[Shmackey]

This sounds simple, but still: what exactly is the desired (perfect) procedure? Should you be able to (try to) align the sights and pull the trigger, keeping the sights aligned the whole time? It sounds like this would be preferred, but it's obviously impossible to replicate with live rounds (your sights *will* move thanks to recoil).

Do you see what I'm getting at here?

 

[oldcolt]

Shmackey,
Dry firing simulates firing the pistol under ideal conditions (i.e. no recoil and noise to disturb you). You should approach it in the same manner that you shoot. Paste/pin a target at the ditance you normally shoot from (you can do this at home and save yourself a trip to the range). Ensure that the gun is unloaded. Assume your stance, and begin shooting. What you want is zero movement of the aligned sights until after the trigger is pulled. It is an excellent form of practice as long as you make each shot count. Plus, it will carry over to your live-fire shooting as well. Perfect practice leads to perfect shooting.

------------------

 

[WalterMitty]

Your sights will move due to recoil with live ammo, but the bullet is long gone before that happens.

What you're trying to learn to do with dryfiring is to pull the trigger without moving the gun. If you learn to do that, the bullets will impact where the gun is pointed.

 

[CUFFEM66]

Dry Fire Practice

When I practice dry fire drills, I balance an empty shell casing on the end of the slide, and pull the trigger without causing it to fall. This helps me have better control, and keeps you concentrating on the front sight area. It takes some practice, but your control will improve and your targets will show this improvement. Just my .02

 

[mitrod3]

ditto: dry firing has been one of the main activities used to improve my shooting, without actually shooting anything. i still do this practice on a regular basis along with shooting three times a week.

as already indicated above learning to control both your gun movement and your trigger pull will result in more rounds on target exactly where you want them and dry firing is one fine way to do this. with good gun and trigger control recoil is an effect that does not come into play until after the round is nicely and accurately on it's way, as also shared above.

good luck to you.

be safe, shoot well.:rock:

 

[Patrick604]

Another important aspect of dry-fire technique has not been discussed, and that is sight alignment. The best trigger control in the world will not allow you to hit anything if you have not also trained your eye to focus on the front sight.

Dry fire will work wonders for your trigger finger, but it can also train your eye. There is a distinct difference between looking at your front sight and really seeing it. Train your eye to focus on your front sight during dry fire. This will help when you go to shoot real targets because your eye will naturally fall to the front sight, allowing you to concentrate and shoot good groups. Many people actually shift their focus from sight to target, which screws up their groups.

Also, when dry-firing and focusing on your front sight, you can diagnose problems in your technique. For example, when you press the trigger, does your front sight move off target? If so, you have just identified a problem and can correct it, be it a grip issue, breathing, or trigger control. If you don't focus on your front sight, you will not notice a problem until you are at the range and, more importantly, until long AFTER you have reinforced bad technique repeatedly during your practice sessions. Perfect practice leads to perfect performance, sloppy practice leads to sloppy performance.

Use dry fire to train your eye as well as your finger and you will be well ahead of the game.

 

[mark1174]

And then there's this ---

Another great thing about dry firing is that you get fewer holes in your bedroom walls than you would with live ammunition.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

 

[mitrod3]

nice point on learning to "see" your sight, sight picture...etc. kind of took that one forgranted but good it was mentioned.

i often have my wife watch me through a few dry fire rounds as she can see from a different angle and may pick up something very subtle that i miss.:hrm:

be safe, shoot well.:rock: