But it got your attention, didn’t it? 😉 

Spend enough time in the comments on a dry fire video and you’ll see some version of it:

• “There’s no recoil.”
• “You have to rack the slide after every shot.”
• “That’s nothing like live fire.”
• “Without recoil, what’s the point?”

We hear it.... all..... the...... time. And usually, it’s in response to a video demonstrating one specific dry fire training tool designed to work on one—or several—specific skills.

Our Favorite Dry Fire Comments

So, let’s break down a few of our favorite dry fire myths. Because, why not... we know you get it too, but just for fun: 

If It Doesn’t Recoil, You’re Not Really Training

Let’s get this one out of the way first.

No, a standard laser cartridge doesn’t create recoil.

Neither does practicing your draw with an unloaded firearm. Or working on reloads. Or practicing your presentation. Yet shooters have been using those drills to improve their skills long before laser training systems existed.

Recoil management is an important shooting skill. It’s just not the only shooting skill. Trigger control, grip, sight alignment and sight picture, presentation, draws, reloads, target transitions, movement, first-shot speed and firearm manipulation can all be practiced without firing a live round.

In fact, removing recoil, noise and muzzle blast can make it easier to isolate a problem and see exactly what you’re doing.

But You Have to Rack the Slide Every Time!

Yep. With a traditional SureStrike™ laser cartridge and many semi-automatic firearms, you’ll need to reset the trigger between shots. That doesn’t suddenly make the repetition worthless, as noted above.

If you’re practicing your draw to an accurate first shot, for example, the goal isn’t to dump an entire magazine. It’s to build a consistent draw, presentation, sight picture and trigger press.  Draw. Present. Acquire the sights. Press the trigger without disturbing them. See where the laser hits, especially when using our electronic reactive targets. Reset. Repeat.

The question shouldn’t be, “Does this perfectly replicate everything that happens during live fire?” The better question is, “What skill am I working on right now?”

Okay, So Get Rid of the Racking... But There’s STILL No Recoil!

Waaaaahhhh, we know. 😏 

That’s where the SureStrikeMAG™ comes in. By combining our SureStrike™ laser with Smart DryFireMag® technology, you can practice repeated trigger presses without manually cycling the slide between shots. That opens the door to faster, more fluid drills, multiple target engagements, transitions and other training where stopping to reset the trigger would interrupt the exercise.

And then someone inevitably comments:

“But there’s still no recoil.”

Duh bro, we know. sigh.

Because recoil management still isn’t the skill that particular product was designed to address. 

The internet does have an amazing ability to turn every training video into a discussion about the one thing the product in the video wasn’t designed to do. *eye roll*

Serious Shooters Don’t Waste Time Dry Firing

Competitive shooters dry fire. Firearms instructors teach dry fire and use it. Law enforcement and military dry fire. Many of those who carry for self defense dry fire (or should).

There’s a reason for that. Dry fire allows you to get repetitions without ammunition costs, range fees, travel time or even a trip outside the house. More importantly, it allows you to slow down, isolate individual skills, identify mistakes and build consistent mechanics.

Someone who understands purposeful practice isn’t asking:

“Does this perfectly reproduce live fire?”

They’re asking:

“What skill am I working on during this drill?”

That distinction matters.

“Fine. But I WANT Recoil.”

Perfect. We have that too. Our Recoil Enabled Training Pistols add realistic blowback action to dry fire, allowing you to work on follow-up shots, sight recovery, recoil management and more while still getting laser feedback. (They come in Green Gas and CO2 options)

And that’s really the point. We’re not arguing that recoil doesn’t matter. Of course it does. We’re saying recoil doesn’t need to be present in every drill for that drill to have value.

• Want to work on fundamentals with a SureStrike™ laser cartridge? Do it.
• Want repeated trigger presses without cycling the slide? Grab a SureStrikeMAG™.
• Want recoil and slide movement? Step up to a Recoil Enabled Training Pistol.

The training objective determines the training tool. We haven't even touched the surface. We haven't covered moving and shooting, room clearing, traveling up range, lateral movements, threats v non-threat targets... soooo many things we could discuss here, but you get the gist.

Dry Fire OR Live Fire

For the love of all things, wwwwhhhhhyyyyyy does it have to be one or the other? If you are for one, you aren't against the other. Dry fire isn’t intended to eliminate live fire, and live fire doesn’t eliminate the value of dry fire.

Dry fire gives you convenient, cost-effective repetitions and the ability to isolate and develop individual skills. Live fire lets you put those skills to work with recoil, noise, muzzle blast and everything else that comes with sending actual rounds downrange. They complement each other.

We’ve talked more about that in our previous blog, Dry Fire Vs. Live Fire: Why Both Matter.

So, is dry fire without recoil pointless? If that headline got you here, it did its job. And if you’ve made it this far, we’re guessing you already know the answer. 😉

Not Sure Which Dry Fire Setup Is Right for You?

We know—we have a LOT of options.

If you’re not sure which Laser Ammo products best fit your firearm or training goals, let us help. We offer dry fire training solutions for virtually any pistol (with the exception of .22 caliber), most rifles and even some shotgun actions.

Better yet, our laser training solutions work across the Laser Ammo product line, so you can start with simple laser feedback and expand your training with our electronic targets, interactive target systems and even the Smokeless Range® shooting simulator.

Whether you want to sharpen the fundamentals, eliminate manual trigger resets, add recoil, introduce reactive targets or build an entire simulator-based training setup, there’s a solution to fit the way you want to train. Need help figuring out where to start? Contact us and tell us what you shoot and how you want to train. We’ll help you find the right setup.

Because dry fire isn’t about pretending you’re at the range. It’s about making the time you spend at the range even better.