How to know if your dryfire is wrong

[@dalewalters357]

Great advice! Some SF instructors pointed me to your channel and I am glad they did!

[@boxerjoe1314]

"Dryfire" are my favorite videos. I used to think my dryfire was my issue, too, but over time, I realized my issue was my inability to assimilate the feedback I was getting from my dry fire. See I originally just thought dry firing all day every day would make me better. Then, eventually, one day, I listened to what my gun was trying to tell me.

[@willr4880]

This

[@marineplaysairsoft]

I can't hear what my gun is saying. Will porting my gun make it louder?

[@NYslide62]

Thank you for the most excellent explanation on the conceptual and practical application of dry fire practice.

[@ncgearguy05]

I think a lot of people have a misconception of what dry fire will do for them when not consistently testing what they have been doing at home in their live fire. You can’t just put in the reps at home and not go to the range for 3 months then go and think you will see immediate improvement. That range day after those 3 months of reps was, in reality, was your first test of your dry fire, so if it was wrong you just wasted 3 months possibly building bad habits. I have learned that the best use of my time and ammo was work on some key things in dry fire for a bit then test that at the range with live fire. If that range day was successful then find the next thing to focus on that needs improvement. If it didn’t work, use that range day to figure out why, then tweak your dry fire and try again. But don’t simulate a “range day” at home over and over but never go to the range to test what you have been doing.

[@marineplaysairsoft]

I tried months of dryfire, no range, and my mikes increased big time. I think you MAY be onto something!

[@rickm4295]

Man, this channel is really concise and helps a lot. I really appreciate how much you seem to give a shit, thanks for that.

[@chrisdarcy8998]

Dryfire is an art form and extremely beneficial when done correctly / effectively. I do like Ben said, focus on a single skill at a time, sometimes combining two skills. I start slow to make sure the core technique is correct, then speed up, cutting the par time until I find my failure point then spend more time at that par time until comfortable, then cut the par time. The other important thing with dry fire is, you have to be honest with yourself! If you see the sight move as you press the trigger, embrace that error, don't think that's OK, try again until you know you get it right, then cut your par time. Be realistic, don't expect an 0.9s draw to 1st shot from concealment while you're struggling to make it in 1.5s, keep working. Lots of good dry fire resources out there, some guy Ben something, published a book "Dryfire Reloaded", I find very good. You're welcome Ben. Keep up the great vids. When are you expecting your Staccato?

[@onpsxmember]

You really do the most to help him instead of just saying he should take a class. Noice!

[@kiwigun_gamer950]

Love to see subtle hints of the conscious/subconscious mind starting to creep into your videos. Steve was pretty much the only one talking about this at one stage, couple it with your ability to talk about the actual "doing" side of shooting and its a win win for everyone watching your videos.

[@Project_31]

People miss the 4 levels of incompetent competence a lot out of naivety, to add on to your very beneficial comment, so here’s a tip for the people At the bottom of the pyramid we have Unconscious incompetence, essentially ignorance to your drills or rhythms to what you need to Do and know Then above that we have unconscious competence, you know know what you need to know but still have to proactively think about it in order to employ it. Next is subconscious competence, this is the level where the proper habits are there and start to become second nature. Lastly at the top of the pyramid we have awareness, this is where you know longer have to think about what you are doing but you have the ability to bring forth attention to something that needs attention. Think of tying your shoe, you can look wherever you want and tie your shoe but if you want to assure your shoe is now tied you can bring your attention to the shoe and confirm or change what you want with the knot.

[@2aalways362]

Exactly what I learned years after shooting. My dry fire sucked, bottom line. It very easy not dry fire correctly , has to be exactly how you shoot for real. Put everything on that you go to the range with - same shoes,pants, hat, shirt and ear protection. I have noise in the background, help me get in the same mindset like I’m at the range which is very hard to duplicate. Concentrate on your grip. It has to be exactly the same as a gun going off don’t ease up. And at the range of you feel like you’re not duplicating and dry fire at home. stop take a breath dry fire at the range so you don’t waste money on bullets. It shouldn’t be a chore either, treat as something you do to get better.

[@olivieraleman]

I definitely try to cure too many faults at once, excellent, thanks.

[@greggarmin9426]

Ben, I love your honesty.

[@islas357]

This is great advice, I’ve been using dry fire reloaded and these extra clarifications really help.

[@6Dasher]

Ben I need your help. I wrapped the resistance bands around my nuts but I’m still not seeing a sub second draw. Any thoughts on what I’m doing wrong?

[@D.F.K.]

You should have your boyfriend check the tension on your bands. You will be excited by the results

[@MichailEckles]

Once again, thank you, Ben, for all the insight. Most pro shooters want to charge for this advice, yet you continue to give back.

[@tylerfrogley1227]

I needed to hear this

[@royalefarms7637]

Those mantis training systems are really worth the money

[@GregB92]

Best video yet

[@jesseblankenship3864]

I run the mantis system in par time mode in sets of 10. From the holster. My typical goal is sub 2.00 sec and 90+% for the 10 shot average. It's been my main reason for improvement.

[@Pinoy-MasterOfDisaster]

That end comment is great😂

[@InjunJoe-sh7wn]

There is an app that helps with making the dry fire training more aggressive. It’s called dry practice drill. It has some par times for different drills and you can crest your own drills. It keeps you from doing the whole “go slow” mentality.

[@vigormindset]

Yep! Love that app! My favorite dry fire app these days.

[@EDP_every_day_pyro]

I can't find anything by the name "dry practice drill" What is the exact name of the app?

[@vigormindset]

@@EDP_every_day_pyro That’s a fair question! I can’t figure out what’s up, but when I search the App Store (iOS) I can’t find it anywhere. I saw it there as recently as last week, so that’s weird and I have no idea what’s up with that… 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@InjunJoe-sh7wn]

It’s just called dry practice drill, but I can’t find it in the App Store. Weird, cause it’s still on my phone and I can use it.

[@iCookCrystalMeth]

It’s only up on the Google Play Store. Must’ve been removed from the iOS App Store for some reason

[@piotrkomorowski7835]

Thanks!

[@MarkJoseph81]

New here. (Were you really on "The Simpsons"?! Reffering to your channel pic.) I was referred to your channel by a firearms instructor at my local range. I took 5 classes recently, and the final 2 were for my concealed carry which was when the instructor gave us names of channels to check out. Yours was on the list. Thanks for the information! I look forward to continually getting better.

[@rickyroost7732]

Thanks for such good coaching. After you have done possibly 1,000s of reps of dryfire, is pulling the trigger on every rep of dry fire conditioning you to potentially automatically pull the trigger in a real-life situation. Is there some benefit to intersperse shoot reps with a no shoot rep?

[@chloeswartling]

I also don't know everything is fine with dry fire until the gun goes bang than everything is gone I have to start from over to get a good grip ect.only drawing is successful

[@lead-with-the-eyes]

Can you elaborate on keeping dryfire real through the lens of par times? For example: do you subscribe to the belief that dry par times should always be some fraction (say 80%) of targeted live times? Or is it better to start with a dry time that 1:1 matches an imperfect live time, with a focus on hammering out process fixes to address relevant issues at that speed - before seeing what breaks again at a more aggressive pace?

[@nathanjames7030]

How wrong should dry fire be? Let's say I'm simulating a plate rack in dry fire. I set a par time that I can't easily accomplish. How many reps should I judge as correct? And would this be correct for only a single aspect of the rep, e.g., target focus, or for all aspects?

[@Charlo_D]

Have you heard of praxis protocol by Mike Ochsner? I’ve been using his dry fire training and I would like to know your thoughts if you have any on it. Thank you for the videos Ben!

[@Bane_Diesel]

Question: I am doing some steel challenge comps just for the purpose of "training" for uspsa. I dry fire 75% hands below belt 25% surrender position. This week I have switched to doing more reps in the surrender position but even after 3-4 hours of dry fire my surrender position is SIGNIFICANTLY slower, is this normal? If I try to speed up I get a poor grip and my logic is I would rather have a good grip then a fast draw with poor grip.

[@ggjuggosauri]

Drawing from wrists above shoulders will never be as fast as wrists below belt simply due to distance of the gun from your hands. Especially considering that scoop draw is possible from wrist below belt. However, you can try alternating you hand positions in wrists above shoulder to improve the path to the gun. Some top level SCSA shooters will use a consistent index point like a hat for their starting hand position as well.

[@nathanjames7030]

Surrender position is probably between 0.1 and 0.2 seconds slower. Not getting a good grip is lack of familiarity with the surrender position draw.

[@Bane_Diesel]

@@nathanjames7030 thanks

[@Bane_Diesel]

@@ggjuggosauri I'll try to find a good index point that is consistent

[@CurtisBrandt]

@@nathanjames7030 I would second this. That time differential maps for me, as well. Bane is right, at the end, too - no matter how fast your draw, if you don't take the needed time to come out of the holster with a good grip, the mistake propagates out along your whole stage or string of fire. Take the time it takes to get a perfect grip, and not a millisecond more. ;-)

[@robertbrooks7196]

Muscle memory.

[@steven1365]

I can dry fire till the cows come home with a timer or without, dime trick or not, punch the trigger or suprise break. Done it all over the years and rocky steady at home but with live fire it goes low left. Oddly enough even tho it’s been a while since I did uspsa I did have the same problem when shooting a stage

[@bellcoolmountain6650]

Could be all mental. His mental mindset maybe falling apart when it gets real

[@user-ms3lw3gi4f]

👍

[@rodvan-zeller6360]

Measure BPM and cortisol level in dry fire and in competition. Learning how to control the adrenal stress reaction is the first step.

[@BlackSheepPractical]

Man what the f…

[@rodvan-zeller6360]

@@BlackSheepPractical Combat science.

[@troutslayer5518]

👍🏻

[@uncleB1972]

🤯

[@tronpauli1475]

It sounds like a mentality issue more than a practice issue. If your training is going out the window it's because your panicking. Work on that and you'll match training with reality.

[@StarWarsSurvivalist]

It sounds like there is no substitute for live-fire, and that dry-firing will only get you so far. You cannot "fake" the recoil of the gun.

[@heretic4763]

nonsensical conclusion

[@dalewalters357]

Finding the proper balance is an art. Live fire shooting can also hide some of your mistakes just like dryfire can. Enjoy the journey. 🙂

[@Pedestrian777]

Dry fire, live fire and competition is an interconnected triangle that you have to continuously maintain in order to recognize strengths and weaknesses in each area. You'll have to learn which skills carry over from one area to another, and continuously work on the bottlenecks between them through HONEST self-assessment. "Don't criticize - analyze", as some dude said. Realizing you're not as hot shit as you thought you were when going from dry fire to live fire, and worse yet, to competition, is part and parcel of the process, IMO.

[@StarWarsSurvivalist]

@@heretic4763 I am not saying "don't do dry fire, it has no place". What I am saying is that dry-firing will only get you so far, and that if you want to be really proficient at shooting, there is no substitution for shooting real, live rounds at a target.

[@dalewalters357]

@@Pedestrian777 well said!

[@randylahey2242]

ben - team israel or team palestine? be honest

[@dpokhil]

🇮🇱 the only one