How and how much do you dry fire your rifle?

[Kirk James]

Suggestions on dry firing your rifle.  Do you dry fire your rifle with your stages and transitions while you practice?  Seems like I jack out more rounds.  Is there a better way of doing it?

[Kirk James]

PS.  Our county has a ban on shooting due to fire danger. 

[Gold Canyon Kid #43974]

1 hour ago, Kirk James said:

Suggestions on dry firing your rifle.  Do you dry fire your rifle with your stages and transitions while you practice?  Seems like I jack out more rounds.  Is there a better way of doing it?

Best 2 areas to practice is pistols and shotgun.  Cut time on loading and shucking shotgun.  Cut time on drawing 2 pistols, dry firing 5 rounds each with a sight picture each time  Then work on rifle transitions from different kinds of props, maybe dry firing a couple rounds.  Transition rifle from and to your shotgun and pistols from various props. 

[Chili Pepper Jack]

Kirk, what I did is a snap cap on one side file the rim of the base flat so the extractor will not grab it. I then put a small peace of tape on the brass so it will not rotate in the chamber. If you need a pic please let me know and I will post one up for you. 

 

 

[Rooster Ron Wayne]

That would be ZERO !

[Cheatin' Chamberlin]

I also went through that stage of shucking out live rounds. It's very frustrating. I was at Comin' at Cha'  two years ago and shucked out a live round on six stages. After that  I practiced by dry firing a lot and it did help me get through it. It's truly is a mind thing. But  I have no doubt you can get through it. I shoot a 66 Carbine (Uberti) and dry fire it A LOT, with no troubles. I also dry fire my Winchester Miroku with no troubles what so ever. The carbine is in 38spl and the Winchester is in 44/40. Good luck pard

 

Cheatin' Chamberlin

[Pat Riot]

You need something for the firing pin to struck if your are simulating firing the rifle. Many people fear that they may break a firing pin when dry firing but there is another thing to consider. The firing pin channel inside the bolt or the area that the firing pin strikes against. You may eventually "hog out" or deform that area so much that your firing pin protrudes farther out thus piercing primers. You may also get cracking. 

 

Just a thought....and I used the word "may". Not all metallurgy is equal. 

[Santa Fe River Stan,36999L]

Slow your dry fire down......it's easy to "run" the rifle at warp speed dry firing. The problem is that it's much harder to know if your actually hitting the trigger each time.

 

There's a fine balance I try to keep when dry firing.......

A - run like hell to build up speed

B -  go slower and make sure my form is good

 

When coming up to an important match I do much more "B" than I do "A".....working on refining my technique.

 

Stan

[Dantankerous]

I don't like to dry fire my rifles for reasons already stated. I used to run snap caps through it until I discovered that the rounds upon being ejected were hitting my low basement ceiling beating the H out of the popcorn ceiling finish. I stopped doing that. I do have a nice collection of divots and scars on my ceiling now due to practicing.

 

That's what I get for practicing.

 

[Palo Verde, SASS # 56522]

I believe: Speed practice with a rifle should be done with live ammo -- you don't really know what is happening (your timing with the rifle) when dry firing speed with a rifle -- my son and I used to think you could get out of time dry firing at speed and that could lead to jacking out live ammo later -- at least it seemed to for us.

 

Of course, when you do get out of time, getting back into time involves the live ammo drill from target one to target five 

Dry fire rifle practice is good for one shot drills -- pick it up shoot, set it down  

 

Kirk, your tired, old antique rifle was worn out in '85 -- of course, you have bought your kids nice, new rifles  maybe you could borrow one of them  I've seen their rifles run real fast 

[Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L]

I dry fire mine at the end of the rifle stage when I lose count of how many I've shot.  

 

At 71 I seem to be doing that more and more

 

cr

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

I don't "Dry Fire."  I really like my toys.  My toys are worth a lot more than 3/100 of a second.  If yer kickun out live rounds, yer head is running faster than yer hands.

[Gateway Kid SASS# 70038 Life]

Howdy KJ

First no live ammo available, I use a filed snap cap to cushion the firing pin, a set of 8 dummies for shotgun (I use Azoom) full leather as if at a match and three different color sets of magnets on the cabinet.

One of My dry fire routines is as follows:

Choose a sweep (doesn't matter which one but I like 5 targets) set one color high for rifle one lower for pistol and third color for shotgun at edges of cabinet.

draw rh pistol, sweep, holster, lh pistol sweep, holster, rifle sweep twice, discard with lh, rh pistol sweep, holster, lh pistol, sweep, holster, shotgun for 8 rounds, discard with rh, lh pistol, sweep, holster, rh pistol, sweep, holster. Repeat 6-8 times then change sweep. I will dry fire till my knees get sore from standing, take a break repeat until tired. Run dry fire quickly but not out of control or you risk building bad habits. Like others have said I think true speed is better practiced live fire to verify hits and timing but it is possible to upgrade technique through dry fire.

ymmv

regards

 

Gateway Kid

[Creeker, SASS #43022]

First of all,

in case anyone doesn't know;  Kirk is the dad to SASS Kicker and Cody James.

He knows a bit about all the things that make champions and the basics of practice.

 

I'm assuming that his question comes from the point in his post that live fire is prohibited due to weather and he is looking at his options to avoid developing any rust until live fire is again a go.

 

So I will discuss my dry fire practice.

I dry fire at 75 - 80% of match speed and try to ensure my forms are perfect.

I believe that full speed (or attempting full speed plus) dry fire makes you sloppy.

 

I practice my transitions more than my firing - and I want to be able to disect my every move to verify to myself that what I am doing is the best I can do it.

I don't need to practice levering and dropping the hammer a 1000 times, I can do that.

But pick up/ put down/ hitting that sweet spot on my shoulder perfectly. 

Hitting the lever perfectly from vertical (I practice that one a lot since I broke my finger doing it wrong).

 

I really believe that if you are going to practice sloppy actions - those actions will translate into sloppy live fire as well.

After all -  practice makes permanent. 

Only perfect practice makes perfect.

[Charlie Plasters, SASS#60943]

22 hours ago, Kirk James said:

PS.  Our county has a ban on shooting due to fire danger. 

can you use the inside range over by Out of Africa?

[Caboose]

I too went through a stage of jacking out live rounds in almost every match. Got to thinking about the soft steel these 73's are made from and the number of rounds down range so I ordered a new stock hammer plus trigger and installed. Only jacked out one round since then. If I ever shoot a match where Shotgun Boogie is set up I have him install his hammer trigger setup.

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

You live with two experts.  Won't they help you?

[Shamrock Sadie]

On 7/3/2017 at 6:37 AM, Chili Pepper Jack said:

Kirk, what I did is a snap cap on one side file the rim of the base flat so the extractor will not grab it. I then put a small peace of tape on the brass so it will not rotate in the chamber. If you need a pic please let me know and I will post one up for you. 

 

 

That's what we do. Works great! The 1 layer of scotch tape is all ya need to keep it in the chamber.

[Oklahoma Dee]

Great subject.  Santa Fe River Stan helped my with his tips, a year or more ago,  I do believe that Dry fire and Live fire need to be closely linked.  Too much dry fire and little live fire leads to problems with live fire such as short stroking, jacked out live rounds, and frustration.  Too much live fire and little dry fire, on the other hand, the shooter may become stagnate and not grow.

 

One has to dry fire to get the coordination of correct shoulder mount, hand grip on the forearm, and trigger finger/arm movement working in conjunction with each other.  Then follow up with live fire to confirm and enforce one's own abilities with the rifle.  Various targets settings from a 10 round dump to nevada sweeps to double/triple taps and reloads will get a shooter used to barrel movement from the left to the right, to up and down.  Keeping the front sight steady while levering, acquiring the correct front sight/rear sight and target is a major element  of shooting.  

 

One does need to know where the rifle will shoot in perfect conditions.  Knowing the correct site picture and trigger control is primary to achieving great shooting.

[Kirk James]

Thanks for all your replies.  I have been dry firing for 5 years now.  I stopped when I started jacking out rds.  I have always used Palo Verde Snap caps which will not rotate in the chamber.  I have been using the same caps all 5 years.  I appreciated all the great advice.  The champions have really opened up.  I am know committed to going back to the basement and dry firing stages again.  I will use Gateways program while with slow deliberate movements with sight emphasis.  I will mix in, outsight targets being alternated,  to insure completeness of stroke.  I will make sure I am keeping the rifle slow and easy  and commit to live fire when the forest opens.  What a great mix of transitions to practice.    A Palo Verde rifle will be in the mix as soon as funds surface.  I will shoot Cody's this weekend while he is gone.   There is a great deal of wealth of knowledge by SASS's best shooters.  If any of you have video to share send them to the Cowboy Action Shooters Champions Forum.  Call me and I will get you into the system.  Will start dry firing in the morning.  Palo Verde needs to get up early and get to work.