Shooting accuracy requires a lot of practice and this can cost you a lot of money in ammunition. Dry firing involves firing your weapon without any ammunition in it. It is a safe way to practice and you can do it for longer periods as it is not dependent on ammunition running out. Visit shooting.org to replenish your ammunition.
For your dry firing to be productive, you need to use a shot timer. If you do not use a timer, you will not assess your level of improvement. You will also be unable to detect and correct mistakes.
Most gun owners do not use gun timers because they do not know they exist or they think the apps are expensive. There are many timers available, some for free, others for a nominal cost.
The IPSC shot timer is a very capable free app compatible with android phones. To access and use the app, follow the following steps:
- Search for IPSC shot timer on Google, then download and install it.
- Open the app. You will see a welcome message.
- Go to app settings by tapping on the phone menu button. This will bring you to a page with a couple of options including threshold, random start, minimum, echo delay and mode.
- You will need to change default mode. To do this, tap the drop down menu that is below mode and select the ‘par time’ option. The button next to it will turn green to show you have selected it.
Note that all the other settings remain the same in each mode. You can adjust the sliders next to each setting to use the various timer capabilities.
Below are the functions of the different settings:
- Threshold:
The threshold setting is useful when practicing shooting with live fire. Threshold adjusts volume settings below or above which you should trigger the timer. You do not need to use this setting as you will be dry firing.
- Random Start:
During competitive shooting, there is usually a ‘ready, set, go’ (signal wording could vary) signal given before participants start shooting. There is usually a pause then a beep and only after this beep can you start shooting.
Random start allows you to practice as though you are still in competitive mode by allowing you to schedule the timing, as it would happen during a competition.
- Minimum:
Minimum slider allows you to determine when the alarm will buzz from the time you activate the timer.
- Echo Delay:
This setting is also useful in live fire practice. It is helpful especially indoors where echoes tend to amplify. You will not need this for your dry fire session.
After tweaking these settings to your satisfaction, set the ‘par time’ for your drill on the home page of the app and start your shooting drill.
It takes practice to perfect the combination of settings that will always give you the best results. If you are not satisfied, you can always go back to the settings menu and adjust the individual settings as indicated above.
About the author
Kevin MacArthur is an android developer with 7 years’ experience in software development. He also collects guns as a hobby. He contributes his views on gun apps by blogging on sites such as shooting.org.
