My first post of this year briefly discussed my goal of doing 3,650 minutes of dry practice in 2019. These posts are mostly for my own accountability. Here are my results to this point in the year.
January 1 – 11: 200 minutes, January 12 – 31: 140 minutes
February 1 – 15: 140 minutes, February 16 – 28: 130 minutes
March 1 – 15: 160 minutes, March 16 – 31: 160 minutes
April 1 – 15: 140 minutes, April 16 – 30: 160 minutes
May 1 – 15: 140 minutes, May 16 – 31: 170 minutes
June 1 – 15: 180 minutes, June 16 – 30: 160 minutes
July 1-15: 150 minutes, July 16 – 31: 130 minutes
August 1-15: 150 minutes, August 16-31: 170 minutes
September 1-15: 140 minutes, September 16-30: 140 minutes
October 1-15: 190 minutes, October 16-31: 150 minutes
November 1-15: 150 minutes, November 16-30: 110 minutes
December 1: 10 minutes presentation with handheld light
December 2: 10 minutes presentation
December 3: 0 minutes
December 4: 10 minutes left/right barricades
December 5: 10 minutes USP: supine, 10 minutes USP: prone
December 6:10 minutes striker fired pistol trigger, 10 minutes USP kneeling
December 7: 10 minutes DA/SA pistol trigger, 10 minutes USP sitting
December 8: 10 minutes striker fired pistol trigger, 10 minutes presentation
December 9: 10 minutes DA revolver trigger, 10 minutes reloads
December 10: 10 minutes Glock 19 fam, 10 minutes forward/backward movement
December 11: 10 minutes presentation
December 12: 10 minutes lever-action reloading, 10 minutes malfunctions
December 13: 0 minutes
December 14: 10 minutes striker fired pistol trigger, 10 minutes presentation with handheld light
December 15: 10 minutes malfunctions, 10 minutes left/right barricades
Monthly Target: 310 minutes
Monthly Actual: 220 minutes
Cumulative Target to date: 3,490 minutes
Cumulative Actual to Date: 3,600 minutes (60 hours)
Focus Areas
I really tried to go into this month strong. I know with the holidays coming up there will be some strong temptation to take time off. We have two different sets of house guests in the next three weeks, family Christmas stuff… I’m sure none of you need me to to explain how the holiday’s work, so I’ll stop there. I’m not exactly sure where my numbers are, so I wanted to be absolutely certain that come December 31st, I’m in the green.
I wanted to wrap the year up with good review of everything I’ve practiced so far: presentation, reloads, malfunctions, SHO/WHO work, unconventional shooting positions (USP), left and right barricades, handheld flashlight/low light work, and movement (forward, backward, lateral). For those of you that wonder what’s the point of my dry practice, this is it. It’s not to take 3/100ths of a second off my draw stroke – it’s to work some of these skills that I am not allowed to work at the range, and build strongly myelinated pathways.
I also tried to work in some familiarization with different platforms including DA/SA semi-autos, DA revolvers, and striker-fired guns. I think maintaining some proficiency with all the major categories of handguns is important. Nothing new, nothing interesting here, just a repeat of basic handgun skills.
If you aren’t dry practicing. . . WHY NOT? It’s not hard to find 10 minutes a day to dry practice, and it’s COMPLETELY FREE. Take ten minutes you’d be spending vegging out on Instagram or in front of the TV and turn it into a tangible skill.
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Dry fire practice is awesome. Especially for skills like drawing, reloading, clearing malfunctions, and the like, which are only peripherally related to shooting. Even things more directly related, like operating a double action trigger, can often be more beneficially practiced dry.
When I was shooting Cowboy Action, I went from stage times in the 40-50 second range, to times in the teens and twenties over the course of one winter, almost exclusively through dry fire.