From military professionals to competitive shooters, people who make their living with a firearm all know the importance of dry fire training. Though high level shooters use dry fire to keep their skills sharp, newer gun owners can reap the largest benefits by incorporating this into their training regime. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest reasons you should add dry fire training to your routine immediately.

I realize “safety” isn’t a sexy sell here, but this will always be paramount for gun owners, and familiarity with its operation, as well as comfort with its handling, are key elements to safe usage. Even longtime gun enthusiasts need to spend time with new purchases if only to adjust to basics such as unique placement of the gun’s safety, magazine release, and charging handle. Especially if you’re a new shooter, getting familiar with your weapon without live rounds being involved lowers the danger and therefore potential stress. 

Speaking of reduced stress and increased safety, dry fire training allows you to push your own limits as you work on fundamentals with ever increasing speed. From maneuvers as basic as rapid firing at a single target, to drawing from a holster to hit multiples, you can incorporate more movement, activity, and acceleration without putting yourself and those around you in danger due to either a negligent or accidental discharge. 

This one’s pretty straightforward, especially if you’re pinching pennies reloading your own ammo you’re likely aware of what each round costs, now multiply that by each trigger press during your dry fire session. That’s a given, but let’s don’t forget to also factor in the wear and tear on your gun, the drive to the shooting range, range fees, the targets you're chewing up, and, depending on your schedule, the time involved (time is money, people). Hey, heading to the range is a mini vacation for many of us, but if you’re depending on it as your only source of practice, then on the days life gets in the way, your trigger time gets bumped to another day. Since dry fire training can be worked in during commercial breaks, just after putting the kids to bed, or even between folding the laundry, there’s no excuse for letting your trigger finger rust. 

This will not affect everyone equally, but most shooting ranges are simply a collection of lanes that you get to shoot down, slowly (rapid fire is often not permitted), without the option of using different firing positions (unless you count sitting and standing), movement (including holster draws), ability to shoot more than a single target, and a variety of other dynamic options you may want to incorporate into your routine. These rules, of course, are in place for safety purposes, but if you desire more than sighting in your gun, then you need more than a lane. 

Though in point #1 we discussed safety, we’re closing the circle here in regards to pushing your boundaries and increasing your capabilities. From improved accuracy to reload speeds, holster draws to malfunction clearing, safe, fast movement combined with shooting from various forms of cover, you can enhance current skills and cultivate new ones all through dry fire training. We’ve previously explained how dry fire training works, if you’re interested in the basics, and we’ll continue posting drills that can help you help yourself become a more keen shooter, regardless of discipline, so stay tuned. 

Train smart and train safe, everyone.