SAFETY TOPIC #3: SAFE DRY FIRE PRACTICE AT HOME

When you get home after your safety check, you’ll want to practice what you learned. DON’T DO IT YET! Safety comes first in this sport.

FIRST, MAKE A HOME SAFETY INSPECTION... Most of your house or apartment is unsafe for dry fire practice, particularly if there are people wandering in and out of the rooms around you. Apartment dwellers have a real problem— wherever they look there are thin walls and people. Floors, ceilings and walls are NOT BULLETPROOF! Look around until you find a solid wall that will stop an accidental discharge. A basement room below grade would be ideal. Only practice in this safe area.

GET THE SAFETY HABIT... It’s the mark of the pro. Remember how smoothly your instructors handled their guns; how they checked and rechecked the condition of the weapon; how their muzzles seemed to stay pointed into the berm?

ALWAYS INSPECT THE FIREARM BEFORE DRY FIRING...
The first drill should always be CHECK YOUR FIREARM: Draw, point in a safe direction, ease the slide back to check for a loaded chamber or magazine, ease it forward, AIM at a safe impact area, and press the trigger. No BOOM? OK, begin your practice.

Check EVERY time you pick up a gun, even if you just set it down.

CHECK IT! CHECK IT! CHECK IT!

PRACTICE DRYFIRING...
You don’t have to fire a round to improve. Ten to fifteen minutes a day spent in practicing and refining your draw and fire, flash sight picture, reloads (empty magazines!), pivots, etc. will pay off in increasing smoothness and speed.

Dry firing does not bother a good Colt, but dropping the slide on an empty chamber does nasty things to that nice trigger job. If the gun is empty, EASE the slide home, and keep your hand away from the muzzle when you do it.

Make yourself a set of miniature targets and no-shoots out of paper bags (6" wide, 8" long and a 2" B zone). Check the stages for the next match and arrange the miniature targets on a SAFE WALL for dry-firing and practice for the match.

Now practice smoothly drawing, aiming, pressing the trigger, and shifting between targets. Top shooters use mental conditioning and visualization techniques to improve their performance. Plan how to shoot that stage. Try a walkthrough. Go through the motions. Experiment and refine your movements. It works.