Flexmoney Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 In dry fire it is tough to be honest with yourself. It is real easy to zip through a bank of targets and tell yourself that you saw what you needed to see. But, the reality is that we likely are training out some basic fundamentals...by trying to go a bit fast. The idea in shooting is to keep the barrel aligned with the target until the bullet has exited. That requires follow through. And, it is something that I see getting rounded off in dry fire. I sometimes use the simple "extra sight picture" trick. If I need two shots on a dry fire target I will add in a third sight picture. That helps with the follow through, and it helps keep the dry fire times a bit more in line with the reality of live fire. Anybody else have some dry fire tricks and variations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Di Vita Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 In order to develop follow-through in dry fire (which is an uphill battle anyway) I normally do a portion of my dry firing on small targets...usually a quarter or a half dollar. Keeping the dot aligned in that small of a space through the whole drill is a sure way to instill follow-through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlamoShooter Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 (edited) When I used to dry fire my revolver more I would 'Stage' the trigger on the target, the reset part of the stroke was what I would call = the follow through. If I kept the dot on target for the let off it was a good hold/ good shot. I have herd a few shooters say that they never miss in dry fire... I miss plenty in dry fire when i am pushing my self. seeing the miss is one way I know that I am being honest with my dry fire shots and that I am calling each shot. If I am working on Speed I bring the triger all the way through & I push for target transition up untill I get misses. Edited February 20, 2006 by AlamoShooter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted February 20, 2006 Author Share Posted February 20, 2006 That is a good tip, Jake. Further, it builds in the need to...find a "spot" on the target...AND, to keep the dot/sights on that spot. I think that further lends itself to training to do things right...as opposed to practicing unperfect technique. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigbadaboom Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 I draw a 3" circle in the upper part of the lower A-Zone on all my practice targets. I focus on this circle instead of the target itself when doing dry or live fire practice. This has helped my accuracy tremendously and "Makes" me follow through during dry-fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 I have a white business card taped in the middle of the A-zones on my practice targets... same thing and reason as your 3" circle, Daniel Easier to see than the perforated A in the middle of the scoring zone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 I do the same as Jake. Small targets help dramatically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Anderson Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 This is good stuff... I used to use business cards or magazine subscription cards on my dry fire targets all the time. may go back to it... There is no doubt that there are sometimes "speed" days and sometimes "accuracy" days in dry fire. the best days are just dry fire days when you just "shoot." SA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric nielsen Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 (edited) I use these & let XP print them 4 to a page & tape them up at a simulated 10 yards. That's where I'll do my initial 1-shot draws & El Pres [got a few 3.8s last nite] and only accept the A-hits. Easy to see on these targets if the shots are drifting low [even low in the Azone] on say the last target before the reload. Then before I've got many reps in I'll shift to working on trigger control & follow thru. I'll lock the slide back [apologies if you don't have a 1911/STI] and repeatedly slap the trigger at the upper-A with just the strong hand, then just the weak hand, and really watch what the dot does as the trigger comes back AND as the trigger releases forward again. I might turn that into a drill with 4 targets, where I'll shoot S.H.O. into the far right target 3 shots, then the next target 1 shot, then the 3rd target 3 shots, then the last target 1 shot. I want the attention to the dot & the "call" of what happened to be equal quality on every shot, which is tough. Tend to look away too early when moving to the next target and not see the whole thing. All of this with the slide locked back, no draw from holster. Then I'll repeat [much slower] going W.H.O. and left-to-right on the targets, all this is still on the upper Azones. Then freestyle - both hands - going much much faster. By then I'm calling the dot wiggle well enough to not train in bad habits at fast speed & the hold is so good by then that I've got little interest in shooting the big body Azones. But I might make up a drill that mixes them in, maybe with draws & reloads. Edited February 21, 2006 by eric nielsen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Putty Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 thread drift......New guy here to dry fire............I am noticing that the way I draw and hold to stance and pressure etc. is rapidly changing to reflect solid target acquisitions. Am I spending too much time thinking about this stuff when it happens or should I be focusing more on drilling and letting it come naturally, without discernment i.e wait to analyze after the practice? Drift back.............i use small pieces of tape spaced 5' apart and hold, hold hold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iweiny Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 I have just now started to push my dry fire practice into the "simulated" drill type work. I worry about getting sloppy with this practice. Therefore I have come up with a couple of things which I hope will help in keeping me "honest". 1) I include a number of actual hammer cocked "dry slow fire" cycles while concentrating on the front sight movement. I can often see the sight move when the hammer falls, indicating a bad trigger pull. I do this SHO and WHO. 2) Along the lines of actually dropping the hammer I have started to cock the hammer and do a 1 shot presentation drill. Doing this on targets of multiple sizes including the business card size some have mentioned I think helps me to have the patience required for shots of various difficulties. Oh OH! I think I just came up with another version of this. Most of them have been from a draw or "low ready". I could also do them on side to side transistions... 3) I have started to just pull the trigger hard against the overtravel stop while the hammer is down. My triggers are a bit on the heavy side. So I find that pulling with >5 pounds of force creates a nice "pull through" when I live fire. When the trigger is stopped at the back of its travel if I have "jerked" the shot the sights will move. If I have pressed straight back into the gun and grip the sights will be stable. I think someone also mentioned watching the sights when releasing the trigger. I don't know if it is helping or not but I don't get to do enough live fire and this is all I have. But I can totaly see myself getting lazy and thinking shots are there when they are not... Thanks for another great thread, Ira Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trisha Lowry Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 Anybody try using the dryfire drill targets on Matt Burketts web page? He has a great set of targets if you don't mind drawing on your computer screen. You can set the par times, swinger movements, target sizes etc to change up your dry fire routines. They are under the Online Store/Online Dryfire Drills. Take a look and let me know what you think - personally I like using them but the buzzers drive my dogs crazy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aerosigns Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 I use Steve Anderson's book combined with the Dry Fire area on http://wwwmattburkett.com Between the two and shooting two matches a month, I have moved through U, D, C and now B in less than 9 months in Revo. I think the two combined are one of the greatest tools I have found. Thanks Steve! Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted July 30, 2006 Share Posted July 30, 2006 This is good stuff... I used to use business cards or magazine subscription cards on my dry fire targets all the time. may go back to it...SA I too follow this advice...after all, I do drills from Mr. Anderson's book daily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flatland Shooter Posted July 30, 2006 Share Posted July 30, 2006 (edited) http://www.mattburkett.com/ seems to work a little better. Just checked out Matt's site. Dry fire training section is great. I'm switching over from the laptop to the desktop with the good monitor and speakers. Way cool! Edited July 30, 2006 by Flatland Shooter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted July 30, 2006 Share Posted July 30, 2006 Not tricks, but techniques: - Don't race for the sake of hitting a par time. I've gotten miles more benefit out of dryfire now that I focus on perfect execution. Perfect execution reduces my times - not trying to hit a time. - Use targets at actual distances if at all possible. It's really the only way to practice the focus and focus shifts necessary to the sport. - Set targets so that you have to do *wide* transitions. Think 120 degrees or more. Doing the El Pres 3 billion times in your garage will not help you with long transitions. - Use small targets or practice on the upper A/B of full size targets. When you start hitting wide transitions on small targets at long distances, you'll know that you're learning something. - Don't be afraid to actually put ammo in your gun. I know that the cool thing on this board is to claim you got your G-card firing 37 rounds of ammuntion a year, but a friend of mine really put it in perspective one night: "Counting dry fire times among your personal accomplishments is like jerking off to a picture of Loni Anderson. You never *really* did it." I'll let him come take credit for it if he wants. Yes, I can practice movement, draws, reloads, and indexing with dry fire. But there's just some things I *have* to practice live fire to learn. Shooting prone, weakhand only, and stronghand only immediately come to mind. "Success" in dryfire in those has *not* translated into success during live fire for me. If it's working for someone else, fine. But I have to put ammo in my gun and experiment with that stuff in order find a solution for me. Same thing with timing the gun. I *have* to go put ammo in the gun and re-discover my grip and timing after a layoff. I practice shooting on the move during dryfire. But it's when I put ammo in the gun and do it for real that validates or denies what I've learned. Figuring out that you've learned a skill on game day (like moi) is generally a bad mode of learning. There I was, shooting on the move. "Oh shit, I'm shooting on the move. Wait. There's alphas down there. Holy crap! I can shoot on the move now!" There's five seconds of my stage time that I'll never get back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aerosigns Posted July 30, 2006 Share Posted July 30, 2006 Eric, Your giving away your age with the Loni Anderson comment. I'm sure that many here have never stared furtively at episodes of WKRP. But otherwise I agree with you. It takes dryfire experience (drawing, reloading) and practical experience (target acquisition, steel, stars, movers, etc.). Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArnisAndyz Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 Eric,Your giving away your age with the Loni Anderson comment. Isn't that Pamela Anderson's younger sister? Last couple weeks I've gone away from reduced targets indoors to actual fullsized targets outdoors set up at distances I might see at a match, it really works my far to near focus, in retrospect, reduced targets didn't really work my vision that hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted February 13, 2008 Author Share Posted February 13, 2008 thread drift......New guy here to dry fire............I am noticing that the way I draw and hold to stance and pressure etc. is rapidly changing to reflect solid target acquisitions. Am I spending too much time thinking about this stuff when it happens or should I be focusing more on drilling and letting it come naturally, without discernment i.e wait to analyze after the practice?Drift back.............i use small pieces of tape spaced 5' apart and hold, hold hold. Sandoz, It's good to be open and notice what is going on. Something to watch out for in dry-fire is getting lazy on our grip and stance. Since there is no recoil, we tend to get soft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Something to watch out for in dry-fire is getting lazy on our grip and stance. Since there is no recoil, we tend to get soft. I think that is the reason some shooters say: "I can do a .7 draw in dry fire, but on the range my draw is always 1.0s+". That is probably because you know what will happen after you pull the trigger in dry fire and you know what will happen after you pull the trigger on the range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delta Mike Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 This is kind of like the extra sight picture. If I am doing a drill where I shoot two shots at a target. I will make one in the lower A zone, and one in the upper A zone. Since there is no recoil in dry fire, it is too easy to just put the sights in the lower A, and pll the trigger twice. Kind of a "dryfire double tap" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Knight Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 (edited) I also use small cardboard targets with the A-zones outlined enough to tell where they are. I like to start by doing draw-dryfire and repeat. When that gets old or I stop using some of the fundamentals(like watching the front sight) I switch to draw-dryfire-reload drills. I keep switching it up to ensure that I am looking at the sights and not getting bored with my in-home drills. I also use the Matt Burkett flash-based dry fire drills on my 50in TV. The TV part is the best. I like the one that puts a random dot on the screen. I use that one with the draw and dryfire drill. Seeing how this is about the follow through portion... I really have know idea what follow through is. I have heard the term used in many different sports and it seems that it is kind of a catch all for poor technique. I can't understand why this term is still used if it refers to something specific. Seems to me that whatever specific item is being missed at the end of whatever activity you are doing means that the technique you are using doesn't work. I mean seriously... Where does the shot end? When you start to take up the trigger for the next shot? When you start your transition? Is that where follow through starts or ends? I have never really liked the term Follow-Through. How about When BE is taking about trigger control in Frontsite? Pressing the trigger without disturbing the sights. Simple. Seems to work well. I just can't see why I can't stop shooting my Glock low left but my XD works great! How come I need to stick my entire finger through the trigger guard when shooting weak handed? Does that have something to do with Follow-Through? I can't see. All I can see is the sights are not staying on target while I am pressing the trigger. Sorry about the long ramble, but I have never truly understood "Follow-Through". Edited March 22, 2008 by theknightoflight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted March 21, 2008 Author Share Posted March 21, 2008 Doesn't sound like you want to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Knight Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 Doesn't sound like you want to. No I do... However... To me there is no "Follow-Through" in dryfire. That can only be done in Live-fire because then and only then do you get the recoil of the firearm and can you put what happens after the shot breaks into practice. Trying to tell me there is "Follow-Through" is like saying that a batter swinging at nothing is similar. I can't see it. Dry-fire give muscle memory in keeping the sight on the target. In live fire returning the sights and resetting the trigger(if that is your technique) gives you the "Follow-Through" you need to complete the action. Saying there is "Follow-Through" in Dry-Fire is kind of like saying there is "Follow-Through" in batting practice when you are not actually hitting anything. Sorry about this but it is my opinion and we know how those are. Shawn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wide45 Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 Seeing the sight on the target when the hammer falls, is a major part of follow thru. Many can't call shots, because they aren't seeing, when it goes bang. Follow thru in dry fire can help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now