Dry Practice Misconceptions - Updated 01-22-19

[LangdonTactical]

Most likely, because most dry fire discussions on PF are pretty simplistic, compared to what is being discussed and practiced by those on Enos and other USPSA oriented forums.

Understood, and I see the point for sure. I am a big believer in dry fire for sure, but it does get really complicated and approaching it correctly can make the difference between it helping you or making things worse. I think JC did a great job in pointing out some downfalls that many shooters fall into. Too often people are just told "you should dry fire" but they are not told how to dry fire.

Good stuff

[Mr_White]

Agreed, I reread Jay's original post and it is right on.

[Bratch]

If you persist in using "just the tip" of your trigger finger because you were trained that way, you're screwing yourself. If you're reading this you've likely taken formal training and you've likely been told to use just the tip of your finger on the trigger. I'm telling you to use how much ever finger you need to minimize movement of the gun. This requires experimentation. You may only need just the tip of your finger. You may need to jam your whole finger in up to the second knuckle. You need to figure it out, and now is the time. You'll know when it's right, because the sights won't move.

Several years ago when Tac Conference was in Tulsa, Wayne Dobbs showed a trick the help find your trigger finger placement. Wayne had everyone remove their slides and get a two handed grip on just the frame, you then worked the trigger watching the rails for movement. You would move your finger around on the trigger to find the placement that provided the least movement. Removing the weight of the slide helped exaggerate the movement especially on the polymer frames.

I found this to be a helpful exercise.

[Jay Cunningham]

By the way, the very first post was money! JC, you nailed it and I may have to steal the whole thing.

Thanks dude; steal away!

[Jay Cunningham]

Agreed, I reread Jay's original post and it is right on.

Thanks, much appreciated.

[BoppaBear]

Thanks for posting Jay. Lots of insightful info.

[Jay Cunningham]

Thanks for posting Jay. Lots of insightful info.

My pleasure.

[Chuck Haggard]

How did the whole thread go down the hole of a combo of trigger reset and press out technique? Kind of funny from where I sit

I think this part kinda got the ball rolling;

If you are worried about trying to simulate "catching the link" during dry practice, you're screwing yourself. BANG-CLICK is something I wish I could purge instantly from my students, but instead I need to rely upon 3,000 to 5,000 repetitions. Such is life. If you've been trained to "catch the link" (press the trigger, hold it to the rear, gun cycles, sights back on target, let the trigger out to reset point, press the trigger again) you've been taught a technique that isn't particularly helpful. You're far better off simply relaxing your trigger finger during the recoil of the gun and being ready to fire that next shot when the sights fall back down on target. So with all that said, quit trying to simulate catching the link during dry practice. It's not doing anything useful.

[Lofty]

Sorry to come on board so late.....I have a point I would like some comment on...
I have a single action 9mm pistol South African Beretta copy...
When using snap caps for my first "shot" I then simply continue to aim the gun and press the trigger
which is now "de-activated"....is this of any benefit or should I always cock the hammer
thanks for the help

[JeffJ]

That's exactly what you should do, assuming that you're dry firing a string of shots. Anytime you "reset" whether that's back to the holster, or to a ready position for another rep - you should rack the slide.