Always look at the sights when dry firing.

[Tactical Black Belt]

I have developed this habit as a redundant safety. Whenever I need to dryfire any firearm whether it be to dissemble it, check the trigger pull or whatever I use the sights. Why? Just in case I somehow overlooked a round in the chamber I will be aware of where the bullet will go. When you sight at something that you know will stop a bullet it adds another layer of safety. If I am outdoors it is usually the bottom of a large tree right where the trunk meets the ground. Inside I aim at the baseboard where corner of the floor and two walls intersect. Plenty of lumber there to stop any common handgun bullet or at least direct it into the unoccupied crawlspace under the house.

Maybe I am being overly careful but if it can happen to Bill Jordan...

[UNM1136]

Uh, yeah...it is a rep. Wall drill. Every time. Even when working on other people's guns.

Sorry, I ache, have some painful damage, and am a little short.

pat

[Jay Cunningham]

I'm always scanning and assessing when I dry fire.

Head on a swivel, bro.

[Darth_Uno]

I quadruple nerd check. I've got a target I stuck on my basement wall, so if I really screw up it'll sail through that, through the walkout wall, and through 500' of woods/brush into the neighbor's house.

[Alpha Sierra]

One most certainly does not need to look through the sights every single time to know where the bullet will end up. Knock yourself out if you think you need it, but it's neither mandatory nor universal for safe dry firing or gun handling.

[Zincwarrior]

I'm always scanning and assessing when I dry fire.

Head on a swivel, bro.

Aiming while dry firing is for chumps. Point dry firing is the only way to go.

Aiming leads to target shooting which leads to shooting competitions. And competitions will get you killed on da steetz.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Related. I sometimes practice firing from retention positions with my SIRT laser death ray. You can be accurate at closer distances.

You should look at your sights when dry firing a real gun. So when you put a hole in the wall and your wife isn't home, you can put a picture over it. Just a joke.

[Zincwarrior]

Related. I sometimes practice firing from retention positions with my SIRT laser death ray. You can be accurate at closer distances.

You should look at your sights when dry firing a real gun. So when you put a hole in the wall and your wife isn't home, you can put a picture over it. Just a joke.

Here is a man who is truly wise.

[Bart Carter]

I always try to dry practice to my NPOA. Sight alignment is confirmation of that for me.

[Dave T]

I fear I'm dredging up ancient history, thus proving my age and curmudgeon status and this will be dismissed out of hand. But not wanting to appear a coward I'll charge ahead anyway. I remember Jeff Cooper (250 Class in Dec. 1977) saying one should look at the sights for every round fired in practice, live or dry. He said this wasn't because we would or could always see our sights in a fight but because by looking at the sights in practice it verifies our hands, arms, shoulders, and head are in alignment and...drum roll goes here...so that the hands, arms, and shoulders will be pointing the gun where we look (target/assailant).

Mr. Cooper said it more eloquently that I did but I always remembered that lesson. So like the OP I look at my front sight for every shot, live fire and dry fire, not for safety reasons but to constantly program that muscle memory of where the hands, arms, shoulders need to be to point the gun where I am looking. As Cooper put it, we don't need the sights to aim the shot but to verify our aim is correct.

YMMV,
Dave