I originally posted about the Dry Fire cards HERE. By extensively I was following their program, and doing the minimum prescribed training. The Dry fire cards and I have finally had a chance to hit the live fire range as well.
The Dry Fire Cards and Program
You are given a 21-day program to follow if you prefer guided instruction. This will probably show you the most improvement. It’s not necessary to follow the program and you can just flip a card and do the exercises if you choose. I would advise following the program the first time you go through with the deck. Especially if you are a new shooter. The program is slam full of information and is included with every purchase of the deck of cards. I could do an overview of the program, but it’s quite exhaustive, and I wouldn’t do it justice. It is an excellent source of information, full of substantive information regarding tactical shooting.
The Method
Dry firing everyday with this program and cards will not just make you better at hitting the bulls eye over and over, or shooting the smallest group possible. It’s a full on tactical training program. What I really like about it as a program is that it doesn’t demand I change my entire method of doing things. It doesn’t say I need to carry my gun this way or that way for this to work, or how to carry a reload. It’s not a dogmatic text telling you there is only one true way.
More or less the program and the dry fire cards want you to have your own way of carry, your own style of reload, and malfunction fix. It just wants you to practice your style. You have the method, the dry fire cards have the madness.
Effects
Some effects you’ll notice immediately, others will set in as time passes. The first effect I noticed is that I was beginning to learn the trigger on my CZ RAMI. It’s a new gun, and I haven’t had much trigger time on it. I learned when it reset, I could predict when it would break. I knew the trigger pull, the controls, and sights within a week of the program.
The dry fire cards will also make you practice a variety of tactics that may have never occurred to you, or maybe you slack on. Ill admit I hate drawing with my support hand. It’s slow, and I like being fast. The cards didn’t care what I liked, and made me practice with my support hand. All in all I’m way faster with my support hand and more confident in my abilities.
The same goes for my low light training. All of my previous low light training has been during classes, and training live. The dry fire cards were an excellent refresher for the skills I learned here.
Some of the dry fire cards involve exercises, like lunges and jumps. I was training with the Dry fire fit cards at the same time I was training with these cards. So I was pretty used to these. However, if you’ve never tried a little exercise can make the hands shake and the heart race. It ups the difficulty, and gives you a good idea of how even a slight change makes shooting harder.
Tests
Grouping
I certainly improved my overall grouping. As you see I have tightened my groups up pretty well. These were both shot at ten yards, with SIG brand 115 grain full metal jacket rounds. The rounds all came from the same box as well.
Timing
Timing was done with a Laser Ammo 9mm cartridge and Laserpet Electronic Target set to mode two. The target was set 10 yards away. Times are rounded to nearest .05 of a second.
Reload time
I reloaded from concealment. This means my spare magazine was fully hidden in my pocket, this is how I have to carry during a large portion of my day due to my work dress code requirements. I found the grip filler I use to accommodate a full sized magazine in my RAMI slows my reloads. The magazine does not drop free, however, the dry fire cards and program does train you to rip the mag from the magwell.
Initial time – 5.00 average
Final Time 3.00 average
Reloads from concealment are certainly a challenge. I am purchasing a Snag Mag to keep things better organized in my pockets. I was slightly faster in my ‘work’ pants because they have a small flashlight pocket that I keep the mag in during my work day. A belt mounted magazine holder was much simpler, and a lot faster. However, this was not realistic to my lifestyle.
To give a decent idea I trained from a belt pouch a few times, but not too seriously. I just took my two best times.
Initial – 2.25
Final – 2.00
Malfunctions
Malfunctions were done with an empty piece of brass acting as a failure to eject. Malfunction was cleared and one shot was taken on target. Malfunctions proved to be simple to do, but when not done properly they could create even more delays in getting the gun into action.
Initial time – 1.5
Final Time – .90
Criticisms?
I only have one criticism. The system itself requires a partner for a few drills, especially the low light drills. Sometimes I didn’t have a partner, so I had to fudge here and there. Other than that the system is great. It’s an easy travel system, it’s affordable, and it does spice up dry fire. The program is full of tons of useful knowledge that can. The dry fire cards are an excellent addition to my training regimen. Do I still need work? I certainly do and I plan to make these dry fire cards a regular part of my training.
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Photos by author
