Help Customers Maintain Skills Through Dry-Fire
MantisX is a leader in the dry-fire training category — offering at-home training options
for owners of both handguns and rifles. (Image: MantisX)
Well, it’s that time of year. Rain, snow, sleet, ice — yuck. No one wants to go out in those conditions. So, we stay home, nice and warm and dry.
Even if there’s a nice, warm and dry indoor range nearby, finances can be tight this time of year. Buying ammo for practice is almost a luxury, but it doesn’t mean shooting skills have to take a complete backseat. This is where retailers can step in and help their customers during these times.
Upkeep For A Perishable Skill
The most helpful strategy retailers can employ to help their customers during this time is to encourage dry-fire practice and stock up on the various products that will help keep them motivated and having fun.
Dry-fire practice truly helps a shooter keep up their skills, even without recoil simulation. Lanny Basham, Olympic and World Champion, even utilized dry-fire practice before the Olympics and still pulled off a win.
He says for two years he was unable to shoot on a range except for only six days. But, he shared, “The imagination is an extremely powerful part of your mind.”
He continued, “Though I could not actually go to the range, I did continue training. Five times a week after my family had turned in for the night, I simulated shooting for two to four hours in a spare bedroom, a technique called dry-firing. I made the U.S. international team in 1978 and won the World Championships that year in Seoul. Mental practice alone cannot replace good range training, but it serves as an effective supplement when actual training is not possible because of weather, injury, money or time limitations.”
If dry-fire practice kept an Olympian’s skills sharp, imagine how much it can help the casual shooter.
By carrying a variety of dry-fire aids customers can use at home to maintain skills, retailers can be crucial to helping spread the word of the importance and effectiveness of dry-fire practice.
There is a large variety of dry-fire products available for all budgets and space availability for practice. Products range from inexpensive dry-fire cards to systems such as the MantisX to the Smokeless Range.
Let’s take a look at some of the more well-known options.
For Those On A Budget
Dry-Fire Training Cards: A deck of over 50 cards containing dry-fire drills. These drills can not only improve skills, but also offer a variety of actions to help prevent boredom.
Laser Cartridges: A laser cartridge in the chamber allows the user to utilize their live-fire gun like a laser gun for practice with a large variety of laser-reading targets.
Dry-Fire Mag: A dummy magazine that fits in a real firearm, but does not allow the introduction of real ammunition. It allows for trigger work without requiring the slide to be racked between each shot. It’s especially helpful for those who are worried they may develop the habit of racking between every shot carrying over to live-fire.
Systems
Various systems also range in price, but offer immediate feedback and can add even more fun to help prevent boredom and encourage further practice.
Strikeman Laser Firearm Training System: Utilizing a laser cartridge, targets and a smartphone, it’s one of the more affordable systems.
DryFire: This system can be used with a laser or training gun with laser and will work on a phone or laptop.
LaserLyte: A training system utilizing a laser cartridge and targets, and also offers a training pistol.
MantisX: A system that attaches to a gun and gives feedback on shooting performance through an app. It can be used for both dry-fire and live-fire on the range.
Laser Ammo: Laser Ammo offers a wide variety of systems and products for a variety of budgets, from laser cartridges to recoil training guns and reactive targets to the Smokeless Range interactive system.
Pro-Shooter: This system operates on a Wi-Fi network and an app and will support up to 15 targets. It can be used with a laser cartridge or one of their gas-blowback training guns for simulated recoil.
Simulation Guns
For improved dry-fire training without the possibility of ammunition getting in the mix, simulation guns represent another profitable option for retailers to keep in stock.
SIRT Gun: SIRT stands for Shot Indicating Resetting Trigger. The “dummy” gun has a laser and is unable to accept ammunition. It can be used to practice various shooting skills and enables trigger work without racking the slide after each shot. It can work with a variety of dry-fire laser target systems.
CoolFire Trainer: A product that replaces the barrel of a real gun to provide some recoil by acting like an airgun. Again, live ammunition cannot be introduced.
Books
Here are two books on dry-fire training I’d recommend taking a look at: The Dry-Fire Primer by Annette Evans (who, coincidentally, has a feature in this very issue) and Dry-Fire Training Reloaded by Ben Stoeger, a professional practical training instructor.
Best Sellers For Brick-And-Mortar
Dealers weighed in on which dry-fire product (or products) sell best.
At Rainier Arms in Wichita, Kan., Inventory Manager Darien Pete noted MantisX system is a perennial top seller for the category.
“We carry MantisX for handguns and ARs,” he said. “It’s electronic and has an app that can track all your movements. They’re definitely one of the best in the industry, if not the best.”
It is a similar story at Sporting Systems in Vancouver, Wash., according to Sales Representative Chase Loomis.
“MantisX is one of our best-selling products. There are hundreds of dry-fire products in the industry, but this, in our opinion, is the best value for money spent on dry-fire training,” he said.
Jared Millhouse, sales associate and trainer at Oregon’s Indoor Shooting Range in Lebanon, Ore., shared the system they carry is the one from Strikeman.
“It’s very easy to set up and simple to use and comes in multiple calibers,” he observed.
Millhouse also recommends the Dry-Fire Mag in conjunction with a laser cartridge.
“It’s more affordable because you can just use it with the laser cartridge,” he said. “One of the tricks I use is to get bike reflectors and place them in different areas and when that laser hits it you see the reflection. That allows you to know if you’ve hit your target.”
Like the other dealers interviewed here, Millhouse had praise for the MantisX system.
“If you are willing to spend the money and want to know more about yourself without having to go to an instructor or have someone critique you, the Mantis helps you get detailed information and drill down into exactly what you’re doing. It is going to be more costly, but it does give you a lot of feedback,” he said.
Looking Online
In addition to talking to the three dealers above, I also looked online for dry-fire products to find top sellers.
A Girl & A Gun Women’s Shooting League offers various dry-fire products through its website. The best-selling product is the deck of Dry-Fire Training Cards.
Looking at Amazon for best sellers, the first product is Snap Caps for a shotgun, followed by Strikeman’s Dry-Fire Laser Training System.
Searches can be filtered by best-selling items, which can help a retailer determine items to carry in-store. There are many more products than those mentioned here; these are simply the more well-known and recommended options.
Explain The Benefits & Emphasize Safety
Be clear and articulate about the benefits of dry-fire:
1. It’s convenient, giving customers the ability to practice in the comfort of their own home.
2. It can provide immediate feedback to help fix shooting errors.
3. It’s customizable to the skills customers want or need to work on.
4. And, most of all, it will save them money while maintaining and/or improving their shooting skills.
Be sure to advise customers of the safety precautions to take when practicing dry-fire. Maybe even consider creating a one-page handout that outlines the precautions to be taken each time they practice.
Then, be sure your staff is up-to-speed on all things dry-fire so they can advise the customer appropriately.
From there, your store can benefit from becoming a local leader in selling dry-fire products — and even conduct a dry-fire class or seminar to further elevate interest during these colder months.
