Dry Fire Part 2: The Draw

If you read the first Dry Fire Series post and practiced the first drill as it was presented, then you should have a pretty decent command of the trigger by now and should be able to put a hole in a target where you want to without any time pressure or other external stressors. Hopefully, this has been verified with live fire practice as it was suggested. If this isn’t the case and you are new to dry fire, then I suggest reading that post now and coming back to this post in the future. Otherwise, let’s talk about the draw.

Drawing a pistol from a holster safely and consistently is important for defensive and competitive applications. It’s also one of those skills that can be developed and improved in dry fire practice. Verifying a well developed draw with live fire can present some challenges and we’ll cover those challenges and options a bit later in this post.

The Draw Explained

The draw stroke is most often taught as a four step process. They way I remember it is:

1. Grip
2. Pull
3. Join
4. Extend

Rather than explaining each step myself in writing, which would undoubtedly end up being very long winded, I’ll refer folks to the video I was shown when I attended KR Training’s Defensive Pistol Skills 1 course several years ago where the late Paul Gomez demonstrates the draw stroke in detail.

Now that we have a common understanding of the draw stroke, let’s look at a couple of dry fire drills we can use to get good at it.

The Draw Drill

There are several drills and variations that can be used to develop and improve the draw stroke. I’ve written not one, not two, but three different posts on this topic over the years. Which means this will be my fourth time and it probably won’t be my last time. What’s different in this post is the approach to the most basic dry fire drill I can think of for developing this skill without the use of anything other than a handgun and a holster.

Now before we begin, we need to get our Dry Fire Dojo in order. This is critical not only to development of the skill, but to ensure it is done safely. Remember safety first and always. For a more detailed discussion on preparing the Dry Fire Dojo can be found in the first post of this dry fire series. As a quick recap, here is the process:

1. Find a space that is safe to practice in and free from distraction
2. Let other folks in the residence know that you will be practicing for the next several minutes
3. Set up a small aiming reference oriented in a safe direction
4. Make the environment completely free from ammunition
5. Confirm the condition of the gun is unloaded and clear
6. Say out loud, “I am now starting dry fire practice”

Now for the drill.

Start with the unloaded and cleared gun holstered. With your hands relaxed at your sides and while looking precisely at the aiming reference perform each of the four steps slowly while being aware of everything:

1. Grip: Establish a master firing grip on the gun. This may require you to clear a concealment garment if you are wearing one. The support hand should be indexed on your torso. The index should be high on the chest for a defensive carry draw. Be mindful of where the support hand is indexed. Be mindful of the master firing grip. Be mindful of the path the hands and arms traveled to their respective positions. Be mindful of additional, especially unnecessary, motion from the shoulders, the neck, and head.
2. Pull: Pull the gun out of the holster and make it level with the aiming reference at the next positional index. The next index is most likely a high thumb pectoral index for a defensive carry draw. Once again, maintain mindful awareness of everything. Is the support hand still indexed high on the chest? Is the pistol roughly level and aligned with the aiming reference? What path did the gun take? How did the primary arm move to get the gun there? Was there any unnecessary motion from the arm, head, neck, shoulders, etc? Did your vision remain focused on the aiming reference?
3. Join: Drag the gun across the chest and make the two hand grip. The pistol should be indexed inline with the dominant eye and visible in your field of vision. Is the grip correct? Are the grip pressures where you want them? Is the trigger finger still indexed along the flat of the frame or slide? Or is the finger resting on the trigger with the slack out? Where should it be? What else moved?
4. Extend: Bring the pistol up to the eye target line. Maintain that mindful awareness.

Perform each step slowly at first to get it as right as you can. Note that each step can be practiced independently by starting from the previous step. For example, you may want to practice going from hands relaxed at your sides to master grip established. This isn’t a requirement by any means, but it is useful if you find you are not happy with the result at the end of a particular step.

You may also want to combine steps. For example, start with your hands relaxed at your sides to the gun resting at a high pectoral index. This will be helpful to start combining the steps into a single fluid motion.

Feel free to add speed to individual steps, combined steps, or the complete process. At some point, it will be beneficial to perform the steps faster than is comfortable to see where things start falling apart, diagnose the source of the problem, and correct it. For example, you may find that at a certain speed the gun goes from holster to full extension but the sights are misaligned or the dot is nowhere to be found. That’s a good thing to find as it presents an opportunity for improvement.

Bonus Drill: The 4-3-2-1 (or Reverse Draw) Drill

This is a drill that I learned from Jon Bissett when I attended the Outrider Training Group Pistol-Mounted Optics Instructor course. It’s a fantastic drill to fine tune the presentation of a pistol from a holster so that it is precisely aligned with the aiming reference consistently. Those who are using a pistol outfitted with a mounted optic who are also struggling to “find the dot” will benefit the most from it. However, those using irons can also benefit greatly from it, but it won’t be as apparent since irons lend themselves to early alignment correction as they are in the field of view from steps three to four in the draw stroke.

To perform this drill, start with a correctly gripped gun perfectly aligned with the aiming reference. Slowly reverse the draw all the way back into the holster without releasing the master firing grip and while maintaining visual focus on the aiming reference. It’s important to ensure all of the indexes are felt during that process. Once the gun is all the way in the holster, snap the gun out of the holster in one fluid motion through the draw stroke to full presentation. Note the alignment of the sights (or the dot) without correcting them in relation to the aiming reference. If the alignment is not acceptable, make the correction and repeat the process. With sufficient repetition and mindful awareness, the gun will begin to snap quickly into the eye target line with acceptable alignment.

A Note on Returning the Pistol to the Holster

Putting a loaded pistol into a holster is by far the most dangerous process students of the pistol perform on a regular basis. Rushing this process or performing it with a lapse in awareness is the primary cause of negligent discharges which can result in serious injury or death. It is something that should always be done slowly, carefully, and mindfully. Here is how it should be done:

1. Make certain the trigger finger is outside of the trigger guard and indexed along the flat of the frame or the slide.
2. Ensure manual safeties are engaged if present.
3. While keeping the gun pointed in the safest direction possible, clear any garments that are covering the holster. Drawstrings on hoodies and jackets are notorious for working their way into a holster.
4. Look into the holster to ensure there is nothing in it.
5. While maintaining a full firing grip on the pistol slowly and carefully insert it into the holster while looking it in. If any resistance is felt, gently reverse course and repeat steps 3 and 4 before attempting step 5 again.
6. Never push or otherwise attempt to force the pistol into the holster.
7. Avoid canting the pistol so that the muzzle points towards the body at any point. For folks with extra insulation in the midsection, this may mean using the support hand to move or press the extra fluff out of the way. It may also mean pushing the hip out to the side in order to create some additional clearance between the fluff and the holster opening.
8. Those using an appendix holster should kick their holster side foot back, push their hips forward, and lean back before looking the pistol into the holster every single time. Shooting oneself in the junk (or in the femoral artery) is a life altering or ending experience that can easily be avoided by strictly holstering in this fashion every single time.

Follow these steps at all times. Especially in your dry fire practice where you can learn how to holster a pistol safely without having to worry about unintentionally cooking off a round.

What’s next?

A month of practice.

We now have two things we can practice in dry fire: the trigger press and the draw. These make up two very important elements of marksmanship fundamentals. Continue to practice these for a few minutes each day. If the trigger press has been verified with live fire to be acceptable, then dedicate more time to practicing the draw.

Verifying the draw with live fire can be challenging as most public ranges will not allow folks to work from the holster. There are exceptions to this, but they are rare. If you have access to a private range or public land where shooting is allowed (and safe to do), then consider setting up a target and to practice a draw to first shot. That is start with the pistol holstered, draw and fire one shot on the target. Again, start slow to ensure this can be done safely. Once comfortable, start increasing speed until rounds aren’t impacting the acceptable region of the target (rounds should always land on paper) to identify opportunities for improvement in your next dry fire session.

If live fire verification practice at a range isn’t an option, then consider joining a shooting club and attending matches from time to time. These can be used as a form of verification. Alternatively, taking a class or getting a private coaching session from an instructor can also provide opportunities to verify improvement with a safe and fast draw stroke.

Now go forth and practice.

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!