Draw from holster practice with weight of loaded pistol.

[ford.304]

Yeah, dummy rounds are easy to make. Even if you don't have a press you should know someone who does who can make some for you in a few minutes. The lack of primer is pretty obvious. I like to leave the pockets open because then it's obvious if you did something dumb and put powder in them -- it falls out the bottom.

If you're feeling paranoid, You can toss on some spray paint so you can tell at a glance that they're not normal rounds.

I like to use a retired or off brand magazine for it. Of course, that's easier when crappy 1911 mags are < $10 each.

[Slavex]

I am of the position that home made dummy snap caps, unless brightly colored and completely different looking than your normal reloads, are a disaster waiting to happen. Factory made ones are cheap, and if really feel the need for weight wear a weighted wrist band. I have literally lost cost of the number of hot water tanks, tv, pets, windows, doors, walls, reloading presses, safes that I know people have shot and near misses with pets and spouses, tvs and more, that happened when a homemade round made it into the homemade dummy round pile. A brain fade, a phone call, a pet rubbing up against your leg and you don't notice the live primer in the round you load into your magazine. Or like one of my friends yelling up the stairs at his kids to get to sleep and stop fighting, "If I have to come up there, there is going to be trouble" BOOOM. And there goes the 6 month old big screen in his home theatre room. Kids come racing downstairs crying and apologizing for fighting (I think they were 5 or 6). He had a live round somewhere on the floor even though he swears he never took them into the theater room due to it being his dryfire room. Solid concrete room, so nice and safe for dryfire. Yet somehow part way through the night a live round got in there. Then he had to explain to the kids he'd screwed up and it wasn't their fault. I don't think they ever believed him.

Those ones from STActionPro.com are the best on the market as far as I am concerned and are cheap to boot. They also last forever.

[GardoneVT]

So...While at home, I 've been practicing my draw from holster as various speeds. All the while trying to quickly obtain an accurate sight picture with an empty pistol. So far so good, I'm making marked improvement.

When at the range or desert, I still practice my draw. But now, I can safely(as safe as one can be) draw with one loaded. I've notice the weight is significant enough to affect it in a negative way, e.g. slower to acquire sight picture.

I'm about to purchase my first press, so I can produce some rounds minus primer and powder. I think this is a good long term solution. In the meantime, what can I do at home to simulate a draw with the weight of a loaded pistol?

IMO-and this is just my risk-management opinion, not a cast iron philosophy- the authentic nature of training with a loaded magazine, even with dummy ammo, is not offset by the risk of A Potential Problem.

If im dry firing, it is a separate activity from drawing -that way, I can triple check that I have only the Red Practice Stuff in the chamber before beginning. It may not be as effective from a training standpoint as combining the two activities together. But I never practice drawing from the holster with a gun loaded with ANYTHING. Too many shooters sharper then myself have botched this with terrible consequences.