practice dummy

[gary55]

I once read that it is helpful to practice by dry firing. This is to know the trigger, have proper body position become comfortable/natural, and muscle memory. In that article it was stated that a dummy round should be used. Obviously no powder charge and a piece of pencil eraser in place of the primer. I understand it is not harmful to dry fire a rifle but will many dry fires harm it? Is the dummy round recommended?

 

[skulldragr17]

You can dry fire your rifle all you want. Assuming you have an action of decent quality, it will not cause any harm. Dry firing is some of the best practice you can do, so keep doing it. Using dummy rounds just to use dummy rounds doesn't have much of a benefit other than probably limiting the amount of movement you see in the reticle upon firing. If you're able to go out shooting with a friend, then you can take advantage of doing "ball and dummy" drills. These are ALWAYS helpful no matter the experience level of the shooter. How it works is you will get behind your rifle just as you are about to shoot, you will turn away your head and your buddy will put either a live round or a dummy round in your rifle. You will then take the shot not knowing what is in your chamber. If you don't have a partner, you can load up a few mags and randomly place in dummy rounds. Pick a mag at random and start shooting. This is the best way to acknowledge whether or not you are anticipating and solve the problem. A majority of shooters will say that they never anticipate, but they are typically wrong. Because it happens simultaneously with recoil, it's hard to determine.

 

[gary55]

Great info, thanks. I would be a liar if I said I never anticipate the reaction. I have nothing to gain by lying. I shoot on private property almost always alone, at the firing line anyway. I will load some dummies with no powder or primer and practice that way at the line. Thanks again.

 

[Sheldon N]

I broke a firing pin on a Defiance action after maybe 10,000 dry fire cycles. I think it was likely because the prior owner of the rifle had let moisture and gunk into the firing pin spring and it caused a bit of corrosion. I got it cleaned up properly when I got the rifle and the pin broke about a year later. I called GAP (the rifle builder) and they were shocked that it had happened, basically said that they never see firing pins break from dry firing. $30 and a week or two later and they had it all fixed up with a new pin and spring.

My latest gun probably has 5k dry fire cycles on it and counting. I've heard of people running WAY more than that.

 

[Whiskey 2-1]

Jacob Bynum of Rifles Only had a standing offer to replace any of his students' firing pins which were broken from too much dry fire. More than 15 years of instruction and I don't think he has paid out. His AIAW had over 100k live Rounds through it, and lord knows how many dry fires. Snap away!

Doc

 

[...]

regarding dry firing damaging your rifle.......if you have any modern rifle, you can dry fire it till the cows come home.....even modern rimfires can be dry fired.

if you have an older rifle.....especially an older rimfire rifle, you will want to use a snap cap.



now im gonna be honest.....i think the benefits of dry firing are GROSSLY overstated.......especially for a new shooter.........you can dry fire millions of rounds, its not going to make you into a good shooter.

maybe once a month ill do a hand full of dry fire shots through a pistol, just to maintain trigger control .....but i almost never do it through a rifle

 

[Sheldon N]

For context on my prior note, all my dry firing is barricade positional practice. I'm not really practicing the dry fire itself so much as practicing on a barricade with use of different gear (or lack of gear), transitions, and having clean trigger break on target when in an unstable compromised shooting position.

Dry firing prone would get boring in a big hurry. Dry firing positional shooting is a HUGE help... if your intent is PRS competitions where positional shooting is key.