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Advanced Marksmanship laser pointer in dry firing

texas1

Private
Full Member
Minuteman
Mar 28, 2008
18
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I have searched on laser pointer and couldn't find anything on this, so ...
Somewhere, I read that if you attach a laser pointer to the underside of your barrel, it is a great help in telling if the barrel moves at all in dry firing.
It sounds plausible, but is it?
And if so, where do you get laser pointers that would be suitable for this? Office Works?
 
Re: laser pointer in dry firing

try bore sighting rig. available at any major sporting goods outlet.
 
Re: laser pointer in dry firing

Simple dry firing (lots of it), backed by real firing, works OK for me... I can feel and see if I'm doing something wrong. If you aim at something small while dry firing you should see if the front sight jumps or moves due to trigger jerk, hand squeeze, etc.
 
Re: laser pointer in dry firing

If you have to go out and purchase this i would say no. Save your money for more rounds. The only way I see it working is with a dot on the wall and being able to see the laser through the scope.
 
Re: laser pointer in dry firing

if doing this on your own, have someone put a dime on the end of your barrel.... you should be able to dry fire without the dime falling off... if it falls, you jerked the gun in some way... this is a very common practice in teaching marksmanship drills throughout the armed forces... i did it at basic, at my unit, and was surprised when the USAMU had us doing it during designated marksman school
 
Re: laser pointer in dry firing

Why reinvent the wheel or make it more complicated than it needs to be?

Calling your shot is calling your shot - live fire or dry fire.

Pick a POA with high contrasting background that is roughly the same size of either the pistol / rifle front sight or the cross hair. Once lined up, if you saw any of the contrasting background when you broke the shot - A. You moved. B. You should know it instantly b/c you should be able to call your shot.

Good luck
 
Re: laser pointer in dry firing

We had lasers mounted on our hand guns at my department. It was a great training tool. It was used in a student instructor setting. The instructor would watch the laser as the student would dry fire. The instructor was able to see watch way the laser was moving during dry fire, and be able to give feed back to the student.
 
Re: laser pointer in dry firing

You won't have the laser in the rifle when you are shooting it. Rely on your sight or scope for your feedback during dry firing. Your focus must be on the there, not the target anyway.

Get a Rika or Scatt so you can see the hold, shot, and follow-through on a computer screen. Magical stuff.
 
Re: laser pointer in dry firing

Thanks for the feedback. I decided to just take a very small aim point and focus minutely on the crosshairs, and I can now see when they move even the tiniest bit. I may be able to rent time on a Scatt, also.
 
Re: laser pointer in dry firing

These are great ideas, but I have a rifle with a heavy firing mechanism. The rifle itself will actually "recoil" during dry fire. Of course, this is good for training other skills, but unfortunately, it doesn't isolate the trigger.

I would like to try that dime trick on my rimfire. That is an interesting exercise.
 
Re: laser pointer in dry firing

dime drills. put a wooden dowel, with an end just big enough to balance the broad side of the dime on it, with it balancing and hanging over both sides, in the barrel. place a dime on dowel. get into your firing position and replace dime as u probably just knocked it off by moving. then dry fire. see how many times you can do this without the dime falling off.
 
Re: laser pointer in dry firing

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: JasonM</div><div class="ubbcode-body">dime drills. put a wooden dowel, with an end just big enough to balance the broad side of the dime on it, with it balancing and hanging over both sides, in the barrel. place a dime on dowel. get into your firing position and replace dime as u probably just knocked it off by moving. then dry fire. see how many times you can do this without the dime falling off.</div></div>

I've gotta tell ya, if the idea was to learn how to balanca a dime on a rifle barrel I think you might be on to something; however, the idea is more than just trigger control. It's about coming to an understanding for the importance for follow-through. Following-through, with focus on the sight, permits the shooter to call the shot; and, calling the shot is essential to shooter/target analysis. Proper shooter/target analysis will quickly reveal the source for any shooter/rifle/ammunition inconsistencies.
 
Re: laser pointer in dry firing

A lot of good ideas are mention here on dry firing. Dime and washer is a good one. A laser pointer would also work well. One thing that I use and have is a BEAMHIT. I have the basic model, but it works well. They make a fancier model that you hook-up to a computer and it shows where your hits are on the target. Just something to use for dry firing.
 
Re: laser pointer in dry firing

If your reticle moves then you barrel moved. It's as simple as that.

Unless you are shooting something like a 50 cal then the firing pin dropping should not be enough "recoil" to overcome a good position.
 
Re: laser pointer in dry firing

Tex,
If you've got reasonably good eyesite, you can determine if the gun moves while dry firing, just by looking thru the sights. If you've got iron sights, they're just as good as a scope. You CAN get that good with irons, believe me.
If you're thinking there's something going on "at that last second", causing you to come off the target while the gun's going off, no amount of lazer pointers, expensive scopes, etc will help you. Trust your sight picture, as long as it's "right" (allignment and picture).

I'll carry that statement a step further: Here's how it normally happens: A shooter begins to learn. He fires off a few rounds, and one of them goes out into the nether reigons. Well, the shooter obviously didn't dress the shot up enough in the sights. Answer! Yes, stare harder thru those sights. OK, staring harder, you wear out your eyes to the point where you don't get the visual aquity and voila! You're tossing more rounds into space.

Instead, next time you shoot, try this: Get in position, with correct natural point of aim and balance. Once on target, give yourself NO MORE than 3 seconds to pull the trigger. If you wind up shooting fairly well, likely you're over-staring the target the rest of the time. If you can't get a shot off in 3 seconds, there's something seriously wrong with your position.

End game: The feedback you seek is thru your sights, even if they're irons. A lazer pointer ain't nothing but a gadgemetron. Keep to the fundamentals, and keep trying! Remember, a big shot is just a little shot who kept on shooting!
 
Re: laser pointer in dry firing

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">where did u buy that beamhit ? thanks </div></div>

Impact, I bought my BeamHit from Natchez shooting supply. I bought it years ago. I am not sure if they still carry it. There is a link below you might want to look at.

Again this is a good system. Of course it does have a laser pointer.


BeamHit
 
Re: laser pointer in dry firing

I dont know about attaching a laser pointer to a pistol, but I have a CT laser sight on my 642. I dry fire the heck out of it using the laser and let me tell you, the sucker works.

Dry firing is good anyway but using the laser on a spot on the wall you can realy tell if you're doing it right. I recommend it to everyone.
 
Re: laser pointer in dry firing

ditto on the lazer being good, double ditto on the dime on the barrel. plus the dime will give any indications of canting, or unneccessary movement / torqueing BEFORE the triffer squeeze.

only costs $.10