a TV remote. On the other hand, they don't really have "sights" nor do they have a trigger pull simulation. IDK, does anyone else do this? Do you think there is any value in blue gun type practice good "pew pew" at the TV?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've tried the dummy gun thing; better than nothing but not much. Wrong weight, crappy sights, no trigger, etc etc etc.

Ok for draws, table pickups, and strong/weakhand transitions. That's about it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have one of the cheapy gray ones from amazon. I filed away at the sights and got the cheapest holster that would fit it. I travel a bunch for work and it can go with me wherever. It sure keeps you fresher than not seeing sights for a few weeks. No it is not perfect but when you are stuck in hotels for a while it is good to work with. It helps on things like big transitions and some on draws. I personally would recommend it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I travel a lot as well, and I usually bring my SIRT and practice in the hotel. Just my 2cents

Works great. If you fly, you should declare it. I asked Mike Hugh's about it and he said to call it a toy gun.

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For what it is worth I have a SIRT pistol and have used it all over the world. Normally when I dry practice I use a combination of my real pistol along with the SIRT. I like to use my regular pistol for practicing basic draws and reloads and various drills followed by running through some of the more complex drills on the timer with the SIRT. It doesn't have the exact feel of my competition glock but it is close enough. Where it has really benefited me is during times of travel and being away from home for extended periods of time. I'm typing this from Afghanistan and my SIRT pistol is under the desk. It keeps my skills up when I can't compete or dry practice with my normal pistol.

I am also a huge fan of the wieghted magazines they come with. You can weight them to match your particular mags and the fit in your real Glock. This saves me from beating up my competition mags when conducting a lot of reloads.

Lastly I installed the same sights on my SIRT that I use on my Glock. Warren Tactical Rear and Dawson FO front. The Front sight I installed as normal with some locktite but the rear you will need something adhesive. The dovetail is looser than a factory glock. I used Gorrilla Glue and never had a problem. It is great getting the exact same sight picture that I get with my competition gun.

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Almost forgot.....when traveling if I'm carrying other pistols I just put it in the same case that I'm declaring. If going some place where I cannot bring a real gun I simply explain what it is and ask them if they would like me to declare it. I keep it in the SIRT hardcase that is nicely labeled as a training pistol and unlocked. Never have I been asked to declare it and never have I had a problem.

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+1 on the SIRT.

Try to stay disciplined when using it. I found it easy to do "laser pointer" practice than actual dry-fire. I got some rude awakenings a couple of times when I did live fire and realized I was practicing some bad habits. Most notably looking over the gun. A self-correcting behavior.

An idea from a friend is to put a piece of tape over the laser so you don't see it to do traditional dry-fire.

My improvement of trigger pull, trigger prep, transitions, speed and accuracy was more than worth the price of the SIRT in saved ammo alone. Add in drive time to the range and it's probably one of the best deals out there.

Even with these immediate and clear benefits It will be a couple years before techniques get the true potential from the device.

Get the green laser. It's worth it. Being able to run through actual match stages outdoors will make up for that price difference. Practicing a stage 20 times compared to only 3 with live ammo allows a lot more improvement. Finding out where the bullet would've gone when shooting contorted around obstacles or moving gave me immediate feedback on trigger, grip stance etc. I am more likely to try different things without worrying about the dimes and quarters I was sending downrange.

Get extra magazines when you order. They're rubber and have adjustable weights.

DNH

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've gotten a lot of mileage out of my SIRT pistol. Highly recommended as a safe and risk-free training tool.

'

Totally agree with this. I would be concerned with having a lookalike in my hand while driving etc and someone see it and not know what it is. SIRT for sure

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  • 2 weeks later...

I picked up a used SIRT pistol a little over a week ago. Used it for some very basic dry fire nearly every night last week, two 1/3 size targets 10' away for draw and reload practice, maybe 15mins a night. I didn't go race pace, just concentrated on movement and looking for clues as to why I can't hit water falling out of a boat when shooting a glock. I found that my grip was off and I was pushing shots. I adjusted the grip and then made a very conscious effort to correct it during a match yesterday, giving up some time to do it. result? first time I've ever gone penalty free in a match and #4 overall out of 15 production shooters. granted it was a small field at a small local match but I'll take it ;)

what the SIRT does that regular dry fire can't is actually show you (roughly) where the shot would land. Those who are good at shot calling and the like probably don't need it but for the rest of us who aren't there yet it's very helpful.

Just my $.02

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Wow, I really like these, looks like they only have glock though! If they had m&p I would have to have one!

I asked Next Level Training and was told that M&P SIRT is in the works. Estimated release date is summer 2013.

They been saying that BS since Jan 2013, still no M&P

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