Oldtimr

Buy yourself a snap cap in the correct caliber if you want to dry fire. They are not expensive.

Nomercy448

Option 1: not important at all.

Some very specific models cannot be dry fired, but most can be without any damage. I dryfire tens of thousands of cycles every year in several of my rifles, and am not unique in this practice.

MudderChuck

I don't dry fire much, what I do is a sight acquisition and proper technique, Especially with a scope, IMO there is very little more frustrating than seeing game with your eyes or binoculars then you can't find it again in the scope. I practice acquisition a lot, the higher the magnification the harder it gets. Spotting birds in the back yard and laying the scope fluidly and accurately without having to hunt for the bird (much) is good practice. Especially important at night or low light at higher magnification. Trigger control has never been much of a problem for me. The set trigger on my go-to rifle has a really light trigger, I mean touching our eyeball light.

Picking up a good sight picture with a pistol quickly and accurately is also something to practice.

Redfish6

I should have include this with my earlier question regarding dry firing the No.1.

I shoot a shotgun well, a rifle okay but am terrible with handgun. (One nuance is being a righty but left eye dominant). I shoot long guns as a lefty, along with bow and billiard, but I shoot pistol as a righty)

Two questions:
1. Am I okay to dry fire Springfield MDX and SDX? (I tried the dummy caps but they sound weird)
2. Do any of you guys use a red dot to help over come the tendency for “switching eyes when focusing on the front sight?

thanks
adios
david

Nomercy448

Springfield manuals note increased rate of wear with excessive dry fire, and they recommend the use of snap caps. Philosophically, I would rather have a pistol in good condition which sounds weird in practice than a broken pistol. Most pistol manufacturers tow the same company line, and generally for good reason. Occasional dry fire won’t damage the pistol, but high volume dry fire practice can increase wear and cause damage to the pistol, so snap caps are recommended. Who cares what sound it makes with snap caps?

Barring physical impediment which prevents such, shooters should match their trigger hand to their dominant eye. It IS much easier to shoot mis-matched hand and eye, simply by tilting/turning the head slightly. It’s not favorable, certainly not ideal, but it’s serviceable for folks who are too stubborn to do theirselves the favor and swap hands. In fairness, shooters should practice bilaterally, firing with either hand, but the greatest proficiency and stability is found when shooting same side eye and firing hand.

If a red dot sight meets your needs for your handgunning application, great. But I can’t recommend one as a crutch to supersede proper technique.

Redfish6

Snap caps chambered
Thanks

Redfish6

Not sure if the comment about “folks being to stubborn to do themselves the favor......” was directed at me, but even it was that’s likely the least of my issues/worries. Regardless I ACCEPT THE CHALLENGE.
Also, the replacement trigger, recommended by Mercy, came in. So as I dropped off my No. 1 at my gunsmith yesterday I mentioned my cross dominant pistol shooting dilemma, he encouraged me to learn to shoot with either hand (both hands) as he pointed out that it could happen that one arm could be injured/nonfunctional in a skirmish, so to speak.

Question: What is reasonable range for trigger pull for a pistol such as a MDX IN 9mm?

Thanks again
adios
david