I have been doing a lot of dry fire practice tracking in the last couple months.
I have dryfired every day for the last three months. That was my goal. Small easy. Just get the stuff out and work on something. Anything every day. Everyday it is a to-do item on my app and in my planner.
Now I have even set a time of day to dry fire practice. This ensures I continue to do it every day.
Now that I have that habit and my plans in place I am starting to track more.
I am tracking times on things I am working on.
I do this with a shot timer and a par time. Every timer out there, including the horrible free ones you can get on your phone, have a par time.
To track you progress, set your par time generously and set the timer to random start. Then do the skill. See if you can get it between the beeps. The better you get the faster you can set times.
I like to err on the side of higher times. I do not adjust my time down until I am sure I can get that time limit every time.
Right now, I am working on my reload times for my CZ Scorpion Evo. I started out slow. Even-though I thought I was smoking fast on my reloads when I was doing competitions, once I put my reload on a timer, I found there was lots of room for improvement there.
I started with 3.5 seconds. Once I could do that every time, I went down to 3.3 and 3.2 seconds. I sat at 3.0 for a couple weeks. In my latest practice I have gotten most of them down below 2.5 seconds. My goal is under 2.0 seconds for a rifle reload. I can do it with my handgun, so I know it is possible. (By the way, these are slide lock/bolt lock reloads, not just shoving a new mag in).
When you break down goals and specialized training, you can really see if you are improving or not. During Covid Crazy I have knocked an entire second off my reload time while stuck at home.
Which skill would you like to improve the most? Everyone one of your firearms skills except split times (shot to shot times) can be done dry practice.
Here is a list of skills that you might work on and what an average time would be and the time I’m shooting for:
Pistol Times
| Skill | Average Time | Smoking Time |
| Draw to First Shot | 1.5 | <1.0 |
| Slide Lock Reload | 2.5 | <1.75 |
| Speed Reloads | 2.2 | <1.5 |
| Up Drill | 1.0 | <0.5 |
| 90° Facing Up Drill | 1.5 | <1.0 |
| 180 Degree Draw to 1st Shot | 2.0 | <1.3 |
| Immediate Action (Tap,Rack,Bang) | 2.5 | <1.7 |
Rifle Times
| Skill | Average Time | Smoking Time |
| Up Drill | 1.2 | <0.7 |
| Bolt Lock Reload | 3.5 | <2.0 |
| Speed Reloads | 3.0 | <1.8 |
| From Tac Carry to Shot | 1.5 | <1.0 |
| 90° Facing Up Drill | 2.0 | <1.0 |
| 180 Degree Up Drill | 2.2 | <1.3 |
| Immediate Action (Tap,Rack,Bang) | 3.5 | <2.2 |
| Half Switch | 2.5 | <1.5 |
| Full Switch | 3.5 | <2.0 |
| Weak Side Up Drill | 2.0 | <1.0 |
Pump Action Shotgun Times
| Skill | Average Time | Smoking Time |
| Up Drill | 1.2 | <0.7 |
| Fire 1, Reload 1 on Empty Gun | 3.5 | <2.0 |
| Fire 1, Reload 1 Top off | 3.3 | <1.8 |
| Fire 2, Reload 2 Top Off | 4.5 | <3.0 |
| 90° Facing Up Drill | 2.0 | <1.0 |
| 180 Degree Up Drill | 2.2 | <1.3 |
| Reload 4 | 6.0 | <3.5 |
| Fire 4 | 2.0 | <1.2 |
| Select Slug and Fire | 4.0 | <2.9 |
| Reload 1 from side saddle | 1.8 | <1.0 |
Auto Loading Shotgun Times
| Skill | Average Time | Smoking Time |
| Up Drill | 1.2 | <0.7 |
| Reload 1 on Bolt Lock to fire | 2.5 | <1.5 |
| Reload 1 Top Off Tube | 3.0 | <1.8 |
| Reload 2 Top Off Tube | 4.0 | <2.8 |
| 90° Facing Up Drill | 2.0 | <1.0 |
| 180 Degree Up Drill | 2.2 | <1.3 |
| Reload 4 | 6.0 | <3.5 |
| Select Slug and Fire | 4.0 | <2.9 |
| Reload 1 from side saddle on empty gun | 1.8 | <1.0 |
That should give you plenty to practice and enough to keep you busy for a while.
Set your goal and then work on it. You can practice a different skill every day and still get better.
I suggest you pick a couple and then work one per day. Once you get those fast, then move onto the next couple.
Stay Safe,
Ben
P.S. Check out my Daily Dry Fire Series on YouTube.