Author Topic: Dry fire drill  (Read 7231 times)

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Offline chenjeffus

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Dry fire drill
« on: January 18, 2018, 10:46:58 PM »
HI all:
Just start to take interesting in USPSA/IDPA.   Just wondering if there are any suggesting what is the effective dry fire drill that we can do at home.   I searched on youtube, but there are some much of them, not sure which one should I follow.
thank you very much guys.

 

Offline pewpew4life

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Re: Dry fire drill
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2018, 11:18:02 PM »
El Presedente is a nice well rounded drill. Gives you turning, drawing, transition, and reload. Other than that, really drill your draw and trigger control.

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Offline Scarlett Pistol

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Re: Dry fire drill
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2018, 02:11:38 AM »
I'd suggest a system rather than just a drill. Steve Anderson has some excellent books. Ben Stoeger has some greet books too. I connect more with how Steve explains and teaches, but to each their own. They have many different drills meant to improve individual fundamental skills and then put them all together.
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Offline baldrage

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Re: Dry fire drill
« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2018, 09:19:47 AM »
Disclaimer ? I?m just an intermediate-level IDPA shooter and make no claim to any great expertise or skill, but here?s some free advice, FWIW.

I haven?t read the Anderson book, but I do have one of Stoeger?s dry-fire books.  It is good and very thorough, but you?ll need a fair amount of room and various props (barricades, scale targets, etc) to do the program. 

Some simple dry-fire drills to get you started while you are tracking down copies of those books and associated paraphernalia:

- Wall-fire (coin or empty casing on top of your slide, point gun at blank wall, try to pull the trigger as quickly as you can without coin/casing falling off)

- Dot Torture (not a speed drill, but gets you some practice with draws, reloads, and smooth trigger pull, also does not take much room; you can download target here:  https://pistol-training.com/drills/dot-torture)

- FAST (good practice for draws and reloads; does not require a lot of room; https://pistol-training.com/drills/the-fast)

- Strong-hand only/weak-hand only on a target of your choice (you can just use the larger portion of the FAST target; also good to do this as a wall-fire drill, with coin/casing on top of the slide)

- If you have room, shooting on the move (advancing and retreating) can also be worked in dry-fire.   Not something you can do at indoor ranges, but something you will see in virtually every IDPA match, so worth the time to practice in dry-fire, even if you only have enough room for three or four steps.

- As stated above, if you have the room, setting up three targets and shooting a Bill Drill is good practice.  Shoot it with two hands, then strong hand-only, then weak-hand only, and you?ve just practiced the first stage of the IDPA classifier.

You can download some scaled-down IPSC-type targets here: 
//tinymicros.com/wiki/File:IPSC_Scale_Printable_Targets.pdf

This 5? circle target is also a useful generic target for dry-fire and live-fire:  https://loungecdn.luckygunner.com/lounge/media/5x5-drill-1.pdf

The good thing about dry-fire is that you don?t need a real $100 shot timer ? any of the various free shot-timer apps for your phone or tablet will work fine. 

Key with all dry fire drills is to be honest with yourself and really concentrate on a good, strong grip, and focus on your front sight.  Without recoil, it is very easy to get sloppy and deceive yourself.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2018, 09:22:41 AM by baldrage »

Offline Mick-S

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Re: Dry fire drill
« Reply #4 on: January 19, 2018, 05:04:17 PM »
this has help me a lot.
https://www.itargetpro.com/

I mostly us it with the Quick Draw App. (an extra $5)
https://www.itargetpro.com/pages/quickdraw

Offline miller_man

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Re: Dry fire drill
« Reply #5 on: January 31, 2018, 07:46:28 AM »
Another vote for Steve Anderson's stuff. I think you can save a TON of time and get his book - "get to work".
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Offline IronicTwitch

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Re: Dry fire drill
« Reply #6 on: January 31, 2018, 10:22:04 AM »
Bottom line: get a shot timer and write down your times with a goal to improve

Dry fire will make your live fire more consistent and repeatable.

I'm guessing most all of us have the skills to get a M or GM card, just lack the consistency to do it.

For example, El Pres (99-11):
Turn and draw = 1.5 sec
6 shots = 1.5 sec (.25 splits)
Reload = 1.5 sec
6 shots = 1.5 sec (.25 splits)

All Alphas = 60 points / 6 seconds = 10.0 Hit Factor (97.45% score = GM!)

It's really that easy...  ::) :o O0

Offline LukeB

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Re: Dry fire drill
« Reply #7 on: March 23, 2018, 01:14:17 PM »
I would second getting a shot timer, either a standalone unit or an app on your phone. I have been dry firing without one for about a year, and although I saw some good returns, I think that working towards reducing par times for drawing and reloading etc will help my performance a lot.

I downloaded the free IPSC timer app. It has a dry fire setting which works really well for home practice.

As for drills, I would first concentrate on just being able to pull the trigger without the front sight moving. Then once you are confident in that, you can move to the other drills described and work on timings. A good test is to balance a penny on your front sight and try to consistently pull the trigger without it falling off!

Offline LukeB

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Re: Dry fire drill
« Reply #8 on: March 23, 2018, 01:16:27 PM »
I also made some IDPA targets and would use them for dry fire so I could learn the scoring zones. It helps to practice using what you will eventually be aiming at!

Offline rhart

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Re: Dry fire drill
« Reply #9 on: March 23, 2018, 01:53:59 PM »
Mike Seeklander has a daily dry-fire challenge you can follow along with on facebook. Mike is a good person and very knowledgeable. He does it live every morning or you can watch his old videos. Mike also has a youtube channel with lots of great videos.
Musashi:
- In all forms of strategy, it is necessary to maintain the combat stance in everyday life and to make your everyday stance your combat stance. (situational awareness).
- You can only fight the way you practice.
- If you do not control the enemy, the enemy will control you.

Offline levellinebrad

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Re: Dry fire drill
« Reply #10 on: March 26, 2018, 06:31:37 AM »
Draw to a blank wall: this will allow you to bring the gun to the correct eye. That is the first battle

Draw to a target and squeeze the trigger without letting the gun move

Draw to 2 shots on target

Draw to 2 shots and mag change then 2 shots on target

Draw to 2 shots and transition on the 2nd shot

Draw to 2 shots, transition to 2 shots, mag change to 2 shots, transition 2 shots


Take your dryfire outside.

Entering and exiting positions is where you will save the most time in the beginning.

Practice leaving a shooting position. Explode from that position and get to the next position as fast as you can.

Eye focus on the spot in the ground that your planted foot needs to land. If you are moving left to right your left foot is your plant foot.

As soon as you plant foot hits that spot, bring the gun up to the target and fire as soon as the other foot is in position.

Add the mag change as soon as you are fire your last shot in a position. The new mag needs to be in before your 2nd step is completed.


after you feel that most of this is a subconscious decision, move to turn and draws, draw from surrender, shooting on the move,
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Offline George16

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Re: Dry fire drill
« Reply #11 on: March 26, 2018, 09:02:19 AM »
I have Ben Stoegers books. I also bought a timer, 1/3 and 1/6 scale USPSA targets that I taped on my wall for use when i dry fire every night. On the 1/3 scale targets, 1 foot = 1 yard while on the 1/6 scale targets, 1 foot = 2 yards. Stoeger?s books walks you through the learning process and has a lot of drills that you can practice. The timer is a crucial element of the dry fire practice because it will get you accustomed to reacting to the beep during matches. However, do not sacrifice proper form over beating the par time during your dry fire practice.

The book has Bill, Blake, el presidente, transition, modified dot torture test and a lot more. It also makes you practice shooting with your weak hand. I have improved a lot since practicing with his books. I actually bought his live fire book also in conjunction with the dry fire book. My daily dry fire is augmented by at least 1-2 live fire exercises to validate what I learned during my dry fire practice. I also write down any mistakes I made so that I can rectify them during my next dry fire practice.

Here are my scale targets taped to my dining room wall. My wife doesn?t care as long as I take them down when she?s home ;D.



1/3 scale is 10? long


1/6 scale


I bought the scale targets from Benstoegerproshop.com for $14 plus $8 shipping.

Offline LukeB

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Re: Dry fire drill
« Reply #12 on: March 26, 2018, 10:36:48 AM »
That is an awesome dry fire setup! I agree on the making notes after each session so you know what to work on next time. I think it is important so you keep progressing and improving.

Offline inkw8ll

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Re: Dry fire drill
« Reply #13 on: March 28, 2018, 09:16:12 AM »
great advice on this thread. I purchased the Anderson and Stoeger books and I am currently reading those for dry fire drills and pistol control.
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Offline Joe Allen

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Re: Dry fire drill
« Reply #14 on: March 28, 2018, 01:10:34 PM »
I like levellinebrad's suggestions. Tightening up your splits shaves hundredths of a second off your time. Tightening up your target transitions shaves tenths or better. Efficient stage management can shave whole seconds off your time.