dry firing for practice

[milktree]

#3 in a series of newbie questions:

In highpower and bullseye pistol, you spend a *lot* of time dry firing to practice stance, trigger squeeze, sight alignment, etc.

I'd like to do something like that with trap, but I know a lot of trap shooters get really twitchy about "stuff" going on near them when they shoot, kinda like bowlers who don't want the person in the next lane to be doing anything when it's their turn.

So, how do I go about this? In a perfect world I'd be at a practice session where there's only four people who want to shoot, so I could stand at the 5th position and follow/aim/click on each bird for all four other shooters. I'd be going through the motions of shooting without actually making any noise or knocking down birds.

Does anyone do anything like that? Is there a chance in hell that any group would put up with me doing something like that?

If not, what's a good way to practice aim, trigger squeeze, and follow through?

 

[TheWookie]

Dry fire with a helium filled balloon on a string in your back yard. Call all your "shots".

 

[milktree]

Dry fire with a helium filled balloon on a string in your back yard. Call all your "shots".

Um... How exactly would that help? A balloon on a string isn't going to behave anything like a clay target thrown from a machine.

Also... I'm pretty sure my neighbors would have a hissy fit if I started playing with a shotgun outside in the city.

 

[TheWookie]

Well, I don't know about your surroundings you didn't mention that, so maybe that is an issue for you. Come to my house and nobody will bother you.

As far as the effectiveness of the training goes, or how it would help - you said that you wanted to work on your aim, trigger squeeze, and follow through on a target in the air, a balloon drill would allow you to accomplish that. It's not going to mimic or behave to your exact conditions. Most dry fire scenarios will not mimic the exact conditions. I have dry fired on a barrel, or a piece of paper taped to the wall. Much like most people have. The balloon represents a cheap and easy moving target similar to a clay target.

But if you live in the city, this might not be possible.

 

[MisterHappy]

At out club we have a variety of "levels" of shooters. Whlie what you are doing woudl tend to put off a couple of them, most would not notice.

AS for dry firing, I think that you'd do better to actually throw shot. It's the only way to be sure!

FOr a beginner, I lock the trap for straight-aways, and let them get the feel of what things look like when everythiing goes right, then we move a bit left and right. And so on....

One warning about dry firing - USE SNAP CAPS!!!. Much cheaper than a broken firing pin

 

[milktree]

Well, I don't know about your surroundings you didn't mention that, so maybe that is an issue for you. Come to my house and nobody will bother you.

Heh... If you're farther than my club it's probably not worth it (aside from the good company) I assume I could do the same thing on the trap field. But thanks.

As far as the effectiveness of the training goes, or how it would help - you said that you wanted to work on your aim, trigger squeeze, and follow through on a target in the air, a balloon drill would allow you to accomplish that.

Sorry, I was unclear. It's not about aiming, trigger squeeze, and follow through at something in the air, it's about training my body and brain to follow a bird that's moving in the air. One of the things I like (and is most challenging for me) about trap is the dynamic aspect of it - moving targets. That's what I want to practice.

Most dry fire scenarios will not mimic the exact conditions.

I come from the rifle and pistol world, where it can, and does. I can stand on the shooting line and dry fire at a target all day and practice everything I need to without bothering anyone else (assuming I'm not taking up the last unused position) The conditions *are* identical to firing live ammo. At least for bullseye and highpower. Obviously that wouldn't work for IPSC or IDPA. It doesn't tell me anything about my gun's accuracy, or the quality of the ammo, or the sight settings, but it does train everything in my body to do the right thing.

 

[milktree]

At out club we have a variety of "levels" of shooters. Whlie what you are doing woudl tend to put off a couple of them, most would not notice.

Good to know that at least there's one place.

One warning about dry firing - USE SNAP CAPS!!!. Much cheaper than a broken firing pin

I used to think that was "old wisdom" that applied only to guns made back when metallurgy and gun design wasn't as good.

Then I broke the firing pin in my Mossberg 5500. It was made in the mid-80's I think. It just separated and tossed the pin across the room. I was shocked.

However, its design is pretty hard on the pin, a lot of inertia and a long pin.

The Lanber has much more modern design, with short stiff firing pins like S&W revolvers which are fine to dry fire.

Based on the one picture on the net I could find of the Cynergy's parts, it looks like the firing pins are long, but I can't find what makes them go. I thought they were strikers (no hammer) but the picture is too small for me to see well (and I'm not taking the Cynergy apart without *really* good reason)

I'd like to think that the Cynergy could withstand dry firing, it being a fully modern design and built by Browning, a well regarded company. Is that an unreasonable assumption?

I'll probably get some A-Zoom snap caps all the same, 'cuz as you say, they're cheap insurance.

 

[TheWookie]

I come from the rifle and pistol world, where it can, and does. I can stand on the shooting line and dry fire at a target all day and practice everything I need to without bothering anyone else (assuming I'm not taking up the last unused position) The conditions *are* identical to firing live ammo. At least for bullseye and highpower. Obviously that wouldn't work for IPSC or IDPA. It doesn't tell me anything about my gun's accuracy, or the quality of the ammo, or the sight settings, but it does train everything in my body to do the right thing.

Good to go, I understand what you are talking about. I come from the military world, and I have dry fired in some of the strangest places under some of the strangest scenarios/conditions that you can image.

Over the years I worked full-time on a few Marine Corps ranges teaching marksmanship with various rifles, pistols, shotguns, and submachine guns, and the reason I bring up the balloon dry-fire drills is because I know firsthand that they are cheap and easy -- and work well for moving target drills. One of the ranges that I worked on teaching CQB we had a moving target cell and we would prep the students by doing dry-fire balloon drills. The students would start the drill at the hunt position (with the submachine gun down at a 45 degree angle), and on the command of "targets", they would acquire the balloon, track and engage (dry) and then follow-through. It's not glorious or exciting, but it got them used to acquiring and tracking a moving target before we wasted too many rounds going live. We would sometimes do it live, but it was always a headache getting the balloons ready all day long. Plus we had a sweet moving target system that made it unnecessary to use the balloons live.

Good luck. I hope you find a method that works for you.

 

[daveyburt]

here's a nutty idea for dry firing in tight (interior) confines. -You'll need a fairly large unobstructed wall, a flashlight that has tight focus and an slowly oscillating device (like a fan maybe).

-i think you're getting the idea.

if you can make that spot travel across the wall (tape the light to the fan), unattended, it may work.

-just throwing it out there...maybe it'll spawn a better idea...

 

[SMagee]

My $.02 here. I found it's better time spent practicing your mount then dry firing. It was suggested to me (about 6 months ago when I started shooting Trap) 50 times per night for a few weeks. Til it becomes second nature.

Secondly get a friend with a flashlight and have him/her move it to practice keeping your cheek on the stock and keeping properly aligned. If friendless like me or your iwfe thinks your crazy like mine did, follow the lines where the walls meet floor and the ceiling. Number 1 reason people miss station 5 hard rights (right handed shooters) is they pull their cheek off the stock.

Thirdly when shooting NEVER stop the gun moving when pulling the trigger. The better shooters I see actually keep the gun moving a full 1-3 seconds after the BANG. Yeah it's over-kill but it's muscle memory.

Good luck and always shoot the front of the bird.

 

[jshooter]

I think SMagee has given some good advice in regard to practicing gun mounts. If you are shooting trap I'm guessing you call for the target with a premounted gun. Since I used to shoot a lot of sporting clays I practiced my gun mount frequently. After time it does become second nature. The only time I would "stuff" a mount is when I was wearing more clothing at the change of the seasons. With that said I would be leery of practicing too much while not actually shooting at clay targets in the air. How do you really know what you're practicing is actually going to help and not totally screw up your game? I would stick to practicing on the line and taking lessons. When I started shooting there was always lots of advice from a lot of shooters. Nobody wants to see someone get frustrated and give up before they get any good at it. Gun clubs, especially the clay target guys want more people there to shoot. Good luck and don't get discouraged by your lack of progress or at plateaus in your progress it will come with time. Just keep shooting, follow advice given to you and don't reinforce bad habits.

 

[BossHarley]

An option instead of a focused flashlight is a laser pointer. You can get real cheap one these days and finding / following a target of the same or smaller size than a clay bird would be good practice.
You would need a friend or rig something to move it for you....