By Clayton Walker<\/a><\/p>\n A<\/span> long while back, I remember reading about how some of the practical shooting sports had a fairly impressive contingent of shooters from the nation of Japan. Though their country\u2019s laws forbade private handgun ownership, these shooters nevertheless availed themselves fairly well. The answer, apparently was airsoft practice. While their \u201cguns\u201d shot plastic BBs, they were nevertheless able to practice everything that IPSC, Steel Challenge, and IDPA required, from target transitions to footwork to drawing from the holster.<\/p>\n The story illustrates that live fire is just one form of building competency with one\u2019s firearm. And, with the cost of ammo certainly not getting any cheaper year over year, an increasing number of shooters are turning to \u201cdry-fire\u201d practice \u2014 that is, pulling the trigger and having the hammer or striker drop on an empty chamber \u2014 in order to supplement their range time. It\u2019s also fairly common for most experts to tell new shooters simply to dry-fire more in order to improve their marksmanship.<\/p>\n Today, let\u2019s run through a few clear benefits of dry-fire and discuss those situations in which it is most equipped to deliver a tangible benefit \u2014 in addition to those issues I think dry-fire is less able to solve. And obviously, make sure you only do this with an empty firearm in a safe location and direction.<\/p>\n Most theories of good shooting normally are some version of the following: if the trigger of your firearm is pulled to the rear in such a way that the alignment of the front and rear sights is not disturbed, you will most probably hit your target within your gun\u2019s effective range.<\/p>\n Especially with handgun shooting, we\u2019re left with an interesting challenge: pull what is usually somewhere between a four and a nine-pound trigger, depending on the gun, perfectly to the rear \u2014 keeping in mind that a typical handgun has a weight of about one to two pounds. It is very easy to move the gun as one manipulates the trigger.<\/p>\n This, fortunately, is a solvable challenge. Dry-fire allows the novice shooter to learn, kinesthetically, what a \u201ccorrect\u201d trigger press feels like. Old-timers often recommend the \u201cpenny trick,\u201d which involves balancing a coin on the flat of the gun\u2019s sight rib. With the gun unloaded (and triple-verified as such), if you can pull the trigger without dislodging the penny, you\u2019re in good shape. If, however, the gun dips or climbs or twists during that process forcefully enough to dislodge the penny, one\u2019s technique needs refinement. Most novices, however, can get this squared away within about 10 minutes.<\/p>\n Where dry-fire actually has a little more utility is in building more defensively minded sets of skills: it\u2019s relatively simple in dry-fire practice to align the sights on target and pull the trigger to the rear without causing the gun to jerk around \u2026 when you have all of the time in the world. But, combine that final trigger press as part of a process that includes a draw, movement, and rapid target acquisition, and it\u2019s far more challenging.<\/p>\n Additionally, dry-fire will allow a shooter to become a lot more familiar with the tactile behavior of their trigger, including where the \u201cwall\u201d of resistance is and how it \u201cresets\u201d to fire the second and all subsequent rounds of a string. Dry-fire allows shooters to ingrain a more sophisticated approach to trigger manipulation beyond just \u201cpull the damn thing.\u201d Instead, a shooter might become more aware of taking up the slack, providing just that last bit of press to get it to discharge, keeping the trigger \u201cpinned\u201d through the firing cycle, and letting the reset carry it back to the wall for a second shot.<\/p>\n Today, shooters can even purchase dry-fire \u201csystems\u201d incorporating dummy rounds that project a laser dot once struck by a firing pin. The most sophisticated include smart targets that track data, which can be sent to a phone app or other set of software to determine what the muzzle is doing when the shooter has a firearm (or facsimile thereof) in his or her hand.<\/p>\n What I see time and time again is that the intermediate shooter puts in the work where dry-fire is concerned, learns the perfect trigger press, and heads back out to the range \u2026 where they continue to print shotgun pattern-sized groups.<\/p>\n The explanation of this phenomenon, of course, is that they are still mashing when they pull the trigger. (For the record, I dislike the word \u201cflinch\u201d and the connotations it carries.) Despite all of the dry-fire repetitions, they are fighting against a brain shaped by millions of years of evolution. At home, your brain certainly doesn\u2019t expect a KABOOM, and it has no occasion to freak out when slack is being taken out of the trigger. Especially as recoil becomes louder and more intense, the tendency to rely on gross motor skills to control any particular gun is amplified.<\/p>\n When most shooters dry-fire, they\u2019re actually not addressing the largest reason for why they miss the target. Grip, stance, sight alignment, and even a careful trigger pull don\u2019t matter when a shooter is mashing on the trigger and pushing the gun off-center before the bullet has left the barrel.<\/p>\n Live The Armory Life.<\/strong> The latest content straight to your inbox plus an automatic entry to each of our monthly gun\u00a0giveaways!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n In the worst cases, I have seen the intermediate shooter become\u00a0perfectly convinced\u00a0<\/em>they are pulling the trigger exactly as they are supposed to, only to be absolutely befuddled why their handgun groups are about the size of a large pizza at 7 yards. Maybe it\u2019s the gun, they surmise! In any case, a gulf develops between what they\u00a0think\u00a0<\/em>they are doing and the set of outcomes that are occurring on the range.<\/p>\n I mentioned before that our brains are a lot smarter than we give them credit for, but thankfully, they can also be dumb enough to work around.<\/p>\n What happens in the case of many shooters who continue to mash at the range is that their brains know they aren\u2019t at home. There\u2019s a trigger pull that their brains know is \u201ccorrect\u201d in the quietude of their dens or garages, and an altogether separate one that gets ingrained in real-world contexts.<\/p>\n The first part of the solution is to prove to yourself that a mash is happening. \u201cSnap Caps,\u201d which are brightly colored dummy rounds, are an essential purchase here. You want to load a few randomly into a few magazines, then mix those magazines up, so you lose track of where those rounds are. Alternately, you can have a friend load the magazine for you and insert the round somewhere.<\/p>\n If you do have any trace of a trigger mash, it will become terrifically evident when the hammer lands on a dud round. Shooters are often stunned at just how much their ingrained mechanics are trying to literally shove against the forces of recoil, and they\u2019ll push the barrel to and fro. Until this aspect of one\u2019s shooting is addressed, the quest for accuracy will be a long one. And, again, if a shooter doesn\u2019t know it\u2019s happening, it will remain an invisible and undiagnosable gremlin.<\/p>\n The second part of the solution, for those who choose to embrace it, is to\u00a0dry-fire at the range<\/em>\u00a0as well. As soon as groups begin to deviate and you suspect bad habits creeping in, dry-fire. You can either load a dummy round through the magazine or let the hammer fall on an empty chamber \u2014 it\u2019s your choice.<\/p>\n You just may find that your reptilian brain hasn\u2019t \u201ccaught up\u201d to what\u2019s happening for those first few rounds. You\u2019re in the same place, with the same gun, possibly with the same fight-or-flight response having kicked in. It may be hard to slowly and deliberately work the trigger: a part of you, despite ample logical evidence to the contrary, is still expecting that gun to go boom based on the rest of the available context clues.<\/p>\n This is where it\u2019s critical to align the sights on target and slowly\u00a0press<\/em>\u00a0the trigger so that your sights don\u2019t shake and the gun remains still as possible. Do this until you\u2019ve \u201creset\u201d your bad habits. Only then, should you resume firing. If you find that you\u2019re again mashing the trigger, go back to the dry-fire.<\/p>\n The process I\u2019m describing is not particularly\u00a0fun<\/em>, per se. You might feel self-conscious doing it, but I wouldn\u2019t worry too much: beginning shooters aren\u2019t going to have the awareness to understand what\u2019s happening in the shooting bays around them, and expert shooters will immediately know what you\u2019re trying to accomplish through the succession of snaps they\u2019ll hear. Nevertheless, you\u2019ll make sure that the rounds you fire at your range session are purposeful and geared at boosting your shooting.<\/p>\n In a fairly short amount of time, you\u2019ll re-wire your trigger press so that your brain no longer draws a distinction between \u201cthe trigger press I\u2019ve mastered at home\u201d and \u201cthe trigger press I actually do when the gun goes boom.\u201d Instead, it will just be one press: the correct one.<\/p>\n The reality is that my suggested dry-fire process is\u00a0work<\/em>, plain and simple. I like tech and gadgets as much as the next guy, but the cold reality is that no dry-fire gizmo alone is going to radically re-shape a person\u2019s shooting technique.<\/p>\n Long story short: dry-fire is an exceptional way for beginners and intermediates to improve their marksmanship. It can even help experts shorten the time it takes to make a good first round hit from concealment or a low ready. However, if aim of the dry-fire is to cure a mash, it\u2019s not a tool that can be done only in the garage if it\u2019s intended to be applied at the range or in a serious life-or-death event. In those cases, I humbly present the tips above in the hopes that they result in more of our readers\u2019 bullets chewing out bullseyes and A-zones.<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s Note: Please be sure to check out The Armory Life Forum, where you can comment about our daily articles, as well as just talk guns and gear. Click the \u201cGo To Forum Thread\u201d link below to jump in!<\/em><\/p>\n Go to forum thread<\/a><\/p>\n
Pros of Dry Fire Training<\/h2>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.thearmorylife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Improving-Trigger-Control-Through-Dry-Fire.jpg.webp)
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\n<\/picture>The Reality<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nA Fixable Problem<\/h2>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.thearmorylife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/tight-group-through-dry-fire-practice.jpg.webp)
\n<\/picture>![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.thearmorylife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/staggered-snap-caps-in-1911-magazine.jpg.webp)
\n<\/picture>The Wrap-Up<\/h2>\n
Join the Discussion<\/span><\/h5>\n
Featured in this article<\/span><\/h5>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t9mm<\/sup><\/span><\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t![\"XD\u00ae](\"https:\/\/www.thearmorylife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/XDD9801HC.png\")
<\/p>\nXD\u00ae 3″ Sub-Compact<\/span><\/h3>\n
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