On the "dark side" of dryfiring...

So, the question becomes: How to structure one's dryfire practice so that it:
(a) builds only the rights habits; and
(b) does not build any of the wrong habits?

What specific exercises to include/exclude, and how to properly execute them? Do any specific rules need to be established and followed (in addition to the safety rules, of course)?
 
The Cornered Cat has an excellent section on dryfiring safely.

http://www.corneredcat.com/article/practice-time/dry-fire-safety/

In terms of not learning bad habits, the key is trying to avoid doing things that teach bad habits--as much as possible.

So, for example, although I have some firearms that would require cycling the slide or cocking the hammer for each shot, I tend to do my dryfire practice with guns that have a double-action trigger so I don't have to cock the hammer or cycle the slide.

When I dryfire, I make a point of focusing on my stance and keeping my grip proper so I'm also practicing those things in addition to working on my trigger technique.
 
Let's add that dry fire isn't just to practice trigger control and sight alignment -- although it can be excellent for that. It's also a good place to practice your drawstroke (working into your solid shooting stance), especially if you regularly carry in a holster that isn't allowed under the rules at your shooting range. For example, if you get most of your drawstroke practice using IDPA-legal strong side holsters, but actually carry in the appendix position, then you should be practicing your appendix draw at home in dryfire.

Dryfire is a great place to wring out your new holster. Never ever ever put a live gun in a holster until you've worked with it in dry fire for at least 50 draws, and have assured yourself, using a disabled or well-checked unloaded gun, that the holster will hold the gun securely with the trigger guard completely covered at all times.

With a properly disabled gun (not simply unloaded, but disabled with a barrel blocker or training barrel), you can use dry fire to practice using cover within your own home. Somewhere in your house, there's a place where you can see the front door opening, but where you are concealed from those who enter. Where is that place? Have you practiced getting in and out of position with your eye on the door? (Similarly: bedroom or safe room, hallway outside the kids' rooms.)

Once you've learned the footwork for moving with the gun in hand, you can practice that footwork while also keeping the sights aligned and practicing your good trigger press in dry fire. Again, much safer with a disabled gun than a simply unloaded one -- and the tools to disable the gun are so cheap and so easy to use that there's really no excuse not to put that extra layer of safety in place while you practice. If you don't have a barrel blocker, you'll be limited to practicing your movement in just one location, with only one target which is in front of your absolutely trustworthy safe backstop.

You can't practice everything in dry fire. Keep that in mind. You can simulate a little recoil management with the help of a willing friend, but mostly you're going to rely on a good mindset.

  • Never dry fire in a lazy or sloppy way, or with less than full concentration on what you're doing.
  • Always use the exact same grip and stance that you use for recoil control, even though you 'know' the gun won't recoil when you press the trigger.
  • Don't get in the habit of holding the gun in ways that wouldn't work well when shooting live.

Hope that helps.

pax
 
One more thing: as with any other type of practice, it's really destructive to spend a lot of time and energy repeating the wrong thing over and over. If you want to avoid practicing the wrong stuff, start by getting some good training from a qualified professional instructor.

Don't expect you can learn physical skills solely watching videos and reading books. You would not expect to learn the physical skills of how to swim or rock-climb from watching videos, so why expect that the physical skills of gunhandling would be any different?

The threads stickied at the top of the T&T training provide some great places to start.

pax
 
"If you want to avoid practicing the wrong stuff, start by getting some good training from a qualified professional instructor."

It is always a good advice to seek professional training. But I do think that being a critical thinker, questioning one's assumptions and engaging in self-reflection from time to time is just as important. ;)
 
I used to dry fire quite a bit, and never ran into a problem of bad habit development. I have never tried to rack the slide during a string of fire.

As Frank has noted, your range time should easily "overwrite" most dry-fire errors, largely because your errors should manifest themselves on target.

The one danger I have heard about dry-firing that I believe has merit is that it can erode the habit of always believing one's firearm is loaded and treating it that way. That isn't the sort of error you want to discover at the range.
 
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