In case you've heard of dry firing (I'd be surprised if anyone here hasn't) then you've heard it's good practice. Some folks look at an instructor kind of funny when we tell them what good practice dry firing can be (when done "by the numbers"). Are you one of those people? One of those people who've heard it said but don't quite believe it?
One of the bad things about being an instructor (from my point of view anyway) is that I spend a lot of time on a rifle range without getting to shoot my rifles. My "shooter" M1 is a rack grade Greek return I picked up in Feb. 2007 at the North Store. The only changes, other than some parts replaced to make it function correctly, was to put it in a ramline sythetic stock (it was bouncing around in the original stock) and I put a scout scope mount and $50 pistol scope on it since the front sight on a rifle is pretty fuzzy for me these days. Using a scope doesn't allow you to skip any of the "six steps of firing a shot" or using a sling correctly, or NPOA or any of the rest of the things you learn from Appleseed.
Anyway, so far this year I've got to shoot my "shooter" M1 10 shots at the Feb. RBC at Ramseur (Ornell and I won the "fun shoot" at the end of the camp - gotta brag now and then) and I got to shoot it 8 shots at the Ramseur RBC on Tuesday afternoon. I had removed the scope one morning to let Jr. Birdman check out the B. Jones insert in the rear sight aperature that allows us older guys with fading eyesight to see the front sight post again (he wants one). Since the scope was removed and reinstalled I wanted to recheck the zero (it usually comes back pretty close) - Ameaga Ranges scope mount and Warne quick release steel rings with the big levers on them.
The one thing I do get to do regularly (at least before I tore up the cartilage in my right knee a few weeks ago) was dry fire in the back lot behind my house several times a week. Dry fire. Not shoot it. Just dry fire it.
Now back to the original question, do you dry fire? Do you believe dry firing (done by the numbers) helps you maintain your edge? I do. Rack grade Springfield M1 from the CMP, 8 rounds of Greek surplus ammo from the CMP, 1" squares target from Fred. The smiles (witnessed by the Wildman and my two new 11 and 13 year old buddies) were all mine.
So what are you waiting for? Dry fire!! It sure is cheaper than shooting up your surplus ammo and it works.
Dry firing will reduce your 'wobble area' tremendously. It also keeps your muscles in shape for position. Get some one to shove the op rod back, waiting 1/2 to 2 seconds after you break the shot. This will break your brain from flinching, it disassociates the trigger pull from recoil.
I leanrt about that "dry fire thing" at my first two events, but I was too "smart" for that. The instructors told me that dry fire was just as good as live fire. I knew better. I mean, that's just silly right? So, I ignored their advice and went on shooting all live ammo to practice. As I get little time to do that - I got little practice and my shooting improved accordingly - painfully, almost imperceptably slowly.
Then I became an instructor and was tasked with telling attendees all of the thinbgs I had been told - including that silly one about dry firing at home.
I went to an IBC, and wanting to reduce my embarrassment quotient to the bare minimum, as an act of desperation, I dry fired daily - sometimes more than once. I really did it more for the stretch than anything else, because I was after all smarter than my instructors and the Program in general right? It couldn't help my marksmanship right?
Well, I am forced by my conscience to admit I was wrong - dead wrong, completely wrong, embarrassingly wrong.
I actually ended up instructing the IBC and did not get to shoot. It was not until the end of the subsequent Appleseeds event that I finally got to shoot. As M1A4ME said - we instructors don't get to shoot much. I was so busy getting prepped for the IBC and then the event that I had not actually fired a single live round in more than a month.
The landowner wanted to see an instructor shoot. Specifically, he wanted to see me shoot. "Rut Row" :o
So I laid out my gear and got set in very short order as a bad rain was coming on fast. I shot an AQT, by the numbers, in front of several people. Atticus called the line and I did my best. I was very apprehensive for a number of reasons - mostly because I had been barking out commands to some of these folks for two days and as they "no pressure".
I shot the second best score ever. I cleared the sitting stage for the first time ever (previous two Rifleman patches earned with saved rounds on the sitting stage). I shot it well because of the dry firing - nothing else. The positions felt natural and the six steps came easily, as I have been practicing them for weeks.
Dry firing is exactly like live firing, so far as your brain is concerned. Since shooting really is mostly mental, that is what matters most.
It is easier to imprint "perfect practice", muscle memory without all of that noise, recoil, distractions, etc. Is is very cheap and it really does work. I now dry fire religiously - almost daily. I have made it part of my AM ritual.
I can build my nest in sitting and prone almost instantly now (that's how I got past saved rounds in sitting). I know them by "heart". I can accomplish all six steps in a fraction of a second and I do the same way every time.
I am sure that I will continue to ignore excellent advice, and I am sure that I will continue to suffer for it. That is my ego getting in my way. I have a long way to go on that issue, but I am working on it. :-[
I only have to bash my head against the wall 5 or 6 times now, before I shut up and listen. ;D
So be like me and ignore dry firing because you know better. Or, maybe not? 8)