Dry Fire Practice

We have compiled a list of various dry fire practice drills that you can do in your own home. Dry fire practice with an unloaded firearm is invaluable to improve your shooting and manipulations… and it's completely free – no range fees or ammo costs! Be sure to follow all safety guidelines and make sure there's no live ammo or loaded magazines anywhere near you while you practice.  And even though your gun is unloaded, choose a safe spot as your aiming point.

These drills can be utilized for handgun, rifle and shotgun practice. It's a good idea to invest in some quality dummy rounds that will hold up to heavy use. If you reload, you can make your own – but be very careful to clearly mark them so that you don't mix them up with live ammo. Not the end of the world if you accidentally load a dummy round at the range (think of it as good practice in malfunction clearance!), but potentially disastrous if you use a live round during dry fire practice or load a dummy round into your defensive or duty weapon!

A timer is a very useful tool for dry fire. You can set par times (e.g. 2 seconds, 5 seconds, etc) so you can set target times for the completion of certain drills. Set your timer to a delayed start, begin at the beep, and race against the clock to complete the task before it beeps again at the designated par time. Even better, record your par times during practice sessions and track your progress over time as you challenge yourself to get faster. Besides dedicated shot timers, there are various shot timer apps available for Android and iPhones that are perfect for dry fire.

The latest RECOIL target pack hits store shelves January 29th and includes a special target that you can use for dry fire practice. Note that the silhouettes at the top are one-quarter scale to make it easier to use in the confines of your home. The pepper poppers at the bottom are one-quarter scale for mini-pepper poppers or one-sixth scale for standard ones. So for instance, if you stand 5 feet away from the dry fire target, at one-quarter scale that's the same as being 20 feet away from a full size equivalent. Try the drills listed in this article at various different distances.

If you have some of your own favorite drills, please share them in the comments below!

Pistol Dry Fire Drills

Rifle and Shotgun Dry Fire Drills

NEXT STEP: Download Your Free Target Pack from RECOIL

For years, RECOIL magazine has treated its readers to a full-size (sometimes full color!) shooting target tucked into each big issue. Now we've compiled over 50 of our most popular targets into this one digital PDF download. From handgun drills to AR-15 practice, these 50+ targets have you covered. Print off as many as you like (ammo not included).

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