Dry Fire Drills for Hunting Season

[CAB]

Was just curious if anyone does dry fire drills to get ready for hunting season with their hunting rifles? I was thinking it might be a good idea not only due to the cost of ammo but also because now I have changed landscape for rifle hunting. I'm use to sitting in a spot and ambushing animals but now that I live in a state where spot and stalk can be used I just realized.....there is a good chance I might be moving quickly and having to set up shots with my heart rate elevated. I was thinking of getting my heart rate up, then dropping down, getting a target in my sights and practicing my shot. Just wanted to see what people thought.

 

[WCB]

Kind of hard to know if it is working without knowing where you are hitting IMO. I think using a .22 would be more beneficial or even a good pellet rifle.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

Kind of hard to know if it is working without knowing where you are hitting IMO. I think using a .22 would be more beneficial or even a good pellet rifle.

I disagree. and see a ton of benefit personally when I do dry fire drills. If the crosshairs don't move on the snap of the trigger, you did it right.

OP, I do way more dry fire drills than actual range time in prep for the hunting season. Don't get me wrong, you still need some live trigger time, but you can get a ton out of dry fire drills.

 

[CAB]

Totally, I was thinking about just getting comfortable even. Seeing how easy it is to even get on target quickly, going through the motions and seeing how bad I shake.

 

[Hoodie]

Absolutely.

Dry fire is a fantastic way to practice getting stable in field positions, trigger press, etc.

If the cross-hairs are bouncing all over, you'll know you need to play with the position. Super good way to figure out the best ways to get stable quickly with what you'll have on hand.

 

[WCB]

Totally, I was thinking about just getting comfortable even. Seeing how easy it is to even get on target quickly, going through the motions and seeing how bad I shake.

FYI by my last post I am not saying there is no benefit to dry fire but I put much more faith in doing the real thing. For figuring out positions and getting and idea sure. But just because at the click it looks like the crosshair was on the money doesn't mean the bullet goes there. Follow through alignment in the scope and several other things need to be there that you don't get by dry firing.

again, getting into positions and judging how steady you can hold is a good idea I do it. But as a primary way to practice not my style...might work for some but I have found instances where bullets down range tell another story.

 

[Hoodie]

Another thing it's good for is ingraining good weapons manipulation habits. Get practice working the bolt quickly without coming off target, maintaining your cheek weld and making rapid follow up shots.

It's second nature for trained people to conduct speed reloads with semi-auto pistols when they hit slide lock. How often do you see guys take a shot with a bolt gun and then sit there for several seconds before they have another cartridge in the chamber? Or completely take their face off the stock to work the bolt?

These days most people don't utilize a shooting sling for support, but if you do dry fire is good way to figure out what length works best across multiple positions. I'm a big advocate of sling use.

Every time I go out to shoot my rifle, I spend some time dry firing the day prior and immediately prior to shooting.

I'm also a cheap bastard and there's a hell of an ammo shortage going on.

 

[Rich M]

Snap Caps are a good way to protect the firing pin. Dry fire is a good practice point when ammo is in short supply.

Get yourself a shooting stick - primos trigger stick is a good one, makes a world of diff with offhand shots. As stated the sling is useful too.

Doing jumpnjacks or burpees or whatever you want to do to raise you blood pressure, adrenaline, etc. might cause you to start down a bad habit road w shooting - IMO, do your dry firing with snap caps, use a 22 or BB gun but understand neither of those is as accurate as your rifle, and figure out how to control yourself when you see something.

We spend way too much time and energy and money to play this game - no sense missing or making a bad shot cause you are shaking like a leaf.

Another thing is strength in holding the gun up. I'm old and shaky some of the time. The shooting stick helps, so does doing pushups and exercising. I'll shoot offhand inside 100 yards, will use stick out to 250 yards if I can rest my right elbow on something, if not, then 150-175 yards for stick.

One of the deer I shot this year was running about 50 yards out thru a swamp - 4 shots in a "10 second" period, all aimed and most absorbed by trees - was tracking it thru scope and hit the trigger when the deer hit an opening while staying on the vitals. It always amazes me how muscle memory takes over during times like that. Never came off gun, never lost sight of deer, was almost like I had done that before.

Your practicing will make a difference in what happens in the field.