DryFire
 

Getting started: setup and testing

These procedures are designed to help when setting up your DryFire system.

Note: this page is not about getting started with shooting. To do that you need a good club and a good instructor. Remember: DryFire provides lots of practice and accurate feedback - but only a good instructor can spot your weaknesses and help you correct them. Take care: you can practice bad technique as well as good technique with DryFire - that's why you need regular trips to an instructor.

Locating and setting up the simulator

Correct setup of the simulator is vital to getting the best out of the system. DryFire is designed to display targets on your wall as you would see them from your eye position. In order to do this it needs to know exactly where the simulator is and exactly where you are. With a correctly setup simulator you will get the correct target speeds and angles.

Key setup points

  1. Select a room with no direct sunlight or artificial light on the wall. Normal background lighting is fine but direct sunlight shining from a window, or bright light from a spotlight, both contain large amounts of infra red light which may cause the camera to "see" shots when none have been taken.
  2. Select a room with sufficient wall length for your targets - somewhere between 10 feet and 16 feet long (3m - 5m) will be fine.
  3. Have a tape measure handy.
  4. After installing and running the software for the first time go directly to the Configuration menu and select Simulator settings.
    • Set up your simulator in front of the centre of the wall and about 1.5m in front of it. Ideally your simulator should be mounted on a tripod so that the camera height is about 0.8m. Measure these distances accurately and enter them into the PC screen.
    • Decide where you are going to stand - normally directly behind the simulator. Enter your distance from the wall into the PC screen. If the simulator is not in front of you but is to one side, you will need to enter this distance as well. Do not stand too far back (> 3m) or the camera may not see your shots.
  5. From the Settings menu select Automatic camera exposure. The camera will look around your room and will set a suitable exposure based on current light values. If these light values change - for example, more sunlight coming through a curtain, you may need to use this option again.
  6. From the Settings menu select Pattern plate then click on Muzzle alignment. If the simulator "goes off like a machine gun" it means that the camera is seeing infra-red light - even though you have used the automatic exposure function. Click on Cancel then Exit, go to the Configuration menu and select Simulator settings. Reduce the Camera exposure setting by 4, click on OK then try the Muzzle alignment function again.

An ideal setup

All simulator measurements are taken from the top centre of the spirit level.

All shooter measurements are taken from the location of the shooter's eye when in the mount position.

  • Simulator 1.5m from the wall.
  • Simulator 0.75m from the floor (on a tripod)
  • Shooter 2.5m from the wall - standing directly behind the simulator with full gun movement left/right and up/down.

For trap disciplines, call a few targets then use a strip of masking tape on the wall to mark the location of the trap house as a reference point for hold position. The target laser movement starts from the trap position (lower down, inside the trap house - the laser won't actual appear until there is nothing between it and the shooter) so for left-going targets it will appear to the left of the trap house location and for right-going targets it will appear to the right.

Notes on camera exposure

Optimum camera exposure is required to get the best out of the system and will vary depending on the amount of light in the room. The automatic camera exposure is usually good enough but a good manual technique is:

  • Select Settings, Configuration, Simulator settings, Camera exposure.
  • Set the exposure value to 16. (The lower the exposure, the less sensitive the camera is.)
  • Use the Pattern Plate, Muzzle alignment and try a few shots. If there is no bang the system has not seen your shot.
  • Increase the Camera exposure to 24 and try again.
  • Keep increasing the exposure by 8 until the shots are seen.
  • Carry on increasing the exposure until the system stops seeing your shot because it is seeing too much light.
  • Now back off by 8 and try again.

This procedure starts low, increases camera exposure until things go wrong, then backs off.

If light level increases and the system stops seeing your shot (because there is too much light) reduce camera exposure by 8 and try again.

Other setup features

Simulator angle

Some layouts work best with the simulator set at an angle other than horizontal. When you select the layout it will tell you the angle required. You can, if you wish, override this angle. So, for example, English Skeet requests an angle of 45 degrees but you can change this angle to 0 degrees and leave your simulator horizontal. You can make this change using the Configuration, Simulator settings menu option. Targets may not be as accurate if you select an angle other than the one specified by the layout.

Wall width

Use the Configuration, Simulator settings menu option to tell DryFire how much wall is to the left and to the right of the simulator. Depending on where you are standing, DryFire will show you as much of the trajectory as will fit within the widths you have defined.

Don't get hung-up about this value - if in doubt set it 4m either side and forget it - that gives plenty of room for DryFire to play with - even though the start and end of wide crosses may appear on the side walls. Of course, you will not be taking crossers at the start/end of their flight - you want to take them in mid flight, on the wall, directly in front of you.

Wall height

Use the Configuration, Simulator settings menu option to tell DryFire the height of your wall. DryFire needs to know where the wall ends and where the ceiling begins so that it can provide accurate trajectories for targets that may appear both on the wall and on the ceiling - rising teal and tower shots for example. If your ceiling is not high enough for you to mount your gun without damaging the plaster then it might be a good idea to avoid overhead shots!

Shooter eye height

Since DryFire creates targets as seen from your eye position it adjusts everything according to the eye height of the shooter. You set this height by selecting Edit next to the shooter list.

All shooter measurements are taken from the location of the shooter's eye when in the mount position.

Where you stand

Where you stand is critical to getting accurate target angles. If you want to swing from -55 degrees to +55 degrees (from high to low house in Skeet for example) you must stand in such a way that this angle takes you from the left of your wall to the right. If you stand too far back it is obvious that the angle from left to right will be reduced and you will not be swinging through the same angles as on the shooting ground. The less wide your wall, the closer you will have to stand to it in order to get the correct angles.

Initial system setup, checkout and testing

This procedure is designed to get your system up and running quickly. You can tweak the system for your gun, your cartridges, your chokes, your room later.

Initial setup

  1. Fit the gun assembly to your gun and check that pressing the microswitch lights up the LED on the red box.
  2. Install the software before connecting up the simulator.
  3. Mount the simulator on a tripod and place it 1.5m from the centre of your wall and 0.80m from the floor. All measurements are taken from the top centre of the spirit level.
  4. Make sure there is power to the simulator, connect the USB cable and follow the on-screen instructions (or see below) to install the correct USB driver.
  5. Run the main DryFire software.

Configuration settings

Check these values on the Configuration screen (don't worry if they are not correct for your room - use the values shown below!)

  1. Shooter to wall: 2.25m
  2. Simulator to wall: 1.5m
  3. Simulator height: 1.00m
  4. Simulator angle: 0
  5. Ceiling height: 2.4m
  6. Wall left of shooter: 2.5m
  7. Wall right of shooter: 2.5m
  8. Camera settings exposure: 32. This may have to be reduced (24 perhaps) if you have a lot of light in the room - it can be increased (40, 48 etc.) in a darker room.
  9. Don't worry about the other values - click on OK.

Muzzle alignment

  1. From the Setup menu click on Pattern Plate then on Muzzle alignment.
  2. A laser dot should appear on the wall in front of you at approximately eye level.
  3. Shoot directly at the laser dot using the bead on your gun - just as if you were using a rifle.
  4. If the laser goes out (to save it overheating) shoot close to where it was and it will come back on.
  5. This muzzle alignment should be done at the start of every DryFire session - or whenever you think things are not correct.
  6. While still in the Pattern Plate click on Cancel then on Shoot.
  7. This time you will be shooting at a 30m static target. Try shooting a few inches high then a few inches low - you should see the corresponding shot patterns on the PC screen. Aiming at the laser dot should show the shot pattern in the centre of the Pattern Plate - if not you should do the Muzzle Alignment again.

Taking your first shot!

  1. From the File menu select Open layout file and double click on the English Skeet layout. It doesn't matter if you don't shoot Skeet (shame on you, it is by far the best discipline for serious practice!)
  2. When the layout is loaded it will tell you to put your simulator at 45 degrees. It does this so that the laser head can reach back for the targets on stands 1 and 7. We are not going to be using these stands (the easy targets in skeet) so leave your simulator horizontal - check the spirit level!
  3. From the Setup menu select Configuration and change the simulator angle from 45 to zero degrees - this tells the software that you have not put the simulator at 45 degrees.
  4. From the User list (top left) select the skeet gun. This shoots flat - which is what we want for skeet.
  5. From the Target list (top left) select Stand 4 high. This will give us a left to right crosser.
  6. Click on the Start button (next to the target list).
  7. Shout "Pull" just to see the target.
  8. Now take up position, locate your hold point, get ready and call "Pull"again.
  9. Shoot - remembering to use the same technique you would use if you were outdoors.
  10. The result of your shot will be shown on the screen - 10 to 1 you will have missed behind - so, more lead!

Special notes for trap shooters

Trap guns usually shoot high and this is normally expressed as a percentage. A 60:40 gun puts about 60% of the pellets higher than the aiming point - at a specified distance of course. Percentages can range from 60% to 120%! Skeet and sporting guns normally shoot 50:50 - flat. The technical term for where the gun puts the shot pattern is Point Of Impact (POI).

You can only check your gun's POI outdoors using a real pattern board/plate which you shoot at. If your local ground does not have a pattern board, find one that does.

DryFire can handle different POIs but this is the best way to start.

  1. Shoot outdoors until you are breaking a reasonable amount of clays - you now have the right sight picture for your gun and discipline.
  2. From the User list (top left) select the trap gun. Change the POI percentage of both barrels from whatever is shown to 50%. Yes, this is probably wrong, but it is where we will start!
  3. Carry out muzzle alignment (see above).
  4. Load a trap layout.
  5. Select stand 3 and try a few targets. Do this using exactly the same sight picture as outside - do not change your sight picture.
  6. If DryFire shows consistent low/high you should adjust the POI value for the trap gun. Do this in small steps and try again. Say 55, 60 then 65 etc. Each time try the stand 3 targets again until, using the same sight picture you used outdoors, DryFire is reporting the same reasonable number of hits.
  7. The trap gun definition is now set to work in the same way as outdoors using the same sight picture. Don't worry one bit about what POI value you end up with, the key thing is that DryFire is reporting the same thing as outdoors.

Why did you have to start outdoors to do this - why can't DryFire do this for you?

Simple, DryFire is not a substitute for the real thing, it is not a substitute for a real instructor and it doesn't know how your gun shoots. You need to become familiar with your gun, and how to use it, before you start to use DryFire. If you don't start from the real world and then practice on DryFire, you will end up practising bad habits or using the wrong gun settings.

The secret is to get DryFire set up so that it accurately reflects the real world - then you can practise until you don't have the strength to lift your gun!

USB driver installation
  1. When you first connect your simulator Windows will recognise that a new USB device, "DryFire Simulator", has been connected and will ask you to install a suitable driver.
  2. Select the option to "Install from a list or specific location" and click on "Next".
  3. Select "Include this location in the search" and then "Browse" to find the correct driver.
  4. For Windows XP the folder is: 
    c:\program files\dryfire\usb-drivers\xp-2000
  5. Click on "Next" so that Windows can find and install the driver.

 
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