davidball Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 (edited) I first began doing extensive / intensive dry fire last winter (2004-2005) using Steve Anderson's book. I experienced a very nice improvement in performance last season and moved up in class. This year I have developed my own regime, still based on Steve's drills but modified to address what I want to work on specifically and how I want to work on it. Grip and trigger control have been an emphasis. In Steve's book, when doing drills that require pulling the trigger, Steve has you actually pulling the trigger fully. If I recall correctly (I don't have the book handy right now), this means dropping the hammer on the first "shot" and just simulating the shot for the rest of the exercise by pulling the trigger as is with the hammer down. This dry fire season I have been experimenting with just pulling the trigger through take-up and stopping just before breaking the shot, basically just fully prepping the trigger each time to simulate a shot. My reason for this is that I had developed the habit of slamming the trigger all of the way back on each shot which often resulted (surprise) in shots pushed off to the left because I hadn't isolated the trigger pull. This forces me to just exert enough pressure to break the shot and then reset the trigger. I have experienced an increase in both speed and accuracy recently. Now there are other things I have been working on as well - grip, group shooting, etc., so I can't necessarily claim that the improvement is solely the result of the dry fire triggering technique, but it seems to have help. Any critique of this training method would be appreciated. Edited February 16, 2006 by davidball Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Putty Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 Nice insights. I am just starting SA's book and any related experience is beneficial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 Very nice! Thanks for that. I will definately use that No further critique Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Di Vita Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 (edited) There is one problem I can see with that. You are practicing by only prepping the trigger because when you were pulling it you would cause your shot to go off. If I were you I would work on pulling the trigger without disturbing the sights because no amount of practice prepping the trigger is going to help solve your problem when you get into a match. If you have a problem, try not to find a way around it, instead attack the sucker head on and obliterate it. You will be a much more complete shooter in the long run. Edited February 16, 2006 by Jake Di Vita Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 (edited) Jake, I think you could tackle that problem by pulling through on your last "shot" for instance. I also think you should work the trigger all the way as much as possible. Nothing teaches trigger control like pulling the trigger. That's why I like dry firing my revolver so much Edited February 16, 2006 by spook Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidball Posted February 16, 2006 Author Share Posted February 16, 2006 If I were you I would work on pulling the trigger without disturbing the sights because no amount of practice prepping the trigger is going to help solve your problem when you get into a match. I agree . . . I do this as well. I use the technique described in the original post as a part of my trigger control training in order to develop a lighter, less disruptive, isolated-from-the-rest-of-my-strong-hand, trigger pull. I appreciate the post . . . this is the kind of feedback I was looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigbadaboom Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 I do the same thing that David does because I found that when I started using Steves book I was pressing the trigger with more force than necessary to break my 2 lb. trigger and when I would do live-fire I would pull shots due to using too much force. By practicing the way David describes I break my shot cleaner becuse I practice with "Under-pressure" rather than "Over-pressure". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMITH Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 Funny that this came up, I have been thinking a lot about this subject too. A month of intensive dry fire between matches and I managed to teach myself to double tap targets, I got used to picking up the sights and whacking the trigger two times while maintaining the sight picture. No problem. Get out to a match and my finger was doing exactly what I taught it to do, get the sights and whack the trigger twice, second shots were consistently in sight dip after the slide closed on close-ish targets. A more experienced shooter noticed what I was doing, told me about it when I was complaining that my points were way down from normal, and I chewed on the info between stages. Sure enough. The dry fire is making a tremendous difference, learning to harness what I can teach myself and what I should not teach myself in dry fire is the challenge now. Great thread!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 David, I do some similar stuff. Often, I mash the heck out of the trigger in dry fire...and work on keeping the sights on target while doing so. I will "save" the trigger pull until the end of the drill. I will put the trigger pull at a "key area" within the drill. (Draws are good, first shot after a reload, etc.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidball Posted February 17, 2006 Author Share Posted February 17, 2006 I will "save" the trigger pull until the end of the drill.I will put the trigger pull at a "key area" within the drill. (Draws are good, first shot after a reload, etc.) I like these ideas . . . gonna try 'em. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin c Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 In a similar vein, I've found that, by doing Burkett reload drills (where you stop the mag at the magwell), I managaed to condition myself into having a little hitch in seating the mag when doing the real thing. I'm still working on that one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 Have you tried dry firing for accuracy? Shoot at a very small dot concentrating on not disturbing the sights while working the trigger. I practice transitioning to the dot from another target as well as extending to the dot (as if it was the first shot). Plus I shoot "groups" of shots to exercise the hold and visual concentration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidball Posted February 17, 2006 Author Share Posted February 17, 2006 Plus I shoot "groups" of shots to exercise the hold and visual concentration. Gonna add this as well . . . goes along with what Jake was saying . . . which I have found always reaps positive results . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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