Dry firing thoughts

[fm2]

With the recent rise in ammo prices, I thought some comments on dry fire practice would be a good idea.

Getting the reps or practice in, is how you become proficient. Going to the range alone simply isn’t enough to get really proficient. Even if you have access to a private range and lots of time and ammo it would still be difficult. The conclusion is that dry fire practice is important to building and maintaining proficiency.


One recommendation I have is getting a dry fire practice kit.
found here:
http://www.firearms-safety.info/

There are two dry fire regimens on the CD. Each is designed to be done in less than 10 minutes a day, so you get in a good 60-70 repetition regimen in a short period of time. You don’t do the same thing every day, so it is a little less boring.

The CD has the drills set-up and narrated with times, beeps, etc. Buy the CD, watch the video demonstration, print the targets, put the CD in a CD player. You're actually doing dry fire within a few minutes. The skills worked on include the draw, presentation from low ready, reloading, tactical reloading, trigger control, and more. The author credits the CD as an integral part of making IDPA Master and a cop will qualify much easier by doing it for a few weeks before quals. One shooter credited the dry fire regimen for helping him move from 6th place Marksman in the Georgia IDPA Championship to 1st place Sharpshooter in the Mississippi IDPA Championship one month later.

There is also built in safety instructions on the CD and it's recorded as one track so they can't be skipped over. The company is called Firearms Safety Training for a reason. Unfortunately, millions and millions of people don't have a clue about firearms safety procedures, so the basics are included on the CD.




The practice kits are a remarkably good deal. There are dry-fire as well as live fire CD's. The CD is available in both Autoloading Pistol and Snub Nose Revolver versions. He explains on video how to set up a dry fire practice area. Even how to camouflage it when not in use. The drills are demonstrated on screen in a logical progression, with an audible timer, so you don't even have to own a timer. The drills progress logically through the needed skill sets to get more proficient.

There is also a "live fire" CD for range work.
The CD includes a set of live fire practice drills, as well, along with numerous PDF files that explain how to set up a dry fire range in your home, safety procedures, and printable scaled down targets to dry fire on.Structuring your live fire practice will make it much more effective for improving your shooting performance. These sets of practice drills will help you structure your live fire sessions to much greater advantage.

[stroo]

This looks like it might be good, but he doesn't make it easy to order. Can't even call him to order.

[HerbM]

Thanks for the info. I appreciate it.

...Many credit the CD as an integral part of making IDPA Master and a cop will qualify much easier by doing it for a few weeks before quals. One shooter credited the dry fire regimen for helping him move from 6th place Marksman in the Georgia IDPA Championship to 1st place Sharpshooter in the Mississippi IDPA Championship one month later....

Do you recall where you heard from the "many...making IDPA master" and the specific case? (I didn't see it on the web site when I looked before but maybe it is there or you found out elsewhere...)

Personally, I practice dry firing several (to many) times daily since every defensive shooting instructor (and every book I believe) with which I have ever trained, has recommended it as an essential step.

I do need to decide if the cost of this CD equals or exceeds the value, consider me current regimen.

Thanks again.

[fm2]

Thanks for the positive response, Herb.

Do you recall where you heard from the "many...making IDPA master" and the specific case? (I didn't see it on the web site when I looked before but maybe it is there or you found out elsewhere...)

I edited out "many" and replaced it with "the author". I couldn't remember any other specific cases or find them in my e-mails. I e-mailed, so maybe I can get some more information.

I have exchanged e-mails with Mr. Werner about coming here to teach his snubby class. He is willing, now I need people who are interested in attending.

[yerasimos]

I have exchanged e-mails with Mr. Werner about coming here to teach his snubby class. He is willing, now I need people who are interested in attending.

Just say when and where . . .

[apostate]

Dry fire is extremely valuable. However, one of the challenges I face is how to practice trigger reset and followup shots. I mean, it's easy when I'm dry firing a revolver, but it's another matter entirely with a Glock, 1911 or XD.

[HerbM]

Dry fire is extremely valuable. However, one of the challenges I face is how to practice trigger reset and followup shots. I mean, it's easy when I'm dry firing a revolver, but it's another matter entirely with a Glock, 1911 or XD.

IIRC, there is a replacement connector for a Glock that allows it to reset automatically -- you have to dedicated a glock to it pretty much so this is an expensive solution.

I use a mounted laser with a 'trigger pigtail switch' -- I put it over the actual trigger as the pressure is close to my firearms. Not ideal -- won't allow for a full draw stroke as you have to hold it there but it works.

This is a great boon to low light shooting too -- your sights don't have to be visible -- or for sighted fire you already have the firearm close to a good sight picture.

NOTE: This is not an argument for "point shooting" only, but for integrating this into other methods. It is really just advanced indexing.

[fm2]

This looks like it might be good, but he doesn't make it easy to order. Can't even call him to order.

I agree it's a basic website. I think he is out teaching for weeks at a time, and I'd guess that's the reason for no phone orders. I have had good luck with e-mails for questions.

[fm2]

I got this reply:

The local IDPA Match Director says it helped him a lot. He made Master about 1 1/2 years after he started shooting IDPA and wasn't a very experienced competitive shooter when he started. He likes the program so much that he pushes it at every match and has a sticky about it on the local club forum.

It's like any other piece of workout software, you've got to do the work to get results. I've sold quite a few tapes and CDs, but I don't think most people use them very much, so they don't get results.




I also found this information.

The Head of Firearm Training for the Atlanta PD called me yesterday.

"This CD is great! I have always been a big believer in dry fire, but the CD makes it so much more productive.�

They're doing two hours of dry fire at the range with new recruits before letting the recruits actually shoot.

[Skiprr]

I know nothing about the CD described in the OP, but I'm a believer in dry-fire practice...even if the cost of ammo weren't so high. There are a number of sources that state the ration of dry-fire to live-fire practice should be at least a 5:1 ratio. Gabe Suarez has even gone so far as to say, "I have found that the more you shoot [live fire], the worse shot you become!" Now, he's not saying you shouldn't do live-fire practice, just that the dominant volume of training should be dry fire.

Depending upon your computer set-up, particularly the size and positioning of your screen, there are some good dry-fire drills available for free on the 'Net. I have a VGA connection on my television in the living room, and I'll often plug in a laptop so I can access the drills and display them on the large screen in the middle of the room.

One very good set is on Matt Burkett's Website, http://www.mattburkett.com/. The site does require registration to access the drills, but it's free. Once registered, look for "Dry Fire Drills" on the menu in the lower-left. These are geared mainly toward competitive shooting, but are good for general practice. If you have speakers on your PC, you can also take advantage of the timer "beep" on some of the routines.

A little less sophisticated, but of value, are the drills on http://www.personaldefensetraining.com/ ... ryfire.php. Additionally, this site provides some step-by-step recommendations about structuring a dry-fire practice session for effectiveness. Since the goal is always perfect practice, not just repetition, I personally like the advice they offer about starting sessions by taking things one step at a time (e.g., present a few times from low ready without pulling the trigger, then slow and perfect presentations from holster to sight picture, then speed up holster work, then add trigger prep but still no trigger pull, etc.).

It starts getting into some money, but I also think a good shot timer is an invaluable tool to have for training, even if you never plan to shoot IDPA or USPSA. I recently retired an old, heavy, clunky timer I had, and bought a little CED7000 with an optional belt clip. It's tiny, and has just about every function I can think of that I'd ever need.

Timers have value in your training for a few reasons, among them: random timer start beep can help improve your reaction time; knowing your par times for different actions helps you become more consistent and set goals for improvement; setting multiple par times can force you to get better at chaining multiple actions together (e.g., draw, fire one, tactical reload); and, of course, you can use the timer in both dry-fire and live-fire practice.

Last, I also recently picked up a cheap but very functional digital video camera called a Flip Video. For less than a hundred bucks, you get 60 minutes of surprisingly good quality 640x480 videos, running on standard AA batteries. In sports training, the use of video is everywhere nowadays, because it allows the performer the opportunity the chance to actually see what he's doing. Often, what he thinks he's doing--the way his golf backswing looks, the way his tennis service toss looks--isn't reality. Getting indisputable visual feedback can be invaluable.

You can, again for dry or live practice, use video to capture what you're actually doing. Are you bringing your sights up to eye-line, or are you jerking your head to find the sights? When you move off the "X" and draw simultaneously, are you actually standing in one place while you complete the beginning of your draw stroke? When you move, are you smooth, or does your head start bobbling and distort your vision? For that matter, how stable is your front sight when you move?

You get the idea. I think with just a little advanced training, video is one thing that can help you become your own shooting coach. Never fear, you never have to post this stuff on YouTube!

[HerbM]

That's all good stuff! THANKS! It's all good stuff.