Butt kickin' and dry-firin'...

Wow, this fall has been busy for me and the gals.  I've been feelin' like a one-legged man in a butt kickin' contest... no offense intended to those with one leg... it's just an ol' sayin' that's been around for years.  I've picked up the NRA's Personal Protection Outside the Home Instructor certification, been accepted into the NRA's Training Counselor program for early next year, and completed the Ohio 4H Shooting Sports Shotgun Instructor certification.

My main gal and I are stepping up as the lead advisor (me) and the Ohio Shooting Sports Coordinator (her) for our 4H club.  I've also been appointed to the Board of Directors for our local sportsmens club and still serve on the county 4H committee.  All that has been on top of our regular duties as professional educators, parents, church members, etc.

I'm starting to learn to say no with some authority, but you wouldn't have guessed that from the previous paragraph.  Sometimes things have to go or slow down and as some of you have noticed... the blog is down to about one post each week, but I still enjoy keepin' the blog up as it relaxes me and keeps me in touch with so many great folks out there so I'm committed to at least one post every week or so.

Of course, I still find time for prepping, hunting, the outdoors, and shooting.  Having a place to shoot and hunt out back is sure an advantage.  I've been trying to make sure I get my exercise each day by ridin' the Schwinn Airdyne, weight lifting with dumb-bells, keeping my trigger fingers and hands strong with the Grip Master while driving to work, and walking the trails to check trail cams.

A few friends of mine have recently lamented that they haven't been able to get much range time in lately or even for months.  Even with our own range here at home, I still do a lot of dry-firing with both pistols and rifles and practice drawing from concealment fairly regularly... even out on the shootin' range.

There's been a lot written about dry-fire practice, including some good things by my friends Ron, over at When the Balloon Goes Up, and Matt, over at Jerking the Trigger.  I think one of the keys to effective dry-fire practice is being methodical and focusing on fundamentals and technique over speed... almost like developing a kata in a martial arts discipline.  Dry-firing isn't anything new, bulls-eye and rifle shooters have been using the technique for many decades.  I even ran across an advertisement (below) for a dry-firing arm weight from fifty years ago in the November, 1962 edition of Guns magazine.

There are a lot of ideas, tools, lasers, special equipment, and other gadgets to assist the shooter with dry-fire practice, but I have two items that I believe are critical.  First, the Triple-Check... make sure your gun is unloaded, the magazines are unloaded, there is absolutely no ammunition in the area, you're aiming at a safe target or location and TRIPLE CHECK your gun to make sure it is empty.  That's right, three times, check it... check it... and check it again.

The second critical item is simply DO IT!  Practice dry-firing regularly.  Work on the fundamentals   Get the trigger pull going in a steady motion, straight to the rear until it breaks.  Make sure your grip is consistent.  Practice operating the controls on your gun.  Always be aware of what your muzzle is covering if you're practicing drawing from concealment.  Oh, and don't forget your off-hand... you know, the one you don't use to write.

So, feel free to let me know if you have any ideas or tips that help improve the dry-fire practice experience... but for now I need to get back to... Butt kickin' and dry-firin'...