7-Day Dry Fire Training Plan
One focused session a day for a week, ending with a benchmark you can repeat every month.
The goal
Establish a repeatable dry fire habit and produce a measured baseline for your draw, first shot and reload — so that a month from now you can prove whether you improved instead of guessing.
The week
Day 1 — Fundamentals and a safe setup
Set up your practice space properly before anything else: ammunition out of the room, a direction that would stop a round, a consistent aiming point. Then spend the session on grip and trigger press from low ready, with no timer at all. The goal today is a press that does not move the sights.
Drills: First Shot from Ready
No par time today. Timing a movement you have not built yet just records the mistakes faster.
Day 2 — First shot on demand
Same drill as yesterday, now against a par beep. Start with a par you can hit about eight times out of ten and hold it for the whole session.
Drills: First Shot from Ready
Watch the sights at the break, not the timer.
Day 3 — The draw
Introduce the holster. Break the draw into two halves — beep to full firing grip, then grip to shot — and work them separately before putting them back together.
Drills: Draw from the Holster
A full grip taken in the holster is worth more than any speed you gain later in the movement.
Day 4 — Draw, repeated
Full draw against a par time. Five sets of five, with a genuine pause between sets. Stop the session the moment your form starts falling apart, even if that is early.
Drills: Draw from the Holster
Quality collapses faster than most people expect. A short clean session beats a long ragged one.
Day 5 — Reloads
Empty magazines only, checked individually. Work the magazine change as one continuous motion that starts while the gun is already moving.
Drills: Reload
Let the empty magazine drop. Catching it teaches a habit you do not want under time.
Day 6 — Combined session
Mix all three: a draw, then a first shot from ready, then a reload, rotating through sets. This is the first session where you have to switch between movements rather than grooving one.
Drills: Draw from the Holster, First Shot from Ready, Reload
Switching costs time. That cost is the point of today.
Day 7 — Benchmark
Run each of the three drills against a par time and record your best CLEAN repetition — sights on the aiming point at the break. Write the three numbers down somewhere you will still have them in a month.
Drills: Draw from the Holster, First Shot from Ready, Reload
This is the number the whole week exists to produce. Be honest about what counted.
How to measure improvement
Day 7 is a benchmark session. Record your best clean time for each of the three benchmark drills and write them down. Repeat the same benchmark in four weeks under the same conditions — same start position, same par rules, same time of day if you can. The comparison is only worth something if the conditions match.
How to progress after the week
Do not shorten par times inside the week. Week one is about building the movement and the habit. Adjust the par only after your first benchmark, and then by 0.1 s at a time.
Running the plan
Every session needs a par beep. Use the free online shot timer if you want to start today with nothing but a browser, or the Android app if you want the times recorded for you.