On the "dark side" of dryfiring...

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ezmiraldo

New member
One thing that has been bothering me a lot about dryfiring lately is that some peculiarities of dryfiring (and resulting habits developed during dryfiring) might negatively affect one's effectiveness during "real" shooting (and much more so during real-life engagements that involve body-threat response and strong tendency to default to one's habits).

Here're couple of examples of these "peculiarities" and "habits":
1. "Shooting" without recoil. This affects one's grip dynamic, posture dynamic, sight re-acquisition, etc.
2. With double-to-single action pistols, one either has to rack the slide (or cock the hammer manually) for the second trigger squeeze to be single-action, or use double-action repeatedly if one practices shooting multiple times per draw. This situation is worse for firearms that require their slides racked in order to reset the trigger (e.g., glocks).

The danger is that such discrepancies between dryfiring and real firing might lead to bad habits being developed during dryfiring (e.g., wanting to rack the slide after the first round is fired, using suboptimal strategies for mitigating recoil). This reminds me of the incident that happened to some cops who were trained to pick up their brass after firing on their departmental shooting range. When they got into a real-life engagement, their habits kicked in and they automatically started picking up brass after emptying their revolvers. Expectedly, this turned out pretty badly for the cops who ended up dead but with pockets full of spent brass casings...

What do you folks think about this? Am I making this into a bigger problem than it ought to be? Does dryfiring actually hurt more than it helps?
 
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I believe you are overthinking it.
Dryfire to gain a consistant sight picture and to learn your guns trigger. Don't worry about the other side of it, as long as you are doing an equal amount of live fire shooting.
 
A few things --

First, the benefits of dry fire practice are significant. It's an excellent way to get enough trigger repetitions to develop good, unconscious trigger control.

Second, any possible "bad habits" developed during the course of thoughtful dry practice can be "overwritten" by an appropriate amount of good live fire practice.

Thus any possible downsides of dry practice are (1) outweighed by the benefits; and (2) are manageable and avoidable.
 
Dry firing is useful. It does not reproduce live shooting, but few things do. Notwithstanding, it helps with trigger control and learning processes.
 
I do agree that sloppy dryfire practice can hurt a person in terms of recoil management.

The key is to insure that you take a proper grip on the gun and maintain a good stance while you dryfire. If you do these things (as you would at the range) you shouldn't be learning bad habits.

Your second point is worth considering. I tend to dryfire with double-action guns so I don't "learn" to cock the hammer or rack the slide for every shot.
 
One other thing: keep dry fire practice sessions short. Keeping practice sessions short assures that your practice is focused and disciplined. Think through each repetition and concentrate. That level of intensity can only be properly maintained for short periods.

So five minutes is fine. Five minutes of perfect, focused dry fire practice several times a week is worth more than an hour of practice once a month.
 
Just five minutes of dry fire practice each day will make you a better shooter. I used to make it part of my morning routine- the house was dead quiet, no interruptions.
 
Alternating dry fire with using a duplicate blow back air gun helps.
The airgun provides some recoil and holes in the target for accuracy reference.
There's excellent air gun copies of most of the popular handguns, these days.
 
I find dry firing almost as beneficial as live firing, I contribute it greatly to my shooting skills. You really get to focus on the trigger pull and what your sights are doing during it.
 
Thanks for your thoughts, guys! I realize the benefits of dryfiring - especially for things like practicing draw, getting used to new gun/holster, getting used to one's sights and trigger. I guess my problem is that I dry fire more (in terms of time and trigger presses) than I do live fire practice. I try to do everything during my dryfire practice as similarly to live firing as I can, but I still wonder what sorts of bad habits I might be unintentionally developing, and what habits I might default to if, god forbid, I find myself in the middle of a real firefight...
 
I agree with what I see as the general consensus that dry firing is beneficial, but I applaud your rigorous scrutiny of your shooting habits. I can add something about the policing brass scenario you described. I grew up kind of poor, and I religiously hang onto to fired brass. Sometimes to my detriment.

Once years ago I found myself deep into the Northwest Territories without enough food to return. I spotted a caribou running through the brush, and I shot him with my Remington 35 Whelen bolt gun. Before I could work the bolt and find enough opening for a second shot he was down for good. After I had the meat cut up and secured in a pack, I went back to the place where I made the shot and did a through search for my empty cartridge without success. That night in camp I found the 35 Whelen case in my coat pocket. I had followed my childhood habit of opening the bolt, catching the empty case in the air, and only then closing the bolt for my second shot. That habit followed even in a situation where I risked starvation. That winter I went on a long program of practice to break myself of that habit.
 
This is why I attend a shooting course at least once a year. Weird stuff can creep in. However, I find that I forget tactics and such more than damage my technique.
 
No "dark side" oF dry firing, IMHO, rather it is one of many techniques used to develop shooting skills, when used properly it is quite beneficial. Shooting off the bench is not the same as offhand shooting or hunting, but, like Bullseye shooting with a 22, it is a better way to develop the marksmanship skills necessary for successful hunting or combat/SD shooting skills. Dry firing allows one to practice sight alignment, trigger squeeze, breath control, and for those of us who don't get to the range anywhere as often as we'd like it allows time spent handling and getting the feel of firearms, getting familiar with them.
I like an analogy with bicycling, I bicycle to work. People I know who have exercise cycle have told me how different it feels to get on a real bike on the road, but the exercise cycle strengthens the heart and lungs and legs so one can cycle comfortably. Recoil ? That's like climbing hills on a bicycle, the best way to do it is to do it gradually.
 
I guess my problem is that I dry fire more (in terms of time and trigger presses) than I do live fire practice.
Click to expand...

With the price and difficulty locating ammunition that we are currently experiencing, I am certain that you are not alone in that. I am in the same boat these days. It is, at least for me, a simple way to make the best out of a bad situation.
 
Here is what I do.

I wait until I am dressed for the day and wearing my CCW gear of choice. I unload the pistol and check to make sure I have done so at least 3 times. I holster the gun and cover it with my carry garment. Then I do about ten draws and press a shot of dry fire each time. I typically pick a spot on the fridge or something in particular and break the shot. I do use spent brass as a snap cap btw.
 
I agree that you can build bad habits.

Doing a tap, rack, bang after each dry fire to cock the pistol can be good, but don't ingrain it too much.

I will alternate between a tap, rack, bang after each dry fire, and slowly re-cocking and reholster. The big thing is to not repeat something you don't want to do very often and certainly not in the same sequence every time.
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You might have built some strong habits unknowingly if you set up for a malfunction drill and instinctively load the chamber!
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Vermonter, I recommend getting some DIFFERENT COLOR snap caps rather than using spent brass. It's another safety/sanity check when you dry fire with something that looks different during loading and press checks.
 
I think your concerns are valid. I heard a story in training about an officer with my department who trained in disarming a subject with a handgun. In training they practiced taking the gun away and then handing it to their partner for their turn. Unfortunately that became muscle memory and when he had to apply it in real life he performed a perfect disarm only to hand the weapon right back to the aggressor and get shot. Can't remember whether or not the officer survived but it just goes to show that muscle memory isn't a made up concept but a fact that can either work for you or against you.

As valuable as dry fire training is I most certainly wouldn't cut it out. The only way I can see to counteract this bad muscle memory you may be developing is to shoot live fire more often, or take a break from it while shooting live fire more and then go back to it. With time you should be able to work out the kinks.

Disclaimer: I am in no way shape or form a certified firearms instructor, my advice is speculative at best. This is just what works and makes sense for me, YMMV.
 
Dry practice (since the gun does not fire) accomplishes breath and trigger control in addition to developing muscle in the neck and arms. As I see it, there are no negatives and as stated, once one becomes confident and competent with breath and trigger control, the rest will fall into place when at the range and using real ammo.
 
45Gunner, you are neglecting to consider the effects of mental conditioning. As has been pointed out, you can develop some very bad habits, if you consistently practice something you would not want to do in the heat of the moment.

That said, I support dry firing. It is very good practice for certain things. Just be careful you aren't practicing things you don't want to do.
 
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