Dry Fire Training
This is perhaps the most cost/time effective tool there is for increasing your scores, the unfortunate side is that I hate it and don't do it. I try and try to get into a routine of dry fire practice and I simply do not do it, I blame it on being lazy but I really don't know why. I shoot about 3 to 4 hours a week and send about 400 to 500 rounds down range during that time. I get a lot of trigger time so I think I am getting away with something. However, when I compare my targets to other shooters with a similar average, their targets look better than mine. They have much better groups and in talking with them they have a much better understanding of their trigger control. If I were to spend some time doing dry fire, I am 100% certain my scores would go up. So at some point soon, I am going to have to bite the bullet and do it.
Dry fire is the process of shooting the gun without ammo. There are many different techniques that shooters use, and, depending on if you have iron sights or a red dot, you may do it differently. Some shooters dry fire without aiming the gun, they are trying to develop a very intimate feel for the trigger. Some shoot against a while wall, others shoot at a target on the wall. Myself, on the rare occasion I do it, I shoot against a target and feel this is the best way. I have a bit of explaining to do though so that you understand why.
Shooting is both a simple and complex process. Simply put, you aim, you pull trigger, gun goes bang. However, take a moment to think of how much is involved in that process.
First is aiming. What is required to aim the gun at that 10 ring?
You have to have mental focus
You have to have a good balance in your stance, can't aim if your body is swaying
You have to have good control of the body, especially your shoulder muscles
You have to have stamina, oddly enough, standing still requires a lot of effort
Second is pulling the trigger. How hard can that be, right?
All the while you are aiming, your brain has to be controlling a lot of muscles in your body to maintain the point of aim
You have take your trigger finger and move that trigger perfectly straight back & inline with the gun
While pulling the trigger, you have to prevent the rest of your hand from moving while the trigger finger is moving
This simple task of moving the trigger finger is exhausting and you have to realize the point of no return
If I were to dry fire by sitting on a couch, how much would I learn about the rest of that shot process? Would I be able to see if my stance is stable enough to prevent swaying around like a drunken sailor (sorry navy guys)? Would I be able to learn and recognize my level of exhaustion and be able to identify if it is time to bench the gun? Would I be focusing as intently as I should to increase my mental focus?
There are very few things in life we do that directly contribute to the process of shooting a gun accurately. How often do you have to stand perfectly still? How often to you have to extend your arm straight out and hold it perfectly still? How often do you manipulate your trigger finger without allowing the rest of your fingers and hand move? How often do you turn your head to one side while staring down the length of your arm? Many of these things are very unnatural and because of that, we naturally don't develop the controls required for shooting accurately.
Being that dry fire does not cost a penny, but yet can replicate the shooting process completely (with the exception of the bang), it is the perfect training tool to develop the fundamental skills.
Dry fire practice, in my opinion, should be done in exactly the same way you shoot. You will maximize your time investment by developing all the things that contribute to the perfect shot. Let's go through some of the major items.
Stance is very important. You must find a way to stand perfect still without wobble or sway. You can stand anywhere at anytime but that really won't help. You need to measure yourself while standing to see if you are swaying. As a shooter, we know if we are pointing the gun at something and we are swaying back and forth, the target is moving - that is our feedback to this exercise. You use that feedback to control your body to prevent that sway.
Shoulder muscles are pretty big muscle groups designed to do some very hard work. They are not delicate little muscles at the far end of an appendage designed for precise control of something. Rather, they are big muscles designed to move a long appendage with force and power. That shoulder joint and muscle group are very complex due to the freedom of motion that joint provides. How often in day to day activity do you use your shoulder muscle for precise work? In shooting, we use our shoulder muscle as the primary muscle for aiming the gun so we have to train our body to manipulate that muscle group to do what is required. Dry firing against a target will provide feedback to our mind and it will start to develop the control we need of it.
Stamina is very important in shooting. If you "run out of breath" before the shot breaks, you are going to start rushing it and we all know what that results in. But I think there are two kinds of stamina, running develops a stamina that keeps the body moving. Dry fire develops a stamina that keeps the body steady. Both require physical effort but a different kind. Running uses large movements of the appendages with little precision whereas shooting (dry fire) uses extremely small movements with great precision. The muscles have to work completely differently and therefore fatigue differently.
Mental focus and stamina. Oh how things have changed over the years. Stop and think for a few minutes about all the new things in your life that did not exist when you were a child. If you are in your 40s or 50s you know that list is long. Now, how many of those things are part of your normal thought process. A perfect and simple example is this. When you were 10, you didn't have too many demands on your time. When you turn 30 and got married, had kids, got pets, bought a house, and of course a job to support all of that, you have a lot more things in life requiring your attention. As a shooter, you have to turn off all those thoughts and focus only on shooting. For me this is VERY difficult.
I believe that dry fire practice, when performed as if you were actually shooting slow fire, will help you to overcome all of these weaknesses and develop strengths in their place.
DRY FIRE WARNINGS
Dry fire can be performed on most center fire guns without worry, however, rimfire guns can be damaged by this practice. You can purchase "snap caps" which are dummy bullets that allow you to dry fire without damage to the gun. The best place to understand this issue for your gun is to read, understand, and follow the instruction book that came with your firearm!
Another concern regarding dry fire is to NOT simulate recoil of the gun!!! Guns, when the bullet fires, will recoil, you do not need to assist that action. I believe that by simulating recoil during dry fire you are in essence training yourself to anticipate the recoil which will ultimately lead to shooting high on the target. The last thing you want to do is train yourself with a new, and very bad instinct and reaction.