Most of the handguns out there you will come across can be “dry-fired”. Dry-firing is pressing the trigger without anything in the chamber. Make sure you clear your gun first. After you clear your, clear your gun again. The two loudest noises you will ever hear:
- When your gun is supposed to go “click” and instead it goes “bang.”
- When your gun is supposed to go “bang” it goes “click”.
Your ammo should not be in the same room as your gun while dry-firing. Find a safe direction to point your gun and practice pressing the trigger with the gun empty. The mechanics of dry-firing are the same as the ones you use for firing. Single action and striker fire semi-autos will have slack in the trigger. Take the slack out of the trigger. You should feel it “bump” into the sear or firing-pin. From there, focus on the front sight and press the trigger to the rear of the gun allowing it to go click. Your goals is to let the gun go “click” without making the front sight move. This is how you should shoot when you are on the range.
There is no difference between practicing dry and shooting live ammo until the gun goes “click” or “bang”. It is free and you can do it almost anywhere. Now go get some trigger time! MM