TargetTalk

This is a question I am posing ( to myself ) and others...

We all use Dry Fire Practice ... Are there hidden pitfalls in this
established means of training ? Things we should be aware of ?
For example... how useful if at all, is dry firing during match sessions ?



Elmas.

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The only minor downside is that you get less feedback in that no bang/recoil with dry firing.

It is however, in my opinion, of the best (and underused) training tools. It can be done anywhere, anytime - has no distraction points (holes in paper) making it a clean technique with simple but extremely useful feedback.

You can treat dry firing exactly as per real firing and do almost all the training processes with it. In matches it can be be very helpful for people who suffer trigger nerves, just to remind them 'what it feels like' in a safe (as in no score element) manner.

Oh and for those people that moan about the costs of ammo and match grade airgun pellets - it's free !!!

Rob.

Rob:

Agree with most; minor semantic quibble here. I would argue that you get "cleaner" feedback on the critical things (align, trigger, mental follow through) with dry fire- even though you get "less" total information.

Does that make sense?

Also, to Elmas- yes, during a match dry fire is an absolutely critical diagnostic tool and method for getting back on track when (not if!) you get out of your shot plan groove.

Cheers
Steve

Don't be dry firing to polish the sight picture and while doing so learn to hesitate on the trigger.

Steve Swartz wrote:Rob:

Agree with most; minor semantic quibble here. I would argue that you get "cleaner" feedback on the critical things (align, trigger, mental follow through) with dry fire- even though you get "less" total information.

Does that make sense?

Also, to Elmas- yes, during a match dry fire is an absolutely critical diagnostic tool and method for getting back on track when (not if!) you get out of your shot plan groove.

Cheers
Steve

Totally agree Steve, that's was sort of what I was trying to say. I guess the inbuilt computer 'water muddyer' made things not quite as clear as I intended, just for a change ;-)

Rob.

Steve Swartz wrote:Rob:

I would argue that you get "cleaner" feedback on the critical things (align, trigger, mental follow through) with dry fire- even though you get "less" total information.

Does that make sense?

Also, to Elmas- yes, during a match dry fire is an absolutely critical diagnostic tool and method for getting back on track when (not if!) you get out of your shot plan groove.

Cheers
Steve

Yes , to me it does make sense .. cos you wont know where your 'shots' are going.... Dry fire should be limited to situations where live fire training is not available , with .177 pellets , saving on ammo is not an issue really ( except perhaps with the most frugal and cost conscious of shooters ! ). Even live fire training on the back of a target is more rewarding....

Also , perhaps dry fire could help in 'knowing' the trigger pull of a new pistol , or to remember the trigger of a seldom used one ...


As for Dry Fire during a Match... I dont know , never felt I needed to do it , although I do shoot a lot of sighters at the start till I get back to 'dead calm' . I wonder how many on here regularly use dry fire in the middle of a match ?



Steve mentions getting out of one's "shot plan groove" ... very nicely put. We all tend to get out of our "shot plan groove" after a longish string of good shots that seem to be going to last till the end of the match when suddenly ( something ) happens and we are out of our "shot plan groove"... For me its a difficult time of not knowing what exactly happened? exhaustion ? some old bad habit crept back into my shot routine... with no one to observe and point something out.. one starts suspecting everything... (( I even know people who tamper with the sights ! ))

What should one do in this situation.. I just tend to try and take my mind off things for a bit , sit down and rest , and remind myself I'm not a Gold Medal finalist and that it no big deal , then carry on as best I could.

Elmas

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I've found it far more conducive to focus on the what I did right during the match and then working on replicating that rather than trying to figure out what I did wrong and trying correct it.

For me, getting back in the groove means trying to do things right rather than concentrating on why things went wrong.

For me, getting back in the groove means trying to do things right rather than concentrating on why things went wrong.

That sounds like a good bit of advice.

Elmas

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Elmas:

dry firing during match.

I make dry fires after each bad shoot, ej. when I shoot an 8, or a bad 9.

I make dry fire after each abstention, and after each rest time. I take one or two rest times during a match.

Dry fire is like your partner, you are calm and know you can shoot reliably.
it allows you to enter in competition concentration.

after an abstention, generally comes a bad shot, which is the one that liberates an obstruction (who gave place to the abstention), it allows you to liberate the good shots. This bad shot must be dry.

Nano

Posted: Wed Sep 2006 Post subject: dry firing

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I make dry fires after each bad shoot, ej. when I shoot an 8, or a bad 9.

I make dry fire after each abstention, and after each rest time. I take one or two rest times during a match.

Dry fire is like your partner, you are calm and know you can shoot reliably.
it allows you to enter in competition concentration.

after an abstention, generally comes a bad shot, which is the one that liberates an obstruction (who gave place to the abstention), it allows you to liberate the good shots. This bad shot must be dry.

Nano

Thank you Nano... sounds like something I am definitely going to try.

Somehow I feel its going to be beneficial .


Elmas

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Hello Nano, look what I found ....

Mikhail Nestruev (Russia) - Air Pistol : Initially a rifle shooter, Nestruev switched to pistol. At the time of the video, he was ranked #1 in Men's Air Pistol by the ISSF despite the claim that he never dryfires.

What do you say to this ??

The title of this thread was " the possible pitfalls" of Dry Fire Practice , but the thread was a succession of posts extolling the virtues of dry fire practice , so much so that I have decided to use it in matches .
Can anyone , see A N Y possible pitfalls in dry fire practice and illuminate us ?



Elmas

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Elmas,
So what ? - the exception doesn't prove or disprove the rule. If the guy dry fired he may have won more and shot better scores. If of course there is any truth in that article.

Feel free to dry fire or not but don't try and discredit the whole practice based on the supposed actions of a single shooter.

Rob.

RobStubbs wrote:If of course there is any truth in that article.

Scott's interview with Nestruev seems to confirm it.

You are of course correct though Rob, the exception doesn't prove or disprove the accepted wisdom.

As you intimated, MN still hasn't equalled, let alone beaten, Sergei Pyzhianov's AP60 World Record. If he doesn't take the advice of this forum he will never improve ;-)

David Levene wrote: Scott's interview with Nestruev seems to confirm it.

Oops I missed that - my excuse was that I was stuck in the wilds of France fishing all last week ;)

Rob.

Elmas said :

"The title of this thread was " the possible pitfalls" of Dry Fire Practice , but the thread was a succession of posts extolling the virtues of dry fire practice , so much so that I have decided to use it in matches .
Can anyone , see A N Y possible pitfalls in dry fire practice and illuminate us ? "

I find that at the higher levels of shooters there should be no disadvantages, becasue the shooter has learned to practice (dry fire) with "perfect" (for them) form.

With new shooters dry firing can be problematic if they do not understand what it is they are trying to accomplish. Too many just reinforce bad habits with dry firing using "imperfect" techniques. I like to have the new shooters concentrate purly on keeping the sights alinged while the shot breaks, and do this regardless of sight background. We actually encourage them to dry fire at bare walls, operating TV screens, trees, bushes, pictures of friends, partial targets (half targets turned in various directions), etc. to develop focus on the front sight.