Improve your gun handling by doing dry fire practice drills. Read on and find out why this is advised by advanced shooters.
RELATED: The Ins And Outs Of Dry Firing To Get Better At Shooting
In this article:
Dry Fire Practice Drills: Enhance Your Shooting Skills
The Importance of Dry Fire Practice Routine
Dry fire drills are the best ways to improve your shooting skills with little investment. You don’t have to buy any ammunition nor ear protection and the only time you’ll spend money is when you need to buy snap caps.
Just remember if you will be engaged in dry fire training, make sure there is no ammunition in the firearm. You need to double check the pistol if it’s unloaded and never just rely on the mechanical safety for the trigger alone.
So without further ado, below are some of the best dry fire practice drills that will definitely hone your shooting skills.
1. Draw
3 Easy Handgun Dry Fire Drills from Springfield Armory – https://t.co/IHfaFaQs6Y #offgrid pic.twitter.com/Bkrdsoxs05
— Thomas Helperman (@tomhelperman) March 22, 2017
The primary purpose of this drill is to enhance the quickness of your draw and see your front sight on the target clearly. You may want to start a bit slower than what you are capable of then gradually getting faster as you continue.
You should have a clear view of the target from the front sight once you draw the pistol.
2. Turn and Draw
[instagram url=https://www.instagram.com/p/BOMGWspFbhX/ hidecaption=true width=625]This exercise is almost the same as the “draw” drill but you will begin with your back to the target before drawing the pistol. Get your head around quickly so you can easily pick the target.
See the front sight on the target then pull the trigger. This is not only a good dry fire drill for self-defense but also for shooting competitions.
And just like the simple draw drill, start slow until you obtain more speed.
3. Support Hand from the Draw
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In this type of drill, the gun will start from the holster then draw it using your strong or dominant hand. Transfer it to your support hand then see the front sight clearly to the target.
Switching your hands as swiftly as you can is very tricky so in the event, you drop your pistol, just let it drop. More often than not, what we do in training is what we’ll do in real life and to catch a loaded gun can have fatal repercussions.
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4. Balance Drill or Trigger Control
[instagram url=https://www.instagram.com/p/rFLFhjGkP6/?tagged=dryfiredrills hidecaption=true width=625]This drill is balancing a penny or an empty casing on top of the barrel behind or on the front sight. Other shooter uses metal washers instead of pennies.
All you need to do is balance the penny on the barrel then aim and fire. If the penny doesn’t move, that means you’re doing it right.
The purpose of this drill is to refine your grip and trigger motion so your sight will not move when you pull the trigger.
5. Transition of Target
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Transitioning of one target to the next in a precise and rapid manner can be very tricky.
This can be more difficult when you’re dealing with recoil during live fire. But since this is dry fire, we don’t have to deal with recoil.
All you need to do is select three targets and practice transitioning your gun from one target to the next. The key here is the visual focus.
You need to see the front and rear sights and target before pulling the trigger.
6. Reload
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With this dry fire practice drill, you start with the gun out of target then release the magazine and reload and aim the gun at the target. Make sure you see your front sight. You have to keep the gun up and don’t drop it down toward the waist.
You can also practice reloading while you’re moving.
7. Moving Drills
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In this type of drill, we are moving from point A to point B in the shortest amount of time. It will start with the gun in the holster and it will end once the gun is out on the target and we see the front sight.
You can move from the left to the right, forward and backward and a combination of both. And as you approach your final spot, make sure your gun is up chest high.
Want to improve your trigger pull? Watch this dry fire practice drill video from National Shooting Sports Foundation and take your shooting skills up another notch:
We all know the importance of practice if we want to get better in what we do. Dry fire practice drills are not only an effective way to enhance your shooting skills but it is also an inexpensive way to train.
If you want to join a shooting competition or you just want to be an accurate shooter for self-defense then dry fire practice drills are the way to go. With regular practice and unyielding determination, you’ll eventually be the shooter you always wanted to be.
Do you know other dry fire practice drills in mind? We would like to know more about it. Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
UP NEXT:
- How To Fix The Top Pistol Shooting Errors: Part One
- Can’t Draw From Your Holster At The Range? Range Drills: Part 1
- 36 Best Handguns You Will Ever Need
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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on August 10, 2017, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.
