You can’t become an excellent shooter without dry fire. That is a fact. Dry fire works because it allows for thousands of reps, simulating shooting, and until now that simulation was only ok at best. This new tool has taken dry fire to a whole new level, and allows you to turn your living room, or basement into a six figure shooting simulator for almost no cost. Keep reading to learn about this tool, and how I recommend you use it.
First off I want to say that I have no affiliation with this company, nor it’s product. I ran across it during my travels on the internet and immediately recognized it as having enormous potential to increase my shooting performance, both for USPSA competition, and for tactical training as well.
The Company
The company is called Dry Fire Ninja, and they have created an amazing simulator that provides an exact replica of many shooting scenarios.
It is clearly geared towards competitive pistol shooters, both IDPA and USPSA, but that really doesn’t matter. The same drills that will benefit them will benefit anyone else who wants to improve their shooting performance.
Before I get going too far down the rabbit hole, check out this quick Youtube video that covers exactly what their software does.
As you can see its application is very broad. You can create thousands of different drills and scenarios. It makes me look at my wall of cardboard targets, in my basement and think, “that’s so two thousand and late.”
Yes I did just make a Black Eyed Peas reference. Deal with it!
Before we get into the specifics of creating your own dry fire simulator, using this software, let’s talk about how much this costs.
Dry Fire Ninja Pricing
This tool, in its most basic form, is completely free. In this version you have basic USPSA classifiers, such as El Presidente pre loaded, and you can create any stage you desire.
You can create static and moving targets, as well as post barrels as pieces of cover that hide targets, that bob, weave, and spin.
For 90% of you reading this you can probably get by with the free version, and make dramatic improvements in your shooting ability.
Dry Fire Ninja: Mid Tier Features
This level costs you $9.99 a month and allows you to save stages and gives you access to more classifiers and preset stages. In the future they will also have tactical scenarios that I’m sure will kick ass as well.
This level will be best for those of you like me, who really want to improve their pistol shooting and are going about it in a systematic fashion. The ability to practice classifiers without having to painstakingly recreate them is a game changer.
This is also the only way you can practice very hard shooting challenges like, Texas Stars, bobbers, and swingers.
Your only other options are to pay thousands for those kind of targets and find somewhere you can shoot them. Or you could find a club and maybe use theirs if you happen to be that lucky, but guess who is reseting these moving targets after each and every run!
You guessed it, you are!
Like shooting articles, fitness, and pretending to be an operator when mom isn’t looking? Then click here to join the Tier Three Team. You’ll get all the latest articles sent directly to you, and thousands have already.
Dry Fire Ninja: Top Tier Features
This feature is a bit overkill in my opinion, but you would probably make the most progress the quickest with this tier. You will be paying $64 dollars a month and you will receive remote video coaching and access to fitness advice and more.
This is for those rarest of shooters who want to make it to the top of the sport and don’t really care how much it costs. They want to get there right now!
Now that we have covered the basics of the tool and the various benefits of using the different levels, let’s discuss the best way to set up your personal dry fire simulator.
[fts_pinterest type=single_board_pins pinterest_name=jjackson6860 board_id=pistols pins_count=6]
Your Personal Dry Fire Simulator
This really is going to be the ultimate dry fire simulator. First I’m going to show you my setup, then I’ll cover a few different methods you might use, depending on your personal living situation.
The first thing I did was link my computer’s screen to the projector I have downstairs. Because I have a Macbook Pro, and they like to have their own specific ports for everything, I used an adapter to connect its port to a normal HDMI cord.
This mirrored my screen onto the wall. See the photo below
This is what it looks like on the wall.
Now you need to measure your screen and calibrate it as per the instructions on the video, otherwise it’s going to look a little bit off. Once that’s done you are ready to go.
Alternate Simulator Set Ups
I’m going to give you some alternative methods to set up your own simulator, but let’s be realistic, I’m not that smart so you shouldn’t expect much. I’m sure some of you are very tech savvy and can come up with other methods. If you do, please share in the comments.
Alternative Method: The Dongle
This method will rely on a wireless streaming device to throw your computer screen onto your TV. The dongle is super cheap. They also have a version that would allow you to stream your phone’s screen to your TV.
Alternative Method 2: Google
Depending on your tv/computer/phone situation you might be able to download an app and share your screen wirelessly from your computer to your TV as well.
I know Samsung TV’s allow you to do this, and I’m sure other fancier TV’s will as well. I recommend you check this article out for a few other wireless methods to connect your computer and TV.
Now that you have your own dry fire shooting simulator, let’s talk about what we should actually do with it.
Dry Fire Training Systems
If you are a newer shooter, I would recommend taking a training course with a reputable trainer. Some dude with 100k Instagram followers may not actually know what he or she is doing.
Here are some good trainers that have an extremely high level of skill and actually make a living training people to shoot.
Mike Seeklander, besides being the host of the excellent podcast “American Warrior Society” is a national champion shooter, and former lead firearms instructor at FLETC. He will be a great resource for those that want tactical firearms instruction as well as competitive instruction.
Ben Stoeger is one of the best pistol shooters in the world. As in World Champ kinda good.
He travels around the world training people every week, but he also runs a website called Practical Shooting Training Group, where you can get one on one and group coaching with him and other top level shooters for much cheaper.
Hwansik is a co host on Ben’s podcast and a national champion shooter as well. He is a very smart guy and incredibly thoughtful.
Additional Dry Fire Resources
Some of you are saying, “that’s great Jake, I don’t have the time nor fancy polo shirts to take a class with these guys, so am I SOL?” The answer is no, and for those that already are pretty solid shooters you can gain a lot of skill with some dry fire training books
Personally, I have been using Ben Stoeger’s book, ” Dry Fire Reloaded” for many months now. It’s full of great drills, and concrete details including par times that you need to shoot for. Grab a copy. You won’t be disappointed.
I would also recommend you get a shot timer. Either a real deal timer like this Pocket Pro II, or an electronic app version.
To be honest most app versions aren’t that good for live fire. The microphone on your camera is only so so at detecting shots accurately. They are more than fine for dry fire however. Check this list out of free dry fire timer apps.
Final Thoughts
I’m going to be using the free version for a month or two. If I feel like that is holding me back then I’ll probably upgrade to the mid tier version, as having all the classifiers would be nice.
I think for the shooter out there who simply wants to have fun and make some solid improvement with their skills, then the free version is the way to go.
I would also remind you that there is no reason why you can’t use this with your rifle, or shotgun, for those of you who like multi gun. Be creative, and be consistent. I would bet that having your own personal dry fire simulator pays off big time.
[alpine-phototile-for-pinterest src=”board” uid=”jjackson6860″ board=”rifles” imgl=”pinterest” pinit=”1″ dlstyle=”medium” style=”wall” row=”4″ size=”554″ num=”8″ shadow=”1″ highlight=”1″ curve=”1″ max=”100″]
Any link to Amazon.com is an affiliate link. This means you get the best price available and Amazon pays us a referral fee at no cost to you on any purchase you make in 24 hours. It helps keep the lights on here, and is much appreciated!
Jake,
Thanks for sharing about the Dry Fire Ninja. It looks like a very promising program, especially the free version for starting shooters and beyond. I do like the ability to add motion to the targets, especially random motion, providing the motion is variable enough and speed can be adjusted. Don’t know if these parameters are available, but will check it out.
Using a SIRT or similar laser emitting shot device seems to be essential for accurate shot placement. Calling the shots with non-laser guns using any variety of post and notch sights (and excluding red dots) probably relies on too much subjectivity (and lack of honest assessment) to be of diagnostic value. At least that has been my experience.
Another free training program is ShootOFF (shootoffapp.com). They say you can add target motion using a projector and have a host of variables. I just downloaded the program and will check it out and see how it performs.
I have been using the LASR Shot Recorder since its inception and except for the initial cost, and the inability to use moving targets it will cover any static drills with lots of data. Moving targets would definitely be a plus for any training program.
I think virtual reality training programs will rapidly move beyond the gaming mode. There are a few experimental ones available but the price of equipment will need to come down. The training advantage of vr is the addition of movement of both the target and the shooter (at least virtually) within scenarios. Most simulation trainers restrict movement even though you may want to run to cover.
A new neurologically-based reality trainer is on the horizon.
Alan
Yeah I would bet that 10 years down the road you could get 99% of the way to a GM with just a simulator. Pretty exciting times.