Does Dry Fire Training Help?

Dry firing is the practice of firing a firearm without any live ammunition in the gun. The user will pull the trigger, and the hammer will drop, but nothing else will happen. Dry fire training can be very beneficial and can help the user to improve their firearm skills. The user does not even need to go all the way out to a firing range to practice dry firing, as it can be done within their own home or land. So how does dry firing work exactly? And how does it help the user improve their firing skills?

How do you dry fire train?

To dry fire train, you must first make sure that your firearm is unloaded and pick a point on a target to aim for. You simply aim for this target as you would do normally with loaded ammunition and after you have dry fired once, you can simply go again after resetting the trigger. It is crucially important, however, that you remember the rules regarding gun safety, and be sure to fire away from any other people or animals. You should also double check that your firearm is unloaded, just to be extra safe before you begin.

What are the benefits of dry fire training?

Firstly, dry fire training helps the user to practice trigger training without developing a flinch, which is a natural reflex to develop when shooting a loaded gun. The lack of a loud bang means that the user will not develop this preemptive habit and so when the user moves onto using guns that are loaded with ammunition, they won’t find themselves flinching as they would have otherwise. Dry firing also allows people to practice shooting in locations where they would not be able to with live ammunition, granting the user extra practice time that they would perhaps not have gotten if they had needed to travel to a firing range every time they wanted to practice. 

Dry fire training also trains the user’s body to pull the gun’s trigger cleanly, whilst teaching the user important skills regarding safe gun handling. Dry firing will allow you to improve your stance, trigger control and sight alignment, all of which are very important in improving your control over the gun. As well as those reasons, the very opportunity to just maintain your shooting skills makes dry firing worthwhile, as skills will diminish without practice.

Is dry firing bad for your gun?

Whilst dry firing is a safe way to practice your skills, excessively dry firing a gun can damage your firearm. The firing pin in a gun is supposed to strike a primer, which would normally be located within a cartridge. However, when dry firing, a cartridge is not present, and so there is nothing for the pin to strike. This can lead to the firing pin becoming damaged, so it is important not to dry fire your gun constantly. However, there is a way around this issue. All you need to do is invest in some snap caps. These are dummy rounds which the firing pin will strike, therefore preventing any damage that could be caused. This would mean that you could reap the benefits of dry fire training without fear of causing any damage to your firearms.