Dry fire question

[mattmann]

I know several of you have your own exercises you use to get proficient at drawing and finding your sights and also transition drills. What are some materials you have used and found helpful? Books? Small targets to put on the wall? I know there is a lot of stuff out there and this winter I would like to work with my new STI and JP rifle along with my shotgun to get proficient at reloads and sight pictures and whatnot. Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sarge]

Steve Anderson’s book of Dry Fire drills is awesome. I stuck some targets on the wall. I just cut some down from regular metric targets left over from a match. I also made a few pvc pipe boxes to transition in and out of. Dry fire for me is more about finding the dot weakhand and other odd shooting situations.

  Helpful hint: to just practice reloads, stand in front of a couch or chair so you don’t have to bend so much to pick up the mags

[Flatland Shooter]

32 minutes ago, Sarge said:

 

  Helpful hint: to just practice reloads, stand in front of a couch or chair so you don’t have to bend so much to pick up the mags

 

 

Helpful hint #2  -  Wear shoes when practicing reloads.  No matter how careful you think you are, it only takes one magazine bouncing off the chair and onto your foot to shut down a dry fire session.

[Mcfoto]

Helpful hint #3 - do your reload practices standing over your bed. Less wear and tear on the mags and no stooping to pick them back up. Also convenient for keeping track of snap caps (if your bed is made...).

[Mountbkr]

Helpful hint #3 - do your reload practices standing over your bed. Less wear and tear on the mags and no stooping to pick them back up. Also convenient for keeping track of snap caps (if your bed is made...).

thats what i do as well


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[mattmann]

Wow awesome tips guys. Yeah I see some guys dropping these $100 STI mags on the hard dirt over and over doing dry drills and it blows my mind. I’ll do that for sure. Any other books or anything? I have seen some people buy some tiny cardboard ipsc targets and tiny dots and tape them on the wall and use those for practice. Making them sounds cheaper and easier and using shoot’n’see stick on 1” circles seems easiest for those.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hammer002]

Helpful hint #4:  Do as Steve Anderson says in the book - do them without a magazine in the gun.  As he says, you will do far more practice if you aren't chasing magazines on the floor and what not.  Just be sure to do a few to make sure you are properly pushing the mag release.  Without looking, think he calls it a Burkett reload?  I dunno, but to second Sarge's advice, its a great book.  Ben Stoeger's stuff is amazing if you want to hit the top levels as well.  I still prefer Anderson's book for everyday practice.  I also start and end every session with Travis Haley's deliberate draw drill.  This has given me great draw times and excellent natural point.

[Beef15]

9 hours ago, mattmann said:

Wow awesome tips guys. Yeah I see some guys dropping these $100 STI mags on the hard dirt over and over doing dry drills and it blows my mind. I’ll do that for sure. Any other books or anything? I have seen some people buy some tiny cardboard ipsc targets and tiny dots and tape them on the wall and use those for practice. Making them sounds cheaper and easier and using shoot’n’see stick on 1” circles seems easiest for those.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The dryfire target kits are pretty cheap. Cutting cardboard is not a joy for me and generally looks worse than a kindergarten art project. Of course one could use paper or cardstock. 

Stoeger's dry fire book seems pretty good. Steve Anderson is currently explaining several "basics" drills on his podcast.

[gcozzens]

You can use post-it notes on the walls for targets. Aim small - Miss small

 

Also: the tip that has made the most difference with my shooting is "Move your eyes first and then the gun during transitions" - try it and you will find the gun comes right in alignment without shaking back and forth like it would do if you try to move everything at once.

[JOThompson]

I've recently picked up a SIRT laser pistol, modeled closely after the Glock 17. Same weight and feel, and trigger is fairly similar to a Glock 17 stock trigger.  I have some software on my computer which tracks accuracy, speed, etc. I've had some limited success with that, but I think that dry firing is still what's improved my skills the most. 

[swordfish]

On 12/11/2017 at 7:00 PM, Mcfoto said:

Helpful hint #3 - do your reload practices standing over your bed. Less wear and tear on the mags and no stooping to pick them back up. Also convenient for keeping track of snap caps (if your bed is made...).

This all day. I wore shoes before, but sometimes I practice with dummy rounds, and a loaded mag hitting my feet with shoes on still hurts A bit hard to practice with movement, but saves your feet for sure.

[levellinebrad]

My first few draws are always to a blank wall with no real aiming point. This helps me ensure that the gun is coming to my eye and not a target. When I do start drawing to targets I just make sure that I am looking at the target I want to draw to. That came from somebodies dryfire book but I can't remember who.

[BoyGlock]

I try to use my live fire experience as guide in what and how I dry fire. 

[stick]

I use Dry fire training from Ben Stoeger and Refinement and Repetition from Steve Anderson.  I use 1/3 scale targets and 1 inch dots indoors and full size targets, PVC shooting boxes and  cut cardboard painted white for steel plates/poppers outdoors.

 

My aha moment came when I started using dummy rounds in my mag to simulate reloads during live fire and matches. (Glock mag with 33 dummy rounds loaded).  It's one thing to have a one second reload in practice with an empty mag, then totally fumble the reload in a match because you're not used to a mag with 33 rounds in it. (Shooting PCC)  Now my reloads in live fire feel the same as my dry fire reloads.

 

I cater my training each week to what match I have upcoming and what deficiencies I need to work on.  For example (dots and transitions for steel challenge) movement, gun mounting, reloads, weak shoulder transitions etc. for USPSA and Action Steel matches.

Then after the match, I reflect and analyze what I did well and what I need to work on for future matches.  For me, I dry fire 10-15 minutes a day for a minimum of 5 days a week.  I found this is what works best for me.  more than 15 minutes and I get bored and sloppy.  Live fire to confirm what I have learned in dry fire.