Skiprr wrote:Glocks are entirely different. You release the striker, and the Glock trigger becomes essentially pinned to the rear until you reset the striker. In that regard, Gaston Glock didn't help us out for dry-fire practice.
Three ways to learn stuff on this Forum: 1) Read what others write; 2) Ask questions; 3) Post stuff yourself and wait to be corrected by someone else.
A friend saw my "Glock's unfriendly to dry fire" comment and sent me a PM that basically said, "Dude, all you need is a little piece of cardboard and you can get repetitive dry-fire trigger pulls all day long on a Glock."
Dirt simple solution. Don't know why I didn't think of it on my own (my excuse--and I'm sticking to it --is that I use Glocks less than 1911s and XDs):
Jumping Frog wrote:First, it lets me practice reloads while dry firing. I'll dry fire, drop the mag, insert a new mag with snap cap, rack and fire again.
Second, I use snap caps at the range as well. I'll insert a snap cap at random in a magazine full of live rounds. When I hit the "dud" round, it let's me practice quickly reacting to the need for "Tap, Rack, Bang". Another benefit of as snap cap at the range is serving as a diagnostic tool for trigger control and anticipating recoil.
You can also use the SnapCaps at home to simulate failures (e.g., stovepipes, double-feeds) and practice clearing them without live ammo. To learn and practice one-handed clearing techniques, that's definitely the way I'd recommend: until you know what works for you and your particular firearm(s) one-handed--and have put a lot of reps into practice--it is not a good idea to use live ammo.
And, yep, I always have SnapCaps in the mag when practicing reloads. Any tactical or emergency reload means getting the gun back into the fight, and that includes drilling the motor functions of seating the mag, racking or releasing the slide, and reestablishing a strong grip as smoothly and quickly as possible. Most pistols are gonna stay in slide-lock if you insert an empty magazine and try to release the slide. Ain't gonna work.
Speaking of "most" pistols, it's worth mentioning some trigger differences. With dry fire, you get one one pull of the trigger to release the hammer or striker. If you want the feel of that trigger break again, you have to reset the hammer or striker. But some guns will let you practice multiple-shot dry-fire drills better than others.
A good 1911 trigger will move about the same, short distance whether the hammer is cocked or not. The trigger break is so close to the end of the full motion that you can successfully practice multiple trigger presses in the same "string" even though you will have only one actual trigger break.
XDs are similar, although the trigger throw is much longer. On my stock XDs, I can actually feel where reset would occur. A few function checks will probably let you feel that same spot so that you can work on multiple "shots" without letting the trigger swing all the way to position zero.
Glocks are entirely different. You release the striker, and the Glock trigger becomes essentially pinned to the rear until you reset the striker. In that regard, Gaston Glock didn't help us out for dry-fire practice.
I first used a laser boresighter around four years ago to help a student in a basic pistol class recognize the difference in the sight picture she was obtaining, and the resultant actual point-of-impact. LaserLyte has turned that notion into dry-fire training tools: http://www.laserlyte.com/collections/lts. You can get bore inserts or caliber-specific laser cartridges that briefly activate a red laser when the firing pin falls. Bingo. In most light conditions, you can instantly see where your round would have hit. Combine that with their laser-activated training target, and you can "fire" off a few, then go display your hits on target before clearing its memory for another string. Pretty nifty. And they offer a discount to NRA certified instructors.
Another tool I think almost indispensable is a shot timer...and not just for those who shoot IDPA or IPSC. You need to set par times for yourself for basic techniques in order to understand if you can accomplish them, reliably, quickly enough. And in order to make them quicker, you need to be able to challenge yourself with accurate measurements in very small increments. Enter the shot timer.
Say you want to make sure you can move off the "X," draw your handgun from concealment, and get off an aimed shot at a baseline of 2 seconds. A friend standing there with a stopwatch can't be accurate enough to help. Set your shot timer for a par of 2 seconds, then set it for a variable start delay--say two to five seconds--so you don't know when the first beep is coming. Get to where you can consistently achieve it within the 2-second window, then move it to 1.9 seconds. You can even start these drills with a blue gun so you don't risk going too quickly and flinging your $2,000 Wilson 1911 across the room.
Working on the notion that slow is smooth and smooth is fast, you can gradually increase your speed in a controlled, measurable way...just like you would in the gym doing step-loading to add to, in a programmatic fashion, the amount of weight you lift.
I bought a little CED7000 several years ago for not much over $100, and it's still going strong. Has more features than I'll ever use. One I do use, though, is the ability to set multiple par times. The CED allows up to five par preset beeps following a single "Start" press. This is ideal for things like move-draw-two-rounds (par 1); then move again and two more rounds (par 2). Or draw and fire (par 1); move and fire (par 2); move and tap-rack drill and fire (par 3). You can get imaginative.
And, of course, if you have access to a range that allows drawing and rapid fire, you now have a shot timer that will precisely measure your split times and overall performance.
Last thought for the day: look around the Web and you'll find some videos that are suitable for dry-fire practice. Another strong reason to make certain you have a STERILE dry-fire environment: do not shoot that 60-inch LED TV you just bought! These two, for example, are a couple that can be burned to DVD and played on your bigscreen:
Jumping Frog wrote:One point I emphasize -- actually, I would use the term "overemphasize" -- is I unload my carry gun in a different room, leave all ammo in the other room, and then come into wherever I am practicing. I'll load the snap caps and practice in a room that contains no live ammunition. I want to maintain a BRIGHT CLEAR DISTINCT LINE between my normal, everyday carry and a dry fire practice session.
This. And again.
For me, one of the significant of advantages of dry-fire practice is that you aren't restricted to the rules of the square range. You can practice at close-contact distances, and in 360-degree scenarios: two very important factors in potential real-world situations that are typically not possible on the live-fire range. Both are soapbox issues for me.
A third factor is the interior of your own home. Learning the best way to clear a structure in a shoot-house at a commercial training facility is immensely valuable. Planning and practicing the best way to secure your family and mitigate a threat in your own home: irreplaceable.
When you consider the number of firearm "accidents," administrative activity--loading (is it really loaded?), unloading (is it really unloaded?), press-checks, clearing malfunctions--account for the vast majority of incidents.
Unfortunately, a lot of people take administrative actions for granted. I know some who think they're simply too experienced to worry about practicing these things.
Guess what? Nobody is too experienced to ignore basic administrative practice. And practice frequently.
The best way to do that is dry-fire with SnapCaps.
--is that I use Glocks less than 1911s and XDs):