Dryfiring For Dummies

[Guest qstick]

I have been trying to work on dryfiring for the past week, not too shabby since I only started to consider shooting my first IPSC match 2 weeks ago (thanks Tim Norris).

When dryfiring, do you actually pull the slide back to "load" the gun for each shot? When doing this, do you load a magazine with dummy rounds and then reload the magazine each time? Or do you just pull the trigger back after achieving proper sight alignment and move on to the next target.

I have been using a few dummy rounds to practice pulling the trigger without any excess movement, but I am not sure what to do for practicing different stages. I usually take a few homemade stands and set them up in my backyard with different classifier stages set up, and practice gaining sight alignment and reloads/draws.

Thanks for any help you could provide,

Zach

[TBF]

The question of cocking the hammer by thumb or slide has been raised before ( you might

try the search function, keyword " dryfire " ) I personally see no possible damage from thumb

cocking. But others may disagree.

I picked up a couple of those CRTC blue plastic mags, less chance of dummie/live mixup.

But dummies that are visibly different than live ammo would be just as effective IMHO.

Alot easier to find mags than dummies in grass too.

Your neighbors must really love you.

Travis F.

[Detlef]

thumb cocking is just fine.

do not thumb cock/drop hammer for every target (unless you have a DA), drop hammer on one select target of the array on which you practice. Dry-practice of target-to-target transitions is very beneficial.

The blue CRTC mags are great...if you don't dry practice your reloads with them! If you do, they will wear out quickly and not seat any more (the plastic engagement notch wears out after 100 or so reloads, not very much). In principle, they come with a (written) life-time warranty, but the manufacturer tells you do get stuffed after the 4th or 5th request to exchange a good one against a bad one. I decided to let it go and call them worthless...

--Detlef

[lcambre]

I fixed the notch wear on my CRTC mags with a bit of JB weld. I just put a bit on and filed it to shape. So far no wear and it hasn't come off.

Louis