You may have heard about dry firing, whether you own a firearm or not. As more and more people become gun owners, the question has started to pop up from time to time: What is a dry fire? For many gun owners, it is a crucial part of their training routine.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss:
- what dry firing means
- why it’s considered so important for so many gun owners
- the benefits
- safety precautions
What is Dry Firing?
Dry firing simply means firing a gun without any live ammunition. It’s an excellent way for you to practice your technique, trigger control, aim, and sight picture without the expense and noise that comes along with live firing.
When a gun is dry fired, the firing pin of the gun strikes the back wall of the chamber, and you hear a clicking sound. For many gun owners, this is an essential practice for nearly all types of firearms, including rifles, handguns, and shotguns.
Benefits of Dry Firing
One of the most significant benefits of dry firing is that it helps to improve your shooting technique by allowing you to perfect grip drawing, front sight, and trigger control. In addition, it can help you to learn the correct trigger pull motion and practice resetting triggers. It may also help minimize (a simulated) recoil, make follow-up shots, and achieve faster target acquisition.
Another advantage of training with a dry fire system: You can do it practically anywhere. And with some firearms, it is also very low noise. For instance, with the use of snap caps, which are dummy cartridges made of plastic or aluminum, you’ll be able to fire your gun without making any noise.
It’s easier to consistently practice your shooting technique when you don’t have to be at the range. This makes dry firing an excellent training tool for gun owners who want to improve their shooting technique.
In fact, many law enforcement agencies, their officers, and military personnel use dry fire practice as part of their training systems. This can be a way to simulate real-world action scenarios. This helps with not only training but with keeping officers’ shooting skills from falling behind.
By regularly practicing, you can build muscle memory, improve your reaction time, and become more comfortable with your gun. Each of these — and especially all of them combined — can increase your confidence and accuracy when shooting.
Safe Handling
Dry firing can be a controversial subject because some gun owners believe that firing a gun without a bullet can damage the firearm. This is an important point: Although this type of firing is safe for most guns, it can be potentially harmful to others. For instance, older guns or guns that are not built to withstand the repeated impacts of this method may get damaged, and the breech face or firing pin may malfunction or sustain damage, as well.
Remember to check the manufacturer’s instructions. Only dry fire your gun with a chamber that has been cleared of all bullets and ammunition. After all, live ammo means live fire training, which is the exact opposite of dry fire training and dry fire drills.
It’s critical to practice safe-shooting techniques even when dry firing. This will further develop your safe-shooting skills while helping you practice.
- Always remove any ammunition from the chamber and magazine before dry firing.
- Make sure that you are in a safe and secure location (away from any potential hazards).
- Never point your gun at anything you do not intend to shoot, even if you think there is no ammunition in the chamber.
Long story short: Dry firing is a good way for novices and experienced shooters alike to become better shooters without having to spend a lot of money purchasing ammunition and renting lanes at the shooting range.
Most modern guns are designed to handle the process without any damage. (Just be sure to check your owner’s manual before you start dry firing.
Let the firearms experts at Sporting Systems know if you have any questions. We carry the MantisX System in store. Which is a data driven approach, analyzing every shot (dry fire) to generate actionable data you can use to improve.
