Dry Fire - Negative Effects?

[txdpd]

I'd wager that at least 95% of shooters one thing in dry fire (the ones that bother) and something completely different on the range.

Dry fire done correctly doesn’t put holes in anything.

Where the holes show up in the paper is a reflection of how well we execute and how consistently we execute, before the bullet leaves the muzzle. When we're shooting it's easy to fall into a negative feedback loop, we get focused on where the holes are on the paper, we divert attention from being fundamentally sound and consistent at the things we can control, and the result get worse. It's a mind game. There's no feedback in dry fire when we pull the trigger. We operate on the assumption that we're getting good results, whether we are executing correctly or not, it's positive feedback. When we dry fire, we don't get any results that can draw our attention away from dry fire. Imagine that you're trying to shoot a good group, the results are poor and the more your focus on where the holes are in the paper the worse it gets. Then you pick up the pace, quit worrying about the holes in the paper, because you're focusing on being sound at speed, the results improve.

Dryfire is very beneficial in that we have positive outlook on the results that we presume we are achieving, when we get the results it doesn't always work out that way, we tend to be very negative about the result. The results on paper are a validation of what we do before the bullet leaves the muzzle, if we are not seeing the results we want it's time to emotionally divorce ourselves from the results, and assess what we are doing or not doing, and making adjustments that are consistent to both dry and live fire.

[Alpha Sierra]

There's one concept that stuck out at me from Ben Stoeger's book on the subject: There are certain skills that you must know how to do correctly in live fire before you can use dry fire to increase repetitions on. Like sight alignment, trigger press, and grip. If you don't know what those three things should look/feel like in live fire, dry fire will likely train bad habits or be a waste of time.

Example: how much sight misalignment can you tolerate during a DA trigger press at 5, 10, 15, 20 yds? Only way to know is to fire bullets. Then you know what the picture should look like and should not look like during dry fire.

[LSP552]

There's folks better suited then me already answering, so I'll just add this. It's easy to get sloppy with dry fire. Pay attention to your concentration level. Personally, if I dry fire more than 10 minutes or so I start just going through the motions because my concentration is faltering. I saw better results from multiple short sessions then one longer session.

I suspect the pros are the pros because of their concentration abilities. They have the mental capacity and conditioning to do the boring fundamentals without that mind wandering or "going through the motions". They are the Larry Bird and Tiger Woods of their sport. Amazing ability to focus on fundamentals for long periods of time of dedicated practice.

Yep. I stop when my concentration starts to wonder. If you don’t, it’s really easy to introduce bad habits. This also applies to live fire. It’s time to stop when it becomes nonproductive.

[hufnagel]

@Alpha Sierra wouldn't you just want to have as minimal sight picture error as possible all the time?

[Alpha Sierra]

@Alpha Sierra wouldn't you just want to have as minimal sight picture error as possible all the time?

I don't think so. Not all the time.

I would think that an ideal sight picture is the one that lets you get the required hits as quickly as possible. Sometimes that would be a sight picture with "minimal error", sometimes no sight picture would be needed at all.

[Bart Carter]

Something that I dry practice is natural point of aim. Not just practicing aligned with a target or from the holster, but also around corners and from different positions.

If my natural point of aim is grooved, all I need to do is confirm my sights are on and press.

Only a few minutes a day and I can keep my groove.