Old video, I know, but I have something to add. It should be sufficient to have dummy rounds that you know are safe to use, remove all live ammunition from the area during dry fire, check your magazines to make sure you're not using live ammo, etc, but I take it one step further and make it idiot-proof *just in case* things could get mixed up. I bought those bright blue anodized snap-caps to use, and bought "practice magazines" that are clearly different than my range/carry magazines. As an example, I use FDE PMags at the range for my AR, but I have a few black PMags that I painted blue inside the "waffle" to specify them as practice mags. Same with my pistol, I have a bunch of the Glock factory extended 19 round mags in FDE I use at the range and I have some black ones painted blue that I use for practice. Currently switching over to the Magpul Glock pattern mags, and while they're all black I'm still doing the "blue for safe" paint on the bottom and sides to make it fairly obvious. To further differentiate, in my safe where I store my guns and ammo I very specifically store the snap-caps and training mags on the door, while live ammo/loaded mags are on the shelves or in an ammo can. Might be a little overkill, but there's no such thing as being too careful with firearms. Plus I don't need to down-load anything to practice in the house, I can just grab my dedicated mags and rock.
What is this amateur hour? John Lovell can get a shot off in like 0.4 seconds. 😄 Thanks for the vedio Trevor. Always look forward to Technical Tuesday.
Good video to help create a good routine. Your instruction (@ 9:45) about holstering slowly is profoundly important. I attended a self defense course and there was an accidental discharge for that very reason. The course had a CCW component so during some of the drills those guys wore clothing that they had to manipulate... like you did with your t-shirt. Well, you know where this is going and fortunately, thank God, that round found it's way to ground. Scared the crap out of everyone, Range Masters took total control, all were commanded to freeze, present, unload, chamber check and sit the hell down. We got a lecture in an elevated tone and went thru the next 3 days with no incidents. Good lesson.
When I first started shooting matches, I asked people how to get better. I was told: "shoot at least as many rounds in practice as you do in matches, and shoot 10x as many rounds in dry fire as you do in live fire." After I started taking that advice, it was astounding how quickly I got better. Dry fire works.
I just ordered a DR920 Elite today. For dryfire practice I bought the Mantis X10. It has the timer for drills and being new to concealed carry I love the holster draw analysis and other drills.
Awesome video! Just purchased the DR920 Elite with the Threaded barrel and I’m anxiously waiting to pick it up!! I went into the gun store wanting to buy a different pistol but once I saw the DR920 and held it….it was obvious what I needed in my life lol where can we buy the Shadow Systems gun cleaning mat I’ve seen in some of your videos??
All great Ideas! been contemplating a shot timer, and think it’s time.. Also looking at a laser training system, would love to get some input from anyone out there with some time using one…anxious for some recommendations
Would really like your company to have more options when it comes to changing up the shadow system such as new colored barrels or larger magwells that come in differnt colors would be amazing to be allowed to customize my shadow systems mr920 or make it even better for competition shooting a larger magwell should make it easier for loading and unloading the firearm faster then with the one that comes with the weapon out of the box.
All I can say is I always wanted a g19/g17 baby. Not that incestual mullet child g19x. I got a MR920L the other day. I sold my block Glock for ammo and mags to run my shadow systems. I cannot say how fast I jumped off the bandwagon and onto the shadow Ferrari. 500 problem free rounds so far and like Ricky Bobby this pistol makes me wanna go fast! Needless to say I love your product and thanks for the upgrade!!!!
Edit : i can fully confirm. If you dot a monumental amount of dry firing ABSOLUTELY use a snap cap in your Shadow Systems. I had one that literally snapped in half once. Like a clean chirurgical snap. Had to tap the slide on the floor to make it fall out of the firing pin channel.
How does dry practice effect the gun in terms of parts? Does it shorten the life of springs and what-not? Generally it's recommended to change out springs and stuff every so often, does dry fire count towards that? I do a lot of dry fire and I wonder if I should account for that when replacing springs and what not
Not really, no. That being said dry firing can cause premature wear or even complete failure of a firing pin / striker like Trevor said. But we're speaking thousands and thousands of repetitions. Probably something to do with inertia, vibrations, and treatment of parts. Get a snap cap with one of those rubber primer.
@@ZZebra Dry firing uses the trigger just as much as live fire, there's zero difference between the two as far as the trigger goes. I wonder how the trigger springs wear
hey guys, let me start by saying this is hands down the best handgun i own! i have been playing with the idea of throwing a comp on it for the hell of it but as an armorer ive seen plenty of handguns that are tuned like the shadow systems start to have issues when you run a comp due to it being tuned for managing recoil on its own. due you see any issue with running a comp on the 920 combat?
You may find that you need to run a lighter recoil spring with a comp, but that really depends on your mix of pistol, comp, and ammo, so we’d recommend trying it with the stock spring and ordering the lighter if you need it. The comp that we see most folks loving on their Shadow pistols is the Herrington Arms.
So I purchased a dr920 and dry a few minutes a day four or five times a week. I’ve seen multiple reports of strikers breaking with out using snap caps. Are these true? And if so what’s being done to fix that?
Kevin, thanks for the comment. Questions like this are a bit difficult to answer succinctly as there is often a lot more to the story. For example, you are correct that we had multiple reports of firing pin fractures a year or so ago, but those were our parts in aftermarket slides from one particular manufacturer. That nuance is often lost in the story, but that was how it happened. To be clear, I am certainly not saying a firing pin has never broken in our gun, that would be absurd. With that said, we do collect data from the field about issues, and the reality is that most firing pin fractures are with folks who dry fire A TON. We had one guy break three, and we found out he would work from home and sit on conference calls and literally dry fire constantly for 8 hours a day. That is an extreme example, but in most cases, they dry fire A LOT. We even had one guy who dry fired so much he fractured the breech face and blew it out from the back. Search online and you’ll see what this looks like in other manufacturer’s slides. It happens. Other fractures are frankly random and very rare. A defect in material, a sulphur stringer, a bad cut. It does happen but it’s rare. We collected a few of them a year ago and spent a ton of money having a lab do lots of analysis. The results were very inconclusive. We saw nothing obvious that caused them. The best conclusion was “fatigue” which goes back to the original comment about lots of dry fire. So long story short (too late) it is a rather confusing picture. If you are dry firing a few minutes per day, the likelihood of ever having an issue is extremely low. With that said, a snap cap is cheap insurance and totally optional unless you fall into the “hours of of dry fire per day” camp. Sorry for the long response but wanted to lay it all out for you. As an aside, we frankly make constant revisions to parts to improve function. There have certainly been firing pin changes over time, mostly related to fit in the slide, trigger pull, etc., but those are modest “continuous improvement” changes, not related to fractures specifically. Ok, my fingers are sore. Trevor
@@ShadowSystemsCorp wow that was a fast response! I have pictures of my striker I just took and it doesn’t seem to have any deformations from what I can tell. Thanks for taking the time to answer my question. I shoot the pistol great and so far (450 rounds in) the dr920 is my ‘answer’ for why I never had a Glock! (Trigger, grip, grip angle, mounting solution, and sights) From now on it will only be snapcaps when dry firing And yeah eight hours a day on conference calls is way extreme!
Old video, I know, but I have something to add.
It should be sufficient to have dummy rounds that you know are safe to use, remove all live ammunition from the area during dry fire, check your magazines to make sure you're not using live ammo, etc, but I take it one step further and make it idiot-proof *just in case* things could get mixed up.
I bought those bright blue anodized snap-caps to use, and bought "practice magazines" that are clearly different than my range/carry magazines. As an example, I use FDE PMags at the range for my AR, but I have a few black PMags that I painted blue inside the "waffle" to specify them as practice mags. Same with my pistol, I have a bunch of the Glock factory extended 19 round mags in FDE I use at the range and I have some black ones painted blue that I use for practice. Currently switching over to the Magpul Glock pattern mags, and while they're all black I'm still doing the "blue for safe" paint on the bottom and sides to make it fairly obvious.
To further differentiate, in my safe where I store my guns and ammo I very specifically store the snap-caps and training mags on the door, while live ammo/loaded mags are on the shelves or in an ammo can.
Might be a little overkill, but there's no such thing as being too careful with firearms. Plus I don't need to down-load anything to practice in the house, I can just grab my dedicated mags and rock.
What is this amateur hour? John Lovell can get a shot off in like 0.4 seconds. 😄 Thanks for the vedio Trevor. Always look forward to Technical Tuesday.
Lol. Dam! That was. COOLED.
Good video to help create a good routine. Your instruction (@ 9:45) about holstering slowly is profoundly important. I attended a self defense course and there was an accidental discharge for that very reason. The course had a CCW component so during some of the drills those guys wore clothing that they had to manipulate... like you did with your t-shirt. Well, you know where this is going and fortunately, thank God, that round found it's way to ground. Scared the crap out of everyone, Range Masters took total control, all were commanded to freeze, present, unload, chamber check and sit the hell down. We got a lecture in an elevated tone and went thru the next 3 days with no incidents. Good lesson.
When I first started shooting matches, I asked people how to get better. I was told: "shoot at least as many rounds in practice as you do in matches, and shoot 10x as many rounds in dry fire as you do in live fire." After I started taking that advice, it was astounding how quickly I got better. Dry fire works.
Every Tuesday I look forward to seeing what Trevor comes up with for a video. Thanks and keep it up!
I just ordered a DR920 Elite today. For dryfire practice I bought the Mantis X10. It has the timer for drills and being new to concealed carry I love the holster draw analysis and other drills.
Been getting back to dry fire to work on an annoying flinch I have developed and it is already helping. Appreciate the reminder to use my timer!
Trevor thank you so much for the information & content.
Thanks for the tips. Great video.
The DR920 with a HS407c is my EDC. Best gun I’ve ever carried. Thank you SS.
Good tips thanks for sharing.
Another great video!
Thank you. Good stuff!
Great video!
Dam straight. I do dry fire training an hour a day. It works
Great info. Im gonna get a timer :)
I liked the video. New ideas for dry fire. Would an expended cartridge serve to protect the firing pin as well as a snap cap>
Thank you Trevor as a newbie I'm always looking forward to Tuesday. What day is it? Technically it's time for me to get educated.
Awesome video! Just purchased the DR920 Elite with the Threaded barrel and I’m anxiously waiting to pick it up!! I went into the gun store wanting to buy a different pistol but once I saw the DR920 and held it….it was obvious what I needed in my life lol where can we buy the Shadow Systems gun cleaning mat I’ve seen in some of your videos??
Awesome video can you do one on holsters?
Very useful
All great Ideas! been contemplating a shot timer, and think it’s time.. Also looking at a laser training system, would love to get some input from anyone out there with some time using one…anxious for some recommendations
No one gonna talk about Trevor going commando in the video?😂
Would really like your company to have more options when it comes to changing up the shadow system such as new colored barrels or larger magwells that come in differnt colors would be amazing to be allowed to customize my shadow systems mr920 or make it even better for competition shooting a larger magwell should make it easier for loading and unloading the firearm faster then with the one that comes with the weapon out of the box.
All I can say is I always wanted a g19/g17 baby. Not that incestual mullet child g19x. I got a MR920L the other day. I sold my block Glock for ammo and mags to run my shadow systems. I cannot say how fast I jumped off the bandwagon and onto the shadow Ferrari. 500 problem free rounds so far and like Ricky Bobby this pistol makes me wanna go fast! Needless to say I love your product and thanks for the upgrade!!!!
Edit : i can fully confirm. If you dot a monumental amount of dry firing ABSOLUTELY use a snap cap in your Shadow Systems. I had one that literally snapped in half once. Like a clean chirurgical snap. Had to tap the slide on the floor to make it fall out of the firing pin channel.
I too have broken 2 firing pins from not using snap caps enough in dry fire.
Anyone know where we can find weighted snap caps or magazines. I would like to train with the right weight in the gun.
Hey Trevor what are your thoughts on dry fire mags?
How does dry practice effect the gun in terms of parts? Does it shorten the life of springs and what-not? Generally it's recommended to change out springs and stuff every so often, does dry fire count towards that? I do a lot of dry fire and I wonder if I should account for that when replacing springs and what not
Not really, no. That being said dry firing can cause premature wear or even complete failure of a firing pin / striker like Trevor said. But we're speaking thousands and thousands of repetitions. Probably something to do with inertia, vibrations, and treatment of parts. Get a snap cap with one of those rubber primer.
@@ZZebra Dry firing uses the trigger just as much as live fire, there's zero difference between the two as far as the trigger goes. I wonder how the trigger springs wear
hey guys, let me start by saying this is hands down the best handgun i own! i have been playing with the idea of throwing a comp on it for the hell of it but as an armorer ive seen plenty of handguns that are tuned like the shadow systems start to have issues when you run a comp due to it being tuned for managing recoil on its own. due you see any issue with running a comp on the 920 combat?
You may find that you need to run a lighter recoil spring with a comp, but that really depends on your mix of pistol, comp, and ammo, so we’d recommend trying it with the stock spring and ordering the lighter if you need it. The comp that we see most folks loving on their Shadow pistols is the Herrington Arms.
So I purchased a dr920 and dry a few minutes a day four or five times a week. I’ve seen multiple reports of strikers breaking with out using snap caps. Are these true? And if so what’s being done to fix that?
Kevin, thanks for the comment. Questions like this are a bit difficult to answer succinctly as there is often a lot more to the story. For example, you are correct that we had multiple reports of firing pin fractures a year or so ago, but those were our parts in aftermarket slides from one particular manufacturer. That nuance is often lost in the story, but that was how it happened. To be clear, I am certainly not saying a firing pin has never broken in our gun, that would be absurd.
With that said, we do collect data from the field about issues, and the reality is that most firing pin fractures are with folks who dry fire A TON. We had one guy break three, and we found out he would work from home and sit on conference calls and literally dry fire constantly for 8 hours a day. That is an extreme example, but in most cases, they dry fire A LOT. We even had one guy who dry fired so much he fractured the breech face and blew it out from the back. Search online and you’ll see what this looks like in other manufacturer’s slides. It happens.
Other fractures are frankly random and very rare. A defect in material, a sulphur stringer, a bad cut. It does happen but it’s rare.
We collected a few of them a year ago and spent a ton of money having a lab do lots of analysis. The results were very inconclusive. We saw nothing obvious that caused them. The best conclusion was “fatigue” which goes back to the original comment about lots of dry fire.
So long story short (too late) it is a rather confusing picture. If you are dry firing a few minutes per day, the likelihood of ever having an issue is extremely low. With that said, a snap cap is cheap insurance and totally optional unless you fall into the “hours of of dry fire per day” camp.
Sorry for the long response but wanted to lay it all out for you.
As an aside, we frankly make constant revisions to parts to improve function. There have certainly been firing pin changes over time, mostly related to fit in the slide, trigger pull, etc., but those are modest “continuous improvement” changes, not related to fractures specifically.
Ok, my fingers are sore. Trevor
@@ShadowSystemsCorp wow that was a fast response! I have pictures of my striker I just took and it doesn’t seem to have any deformations from what I can tell.
Thanks for taking the time to answer my question. I shoot the pistol great and so far (450 rounds in) the dr920 is my ‘answer’ for why I never had a Glock! (Trigger, grip, grip angle, mounting solution, and sights)
From now on it will only be snapcaps when dry firing
And yeah eight hours a day on conference calls is way extreme!
Do you suggest a laser cartridge, or snap caps, to protect the striker?
Our guns can be safely dry fired without snap caps, but we recommend using them to avoid long term damage to the firing pin and slide.
The best tool for dry fire in a SSC pistol is a Timney Alpha trigger. 😉
There is no trophy given out for fastest reholster... not that I've seen anyway.
It's the cheap ass ammo. Watch the shadow systems videos and any nice gun. The slide won't cycle with 115 practice rounds.
Great video! Thanks for the tips