Do you want to be a better shooter? Frankly, it doesn’t matter if I posed this question to some of the top shooters in the country. The answer should be the same. Now, I’ll pose another question: how do you go about improving your shooting? The answer to that question doesn’t necessarily elicit the same brevity or simplicity as the last question.
While everyone wants to be a better shooter, how you go about doing so is a different matter. There’s more than one way to practice something or improve a skill. In my learning and teaching experience, a struggling student sometimes benefits from hearing a skill communicated differently or conveying the method through a different instructor. What works for one doesn’t always work for another. However, two methods — dry fire and rimfire — have worked consistently across a wide range of open-minded and eager students. For those who haven’t experienced success with these methods, here’s how and why dry fire and rimfire help you become a better shooter.
Improving your Shooting
Improving your shooting is much more than just going to the range and sending rounds at a target. Anyone can go out and shoot trash with friends. Improvement occurs through purposeful and directed skill development. This development doesn’t need to be pure drudgery or some kind of death march. Some of the best drills and classes for improving my shooting were also exceptionally fun and interesting. Shooting rimfire is fun. Dry fire can be boring. However, let’s get into the why and how these two things benefit you to be a better shooter.
Improving Your Shooting Through Dry Fire
Dry fire is a tried a true method of developing proper shooting mechanics. Why does it work? As the saying goes, repetition strengthens and confirms. Our brains are a hard drive. Every time we perform an action, we write a memory of performing that action to our mental drive. The more that action is performed, the more our brain and body are inclined to duplicate that action.
Much like a child learning to walk, a skill becomes second nature after it’s been performed a few hundred – or even a few thousand – times. Dry fire reinforces proper shooting habits through consistent repetition. Nevertheless, dry fire should be done with a purpose. For many, the “how” of conducting dry fire is nothing more than pulling a trigger to hear a monotonous click.
Proper Dry Fire Habits and Practices
First and foremost, dry fire must be done safely. Remove all ammunition from the firearm and place it in a different location. Visually and physically inspect the firearm to verify it’s unloaded. Improving your shooting begins with competent safe firearms handling. If things aren’t done safely, it’s difficult to get to the next step of skill-building. Second, dry fire is purposeful. It’s not just pulling a trigger and racking a slide. Each action is intentional and focused on developing a specific skill.
Dry fire costs nothing but time. It doesn’t require ammunition or a range trip. However, dry fire requires a dedicated focus on proper fundamentals. Most of my dry fire sessions “build up” as I progress through repetitions. While the number of reps may vary, a dry fire session may consist of the following program:
- Start with clearing concealment (or releasing a retention device) and obtaining a proper grip on the firearm.
- Draw and clear the holster. Don’t present the firearm at the designated target yet.
- Draw and present firearm at target. This isn’t about speed, but repeatability. Present the gun so the sights and sight picture are on target, and your trigger finger, grip, and stance are comfortable and consistent.
- Draw and perform a controlled trigger press on target. Look for variations in your sight picture and grip. Does the front sight shake during the trigger press? When you speed up and test the boundaries of your competency, do you snatch the trigger, tighten your grip, or otherwise stray from the fundamentals?
The above regimen is only one way of improving your shooting. There are plenty of other dry fire drills to reinforce proper fundamentals. In some instances, I’ve isolated dry fire to focus solely on how I reset the trigger for follow-up shots. Your mental attention and focus can only take so much intensity, so overdoing dry fire is almost as detrimental as none.
Improving Your Shooting Through Rimfire
While ammunition prices have skyrocketed over the years, rimfire ammunition — specifically .22LR — is still relatively cheap. Furthermore, with the proliferation of rifle and pistol rimfire conversion kits, you don’t need to invest in a dedicated rimfire rifle and pistol to cut ammo costs. Besides being inexpensive and plentiful, rimfire is low-recoil with a mild report. This is great for new and young shooters when first introduced to shooting. However, experienced shooters benefit from rimfire for the same aforementioned reasons.
I’ve probably beaten the point to death in previous articles, but there’s nothing natural about a controlled explosion (e.g. discharging a firearm) going off in your hands. The natural human tendency is to flinch or anticipate the impending detonation. In the past, I’ve used .22LR pistols and revolvers to demonstrate to shooters how they’re flinching with medium to high-power handgun calibers. Rimfire is a great tool to get a shooter focused on proper skills while receiving the feedback of a discharged firearm. The tempered recoil and mild report are less likely to induce flinching of any kind. Even the most stubborn who complain “it’s the trigger’s fault” admit their lack of proper fundamentals after consistently hitting the target with a double-action .22 revolver.
Practicing with Rimfire
Undoubtedly, rimfire’s biggest benefit is cost. You can shoot a lot for not near as much as centerfire calibers. This increased volume of shooting cuts both ways. It can turn into blazing through ammo with no tangible purpose or it can be intentional and purposeful training.
Rimfire’s mild recoil allows a shooter to see and feel their response to shooting. If their grip, trigger control, or sighting is improper, they can normally see what caused an errant shot. No snappy recoil or large explosion is obstructing or distracting their focus from proper mechanics and follow-through. Overall, rimfire allows shooters to evaluate their performance with the immediate feedback of holes in the target or the satisfying “ding” on steel.
Dry Fire and Rimfire Complement Each Other
There are many ways to improve your shooting. There’s currently a massive array of dry fire aids to assist with evaluating your performance. Some of these aids, like the Mantis X3 system, can be used during live fire to see how you’re translating dry fire skills to time spent training or on the range.
Ultimately, dry fire is a great tool for building sound shooting habits and improving your focus. When coupled with rimfire, you can evaluate how you translate those habits into live shooting. Furthermore, rimfire is a great tool for grounding yourself when a day spent shooting centerfire cartridges seems to be an “off” kind of day.
All the rimfire shooting and dry fire practice is worthless without making it purposeful, intentional, and practical. Whether conducting dry fire or shooting on the range, have a reasonable plan on what skills you will work, how you will do it, and why you’re doing it. Beyond purpose in your regimen, find ways to make it fun and engaging. If it’s not fun, why do it? At the end of the day, practice and have fun!
