Best Dry Practice Drills for Trigger Control

[John Hearne]

I'm familar with the coin/case on the front sight and the wall drill. What other good dry fire drills are there for trigger control?

[MDS]

I only do those two, but I modify them once they get "easy." If you think you have the Wall Drill down, try doing it SHO and WHO. Humble pie a la mode.

The balanced-case drill is harder to do one-handed - at least for me - because it's so hard to keep the case balanced even without pressing the trigger. But two-handed, once I could keep the case on there indefinitely, I just speed up. I used to see how many presses I could get in a par time - say 10 seconds - without dropping the case. Honestly, I kind of stopped doing this drill because I seemed to spend so much time just trying to get the gun out in front of me without dropping the case.

[David Blinder]

I like to tape a piece of paper to a wall that has a small aiming point (1-2mm), put a pencil in the barrel and then sighting on the small dot from 1" away or less, try to make one single dot from the pencil being "fired". Make sure the wall will not be damaged from the pencil.

[MDS]

I like to tape a piece of paper to a wall that has a small aiming point (1-2mm), put a pencil in the barrel and then sighting on the small dot from 1" away or less, try to make one single dot from the pencil being "fired". Make sure the wall will not be damaged from the pencil.

That's more for target acquisition than trigger control...?

[David Blinder]

Target acquisition from under 1"? Don't think so. What I outlined is pure trigger control.

[Mitchell, Esq.]

Do the coin drills with a J-Frame, and add burpees/pushups/squats/running in place/jumping rope between the trigger press/weapon manipulation sets.

Also, do reloading drills with snap caps. You are "out of ammo" when the coin falls off the front sight.

10 burpees, pick up weapon off table, place coin on front sight, bring to high ready (position #3), press out, fire till coin falls, reload/press out/fire again - repeat.

Or press out, fire, retract, press out, fire...till coin falls off, then reload...

Get the fumble finger effect and make it work for you.

[MDS]

Target acquisition from under 1"? Don't think so. What I outlined is pure trigger control.

Ah! I understand the drill now. You actually hold the pencil up to the piece of paper, and dry-fire. If the gun moves, the pencil moves - and leaves a line on the paper.

Cool! I'll have to try this tonight!

[GearScout]

I have it on good authority that the cap on Burt's Bees Lip Balm is a 2.5-3 pound trigger pull. Dry fire practice anywhere.

[John Hearne]

I only do those two, but I modify them once they get "easy." If you think you have the Wall Drill down, try doing it SHO and WHO. Humble pie a la mode.


This was my reason for asking. I knocked out 33 with both hands and a dime on the front sight the other night and 15 WHO and SHO before I stopped and moved on to something else. I may start swapping the drill in and out of my routine.

[seabiscuit]

Little confused. When you "fire until the coin falls," do you rack the slide every time?

[Lon]

Little confused. When you "fire until the coin falls," do you rack the slide every time?

I imagine that he is shooting a gun that does not require the slide to be moved to reset the striker. Just a guess.

[ford.304]

So this always confused me about the coin drill.. I can get all the way through pulling the trigger without moving the coin, my sights don't move in their alignment on the follow-through - but the jolt of the hammer falling shoots the coin right off my front sight. The vibration bumps it off...

Is this just what happens when you have an over-built Ruger revolver and try to run this drill? Or am I probably doing something wrong.

[MDS]

This was my reason for asking. I knocked out 33 with both hands and a dime on the front sight the other night and 15 WHO and SHO before I stopped and moved on to something else. I may start swapping the drill in and out of my routine.

Try it with an empty case - I find it much harder than coins. The taller the case, the harder it is. I was using 38spl cases.

[MDS]

the jolt of the hammer falling shoots the coin right off my front sight. The vibration bumps it off...

Is this just what happens when you have an over-built Ruger revolver and try to run this drill? Or am I probably doing something wrong.

Same thing happened to me with both my snubby J frame and my big-ass K frame revolvers. The case/coin would literally jump into the air. What I did was put an empty case on the frame, rather than on the front sight. Anywhere between the front sight and the back sight, until I found a spot that didn't seem to vibrate so much.

[Mitchell, Esq.]

Same thing happened to me with both my snubby J frame and my big-ass K frame revolvers. The case/coin would literally jump into the air. What I did was put an empty case on the frame, rather than on the front sight. Anywhere between the front sight and the back sight, until I found a spot that didn't seem to vibrate so much.

I use a S&W 49.

The coin on the front sight jumps on hammer-fall. It doesn't fall off.

Practice!! Practice.

Obsessive compulsive dryfire...

[jthhapkido]

I use a S&W 49.

The coin on the front sight jumps on hammer-fall. It doesn't fall off.

Practice!! Practice.



How wide is your front sight? :p

[crofrog]

I recently purchased laser grips for my G19 and noticed when dry firing with the laser there is an ever so slight bobble after the trigger breaks. Is this normal, I think it has to do with parts of the gun moving because of trigger over travel and perhaps the striker hitting the breach face.

It doesn't seem to effect live fire very much. At 7yd's I can with a fairly high level of consistently make 5 shot 1" groups offhand. I just don't want to chase my tail over something that happens to everyone.

Thanks
Chris S