dry fire training

dry fire training is something I need to do more of. I'm sure there is a recommended or preferred way of doin it. Do you guys just aim at a blank wall ? or do you have a ref. point to watch for dot movement during the squeeze?

Tape a target on the wall.


I have to stand(not sit) in the spare bathroom to have the furthest distance I can get for my house.

It depends on what you are working on. I have done very little dry fire with a dot scope but hours and hours with iron sights. If you are dry firing with iron sights I suggest getting as close to a well lit blank wall as you can get the muzzle of the gun. I have a piece of foam core poster board that I hang from the ceiling of my basement airgun range that is blank on one side and has a small black dot on the other side that when the gun is raised it appears to be the size of the bull of the target at normal range. By dry firing at the blank side you have no aiming distraction. It's all about sight allignment and trigger squeeze. Also by having the wall or poster board in my case that close to the front sight the eye cant focus beyond it and you will build up muscle memory in the eye of how to focus only on the front sight. Having the dot in your dry fire at that distance also keeps your focus at the front sight but it then brings in sight picture into the mix. It also makes it easier to see if you are not squeezing the trigger properly because you will see the front sight move from the dot when the trigger breaks if you arent pulling the trigger straight back. Then when you move away from the wall and shoot at the normal distance target you will be amazed at how sharp and black and clear the front sight will be and just how poorly you were focusing on the front sight before.

If you are dry firing with a dot scope I dont think distance matters as long as you have a target that appears to have the same size black as you would normally look at in your case 25 yds at your local range. During dry fire you want to have the same routine as you would have during live fire. The same amount of time between shots the same discipline of putting the gun down if something doesnt feel right everything just as you would if you were shooting a match. Dry firing is all about training the mind, you don't want to train your mind one way in dry fire and then do things completely different in a match. Between dry shots at the target visualize the dot being in the center of the target when the shot breaks and expect the dot to be in the middle of the target when the shot breaks.

my $.02, Scott

I think would "visualize" or mentally rehearse the trigger pull despite the centering of the dot. Seems to me the sight picture takes care of itself when my triggering is doing good.

I used to make a small black bull using PowerPoint and then print it out on 8x11 paper. I generally tried to make the bull size look about right if the barrel of the gun was a few inches away from it. Then one day during a league match I noticed that if I used the overall size of the target (i.e. the 21" x 24" rectangle) as a guide, I tended to shoot much better. Instead of trying to hold the sights in the black I was simply trying to hold center. Anyway, this created a need to change my dryfire targets so I could practice as I would normally shoot. The result was the following. They aren't perfect but they meet my needs. SF is on the left, TF/RF is on the right. (FYI, my first attempt at uploading a pic, so this may take a few tries....)

Grunt

What everyone else said above. I generally do dry fire with iron sights as I'm looking for sight movement. If I can get a good sight picture and consistently pull the trigger without the sights moving, I'm getting some benefit from the practice. I also go through the same breathing, same stance and movements as actual firing. Its about muscle memory. You'll get some benefit from lifting and holding the pistol, but an exercise routine with weights will get you the upper body strength to lift and hold a pistol for a 2700 match.

Make dry fire like other training and be sure you are working on something and not just pulling the trigger. Getting a smooth, positive, and consistent trigger pull is a favorite of mine, as I find that the hardest thing to do every time and the fastest way to throw away points if I don't. Do each 'shot' like you are shooting slow fire at a match and go through your full shot process. I often start on a blank wall just looking for a good trigger pull and no dot (or sight) movement when the hammer falls. Then I use a little black dot on the blank back of a target to simulate aiming at a target while still working on a good trigger pull. There is a time to just pull the trigger to train yourself exactly how it feels, but for most of this go through your full shot process so when you get to a match it won't seem so different. Quality over quantity.

A helpful tip someone posted years ago was that a 3/4" black paster (or a take a black marker to a beige one) at around 10 feet looks about like the 25 yard timed / rapid targets and at around 12-14 feet it looks like the 50 yard target. Don't have the original post with the exact numbers he worked out but those are close and it makes it much easier to set up a dry fire 'range' in your house that gives you the correct aspect for the targets.

BAsicly what Ive done is cut the 9 ring out of a 50ft target and stuck it to a white wall. at about 10ft it's a little smaller (appears ) than the scoreing black @ 50ft.....What Ive been workin on is starting my trigger pull just as the dot hits the top of the black and get the hammer to fall at the center with as little wobble as possible.....Funny thing Ive found thought is my triggers pull alot easier when I'm dry firing as apposed to actually shooting.... I try and get 10mins of .22 and 10mins of 1911 dry fire in a few days a week hopefully it will help....