During a pandemic, a stay-at-home order can define people. Some will just stay home, watch movies, and catch up on TV. Some might play video games and catch up with buddies. Others might just catch up on projects or honey-dos. We could be using this time more efficiently by practicing dry-fire firearms. It is cheap/free training that you can do at home.
To get going with dry firing, you need at the minimum a holster and your unloaded firearm. You are helping build muscle memory by drawing your holster and reloading. At the range when you are shooting, you are limited to the amount of ammo you have on hand. With dry fire, you are working on the basics like the draw, re-holster, and reload. Once you feel more comfortable with drawing and acquiring a good sight picture, you should work on reloads. Remember to go slow and work on the correct form before you start speeding up.
As you are doing your dry fire, remember you are building muscle memory, so you are the same every time you draw or reload. It is essential to wear the clothing you would typically wear when carrying or competing. Being consistent with what you wear, your firearm and the holster’s location will all help make you better at drawing your gun and acquiring a faster sight picture.
A great tool to add to this is your phone/camera. It is one thing to do the reps, and it feels good, but watching yourself can improve and see where you’re messing up. You might think you’re John Wick, but after watching yourself, you will realize you’re more like Barney Fife.
I hope that after reading this, you start adding dry fire to your daily routine and become an even better firearm owner. Stay safe, and I will see you at the range.
We have added Accura PVC Patches to our store! Get yours now at https://accuraoutdoors.com/product/accura-pvc-patch/
Great article, Ben.
I could add that dry firing practice has helped my trigger control immensely. I also added another angle to dry firing practice. That is, using dummy rounds during live fire exercises.
I typically shoot a standard sized 1911 in 45. These are seven round mags generally. I made two dummy rounds – no powder and no primers. I mixed them up with the live rounds and loaded them up. So, I didn’t know where they were placed in the mag. When, unbeknown to me, a dummy round was chambered, I could immediately see any flinch when my trigger released.
Seeing the flinch made me concentrate on my trigger compression. This is the focus exercise I needed to assist my in compressing rather than pulling the trigger.
Bayou52