Dry Practice

Shooting Practice

How do you get better at something?

Practice.

You’ve all heard it.

“Practice makes perfect.”

“How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.”

“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is practice.”

And it’s true. The only thing I would change is that it’s not practice that makes perfect, it’s perfect practice. Practicing crappy makes for crappy performance.

What does this have to do with shooting?

Everything.

You can’t get better at shooting without practicing your shooting. Some form of practice 2-3 times per week will have you shooting wildly better than you are now in just a few short months. (You know, February, April, June. The short months.) You just have to do it.

But it’s hard to get to the range or to your favorite shooting spot that many times a week. Especially if you add in the driving times, the expense if it’s an hourly range, the cost of ammunition, the list of chores your husband or wife have for you, spending time with those pesky kids, etc.

That brings us to dry practice. You might hear that referred to dry fire practice, but since there’s no firing, it’s really just dry practice. I have also heard it referred to as ammo free practice. All of them mean the same thing. Presenting your weapon, getting a great sight picture, and pressing the trigger to get a click.

It doesn’t matter what sort of rifle, pistol, revolver, or shotgun you are using, it’s the same. Only the distances involved really change much. Most people dry practice with pistols, but you can dry practice with a rifle or shotgun, perhaps in the garage for a longer fetch. I will continue the discussion as if it were handgun.

So how do you dry practice?

First, remember that safety is paramount. Remember that the four rules of safety apply to dry practice just as much as they do to range practice or unfortunate encounter.

Put up a target. Do NOT use something that is there permanently. The memory of dry practice can cause an unfortunate incident. I use a pink Post It® note. Then I take it down and throw it away. It’s full of virtual holes anyway.

Then decide how long you are going to practice. Set your phones off for that period of time. Put the spouse and children on silent mode. (Explain to them if that’s a problem that you are doing something to protect them.)

Then practice. 

I recommend that you practice the fundamentals of your presentation first, and slowly. At least ten repetitions of presenting your weapon until you have a good sight picture with your finger on the trigger, and take a smooth trigger press. Do this until you are smooth, then speed up. Do take the press to a click though. You should never waste a trigger press.

As you practice more and more, you get smoother, and with smoother comes faster. But even if you are a grand master, start slow when dry practicing. Then when smooth, speed up.

If you find yourself hurrying, or getting frustrated, stop the dry practice. You can’t do perfect practice under those conditions.

I only practice for 15 minutes at a time, and that’s enough if you do it regularly. Alas, I don’t. So I am aiming this at me. Do it regularly.

When you are done with the time you have set:

• Tell yourself that dry practice is over.
• Take down your temporary target.
• Get your gun back in the condition you want it to be in.
• Turn the volume back up on your cell phone and kids.
• Turn your spouse back on.

There you have it.

Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.

Remember the four rules,

DaveJ