Pressing the trigger during dry fire is an opportunity to practice trigger discipline. Is your finger properly placed on the trigger? Are you pressing straight back? Is the trigger press smooth? Are you releasing to the reset point, or are you taking the trigger full travel forward?

There are so many things to consider for such a simple act as pressing a trigger.

There is a simple exercise to achieve the straight trigger press. Use a rubber band to simulate the trigger. Put your shooting hand into a simulated grip. Place the rubber band on the trigger finger between the tip and first joint. Holding the rubber band with your support hand. Practice smoothly pulling your trigger finger back. Pay attention to the rest of your fingers. You want to pull your trigger finger back without affecting the rest of your hand. Squeezing the whole hand when pulling the trigger back can adversely affect shot placement.

One training tool to verify a smooth trigger press is a simple coin. Place a coin on the tip of the slide then press the trigger. The goal is to cycle the trigger without disturbing the coin.

There are some tools that allow you to perform several trigger presses without cycling the slide. The simplest is to use Dry Fire Cord (https://dryfiretrainingcards.com/blog/dry-fire-cord/) which serves several purposes. First, it blocks the barrel so it cannot have a live round loaded. Next, it provides a visual indication a clear firearm with a cord that extends out of the ejection port and barrel. Finally, it allows the trigger to be cycled without racking the slide.

The Dry Fire Cord does not reset the action so the striker/firing pin cannot be damaged since it is not being cycled. Unfortunately, the Dry Fire Cord cannot be used with a laser cartridge. This tool works on Glock, M&P, Sig, Kimber CZ, Walther and more. I tried it on my Springfield XDS Mod2 and it worked.

Another tool that allows for trigger cycling is the xMAG by BLUEOPS. (https://www.blueops-tech.com/) This system consists of an xMAG Smart Magazine, an xLSR laser cartridge, an xTRG Smart Target, and a mobile app. These components work together to provide the firearm a cycling trigger and a shot indication. The app provides training feedback and drills. These tools work on Glock and Sig firearms.

Releasing the trigger to the reset point only is a little harder to train. A great tool for this is the Shot Indicating Resetting Trigger (SIRT) pistol. (https://nextleveltraining.com/) There are several versions of SIRT tools, pistols and rifles. These tools are analogs for the pistol chosen. For example, the SIRT 110 is an analog for the Glock 17/22.

SIRT tools have an adjustable trigger to allow a match to the trigger feel of the pistol/rifle being simulated. The trigger actuates two lasers. One when the trigger reaches the take up point, the other when the trigger ‘fires’ the shot. This allows for training in riding the reset. When responding to a deadly threat it is necessary to fire multiple shots. Riding the reset is the quickest way to fire multiple shots.

The SIRT pistol also adds a new dimension to dry fire practice. The laser gives you the ability to see where the shot is placed. This verifies the accuracy of the process you have been working so hard to ingrain in your neural pathways. Without knowing where the shot is being placed it is not possible to know that something in your skill set needs correcting.

The SIRT pistol is not a cheap tool. It is a very good tool, just not cheap. While you are considering the cost, look at the cost and time to do live fire at a range. It won’t take long to offset the cost of a SIRT pistol that can be used anywhere for training.

SIRT is not the only solution to see shot placement. Another tool is the laser cartridge. Two examples are the Laserlyte (https://www.laserlyte.com/) and Strikeman (https://www.strikeman.io/?view=sl-749B0ABD) cartridges. They are inserted in the chamber of your firearm and act as a snap cap and indicate the shot placement. This will turn your firearm into a laser pistol that verifies your training. This is a bonus because you are building neural pathways with your carry pistol rather than a training device.
The shortfall in this type of tool is their use on a single action pistol. It will be necessary to rack the slide prior to each shot. As mentioned in prior posts this can create a training scar. If you are using a double action pistol this is not an issue.

Another approach to the dry fire exercise is the MANTIS X system. (https://mantisx.com/) This system uses a sensor mounted to your own firearm that is linked to an app to analyze your dry fire experience. It analyzes trigger control and muzzle trace. It provides an all-round training experience. The X10 Elite model has app features that track training on shotguns and bows (archery app). It also analyzes your draw. The X10 and X3 can also be used to track and analyze live fire.

There are more dry fire tools such as the LaserLyte pistol (https://laserlyte.com), Strikeman System (https://www.strikeman.io/products/strikeman-laser-firearm-training-system) and Coolfire Trainer (https://coolfiretrainer.com/). The most important thing is to do is the dry fire practice. We can’t all go to the range daily, or even weekly. We need another option. Getting in the habit of daily dry fire training our skills will stay sharp.
 
Nest I will talk about shot tracking software.

Once grip and draw have been mastered it is time to practice firing. First and foremost, the firearm used must be cleared and no ammunition in the area. However, that is not all, this is a more complex problem.
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The firearm action affects the dry fire experience. Let’s look at the singe-action first.

A single-action firearm must be cocked each time before firing. For semi-automatics the slide must be racked. For wheel guns the hammer must be pulled back. While a semi-auto firearm can be (and should be) racked, and in battery in the holster, the second shot will have to be racked. In a live fire situation this will not be required since the cycling of the firearm will leave it in battery and ready to fire again.

 This adds artificiality to the dry-fire situation. This can also create a training scar. The artificiality is that for live fire the semi-automatic, single-action, firearm the first shot must be racked but subsequent shots do not. In dry fire all shots must be racked.

The training scar comes in when dry fire involves racking the slide after each shot. The fight or flight reaction will cause the higher thinking to shut down. At that point you react using the neural pathways that have been solidified during training. There is a very high probability a defensive response will also involve racking the slide after each shot.

Double-action firearms fire each time the trigger is actuated. These actions provide a consistent dry fire experience. The firearm works the same as it does in live fire, minus recoil, smoke and noise.

 Firearm safety is another complexity that I need to address. I know I have already talked about a cleared firearm and no ammunition. I am not going to rehash that, but we need to consider if it is safe to dry fire our carry firearm. Check your owner’s manual.

A firearm is designed for the striker or firing pin to impact a primer. Generally, a center fire firearm is safe to dry fire without a snap cap. However repeated dry fire can wear out parts that wouldn’t otherwise show wear. Rimfire firearms are generally not safe to dry fire without a snap cap. The difference is the mechanism.

In a center fire firearm, the striker or firing pin extends out of a hole in the chamber. The part that strikes the primer would not impact anything in an empty chamber. However, the shoulder would impact the edge of the opening in the slide. This could deform the striker/firing pin sides or the hole in the slide.

A rim fire cartridge has a ridge that sits on the rim of the chamber. Without a snap cap in place, it is possible the firing pin will get deformed by striking the rim of the chamber.

The prudent approach is to have a snap cap in the chamber. The snap cap has a soft area that the striker or firing pin impacts. This prevents the striker or firing pin from hitting metal.

That is a lot to think about when all you want to do is practice a few trigger pulls at the start of your day. Everything we do as armed citizens is important. What I have talked about so far is to help you have the best dry fire experience and protect your firearm.

With your cleared firearm in it’s concealed location and no ammunition in the area you are ready to begin dry fire practice. Well, almost…

Pick a target to simulate the threat. Then think about the chosen target and what is beyond. Yes, even in dry fire you must ensure you know your target and what is beyond. Yes, it is dry fire. Yes, the firearm has been cleared. Safety is critical, always.

Pick a target that has a safe backdrop and in a safe direction. We are creatures of habit. When we have formed a habit, we easily slip into that habit. Never form a habit that could result in death or injury, to include dry fire. We want to form habits that favor as much safety as we can, to include dry fire.

Whew! That is a lot, and the first trigger press hasn’t even occurred. Remember, a firearm is a tool, but it is a tool that can result in death or great bodily injury if mishandled.

Face your safe target. Draw your firearm and cycle through two shots in what would be center mass. Look left and right to clear the area of any other potential threats. Then re-holster the firearm.

Remember that the re-holster should only take place when there is no continued threat. That means you can move your garments out of the way and look at your holster while placing your firearm back in it’s place keeping your finger outside the trigger guard.
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Repeat this cycle two or three more times. I will discuss some further dry fire tools and techniques in future posts.
 
 

In my last post I talked about practicing your draw from concealed. This time I want to talk about grip. A proper grip is about maintain control of your firearm.

At the range, or in training we have sufficient time to ensure our grip is correct. What about in a self-defense response? A self-defense event last just seconds. Each movement we make to respond must be exact and take minimum time.

This is where dry-fire practice comes in. While it may seem tedious, dry-fire practice is a crucial tool. When it comes to a self-defense response, a proper grip can mean the difference between stopping the threat and succumbing to the threat. It may mean losing control of your firearm.

With a cleared firearm (and no ammunition in the area) in its concealed location, expose the grip. Place your hand firmly on the grip with your hand high on the backstrap. Your trigger finger should be indexed, most likely outside your holster, or if IWB carrying, your  belt. Your thumb should be along the frame.

When you draw the firearm from the holster your strong hand grip should not require adjustment.

As you bring your firearm up to engage the threat your support hand should wrap firmly around your strong hand.  
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Practice this slowly at first to ensure you can get a proper grip. At first watch the steps. Then transition to picking a point to simulate a threat and get your grip without breaking your visual lock on the threat. Practice getting the proper grip along with drawing from concealed until you can draw from concealed with a proper grip consistently and quickly.

Any skill gained needs to be exercised to be retained. That is why aircrew had to attend simulator refreshers regularly. That is why we had to go to the altitude chamber for refresher training. That is why a pilot has to regularly accomplish take-off and landing maneuvers or not carry passengers until they have made three flying solo.

If an aircrew member has to regularly accomplish training, shouldn’t those who attend a concealed carry training session have the same need? I put it to you that they do, we all do.

There are many skills that can be reinforced by dry fire practice. The basics of grip and trigger control are just a start.

The basic and most available training device is your own firearm. It is critical that when using your firearm for dry fire practice that you check and verify it is clear. Magazine and chamber. Then ensure there is no live ammunition in the area. This is a critical point that, if violated, can result is death or serious injury. I encourage practice but that practice shouldn’t result in the need to employ your emergency medical skills.

The first practice you should be doing does not involve actually pressing the trigger. It is drawing from concealed. Each day when you are dressed you should practice deploying your cleared firearm. Practice getting it out from concealment. This may mean negotiating your clothing.

I have a video made by a mainstream ‘news’ program. They took three individuals who had varying levels of firearms proficiency to feign balance. Their experienced individual was a person who did a lot of airsoft shooting. Not one of the three were experienced with actual firearms. They gave them some training on how to shoot the simunition firearms they were given.

What they weren’t given is how to deploy the firearm from concealed. Then they dressed them in oversized sweatshirts and a helmet with full face protection. They were placed in a lecture hall with like dressed individuals. They were told they were the only one in the room armed.

During the ‘lecture’ several armed individuals stormed the room and started firing at the participants. In each of the three drills, the armed participants were unable to draw and employ their firearm before they were hit.

Having weekly or daily practice on the range practicing good grip, trigger and breath control, without practicing draw from concealed can leave you in the same situation as those in the hit piece I just described.

Drawing your firearm in a self-defense event is a different challenge. Seconds count. Keeping your eyes on the treat is imperative. You need to practice getting your firearm out of its concealed location as quickly as possible.

In this situation you are under stress and in fear for your life (at least you had better be) and under the fight or flight effects. This is a very difficult scenario to practice during dry fire. The best you can do is practice your draw.
Begin slowly and deliberately. Practice the mechanics of deploying until it is smooth and requires little thought. When you can smoothly deploy (remember not muzzling yourself, others or sweeping the area) start doing it faster in steps. Each time you get the deployment smooth at the quicker pace, repeat the cycle quicker. Keep shortening the time interval keeping in mind a self-defense even is over in seconds.

When you have the draw interval as short as you can practice it daily with what you are wearing for the day.
Things to consider when drawing from concealed:
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     - Keep your finger off the trigger and out of the trigger well. There are some holsters that have the latch release right over the trigger well. In a self-defense event and under the fight or flight response physical effects, it is likely for the rapid deployment to cause an inadvertent discharge. There is a YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3kJ6SU3ycs) of a guy using one of these holsters in a drill. When he drew his firearm, he shot himself in the leg.
      -Maintain muzzle discipline. Do not allow the muzzle to cross any part of your body. Do not swing your firearm out to the side. Keep it close to your body and get to either a Low Ready or High Ready position.
     -Keep your eyes on the threat (or designated spot) while drawing. Keep both eyes open to ensure the widest field of peripheral vision. 

In addition to practicing deploying your firearm you also need to practice placing your firearm back into your concealed location. It is not uncommon for someone to get a piece of clothing around the trigger while placing their firearm back into its holster.

If you are in a self defense event and are placing your firearm back into your holster the threat should be no longer a threat. In that case you have plenty of time to holster your firearm. You don’t need to do it one-handed without looking. Take your time, move your clothing out of the way and look at what you are doing.
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I will write more about dry fire practice in future posts.

When I was a toddler, my father wanted me to be left-handed. Each time I picked something up with my right hand he would smack me, take it out of my right hand, then put it in my left hand. I quickly learned to pick things up with my left hand. I am a right oriented person who was trained to be left-handed. That was many years ago. I still write and eat with my left hand. While my writing is still poor at best, I manage to get the fork to my mouth without impaling myself.
 
After graduating from high school, I joined the military. I discovered a whole new world was obsessed with what I did with my right hand. The miliary conditions it’s member to always carry things in our left hands. We had to leave our right hands free to be able to render a salute when passing someone who is either due a salute or to respond to one.
 
If you have gotten this far you might be wondering how these two seemingly unrelated experiences in my life have anything to do with firearms training. First, thank you for sticking with me. I started thinking about this when I read an email from Jason Hanson’s Black Bag Confidential email list.
 
In that email Jason taught that concealed carriers should always keep their right (or shooting) hand free.
 
Enter the third experience…
 
My church had an U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) officer in the membership. He participated in some shooting activities with the youth. As a concealed carrier and instructor, we talked about concealed carry in church. My church has communicated to the church members that firearms are not allowed. In that notice they exempted the different types of law enforcement officers.
 
In our conversation he told me that he has a requirement to carry all the time. The state law concerning concealed carry for law enforcement states it is only allowed when performing official duties. This didn’t sway my OSI friend. He said he is always on duty and has no concern about the state’s perceptions. He also said that he and his wife both understand he carries, and she always stays on his support hand side.
 
This takes Jason’s counsel a little further. In his article he instructs that someone who is carrying concealed should always have their right (shooting) hand free and clothing configured to allow for easy access.
 
I teach that starting out each day should include draw and dry fire (no ammunition in the area and a cleared firearm) practice with whatever is being worn that day. I will add keeping your shooting hand free and your shooting side open.
 
When this is practiced enough neural pathway memory (AKA muscle memory) will allow you to be always prepared and capable to deploy your firearm if needed. My early experiences set me up for this mindset.

It has been said many times that the only way to guarantee surviving a violent encounter is to not get in it in the first place. This perspective is focused on personal survival. It is, and will continue to be, not only correct but should a driving force when we are facing a potential threat.
 
Using deadly force is always the absolute last resort when all else fails. If you have received quality training, you should have this principle internalized. When we are faced with the use of deadly force to stop a threat our goal is just that, stop the threat. We should never have the intent to kill a threat, only stop it. Unfortunately, the threat will most likely not survive, especially if you have trained to the point of proficiency.
 
I am sure there are some who believe the legal aftermath is much simpler if there is only your side of the story. This is a dangerous line of thinking. As law abiding citizens, we don’t think like criminals who do everything they can (at least the craftiest ones) to avoid leaving evidence. In a self-defense encounter we do not have the pre-meditated planning the criminal has done. This lack of premeditated planning will have us leaving a significant trail of evidence.
 
This is a very good tool for your defense attorney. As the innocent victim you didn’t try to cover up the evidence. I heard one student of mine tell a story about a lawyer that told him that if he shot and killed a home invader that fell on the porch, drag the invader inside. I really hope that was not a true story, and if it was, I would be looking for a different lawyer.
 
I am way off my intended subject: the realization that pressing the trigger on a firearm pointed at a human may result in taking a life.
 
I had a recent conversation with a friend about this very subject. He is a hunter and has used a firearm to harvest wild game and taught his family the same skills. Hunting is a very different event than defending yourself from a human with intent to do you grave bodily harm. While anyone who enters the living room of apex predators knows that we are viewed as food to them as much as we view deer and elk as food for us. It is entirely possible that while we are looking for game (or just hiking trails,) an apex predator is stalking us with the intent to eat us.
 
Most of us in that situation will have little hesitation to point a firearm at that predator and press the trigger to stop an attack. Like a self-defense event with a human, the use of deadly force is only applied to an apex predator when other deterring techniques have failed.
 
I have asked the question before; can you point a firearm at a human and press the trigger? If you are honest (and haven’t faced the situation) your answer will most likely be “I don’t know.” As a retired military member, we were trained in the mindset that our job was to break things and kill people. In the Air Force we were much more detached from this “in your face” violence that our sister branches, the Army, and Marines. Their conditioning was much more intense than we got since their environment had them face to face with the threat.
 
In his book On Killing, The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society he addresses the military’s problem with getting drafted soldiers to point their weapons at the enemy and shoot to kill. The military studied (See Men Against Fire: The problem of Battle Command, Marshal, S.L.A., William Morrow & Company, New York 1947) the fire rates and looked for ways to turn off the safety switch. This safety switch prevents us from killing another human being.
 
There are plenty of examples of those who have this switch off, such as serial killers. For the rest of the non-psychopathic population, the switch is on. In World War II it is estimated that only 25% of soldiers fired directly at the enemy. At the time, training the new troops involved shooting at bulls-eye targets. These were trained soldiers and included seasoned troops.
 
By the Viet Nam war the rate was closer to 90%. What made the difference? Training, plain and simple. To be more specific, operant conditioning. The military started with using silhouette targets. Then they progressed to pop-up targets. The soldiers were graded on how quickly they hit the target after it popped up. This training moved the fire decision to neural pathways (sometimes known as muscle memory) so the soldiers didn’t think, they just shot the target.
 
When we do training, we (well, most of us) don’t use the popup targets. There are some advanced shooting courses that do. When I was certified, yhe NRA forbade us instructors from using even animal silhouette targets. Their program was strictly marksmanship focused. This is true to the roots of the NRA.
 
If we only shoot at a bulls-eye there is no assurance that we will be able to engage a human threat. That is why law enforcement training uses various human shaped targets and even some with human features.
 
The reality is, regardless of the training there is no guarantee that the average person will shoot at another person. We must train ourselves to engage a human shape. Remember, even with the advanced training, the Viet Nam era soldiers still had 10% who did not shoot the enemy.
 
Today, we have some operant conditioning that is teaching our population to engage human targets. We have first-person-shooter video games, LASER tag, and to really drive the point home paintball wars. There are many who deny the conditioning. However, in Columbine, the shooters stood flat-footed and shot at the students using the same techniques they used in video games. Paintball has us hunting each other. We are being conditioned to turn that switch off.
 
With all that being considered, the only way we can be 100% sure we can press the trigger is to face the choice. While I never want to be in that situation, I realize that situation is only presented when a threat has engaged me with intent to do great/grave bodily harm. We train so that in that event we can react and survive. The training we do must include a human analog to at least condition us to shooting a human target. Will that flip the switch enough that we can press the trigger? I hope none of us find out…

Every action taken during a violent encounter will be judged through the lens of a fictitious “reasonable person.” This lens is held up by the prosecutor at every opportunity as the defender’s actions against the threat are questioned.
 
            “Wouldn’t a reasonable person have run away?”
            “Would a reasonable person use a gun when they also had pepper spray?”
            “Would a reasonable person use more deadly hollow point ammunition?”
 
Reasonableness will be applied to each of the use of force criteria. Not only do defenders have to make sure they do not breach any of the legal bounds but also the bounds of a reasonable person.
 
This fictitious reasonable person is based upon the perceptions of the jury. These perceptions are the result of their life experiences and the picture painted by the prosecutor’s line of questioning.
 
For example, if a search of the defender’s home exposes multiple boxes of ammunition, the prosecutor can paint the picture that the defender had enough ammunition in his home to start a war. A juror who is not an experienced shooter may be disturbed by someone having that much ammunition. An experienced shooter may look at the claim for what it is, an attempt to scare people into believing the defender is dangerous and a threat to the public.
 
Responding to someone who punched you in the face with a ball bat not only violates the proportionality aspect of the use of force it can be deemed unreasonable. Likewise, using a firearm when you had pepper spray may be deemed unreasonable.
 
Your defense team will offer counter arguments to move the jury’s perceptions of your actions from unreasonable to reasonable and necessary.
 
There are other, less obvious. Considerations. If the attacker has a known tendency for violent behavior or threatening the defender, actions that might have been considered unreasonable otherwise can be justifiable.
 
Your knowledge at the time of the event can lead to reactions that someone without that knowledge may think is unreasonable. Following the 2014 riots in Ferguson, Missouri there was a frenzy of police criticism. When officers shot and killed a mentally deranged man with a knife the criticism went up exponentially. After all, the man was mentally ill, only had a knife and was 15 feet from the officers. What the public and media didn’t know was the Tueller drill. The officers knew that the man with the knife could closed the distance quicker than they could react if he started moving towards them, which he did. Prior knowledge of the Tueller drill kept them from being injured or killed.
 
In Andrew Branca’s The Law of Self Defense Principles he shares some training he got from Massad Ayoob. The students in the class were instructed to put a copy of their notes in an envelope mail it to themselves. This documented the time and training they received. If they were in an incident and had to defend what they knew at the time, the sealed envelope could be opened in court. This would prove they acted based upon what they knew prior to the event.
 
It can also be considered reasonable to react based upon what was believed to be true at the time of the event. An example of this is the many times police have shot someone who had a toy firearm or something in their hands that looked like a firearm. It is reasonable for them to react based upon them believing they were being threatened with an actual firearm.
 
Likewise, not being aware of an escape route because it was hidden behind a large vehicle does not mean a defender violated the no means of escape principle. The prosecutor will show images that clearly show the escape route to prove the defender had means to escape but chose to shoot and kill the attacker. The defense will present the reality of what was happening at the time by showing an image of the large vehicle blocking the view of the escape route proving that the defender was acting reasonably.