DO NOT dry fire practice…..EVER!!!

 

This may come as a surprise that someone would actually suggest NOT to dry fire practice. After all it is a widely used technique to improve shooting skills and save money. I was not always of the belief that dry firing was a safety issue. Panhandle Rancher convinced me otherwise. While I’m not going to get into the level of detail he provided me as to the explanation against dry firing – I’ll mention a couple things:

  1. A kid is found dead left in car while their parents work all day,
  2. Unintended discharges

Every year you hear about a father who normally doesn’t take their kid to day care forgetting to drop them off. They drive to work as normal and the kid bakes in the sun all day while dad is inside working. So sad.

Every year there are many unintended shots fired in living rooms, ranges, and many other places. Every single time a finger is placed on the trigger – with a found in the chamber.

Here’s the deal – we humans are creatures of habit. When you pick up a firearm in the house and dry fire practice you’re pulling the trigger over and over again. A habit is being developed that pulling the trigger without the gun going off is OK – and normal. It is just a matter of time before it goes BANG – unintentionally. If you had a rule that you NEVER pull the trigger unless aiming at a target or conducting a live fire exercise the complacency that dry fire practice developed will be much less.

That father drives to work day after day, week after week – never having to drop the child off at the day care. It’s a habit that is embedded in him. One day his routine is disrupted and the wife places junior in the back seat. He pulls out and soon thereafter he is back in his routine. The thought of his son in the backseat never enters his mind.

We can say it would never happen to us. We can say that 10,000 dry fire trigger pulls year after year will not increase the chance of an unintentional discharge. We can say that with all those dry fire shots pulling out a concealed carry gun – with a round in the chamber – that there is no possibility that habit will come into play and the trigger pulled at some point. I will say that is just not logical.

I say keep your finger off the trigger until aiming at something you are willing to destroy.

Stay safe my friends.

Rourke

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9 Comments

  1. Terry says:

    Great advise! I cringe every time I read or watch some tv hero discribes how to “dry fire” train or the use of snap caps! If you need to practice, which is a great idea, buy a blue gun and never treat that real firearm as “unloaded”.

  2. secondrecon says:

    P.R is rite on the money with dry firing your weapons . There is no such thing as an accident , mishaps are just some thing that happens to all humans and other animals of this world . I dry fire only after cleaning and or repair of my firearms period. A dear friend of mine just killed himself in his full length mirror in his bedroom last week. Other people thought it was funny He doesn’t and his wife surely didn’t . Like P.R says don’t dry fire as practice , my not be just a mirror you shoot . Semper Fi. And Peace Out

    1. 3rdMan says:

      Dry firing is not the problem!!! It’s the person dry firing. If your concerned about shooting yourself or others because you cannot follow the cardinal rules of firearms safety during practice then use a yellow practice barrel. With your yellow plastic barrel you can dry fire without fear!!!!!

      1. 3rdMan says:

        One more thing if you have a ND and someone is hurt or killed than you violated at least two firearms safety rules, never just one!!!!

      2. JR says:

        We will agree to disagree. The issue is not an inadvertent ignition necessarily during dry fire practice its being so used to pulling the trigger with NO repercussions. It is a bad habit to get into. As imperfect beings dry fire practice can lead to complacency and accidents. With everyone? No – of course not. It’s not worth it.

        1. secondrecon says:

          Got them going now Roark .I have carried a weapon it seems all my adult life and I have gotten lax I my handling sometimes but to see myself or someone else make a mistake it wakes me back up .

  3. goinggray58 says:

    I agree. We had a discharge.. fortunately.. never pointing in an unsafe direction minimumed the damage. The actual consequence for one bad call is so severe, it isn’t worth the risk.

    I would say that if you use snapcaps .. you can dry fire as long as you do so at the range or wherever you practice live fire. Some weapons don’t like firing on an empty chamber.

    I was taught and teach. “Treat every gun as loaded weapon”… Even if you just cleared it yourself.
    As you said, humans are creatures of habit. Disrupt us and we misinterpret the ROE for any given situation.
    We might as well use that to our advantage and use one. For the price of a few wanted motions we can control our safety.
    If we have exception, let THAT be a conscious act, and safe be the standard.
    GG58

  4. JAS says:

    The mind is hard to understand and it does form habits. I had a discharge years ago. Fortunately the only thing hurt was my pride and ears from a 38 auto going off in my small trailer. I had disassembled my Colt Commander and cleaned it. After reassembling it, I took a few dry fire snaps, loaded the gun, racked a round into the chamber and yep, pulled the damn trigger again. I don’t think my heart slowed down for at least an hour.

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