Dry Fire Training

The best part of dry fire training is, is that it’s the cheapest way to train. The only barrier to entry is the requirement to have a firearm for concealed carry and a holster. Despite being free, it’s highly beneficial for shooters of all skill levels.

Dry fire will help you identify and weed out any deficiencies in your chosen gear without the distraction (possibly danger, if your gear is bad) of live ammunition. Those deficiencies come in many forms. You might discover that you are unable attain a solid firing grip on your pistol quickly. This might be caused due to the size of your firearm, the holster, where the holster sits, or where you wear your pants. 

Dry fire practice is where you can safely identify gear failures, whether it’s the holster coming loose on draw, or your retention being too tight.

1. Your Draw

There is a lot more to carrying a firearm than simply purchasing a holster and learning how to shoot. Once you get your holster you need to find the proper ride height for it and begin practicing your draw; if your standard clothing changes you need to practice more (ex: going from summer clothing to heavy winter clothing).

The draw stroke includes a few steps:
1. Clearing your cover garment with your support hand
2. Bringing your support hand to the firearm for a proper grip
3. Following through to presentation
4. Assessing whether a shot needs to be taken

Many people will only ever practice their draw stroke while standing; you should be practicing while seated as well. On average we spend 6.5 hours seated; longer if you are an office worker. With so much of our time being spent seated, it’s prudent to practice our seated draw.

For the commuters in the back of the room, practice your draw stroke in your vehicle. Learning how to defeat the cover garment called the seatbelt, as well as angling yourself properly is in your best interest. (Pro Tip: Window tint is your best protection against nosy neighbors)

2. Grip & Trigger Press Training

Grip: Your “stock” with a handgun is your hands…obviously. Your grip determines how much control you have of your firearm, so much so that it can compensate for a “sloppy” trigger pull. You have undoubtedly heard of the 60/40 “pressure split” between your two hands. Your support hand applies 60% of the pressure, your primary hand applies 40% of the pressure so you don’t butcher your trigger press.

The idea is your primary hand is responsible for three things:
1. Firing grip on draw
2. Pulling the trigger
3. Dropping the magazine
Your support hand is responsible for four things:
1. Clearing your clothing
2. Recoil control
3. Fixing issues
4. Reloading

Let’s be honest… you don’t know what a percentage feels like, I don’t know what a percentage feels like, and the person who started this idea was tripping on some acid. If the meme above isn’t any indication of how you should grip your pistol, grip it as tight as you can until it hurts, release pressure until it doesn’t, and that’s how hard you should be gripping it.

Trigger Press: Before we talk about how you can achieve a good trigger press, let’s talk about what you are trying to achieve. Your goal is to be able to squeeze the trigger until the firearm discharges without the firearm (more specifically, your sights) shaking.

There is a lot of chatter out there about the “right amount” of trigger finger to apply in order to get a good trigger press. The fact of the matter is, there is absolutely, without a doubt, no set amount of trigger finger that will attain you a good trigger pull. Some triggers, such as a DAO trigger, might require you to use more of your index finger than a SAO trigger.

A good trigger pull doesn’t depend on how strong or how gentle you are. It all depends on how well you’re able to isolate your index finger’s muscles from the fist making muscles in your forearm. This is something that you’ll gain the ability to do as you practice and grow accustomed to needing to do it.

In the mean time, if you find your sights shaking as you squeeze the trigger, you can try loosening your strong hand’s grip. As you squeeze the trigger, the muscles in your forearm will tense up your other fingers; tightening the grip.

The Test/The Penny Drill:

Once you think you’ve acquired the proper grip/trigger press it’s time to test it. Throw a penny on the top of your front sight while the (unloaded) gun is at the ready, place your support hand on the firearm, and then try squeezing the trigger. If the penny stays on the sight you’ve got a solid grip & a solid trigger press.

If it falls, you have some adjustments to make which will require troubleshooting on your part, or the assistance of a competent shooter critiquing your technique.

Author’s Note: I hate this drill so much because I suck at balancing stuff.

3. Reloads

This one segues perfectly into the “Pay-To-Play” dry fire practice perfectly. You can practice your reloads almost identically at home without ammunition as you would at the range and you can do it one of two ways for free.

1. Insert an empty magazine & have one in your carrier. Draw, trigger pull, drop mag, insert fresh mag, rack the slide until it locks (if you pull the slide until it locks back, you’ve pulled it back far enough to chamber a round).

2. Lock the slide to the rear, insert an empty magazine, and have an empty one in your carrier. Have the firearm presented, drop the magazine, insert the fresh mag, hit the slide release.

If you want it to be more practical, you will have to purchase some snap caps like these ones. With snap caps you’re able to practice your reloads exactly as you would at the range (minus the slide locking on the last round fired of course) as well as clearing malfunctions if you know how to simulate them.

Make sure that everything is set-up as you would normally carry it.