Originally Posted by
Arctic1
I agree with F2S, that you need to define the platform and application.
Even so, I'll offer up some thoughts. If my thoughts are any good, I cannot take credit, as people way more skilled than me already worked this stuff out.
Common training areas for both platforms:
The way I break down my dry fire is to focus on different key areas. These include, but not limited to:
-Presentation drills; draws for pistol, mounting the rifle
-Trigger control; slow and at speed
-Reloads
-Malfunction clearance
-Target transitions; vertical and horizontal
-Turns
As you can see, there are quite a few areas where you can increase your skill by dry firing.
A key thing here is to really push yourself, and set hard time standards. You will need a timer as well, so you can set par times. Miniature targets are a good investment as well.
I am not nearly good enough to clean the time standards below consistently, but I am getting closer.
Now for some specific platform drills. Note that these can be further broken down in order to work on different parts of the skill. The distances can be changed up as well, with appropriate changes to par times.
Pistol:
Slow fire for groups:
No time limit
No target, just a blank wall
Draw your pistol, acquire your sights and break the shot without disturbing the sights
Good warm up drill. Don't aim at a specific spot on the wall.
Breaking the shot, at speed:
Par time is 1.2 seconds
No target, just a blank wall
At the beep, draw your pistol, acquire your sights and break the shot without disturbing the sights
The goal is to learn to break the shot at speed without disturbing the sights
Drawing the pistol:
Par time is ideally sub 1 second
Target at 10 yards or simulated 10 yards
At the beep, draw your pistol and aim it at the target. Do not pull the trigger.
The goal is to develop a quick and consistent draw.
This can be trained at extended ranges as well, in order to force yourself to bring the gun up fast even though the target is further away. You can also implement movement for this drill, ie draw while simultaneously moving to the side, front or rear.
Reloads:
Par time is ideally in the 1 second range, depending on status of gun.
Target at 10 yards or simulated 10 yards
Start with the pistol presented at the target, at the beep drop the magazine and insert a fresh one. Acquire a new sight picture. Do not pull the trigger.
The goal is to work the mechanics of the reload, so that you can do it smoothly, quickly and consistently.
You can break this down by practicing steps of the draw: 1) drop magazine, draw a new one and stop when the mag is near the magwell; 2) start with a mag near the edge of the magwell, insert it and roll gun back on target, acquire sight picture.
Turns:
Par time is not really important
Target at 10 yards or simulated 10 yards
Start facing either to the left, right or 180 degrees from target, at beep turn to face target while drawing, acquire sight picture and break shot.
The goal is to get comfortable turning towards the target while simultaneously drawing the gun, so you can get the gun up on target quickly.
Transitions:
Par time is 1.6 seconds
3 targets at 10 yards or simulated 10 yards, 3 feet apart
Start facing the targets, at beep draw your gun and engage each target twice.
The goal is to develop the ability to drive the gun to each target quickly.
You can change up the distance to target, and also the distance between targets as needed. Make necessary changes to par times to reflect this.
These are just a few examples of drills that I use.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks