Dry fire or practice rifles?

16 January 2002, 07:35

John Frazer

How many of you dry fire regularly?

How often and how much do you use live fire from field positions?

And, when you want some live fire practice from field positions, do you--

a. Use your hunting rifle with full-power loads;
b. Use your hunting rifle with reduced loads, and if so, how much are they reduced?
c. Use something else, e.g., a knock-around gun with lower recoil;
d. Use a rimfire?

16 January 2002, 07:39

<Bill>

John,

Interesting topic

I dry fire all of the time. Shoot from field positions on accasion with full power hunting loads, the rest of the time with a rimfire. I never shoot reduced power loads from any of my firearms.

------------------
www.rifleshooter.com

Save a plant, shoot a deer!

16 January 2002, 08:04

Pathfinder

I too dry fire frequently, especially with handguns as it's the only regular practice (of sorts)that I can get. I also use reduced loads for the 40+ rifle calibers for practice. By reduced I mean jacketed bullet minimums. I do not load anything above the maximums shown in the manuals and for the smaller calibers practice with mid range loads. I used to shoot 22cals much more but found that for me it's better to use those guns I'll be hunting with. It does not make sense to me to burn extra powder(practice) as long as the gun shoots accurately. Of course the draw back is that the scope needs to be adjusted when hunting season rolls around, but I don't mind.

16 January 2002, 09:40

Rich Elliott

John,

I do it exactly like Bill does. There's hardly a day I don't take a rifle out of the rack and shoot one of my ducks out on the lake or turn my brother in Laws grill (app. 250 yards away) into an imaginary elk or some such.
Rich Elliott

------------------
Ethiopian Rift Valley Safaris

16 January 2002, 10:17

Atkinson

I probably dry fire at least one of my rifles 20 times a day while I'm building stocks or doing some kind of metal work or whatever...Always practicing my off hand shooting..I dry fire at flying birds, cats cows and dogs. I dry fire a lot from the shop when fitting my stocks to myself and others. I havn't killed a cow yet!

------------------
Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

16 January 2002, 11:40

RIP

I have picked up some of the A-Zoom snap caps for the 338 WM Ruger O/U and the 470 NE Merkel SXS. I will load, dry-fire, reload these with the snap caps held in the weak hand between the 3rd, 4th, and 5th fingers. Dry fire with the bolt actions sure helps with trigger control of the rifle to be hunted. This is a good practice with any rifle when a hunt involving it is coming up soon.

The A-Zoom snap caps are replicas of the entire cartridge, bullet and all, turned from solid aluminum and anodized a dark ruddy brown color. They mimic the feel of a live cartridge well.

Has anyone discovered a way to make a good snap cap out ov a dummy round? What primer pocket insert?

------------------
Happiness is a warm double.
RAB

16 January 2002, 12:29

D Humbarger

I dry fire mine at the hunting shows on TV or while watching my hunting videos. Try it; you don't get much time to get the shot off. With a scope, get as far from the Tele as you can & turn the power to its lowest setting. No lying back in the recliner & resting the barrel between your toes either!

------------------
NRA Life member

16 January 2002, 13:03

<Rusty>

Now Dang it Bear Claw! You won't be happy until I'm sitting up on the couch, will you?

I had this nice reclined position on my couch in front of the big screen TV, with the muzzles of my 450/400 perched atop a house slippered foot!

You are indeed a cruel task master! Have you been talking to my family?
LOL

Rusty
We band of brothers!

16 January 2002, 14:22

loud-n-boomer

All of the above, as often as possible, but at least I dry fire most days I'm home. For reduced loads, I use the lightest load listed in the manual for the bullet I use. in a double, always use snap caps. For the month prior to hunting season, I live fire at least 10 rounds with hunting loads in the rifles I intend to use, and in hunting positions. Once a rifle is sighted in, I don't shoot from the bench except for load testing.

16 January 2002, 15:18

Ralph

Does everyone use snap caps or a fired case when they dry fire.

16 January 2002, 15:19

<redleg155>

Ray,

Flying cats, cows and dogs??? I understand the birds, but really?

redleg

16 January 2002, 22:30

<ovis>

I live where I can get out regularly and shoot. I haven't bowhunted since moving to Alaska but I still go out stump shooting with full power load in my rifles and handguns and this keeps me pretty well in tune.

17 January 2002, 04:14

I dry fire almost every day. Most of the time when I'm shooting, it's from field positions. I never use reduced loads. When I go to the range, I always practice with at least one pistol and usually one or two rifles. I have a 7-08 varmint rifle that very nearly approximates the weight and pointability of my 416 and 375 H&H, so I normally shoot it. It saves lots of money.

------------------
JD

17 January 2002, 04:44

Fritz Kraut

For my part I do dryfire almost every day, and try to shoot a the range at my hunting cabin every weekend.

I use my usual loads for the shots at the cabin.

Dryfiring is a good substitute for shooting - itï¿½s unexpensive and can be done behind the window in your flat. But donï¿½t aim so your neighbour can watch you: he would immediatly call the police and the house would be surrendered by polices with bulletproof waistcoats and sniperguns.

Fritz

17 January 2002, 05:11

Jim in Idaho

I used to play with reduced loads and such but nowadays I just find one good full power load and stick with it for practice. Iï¿½ll use Hornadyï¿½s for practice but substitute a Nosler or A-Frame for the actual game. For deer I just stick with the Hornadys.

This is one reason I never push the limit with my hahdloads. I shoot my rifles a fair amount and want them to last. Loading a few percentage points below max doesn't hurt downrange performance much at all but pays off in a significant pressure reduction. This in turn promotes long rifle life.

Target practice using ammunition with a different trajectory than the actual hunting ammo can be counter-productive.

I also dry fire a lot. Probably SHOULD use snap caps but I donï¿½t. Hmmm, now would be a good time to make some.

DaggaRon, I have hear that one can use a common pencil eraser cut to fit and glued into the primer pocket to make a decent snap cap. Never tried it so canï¿½t say how easy or effective this is. The other thing Iï¿½ve heard is to use a dab of silicon caulk in the pocket. After drying it is resilient enough to cushion the firing pin blow. Again, though, I must disclaim any personal knowledge of this, just something Iï¿½ve read. Anybody else have any ideas for this?

Probably the easiest way is to just buy the darn things ready made!

17 January 2002, 05:43

<allen day>

I have one of my hunting rifles sitting by my desk in the office every day ( I have a .270 out today). Since my office is at home, I can do that with impunity. I practice dry firing every single day of the year when I'm in town. If I have a hunt coming up and I know which rifle I'm going to take, I'll work with only that rifle for at least a month before the hunt is to take place.

Between the first of March and the end of October, I'm at the range at least once a week (and sometimes twice) for practice with hunting rifles. I'll shoot no more than twenty rounds through a given rifle per range session, but I may take up to three rifles to the range at one time, unless (as I've indicated) it's about a month or six weeks before a specific hunt.

I always use full-power loads. Loading a rifle "down" is counter-productive in my estimate, and I practice with the loads I intend to hunt with. To show you how extreme I am with this philosophy, I once had a .270 that was very accurate, and which I used for much hunting. Once I established a handload that met my hunting requirements for that rifle, I never changed a single component of the load recipe, and I ended up running about 3500 rounds of the exact-same ammunition through that rifle over the span of several years. There were no surprises; no gimmicks; nothing whatsoever to re-learn. I had that .270 zeroed at 250 yards, and I never did change the scope setting or anything else. Familiarity....... It's all about familiarity. That's another reason why I only use (since 1994, exclusively) Model 70's for hunting rifles. I know every mechanical aspect and movment of that make and model, so everything has long since become second nature.

If you want any rifle to perform at certain level, you have to bring your own level of performance up to at least approach the capability of your rifle. That's why I think mild downloads are an absolute waste of time if you really want to know yourself and your rifle. If I plan to gowith a .300 Winchester, I want it to perform like a .300 Winchester - not as a .308! You'll never get to know that rifle for all that it can be or all that you can be with it if you keep it watered down!

17 January 2002, 08:45

RIP

Jim in Idaho,
Pencil eraser? Good idea. How about a piece of tire rubber or Nike sole rubber cut to fit and hot glued or epoxied in place. I will eventually do some experimenting in homemade snap caps.

------------------
Happiness is a warm double.
RAB

17 January 2002, 12:04

Atkinson

I do use snap caps with my doubles...

Redleggs,
You havn't seen em!! look again if you see a flying cat with a dangling hind leg thats one of mine!!

OK, thats a little sick and I hope some anti is reading this, get over it pal!! Redlegg and I are just fun'en ...

------------------
Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

17 January 2002, 17:58

Canuck

quote:
Originally posted by Atkinson:

You havn't seen em!! look again if you see a flying cat with a dangling hind leg thats one of mine!!

Ray, where do you come up with this stuff? I nearly split my sides.

As far as practicing goes, I do a lot of dry firing. Mostly just cuz I like to fondle my rifles, but if anyone asks I say I am practicing, yeah thats it practicing.

On a more serious note, I have recently re-discovered the benefits of a rimfire. As I work at the edge of town, I can walk for 5 minutes from the office at lunch and shoot my .22 into a clay bank. I have an iron gong that was made for handgun shooting that I practice with. I can't believe how much my offhand shooting has improved in just four lunch sessions (300 rounds). I will definately make this a habit!

Canuck