Dry Firing Pistols

[Sigman818]

I was at the range shooting my Glock 19 and getting 2 1/2 to 3" groups. I switched to my M&P 9c and starting shooting way low. I got one of the guys at the range and he noticed I was pulling down right before I shot. He suggested to dry fire 10 to 20 times until I saw that I was not pulling down when I pressed the trigger. Then load 4 rounds, see how I did and repeat process. I tried it and it did work. Today I went to the range and my groups stayed at 2". Got same results with my Beretta PX4 40, S&W, and my Sig 1911.

Is all this dry firing practice before shooting going to damage something on my guns?

I am still fairly new to the sport of target shooting so it might be a dumb question.

Thanks.

[Kodemonkey]

You're just fine dry firing those two handguns. Dry "practice" is probably one of the best things you can do to get rid of that flinching that is making your shots low.

When dry practicing at home, make sure there is no ammunition in the room. I use snap caps to practice magazine changing with my mag carrier.

[dunndeal]

The owner's manual for my Colt Python says that dry firing is not harmful at all.

[Kodemonkey]

If you don't have snap caps, I highly recommend these:

http://www.stactionpro.com/action-trainer-dummy-rounds-c-1.html

The A-zooms are well built and very common, but I have actually worn some out and the aluminum tends to chip and can sometimes snag on stuff. Some of the older ones actually cause malfunctions on one of my Glocks, but that's just a great way to practice malfunction drills I guess!

Another tip for both of those guns, you don't need to completely rack the slide to reset the action. You can pull back the slide on the glock about half way (maybe less than halfway) to get it to reset the action. The M&P I think needs to be pulled almost halfway if I remember right - I have both of those it's just I shoot the Glocks and the wife has the M&P. This is mostly useful for the M&P that will require an empty mag in the gun if it is equipped with a magazine disconnect - it gets annoying to have the slide lock back every time you want to reset the action.

[Sigman818]

Thanks for your comments. I'll get some snap caps to be on the safe side.

[9mmepiphany]

You only need to pull the slide of the M&P back until the front of the ejection post starts to go over the hood of the barrel...about .5"