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You're range won't let you do what?

5K views 40 replies 19 participants last post by  pbrady 
#1 ·
We all know that most public, and some private, ranges will not let you do certain things, like move, and shoot, at the same time. And most of us can't just go out back and shoot all we want. So what are you going to do to try and get some real world practice in? Dry fire!

Nothing to buy, no membership required. Practice right in your own home. Draw from concealment, while on the move, shoot at BG while on the move. Shoot from prone, kneeling, standing, sitting, or from under the car! All in the air conditioned comfort of your home. The idea of dry fire is to develop muscle memory through repetition. Practice as often as you can using your weapon as you would when it is hot. Be sure to practice using the weapon you actually will be carrying and using. http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/20...even-suggestions-effective-dry-fire-practice/
 
#2 · (Edited)
The things we can NOT do at our range-

1. Shoot without and RSO or instructor present
2. Shoot at anything except paper, steel or 3D targets (No old computers, tvs or junk cars)
3, Shoot anything larger than 50cal
4, Shoot full auto weapons (Although this has been done under qualified LE instructors)
Pretty much all the other stuff can or has been done. Although, when you can do them, is dependent on a few factors like-

A. What RSO or instructor is on duty? (Not all RSO's/instructors are qualified to cover dynamic drills)
B. How many people are there? (You can't disturb/disrupt others.)
C. Is there a class or event going on, etc. (Can't disrupt a class.)
D. What ranges are available? (There are additional Back drops & safety concerns)
Our range is one of the few ranges where dynamic three directional shooting drills can be done. We can even do them while shooting at moving targets. There again though, "when in can be done" depends on the RSO or instructor.

I RSO dynamic shooting drills and we have a few SWAT & LE instructors who will.

We discuss & pattern the drill to be practiced.
Then, we run it dry a few times before we go hot.

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#4 ·
The things we can NOT do at our range-


2. Shoot at anything except paper, steel or 3D targets (No old computers, tvs or junk cars)

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Call me immature, not serious or whatever :) but if I couldn't shoot on my own property, I would miss this the most. When I have newbies over, after getting them comfortable on paper/spinners, moving to "real life" targets is always what they remember most and want to came back and do. Something cathartic about it I think.
 
#3 ·
Not having my own private range, that is what I do. I've considered purchasing plastic trainer guns, but currently use snap caps. I agree with the article, efficient drawing and sight aquistion are most important.

I'm not allowed to draw at my local range but I do practice rapid fire (as long as it is not too rapid, since it is prohibited), drop my mag, reload and resume.

I have taken night time self defense classes where you can draw, move around, use flash lights, etc. I think I might sign up for another one soon, its been a while.
 
#5 ·
No full auto or bump firing.
Paper only.
All guns open on the table and can't go near the table when putting up new targets every 20 minutes.
Must have sticky targets or purchase them there.
Must have eye and ear protection.Which everyone should use anyway off course.
Human Human body Leisure Tourism Mountain range


That's my son at the target and one of my brothers walking back to the table.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Unfortunately, we had a problem 15-20yrs ago with people bring junk cars, washing machines, tvs etc out to the range and not cleaning up when they were done.

I'm with you though Maine- there is something about shooting up old junk cars & PUTs that makes you feel all warm & fuzzy inside.

BTW- no bump firing on our either. But, we have people around here that would LOVE to have the ability to shoot father than 100yds. Long distance ranges are hard to come by in swamp country. We have folks round here that would kill to have the room you have FT. (Most areas with the ability to build long distant ranges have been snapped up by LED's; or they are used in farming)

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#7 ·
Unfortunately, we had a problem 15-20yrs ago with people bring junk cars, washing machines, tvs etc out to the range and not cleaning up when they were done.

I'm with you though Maine- there is something about shooting up old junk cars & PUTs that makes you feel all warm & fuzzy inside.
There sure is. I have multiple disposal piles in my garage. Trash, recyclables, and the "shoot it" pile. Right now out back on the range are 3 dead microwave ovens stacked on top of each other. One of the great combos in life; taping a paper target on the door of a microwave. Go for the bullseye and watch the pieces fly!
Another thing I do is in my large vegetable garden I always grow more than I need. Everybody likes getting fresh veggies out of the garden and there's few better targets than extra tomatoes, overripe cucumbers/zucchini, and melons and pumpkins that didn't finish before the end of the season.
 
#8 ·
We do bring things like vegetables, tin cans and other reactive targets when we have kid & beginner events. Shooting at stuff like that will grab most beginners and even antis "hook, line & sinker".

Another thing that seems to hook & keep beginner & anti-gun people is shooting skeet. Whenever we have an NRA event at our range, our skeet/clay range is always the busiest!

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#9 ·
One thing I don't like about the County range is there's about 30 of these concrete tables set up in a row like a bowling alley.So if a guy's shooting a 40 cal. compact right next to you the shock wave hit's you in the side of the face and you hope he uses good gun safety and keeps his gun pointed in a safe direction.You don't know who these people are and there level of gun knowledge.I've seen people getting yelled at by the range guy's several times not having there hand guns and rifles pointed down and swinging around on the shooting line.
I enjoy the open desert much more.
 
#10 ·
One thing I did not like about a range we go to in Georgia, is if you are shooting at less than 25 yards, the target must be four feet off the ground.

The reason, I suppose, is so that you won't shoot DOWN into a target, at say, 30 feet, and ricochet off the ground, going OVER the berm. But when trying to teach someone new, so you need to be close - well, not too many people have four foot tall target stands. And when the new shooter is a kid, a three-foot kid shooting at a target four-feet off the ground, is pointed OVER the berm to begin with.

Stupid damn rules, but has to be obeyed. It's written down somewhere - it's official.
 
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#11 ·
This post is about dry firing your pistol, please read the link.
 
#16 ·
That may be what it stated as :p but it seems to have gone astray.

Snap caps are a good idea, they don't cost a lot, and as far as I know, they don't wear out. I personally don't use them that much, and I do not believe that dropping the hammer on an empty chamber will hurt your pistol. Not sure about striker fired guns.
This, actually, depends on your gun. I used to dry-fire an Uberti single action. The firing pin, attached to the hammer, is cone-shaped, and as it went through the hole in the breech-face, without a case in the chamber to stop it, went farther than it would when shooting, and raised a lip on the inside (cylinder side) of he breech, around the firing pin hole. This burr - this lip - caused a drag on the case heads. I had to stone it off. Problem solved, and now when dry-firing this gun, I use snap caps.

Seems like, years back, I read that dry-firing a Python was not a good idea. It was hard on the V-spring. The Trooper, with its coil mainspring, did not have the same problem.

And dry-firing most 22s is not a good idea. They make 22 snapcaps, but they all seem to be made of plastic, and are more for "loading and unloading practice" than for dry-firing. They'll take, maybe, 20 or 30 hits, and the rim will be all busted to hell.

And I know you said pistol, but I broke both firing pins on a Stevens 311 12 gauge, by "releasing the tension" before putting it in the rack - dry-firing it. I'm not fond of dry-firing striker-fired guns - pistol, rifle or shotgun.
 
#13 ·
Snap caps are a good idea, they don't cost a lot, and as far as I know, they don't wear out. I personally don't use them that much, and I do not believe that dropping the hammer on an empty chamber will hurt your pistol. Not sure about striker fired guns.
 
#14 ·
Used to live out in CA. Had a lot of open public shooting areas in the 60s and 70s. Problem was folks began bringing out trash to shoot at, and leaving it. The anti-gun crowd then had the local TV News people out and filmed the mess. Problem wasn't so much tin cans, but glass bottles and things like mattresses, TVs, car batteries and old clothes washers. Turned even folks who were 'on the fence' against letting people shoot on public ranges/land. Wasn't long before all of these areas were closed off to open shooting. That was about the time they opened the LA Shooting Range and made folks to pay in order to shoot. We can be our own worst enemy.
 
#17 ·
Never owned any of the guns you've had problems with. Except the .22, I know it's not good for most of them, but then this thread is supposed to be about dry firing your EDC pistol, and I doubt that many of us carry a .22.
 
#18 ·
In my humble opinion, dry firing a weapon is tantamount to hiring a prostitute to cuddle. Other than finding the trigger pull, which can be done in a couple squeezes, there is no way to tell if you would have hit your target. Sounds a lot like the modern method of not keeping score and everyone is a "winner". Now I fully support getting the feel for your gun, but shooting it while it is empty just doesn't get it for me. Soooo, with the current lack of .22's I bought a soft air gun with the same feel as my S&W Sigma .40. Now, everything in my back yard is a target, and I can practice drawing, shooting from the hip, and actual target practice (within 20 yards). A $8 target allows me to shoot indoors. (The cat has opted out of this activity and hides until the nasty gun is put away, plus the wife told me if she found one more plastic pellet in the house, she was going to glue it to a stick and insert it somewhere in my body???) When practicing shooting from the hip at night, snails make wonderful targets that immediately report on your aim. Sparrows, cow birds, and feral cats soon learn the sound of the gun being cocked. Adult children who make snide remarks are also fair game. (yes they sting)
So, no I can't picture myself running around the house clicking an empty gun. It just ain't American. Of course that's just me. If it floats your boat, sail on.
 
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#26 ·
In my humble opinion, dry firing a weapon is tantamount to hiring a prostitute to cuddle. Other than finding the trigger pull, which can be done in a couple squeezes, there is no way to tell if you would have hit your target. Sounds a lot like the modern method of not keeping score and everyone is a "winner". Now I fully support getting the feel for your gun, but shooting it while it is empty just doesn't get it for me. Soooo, with the current lack of .22's I bought a soft air gun with the same feel as my S&W Sigma .40. Now, everything in my back yard is a target, and I can practice drawing, shooting from the hip, and actual target practice (within 20 yards). A $8 target allows me to shoot indoors. (The cat has opted out of this activity and hides until the nasty gun is put away, plus the wife told me if she found one more plastic pellet in the house, she was going to glue it to a stick and insert it somewhere in my body???) When practicing shooting from the hip at night, snails make wonderful targets that immediately report on your aim. Sparrows, cow birds, and feral cats soon learn the sound of the gun being cocked. Adult children who make snide remarks are also fair game. (yes they sting)
So, no I can't picture myself running around the house clicking an empty gun. It just ain't American. Of course that's just me. If it floats your boat, sail on.
In my humble opinion, dry firing a weapon is tantamount to hiring a prostitute to cuddle. Other than finding the trigger pull, which can be done in a couple squeezes, there is no way to tell if you would have hit your target. Sounds a lot like the modern method of not keeping score and everyone is a "winner".

I'm going to disagree with you on this part!:D However, the rest of your post is spot on. Air soft guns are, in my opinion, a good choice for practicing all aspects of your draw, and shooting abilities. They don't react the same way my EDC does, but it's the training that works to build muscle memory, and mind set, that gets the job done.
 
#20 ·
My EDC has been dry fired at leist 10 times more than the number of rounds thats been down the barrel, and that's ALOT.

The old saying, "pratice makes perfect" holds true and it don't always have to be live ammo.
 
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#22 ·
o_O That is strange. I wonder their reasoning?
 
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#27 ·
I do not think dry firing is good for your pin.
They were designed to hit something (the primer) which stops the pin before they "Bottom out".
Although "Occasional" dry fire should do no harm constant dry firing could screw up your pin.
Now on a .22 the striker will hit the recess of the barrel and will bend, flatten out or even break. And should NEVER be done.
Mike
 
#28 ·
Mike you know that Ruger products, for one (and maybe the only one), can safely be dry fired. But a .22 is not the gun you will be carrying as a SD weapon. Snap caps do the same thing to the firing pin as a live round, so their use will prevent damage to your pistol.
 
#30 ·
Because I see broken firing pins ALL the time. And hear from the owners that they herd it was ok to do it then the pins break and they have to bring them to me.
The pins that have a spring in them are ok to dry fire because the spring holds it back from hitting the pin rim .Like carver said some are made to dry fire and I will add some are not.
So doing so unless you are sure they are you should keep it to a minimum.
Mike
 
#33 ·
When I first moved to CO I got caught leaving some trash on a deserted mountain side by some stern, but friendly "neighbors". That was back in '73. To this day I see trash everywhere I go in the great outdoors. It's almost impossible to believe that humans are so filthy! Do you know that a piece of glass bottle that we shot, and broke today, may slice open the foot of a child 300 years from now! Please leave your shooting space at least as clean as when you got there.
 
#34 ·
One place I go to now is so fast at sweeping that you barely get any brass back. I need to speak to the owner. If I am going to lose brass, I will go elsewhere and steer others I know away from them. I think it is the low paid help doing this so will give the manager an opportunity to correct the problem.
 
#35 ·
Guess I'm lucky but our gun club range has very few rules except pay your dues on time. We don't allow any kind of junk like cars or old TVs and had to ban plastic bottles, golf balls, beer cans, and the like because people would not pick them up and they were causing a problem with the mowers. Full auto is OK, rapid fire is OK, move and shoot is OK as long as you are not interfering with others and do not cross the firing line. There cannot be any targets except paper closer than 25 yds to the firing line.

And any brass in the unwanted brass barrel belongs to whom ever gets it first (I like that one).
 
#38 ·
I almost never find any brass at the range, which doesn't surprise me. What does surprise me is that, last time I cruised through the desert where the city slobs execute TVs and leave their trash lying about, I found no brass either! Are they picking it up to reload? Or are the tweakers who steal copper from electric substations and power poles turning to brass for income?
 
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