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Thread: Dry-fire drills?

  1. #1
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    Dry-fire drills?

    So I've got a carbine, a bunch of mags and a warbelt.

    The only rifle range I have access to is indoors, and it's $20/hr.

    I've been doing mag change drills in my apartment to make up for the low amount of live fire I get.

    Typically I do three mag changes from my belt, dry firing between each one, then transition to pistol after the third mag, and do two mag changes with that. I have an orange dot sticker as a

    consistent aiming point on my far wall. (Concrete wall facing woods)

    I do this routine about ten times a day. It works up a decent sweat and makes my manipulations much smoother. I start out slowly and go faster until I fail, then slow down until I get it right.

    Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Is this a good drill, or is there something else I should be doing? Any adjustments?
    Last edited by 1911-A1; 08-30-11 at 22:42.

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    Your post reminded me of my apartment living years (before marriage, family and a mortgage). I, too, spent hours dry practicing with all variety of pistols, rifles and shotguns. I learned from Clint Smith the procedure and methodology of dry practice and always made sure to religously follow an established routine before each session. Like you, I always made sure to use a specific room in the apartment and only aim at one specific target so as to be in compliance with Rule #4 (exterior brick wall with natural berm beyond it and woods beyond that). I always took care to remove all ammo and loaded mags from the room prior to beginning a dry practice sequence. I was specifically taught not to practice speed reloads or malfunction drills during dry practice sessions. These drills are designed to get an empty or non-functional gun back up and running, so if you do them successfully the gun should go "bang" at the end of your sequence. As the years went by, however, I got lax with this rule and would sometimes dry practice them with empty mags or mags with dummy rounds loaded.

    Based on my experience, I would strongly advise that in your dry practice sessions you not perform mag changes that include cycling the action and then dropping the hammer. Even though you may take precautions to remove all live ammo from your dry practice area, if you were to accidentally grab a mag that contained a live round you just might find you have a hole in the wall where your orange dot sticker used to be. Ask me how I know that this can happen! Yep, it happened to me once and served as a wake-up call that even I can screw up royally when I disregard the lessons of my instructors. All it takes is one round left in a mag that you thought was empty and you will get a "bang" when you expected a "click."

    I would suggest leaving speed reloads and other magazine changes to the range and reserving for dry practice the fundamentals of presentation, sight picture and trigger manipulation. This is just my experience, but it also reflects what I have been taught over the years by people with a lot more experience than me.

    -Mike

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    I would respectfully disagree. As with anything gun related using your brain, and taking the appropriate safety precautions there's no reason why one can't practice reloads. If instructors are giving that kind of advice, then IMO they are defaulting to the lowest denominator.
    i hate to say it but I've seen it in other part of training. Instead of training up, expecting more from people, they sometimes train down and either lower requirements or train for the lowest denominator.

    If someone is incapable of separating live ammo from orange training ammo and not have an accident, then they should really rethink guns as a hobby or as a method of protecting their family.
    Again, just think, pay attention, don't become complacent and be safe. Now one can train at home until their heart's content.


    Just saying....

    R.
    Last edited by rickp; 09-01-11 at 15:00.
    "In the end, it is not about the hardware, it's about the "software". Amateurs talk about hardware (equipment), professionals talk about software (training and mental readiness)" Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. On Combat

  4. #4
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    I just wish somebody would invent a chambered laser bore sight that is engaged when the primer area is struck by the firing pin.
    It's hard to be a ACLU hating, philosophically Libertarian, socially liberal, fiscally conservative, scientifically grounded, agnostic, porn admiring gun owner who believes in self determination.

    Chuck, we miss ya man.

    كافر

  5. #5
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    I'm pretty sure that exists.

    Or are you taking a shot at me? I can't tell.
    Last edited by 1911-A1; 09-01-11 at 20:27.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by 1911-A1 View Post
    I'm pretty sure that exists.

    Or are you taking a shot at me? I can't tell.

    Chambered bore sights do exist, I've never seen any that are activated by the firing pin. I'm not taking a shot at you.
    It's hard to be a ACLU hating, philosophically Libertarian, socially liberal, fiscally conservative, scientifically grounded, agnostic, porn admiring gun owner who believes in self determination.

    Chuck, we miss ya man.

    كافر

  7. #7
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    Well in that case:

    http://www.laserlyte.com/new_product...-40_LT-45.html

    The Laser Trainer Cartridge activates for 100 milliseconds each time the firing pin strikes the cartridge.
    Last edited by 1911-A1; 09-01-11 at 20:42.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by 1911-A1 View Post

    Well whatya know. Not exactly cost effective but there it is.
    It's hard to be a ACLU hating, philosophically Libertarian, socially liberal, fiscally conservative, scientifically grounded, agnostic, porn admiring gun owner who believes in self determination.

    Chuck, we miss ya man.

    كافر

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by rickp View Post
    I would respectfully disagree. As with anything gun related using your brain, and taking the appropriate safety precautions there's no reason why one can't practice reloads. If instructors are giving that kind of advice, then IMO they are defaulting to the lowest denominator.
    i hate to say it but I've seen it in other part of training. Instead of training up, expecting more from people, they sometimes train down and either lower requirements or train for the lowest denominator.

    If someone is incapable of separating live ammo from orange training ammo and not have an accident, then they should really rethink guns as a hobby or as a method of protecting their family.
    Again, just think, pay attention, don't become complacent and be safe. Now one can train at home until their heart's content.


    Just saying....

    R.
    Rick,

    Fair enough. However, I don't think anyone would accuse Clint of training to the lowest common denominator. If that were the case, dry practice would be discouraged altogether.

    I just reviewed my old "Handgun Dry Practice" handout. Simple reload drills with empty magazines (i.e. nothing in them, including dummy rounds) are OK. What you want to stay away from is any dry practice drill which involves inserting a magazine, manipulating the action, and then pressing the trigger. If I read 1911-A1's post correctly, this is what he described doing (dry fire in-between mag changes). This is also what I did that got me into trouble. Avoiding this practice minimizes the potential for an ND.

    A simple mag change (drop old, insert new) should not create any issues as long as there is no manipulation of the action afterward.

    1911-A1: PM me if you would like a scanned copy of my old dry practice handout. It is geared toward handguns, but there's no reason the same drills couldn't be applied to the carbine. I need to review it every so often because it is easy to forget things and fall into bad habits.

  10. #10
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    Hey MP,
    I know what he meant and I still don't agree. I practice realods with the orange dummy rounds including running the slide and pulling the trigger. As long as you pay attention use the proper gear I think you'll be fine. Why wouldnt you be? Again, one just has to really make sure no live ammo is in the area and use only training rounds.

    BTW I also have a dry fire practice sheet if you want it. just PM me.
    "In the end, it is not about the hardware, it's about the "software". Amateurs talk about hardware (equipment), professionals talk about software (training and mental readiness)" Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. On Combat

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