kcobean Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 I've really been trying to be consistent about dry-firing 4+ times per week, for at least 30 minutes per session. I shot a match today and honestly it was probably the worst shooting I've done in a long time. I was having trouble with front sight acquisition and focus on the long field courses and I couldn't hit the distance steel to save my life. I don't know if there's a relationship between my increased dry fire regimen and my trouble today, but it was very frustrating. Anyone else experience this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapemeister Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 No, just the opposite. The more I dry fire, the better I do. Although, the same goes for live fire. Dry fire shouldn't replace live fire, it should compliment it. I'm guessing your problem isn't too much dry fire, live fire, or lack there of. Sounds to me like you need to work more on the mental aspect of the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerTrace Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 It sounds like you may not be dry firing correctly. There was a time when I worked out of town for about 6 months and I had to resort to dry firing in my poorly lit hotel room. I quickly trained myself to dry fire without a proper front sight focus and the real shooting suffered. Once I realized what was happening, i just didn't dry fire unless the lighting was adequate and the live fire shooting improved. As far as your match performance goes, it may be that your trying too hard instead of just letting the shooting happen... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 is this a single occurrence or are you saying that since you've been dry firing regularly your match performance continues to get worse? Also, how long have you been dry firing 4+ days per week? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jabbermurph Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Trigger control Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoyGlock Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Too much expectations? Trying too hard to simulate your dryfire? Everytime Im in a match, I forget everything I practiced. If I trained enough it will manifest itself w/out conscious effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcobean Posted September 22, 2014 Author Share Posted September 22, 2014 (edited) is this a single occurrence or are you saying that since you've been dry firing regularly your match performance continues to get worse? Also, how long have you been dry firing 4+ days per week? It seems like every time I start a dry fire regimen, my match performance drops, so I stop. Yesterday was particularly bad. I had a lot of trouble hitting mini-poppers and plates at probably no more than 20-25 yards and I had at least 2 hard-cover Mikes. I've really been dry-firing consistently since the weeks leading up to the A8 Championship, so about 6 weeks I guess. A local GM gave me some good advice, which was to not stop, push through it. Treat it like a plateau. I guess time will tell. I was also very tired yesterday. I had gone and hauled a bunch of tile and stuff for a bathroom re-model on Saturday and was busy all day. Could just be coincidence I suppose. Edited September 22, 2014 by kcobean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Are you calling your shots in dry fire? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcobean Posted September 22, 2014 Author Share Posted September 22, 2014 Are you calling your shots in dry fire? Always. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CZinZA Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 (edited) Exactly the same thing happened to me. The more I dry fired the worse I got. Eventually put it down to poor grip (too weak), bad trigger control and not enough front sight focus. There is no feedback in dry fire to stop you being sloppy with those things. It's only when you live fire that you discover you've been training yourself badly. The good news is that it's easily fixed..... Edited September 22, 2014 by CZinZA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvb Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 I've found 3 primary bad habits that can develop from too much dryfire. 1) relaxing the grip too much since there is no recoil to control. This translates over to live fire and results in poor recoil control. 2) setting an expectation for speed that cannot be matched in live fire, yet you try to go at the same pace regardless. 3) accepting bad sight pictures in dryfire in order to reach some speed goal. you have to dryfire like you shoot (full strong grip, etc) and you have to let the sights set your pace in live fire, not the speed expectations you develop in dryfire. You also have to let the sights be your throttle in dryfire just like live fire. That's not to say there's not benefit to pushing your comfort zone and sometimes going "too fast" in dryfire, but if you're never seeing your "hits" in dryfire, that's bad, too... 2c -rvb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHA-LEE Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Sounds like you need some extended live fire training with difficult steel and partial paper target shooting drills. If your dry fire consists of using full size targets at close distances then you really don't need much of a sight picture to ensure your hits. Dry fire is a tool to enforce processes that you have confirmed are valid in Live fire. If you have not put in the time in live fire to determine the required sight picture, patience and trigger pull quality to make valid hits on these difficult targets, then how can you effectively "Practice" those skills in dry fire? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UCOShooter Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 When doing dry fire training, try not to get lazy. It is very easy to get lazy and just fall in the motion. Set your sights on the smallest target possible and mentally hit it every time. Make sure your grip is the same, and your reloads should be way faster. Keep your head up, and you will get it man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddKS Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 I have been in a situation where I have had to rely almost exclusively on dry fire for practice recently. When I went to my last match, I definitely felt rough around the edges. My thought was that the dry fire was better than no practice at all, but that I need to try to fit in some additional live fire practice as well. I would also not judge myself too harshly from one bad day, particularly if you were not fully rested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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