To dry fire or not to dry fire...

[The Guide]

What is your opinion on dry firing?

I have begun using it as a tool to calm down new hunters and people who have been missing shots. It is also a tool to see why people are missing. My wife missed several does last weekend and I had her dry fire on some deer as they walked into range. This not only calmed her down but showed me why she was missing. She was gripping the stock in a manner that made her trigger finger land on the trigger very high. This made her torque the rifle as she was trying to squeeze the trigger because it was an up and to the right squeeze and not a lateral straight rear squeeze. We got her grip right and her finger in the sweet spot on the trigger and she said it was SO much easier to break the trigger with the proper grip and trigger pull. She was able to take the next doe she fired a live round at.

My family and the people I hunt with will now have a new rule when shooting long distances or in situations where there isn't a need to hurry. 2 dry fires before a live fire because if you can't "kill" the game animal twice with an unloaded firearm what makes you think you can do it with a live round?

Jay

 

[Browninglover1]

I feel it's a great tool and here's why.... I have a buddy that had shot at and missed 2 or 3 animals in his hunting career all under 200 yards. 2 years ago I took him out before the elk season and had him shoot my 300 WSM; he put 5 shots in under 3/4" at 100 yards and I knew he had the ability to make some long range shots.

When the season opened we found a herd of elk feeding across the canyon around 400 yards away. I built him a quick shooting platform in the snow and had him get comfortable behind the rifle. He told me he was steady but didn't feel comfortable taking a shot that far when he'd never even killed an animal.

I pulled the shells out of the gun and told him to dry fire. The first dry fire would have probably resulted in a miss because he yanked the trigger. 3 more dry fires showed the cross hairs locked on target and he was ready to go. I loaded one shell in the rifle, gave him the wind call, and told him to send it. The gun barked and I watched the 185 grain Berger arc up and come right down into the middle of her shoulder and she simply fell down without even twitching.

The shot could not have been any more perfect, other than the scope split his nose open due to the angle of the shot hahaha. Without dry firing first, he would never have made that shot. Dry firing 3 consecutive times in a row and watching the cross hairs stay on target gave him the confidence to kill his first big game animal at a distance he thought was impossible to shoot.

 

[mbundy]

Raise your hand if you have 'dry fired' at a live animal unintentionally. That's right, you thought you had a live one in the chamber but didn't...

Thump thump...thump thump...thump thump....squeeze...click...***? Doh!

p.s. It's never happened to me. Nope never. I swear.

 

[barnesuser28]

Raise your hand if you have 'dry fired' at a live animal unintentionally. That's right, you thought you had a live one in the chamber but didn't...

Thump thump...thump thump...thump thump....squeeze...click...***? Doh!

p.s. It's never happened to me. Nope never. I swear.

not me BTW

 

[Damol]

I dry fire everything not just rifles but handguns as well, and I dryfire my handguns about 1,000 times to every time I do a rifle. On my way to and from work I dryfired a S&W 686 over two thousand times and now I have people ask who did the action job, its just that smooth now. When you think your getting good at dryfiring try to balance a penny or a dime on the front sight of a handgun or on your scope and try it, talk about a humbling moment in life.

 

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

I dry fire everything not just rifles but handguns as well, and I dryfire my handguns about 1,000 times to every time I do a rifle. On my way to and from work I dryfired a S&W 686 over two thousand times and now I have people ask who did the action job, its just that smooth now. When you think your getting good at dryfiring try to balance a penny or a dime on the front sight of a handgun or on your scope and try it, talk about a humbling moment in life.

Keep your eyes on the road or we wont be able to dry fire wile drive anymore just like texting.

 

[Browninglover1]

Keep your eyes on the road or we wont be able to dry fire wile drive anymore just like texting.

I can put up with not texting while driving, but not dry firing while driving...I can't even imagine a world where I couldn't dry fire while driving around town. hahaha