A few days ago, my friend, Jon Bissett from Outrider Training Group, posted a fantastic thread on X (formerly Twitter) encouraging folks to stop overthinking dry fire and get started. While I didn’t completely 100% agree with every little detail in his thread, I agreed with the general take, premise, and approach. In fact, I quoted him with a lengthy post giving folks a simple prescription to start with. I’ll include that same prescription in this post while I set the stage for a monthly series of posts where we will build on that initial prescription and improve the quality of our dry fire practice sessions as time progresses. The goal of the series is simple: improve marksmanship by getting better at dry fire practice.
What do you need to get started?
Jon nailed this right out of the gate in his post. You need your gun, an aiming reference, and, most importantly, you need to pay attention. Nothing more, nothing less. None of the fancy, and sometimes expensive, dry fire aids are necessary. I think some of them can be helpful and beneficial, but they aren’t required. Not even the Mantis X that, as some of y’all know, I am fond of. There is no barrier to entry here other than one’s own determination and desire to practice and improve.
Of course, the devil is in the details. Which I pointed out in my response to Jon, but will dive a little deeper into here.
Details About the Gun
Chances are that folks reading this have a serviceable modern handgun available to them to practice with. Chances also are that folks reading this may have heard somebody say that they shouldn’t dry fire because dry fire will damage their gun. There is some truth to dry fire causing damage to a firearm. However, that truth almost never applies to a modern gun. If you are concerned by potential dry fire damage, then I will encourage you to read this post for a deeper exploration of that topic before proceeding with the rest of this post.
Now some modern guns don’t lend themselves to dry fire practice without a little help. To be more specific, I am referring to semi-automatic pistols with magazine disconnect safeties. This is because dry fire involves, with the exception of DA/SA (double action / single action) pistols, manipulating the slide to reset the trigger and pressing the trigger a lot. With a magazine disconnect safety, an empty magazine will need to be inserted in order to actuate the trigger and the slide will be locked back by the empty magazine every time it is cycled. This is frustratingly slow and tedious. If your gun has a magazine disconnect safety, then keep reading this section. Otherwise, feel free to skip to the next section.
An easy fix for the magazine disconnect safety issue is to use snap caps or dummy rounds. However, I don’t like that because that translates into picking up a bunch of caps or dummy rounds frequently and stuffing them back into the magazine. I find that also slow and tedious. Not to mention that having enough caps or dummies to fill an entire magazine or two requires an additional expense.
Another fix for the magazine disconnect safety issue, which I prefer because it’s less expensive, far less tedious, and not time consuming, is to use a MagBlok or a similar product. The MagBlok is a brightly colored magazine insert shaped like a cartridge with a cut out along the top. When inserted, they will prevent a slide from locking back when it is “racked” and the cut out will prevent the insert from being picked up and chambered as the slide returns into battery. These are available in packs of three for $8. I actually make use of these regularly in my dry fire practice sessions because I find them indispensable for some very specific drills and they also make it easier to visually confirm a pistol is clear before starting and during dry fire practice sessions.
Once again, this accessory is not required to get started with dry fire practice even if using a pistol with a magazine disconnect safety. However, it can increase safety for dry fire practice and will make dry fire far less tedious and time consuming when using a gun with a magazine disconnect safety.
Details About the Aiming Reference
An aiming reference can literally be anything from a small piece of masking tape to an actual target. The key is to use something small. This will be helpful as one gets better at practicing and with their pistol. Some inexpensive options are 1” or ⅞” inventory labels, target pasters, tiny post it notes, printing out a document with a single 1” solid circle in the middle of it, or the ace of spades card in a cheap set of playing cards that has been collecting dust in a closet or drawer. Get creative and start with something you already have on hand.
An important aspect to consider is where to place the aiming reference. While we will be practicing with a cleared gun, we are still going to be pointing the muzzle at something. Ideally that muzzle should be pointed in the safest direction possible. That means pointing it at something that can break up and stop a projectile dead in its tracks. If that’s not possible, then pointing it at something where the damage from an unintentionally fired projectile is acceptable. Options for this might be using available body armor as a backstop, a stack of books, or an outer wall with real brick or some other dense material that can take enough oomph out of the projectile as it penetrates through it with nothing important on the other side of it.
This is the fourth rule of gun safety at work: know your target and what’s beyond it. If you want to dry fire at your TV because putting a hole in it is acceptable to you, then go for it, but realize that TV isn’t gonna stop that projectile and neither is the drywall that is probably hanging on. So it behooves you to know what is in the room or rooms behind it and who might be hanging out there. The fourth rule doesn’t just apply to the range. It applies everywhere.
What You Should Pay Attention To
Everything.
Yeah, I know that doesn’t help much. As one continues on their dry fire and marksmanship improvement journey, one will learn to be aware of everything and what to focus on at specific moments. You’ll get there if you stick with it. But for now as we start out, we want to pay attention to what we are feeling with our hands (the grip) and our primary hand index finger (trigger control).
I’m not going to lie and say that this will be easy because it won’t be. In fact, it is counter intuitive since humans are primarily visual creatures. Furthermore, visual feedback is also important and something that we will rely on and work on a lot more later. However, tactile feedback is far more important at this moment in the journey. As you begin with the drill that I will cover next, you will want to answer the following questions:
- Did you feel the gun shift in your hands as the trigger was pressed?
- Did you feel your primary hand grip harder as the trigger was pressed?
- Did you feel the trigger press straight back?
- Did you feel the pressure from the trigger finger gradually increase until the trigger broke? Or was it more like a switch being flipped immediately on (or off)?
- Did you feel any tension in your hands? What about your forearms? Shoulders?
- Did you apply maximum pressure with your support hand?
- Did you feel one hand pulling and the other pushing?
Ideally the gun should not shift in our hands as the trigger is pressed. If it does, then we might want to increase grip pressure, make changes to how we are gripping the gun, or use an entirely different grip. The best corrective action will depend on one’s individual strength, hand morphology, physical limitations or ailments, and gun dimensions.
The grip pressure should remain consistent as the trigger is pressed with both hands. If we feel grip pressure change, then we will want to pay more attention applying full pressure before starting to press the trigger and pay attention to maintaining that pressure as the trigger is pressed in future repetitions of the drill. If changing pressure continues to be problematic, then we may want to make small modifications to the current grip technique or try a different grip altogether.
The trigger should be pressed straight to the rear. If that’s not the case, then we may want to change where the finger comes in contact with the trigger. We also want to make sure that the trigger finger doesn’t rest along the side of the stock or grip as the contraction of the finger will result in movement of the gun as the finger muscles flex.
The press of the trigger should be accomplished with a gradual increase of pressure from the trigger finger. The rate at which the pressure is increased will vary depending on how fast we want to press the trigger, but it should be an all pressure or no pressure thing.
We should avoid tension altogether. Yes the grip should be firm, but our muscles should not be tensed up. We want to remain as relaxed as possible so we can perform fine motor movements smoothly. If tension is building, then safely put the gun down and get that tension out. Stretch, snake, whatever works best for you. And forget to breathe.
There should be no pushing or pulling going on with our hands. It’s all about gripping firmly and pressing the trigger gradually. If there is pushing and pulling going on, chances are your stance is bladed to the target. Square off to the target and hold the gun straight out while aligning it with the aiming reference.
There is a lot to pay attention to here. If it’s too much, then start by paying attention to one or two things. If you’re having trouble paying attention or start getting tired, then take a break. Dry fire is mentally exhausting. It’s not repetitive motions without thought. Do a little bit at a time then rest. As one gets used to it, one will be able to maintain their mental focus and awareness for longer periods of time. The key is to stop when we feel our ability to maintain mental focus starts to wane. Otherwise we risk developing bad habits and potentially start compromising safety.
The First Drill
The first drill I recommend is a single aimed trigger press. It’s about as simple as it gets and helps develop the grip and trigger control fundamentals. As we have seen already in this long winded post, there are plenty of things to pay attention to and we are also learning how to dry fire.
Before performing the drill, we want to get our Dry Fire Dojo, a term for practice space that I stole from Memphis Beech, in proper order. To do this, we want to find a space that is safe for us to practice in that is free from ammunition and where we won’t be disturbed. It’s not a bad idea to let others in the residence know that we are about to practice for a few minutes. This will minimize disruptions and others won’t be alarmed if they happen to see us pointing a gun at something and pressing the trigger. We also want to set up our aiming reference as previously discussed.
Next we want to make sure we are in the proper mindset. Saying something along the lines of “I am now starting dry fire practice” out loud is helpful to help establish that proper mindset. The announcement also lets others know what is going on. If for some reason, the practice session is interrupted. Then the practice session is over and we start back at the beginning of the process where we get the dojo ready and announce the beginning of a new practice session.
Finally we want to clear the gun. Visually and physically confirm the gun is in fact unloaded and cleared. If it was loaded, then take the live ammunition and set aside where one won’t inadvertently pick it up and load it. A trick I picked up from Gabe White when I first attended his class was to place loaded mags in front of the door leading into the practice space. This is a pretty hard to reach place, but is also a place where we won’t forget to pick up the real ammunition before we finish and leave the practice area.
The steps to perform the drill with a cleared gun are as follows:
- Grip the gun with both hands.
- Extend the arms and align the pistol with the aiming reference.
- Press the trigger while maintaining alignment with the aiming reference.
- Cycle the slide and repeat as many times as desired or until mental focus begins to wane whichever comes first.
The goal of this drill is to press the trigger without disturbing the pistol and target alignment. If things are feeling pretty good and you aren’t seeing muzzle movement, then it’s likely that you are in fact pressing the trigger without disturbing the alignment. A variation of this drill can be done to confirm that what you are feeling (and also seeing) is correct involves performing this drill with a small coin, like a penny or a dime, balanced on the front sight of the pistol. If the coin remains balanced on the front sight after the trigger is pressed with the gun aimed, then things are looking pretty good. If the coin falls, then there is something that is being felt incorrectly and more attention needs to be paid. Chances are that either pressure to the trigger isn’t being applied gradually or primary hand grip pressure is increasing as the trigger is pressed.
When finished practicing, announce that “practice is over”. Then put the gun into the condition it should be in and exit the dojo.
Do this drill every day for next month. If possible, then make a trip to the range to verify that the dry fire is in fact helping to improve your grip and trigger fundamentals. To do this, set up a target with a small aiming reference at five yards. Then perform the same drill with live ammunition five to ten times while taking your time with each step. The result should be a small tight group of five holes that impacted on or near the point of aim. If you are literally stacking holes on top of each other, then increase the target distance until they aren’t and use that distance on subsequent range trips. The group should get smaller and tighter with each range trip assuming the daily dry fire continues.
Feel free to let me know how things are going as the month progresses either by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post or via social media. If you want some additional coaching, then consider booking a private virtual or in-person coaching session with me.
Good luck and be safe!
A Side Note Regarding the Mantis X
It’s no secret that I’m a fan of the Mantis X and use it regularly. I have some suggestions for those of you that have one already and would like to use it.
The first thing is that this drill is essentially the same as the Mantis X Benchmark drill in the Mantis app. Doing this drill everyday a few times should yield the same results and drive the drills average score up. The live fire verification can also be done with this drill.
What is important to remember is that the device is and what it measures is supplementary. The score of each shot should only be used to confirm what you felt. If everything felt good but the score was low, then you missed feeling something and should pay more attention to what you are feeling with each trigger press. Paying attention and being fully aware of what you are doing with every repetition is critical to proper dry fire practice and help you improve. That should never be an outsourced responsibility to any device as it will hinder your development. Not paying attention or not being aware means one isn’t present in the process of shooting and that is arguably the worst possible habit that one can develop as a shooter.
I still believe the Mantis X is a valuable tool. The gamification and social aspects of the device can help keep folks motivated about daily dry fire practice. The included courses and drills can also give folks who don’t know many drills or what to practice something to try and practice. The device is especially valuable for folks who are just getting started and haven’t learned what to pay attention to. The score and movement tracking is objective feedback that points out something very specific that one failed to feel or confirms that what one felt is correct. However, it’s a tool and not a crutch. Don’t let it become a crutch if you are using it.
If you have one and want to use it, then go for it. If you don’t have one and want to get one, then by all means do so as long as it doesn’t cut into the live fire budget. However, don’t wait for it to arrive before you start practicing.
Great content, brother. Keep it coming!!