ktm300 Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 The more I dry fire, the more I think I get more from that time than I do the time I live fire. Of course I need the live fire but not near as much as I thought. Now when I live fire it is a confirmation that I am doing my dry fire drills correctly, working on recoil control, and timing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TH3180 Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 I'm just starting out in playing the games. With that said I feel I benefit more from dry fire practice then live fire. I can also dry fire way more then live fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torogi Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 i burn down my skill set by doing dry fire. i dont have as much time as i have to but doing airsoft at home relieves the need for live fire. Live fire practice for me is a test on how well i did on my dry fire practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyZip Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 The more I dry fire, the more I think I get more from that time than I do the time I live fire. Of course I need the live fire but not near as much as I thought. Now when I live fire it is a confirmation that I am doing my dry fire drills correctly, working on recoil control, and timing. This is as it should be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
partyboy424 Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 I don't do nearly as much dry fire as I should, but I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing, since I don't have a lot of time for live fire. For the last couple of months basically only get to shoot 100 rounds a week. If I did a ton more dry fire, I think it would breed bad habits. Unless I was able to live fire two to three times a week. Just yesterday I shot a friends .22 pistol. Only 10 rounds at a pretty far away target. I then switched to my Limited Major PF gun. I thought there was a double charge the first shot and the gun damn near wanted to jump out of my hand. With just 10 rounds of a .22 I managed to let my grip strength change to accommodate the lack of recoil. And if I had dry fired for 45 minutes a night previous 6 nights, I probably would've shot like crap because I would've reinforced that bad grip. Dry fire does wonders for your shooting, but you need to be able to consistently keep yourself in check (keep yourself honest) with live fire as well. They both play together hand in hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktm300 Posted June 13, 2013 Author Share Posted June 13, 2013 I shot a steel challenge last week with my Limited gun and a 22. The first time I switched from the 22 to the .40 it felt like a cannon. After that first time it was not much of an issue. I don't think about how hard I grip the gun any more it just happens. I spent a lot of time shooting drills that worked on recoil control and at some point my brain just figured out how to hold on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin c Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 Practically speaking, I need both. Unlimited money, equipment and ammo, time and range access? Live fire, baby. But dryfire can and does work well as a substitute. A SIRT and/or airsoft also work. Even a .22. But nothing will do for recoil control but to shoot the real thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris iliff Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 Yep, you can DRYFIRE all you want, and it is scary powerful. But, you can only get recoil control and gun driving one way, live fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktm300 Posted June 13, 2013 Author Share Posted June 13, 2013 I understand that in a perfect situation I would live fire much more but even with a range at the house it is hard to get the time to do it all that often. Then there is the cost and time to load ammo etc. In my live fire practice my drill times are dropping like a rock after I started putting in 30 to 45 minutes a day in dry file. In three weeks I have moved the times more than I did all last year with 3 or 4 times the live fire. Now when I go live fire I shoot 100 rounds of very specific drills. Before I would shoot at minimum 200 and I don't think I was getting much better. As to driving the gun, I have never been all that good at it and now the long transitions are much faster. All the reps of doing 90 degree transitions is teaching my eyes to get farther in front of the gun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaster113 Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Dry fire and live fire practice complement each other, to do well in the sport both are necessary. A good dry fire program will do wonders for your whole skill set. Gun timing and recoil control come from live fire. Since most of us have limited range access and components are scarce now, we have to make the most of whatever live fire practice we can manage. A good dryfire program with some focused live fire practice will produce results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motosapiens Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Just yesterday I shot a friends .22 pistol. Only 10 rounds at a pretty far away target. I then switched to my Limited Major PF gun. I thought there was a double charge the first shot and the gun damn near wanted to jump out of my hand. With just 10 rounds of a .22 I managed to let my grip strength change to accommodate the lack of recoil. And if I had dry fired for 45 minutes a night previous 6 nights, I probably would've shot like crap because I would've reinforced that bad grip. Yes, if you are lazy about dry-fire and do it wrong, it may not help as much. *Every* time I do dry-fire practice (15 mins or so every day) I remind myself to grip hard. This has helped reinforce a good grip. You can't just go through the motions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill o Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 (edited) You can't just go through the motions. This is true. If my forearms and hands aren't sore after 45 minutes of dry fire, I know I'm not gripping hard enough and have to get back on track. Edited June 14, 2013 by bill o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 In my live fire practice my drill times are dropping like a rock after I started putting in 30 to 45 minutes a day in dry file. In three weeks I have moved the times more than I did all last year with 3 or 4 times the live fire. This is has been my experience as well since doing near-daily dry-fire practice the past few months. I'm finding that my live-fire practice (generally once a week) has also become more productive. But there's still a notable gap between my speed running the same drill with dry and live fire. I'm honest about my accuracy during dry fire (even to the point where I've caught myself automatically picking up dropped shots), so I should be able to get close. Perhaps it's a confidence thing? Maybe I need to shoot at my dry-fire speed tomorrow and see what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktm300 Posted June 14, 2013 Author Share Posted June 14, 2013 But there's still a notable gap between my speed running the same drill with dry and live fire. There will always be a difference. You are not having to control recoil etc in dry fire, you are in live fire. I can pull .15 spits all A's dry but not live. A drill I do a lot of dry is 3 targets 10 yards 2,2,2 reload 2,2,2. It's simple to get it under 5 seconds dry all A's. Not so simple live. I have dropped a full second off my live time in 3 weeks. Most of that second is in my reload which has gotten a lot better. I call every shot in dry fire which has helped a lot calling shots live. There are times when I just stop mid drill to see if my call would = where my sights are and its pretty close. I am going to shoot my first USPSA match in 3 weeks tomorrow. I will know more that afternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 The whole point of dry fire it it train your skills to a subconscious level so you no longer have to think about them when shooting. If you don't do more dry fire because it would breed bad habits you are missing the entire point of dry fire ... I would venture to guess that it would be nearly impossible to do too much dry fire .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikethor Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 I shot my last big comp in June and prior to this the last big comp was in April. I only shot live fire three times in that gap however I also started doing dry fire practice at the same time ( it actually works). Yes I would have shot a lot better if I had done more live fire practice however I walked away relatively happy with my performance. The dry fire has helped with my transitions and sight pictue on that first target from the draw. What cost me big time was my failure to back up three Mikes over two stages - live and learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktm300 Posted June 14, 2013 Author Share Posted June 14, 2013 I shot my last big comp in June and prior to this the last big comp was in April. I only shot live fire three times in that gap however I also started doing dry fire practice at the same time ( it actually works). Yes I would have shot a lot better if I had done more live fire practice however I walked away relatively happy with my performance. The dry fire has helped with my transitions and sight pictue on that first target from the draw. What cost me big time was my failure to back up three Mikes over two stages - live and learn. In your dry fire do you do a lot of multiple shot drills? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikethor Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Yes I do, pretty basic set up though just three IPSC targets in the lounge spread at varying distances and height across. Draw and fire 2,2,2 from 1 - 12 yards, purely work on transitions with multiple shots and the same again while moving all the time. I'm getting Steve Andersons book in late August so will then have a lot more to work on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktm300 Posted June 14, 2013 Author Share Posted June 14, 2013 Yes I do, pretty basic set up though just three IPSC targets in the lounge spread at varying distances and height across. Draw and fire 2,2,2 from 1 - 12 yards, purely work on transitions with multiple shots and the same again while moving all the time. I'm getting Steve Andersons book in late August so will then have a lot more to work on this. Look at Ben Stoeger's dry fire book as well. I like it a lot. Kind of a different take on the drills. He has some pretty good free ones on his site too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RammerJammer Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 Some of the stuff in Stoegers book is brutal. Totally different take on dry fire. It really pushes a lot of important skills that you usually burn ammo learning. I need video back up because some of the times are insane. Seek landers book is great as a program but most of the dry fire drills are very basic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fitzghan Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 (edited) Dry fire will NEVER make you worse when done properly. Practice does not make perfect....but it does make permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect. You have to be very honest with yourself, call all your shots and pay attention to all the details like your grip. You have at your disposal a tool that is free that you can do at home and done properly will elevate your skills to levels you thought previously unattainable. Dry fire is a place to work on gun handling, a place to imprint skills into your subconscious and it is a penalty free no stress environment in which to experiment and learn. As others have stated, pick up a good book by shooters like Steve Anderson or Ben Stoeger. I am big fans of both and it may just change your perspective and more importantly elevate your game. Live fire has it's place. Watching the sights lift, and managing recoil in reality are things any shooter needs to develop and do but there is a reason the top shooters in the game fire multiples of dry presses for every live press they fire. Recoil has a way of concealing and covering bad habits and those habits will reveal themselves on the target. Edit for saved round- Recoil control has many contributing factors of which the most important is establishing and maintaining a proper grip....which can be trained to absolute perfection during dry fire by being cognizant of it during the draw, after reloads and during the entire process. Edited June 15, 2013 by Fitzghan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxximuss Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 You only learn two things from live fire... Recoil management and trigger jerk. I think dry fire is fantastic for trigger control, draw stroke, target transitions, and sight picture. I never really noticed an increase in my shooting skills until I started dry fire. Besides... I can afford dry fire ammo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jman Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 Late to this party but... When I competed and trained regularly, live fire showed me the things I needed to dry fire train for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyZip Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 Lots of movement drills can be achieved in dry fire too. Reloads in motion, into and out of position, aiming while moving, going prone, shooting around barricades, I can go on and on but most movement can be practiced at home without bullets at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 Yep, you can DRYFIRE all you want, and it is scary powerful. But, you can only get recoil control and gun driving one way, live fire. There it is. You cannot dry fire too much, as long as you do not ingrain bad habits. Nor can you live fire too much, as long as you stop before you get sloppy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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