"Theres been many papers and books that have been put forward regarding the sniper as the BEST tool for counter-insurgency work."
Hi! Redhand
One of the papers you've mentioned is like this one below. Please pay particular attention to the last paragraph.
Dry Firing Practice
"Dry firing, or the actuation of a firearm without the use of ammunition for the purpose familiarization or practice is a very important part of training. However, it is a very special and potentially dangerous situation, one that needs to be approached carefully." "First, by definition it violates Rule 1 since the firearm must be "unloaded." Second, you deliberately point the firearm at something and pull the trigger with the express intention of NOT putting a hole in your target, which is a major violation of Rule 2. However, done with the proper care and procedures it is a relatively safe thing. Your target backstop in your dry fire area should be of such construction that if a live round were fired no harm would be done. The following procedure is recommended." 1) Set a reasonable time limit for the dry-fire practice session. Fifteen to twenty minutes is optimal, with thirty being about the maximum for beneficial effect. More than that and bad habits start to creep in. When doing dry fire practice go for smoothness of motion instead of shear speed and concentrate on your sight picture and surprise break. 2) Dry-firing should be done only in that area, and the practice target should only be displayed during the session. DO NOT leave it up when not practicing. A 1/3 sized target can be used for practice by using feet instead of yards for the distances. 3) Go to your designated dry firing area and unload the weapon. Place all ammunition in a clearly marked "Live Ammunition" container in and then remove that container to another inaccessible location. 4) Return to the dry-firing area. Recheck the weapon by sight and touch. 5) Point in at an area that would sustain little damage if a round were negligently fired into it (i.e., a drum of sand). "Click" off as many times as it takes to cycle the weapon to its capacity (i.e., once for self-loaders, six or more times for revolvers). Then recheck the weapon by look and touch. 6) Mentally enter the "Practice Mode." Concentrate on dry firing drills and avoid distractions. If you do experience a distraction, i.e., phone call, immediately cease dry fire practice. If you decide to continue your practice session later, you must begin all over again at Step #1. 7) If dummy ammunition must be used as part of the dry-fire practice it must be clearly identified as such by sight and touch both before and after use. Store only dummy ammunition in your designated practice area. When finished with the dummy ammunition remove it from the firearm and return it to its storage location. ?Repeat steps 4 and 5. 9) After the last drill is completed, mentally leave the "Practice Mode," and return to the normal "Street Mode." Put the target out of sight and leave the practice area. The session is now over--no "one more time." 10) Retrieve the live ammunition and load the firearm or return it to storage I have been asked why the need to bother with all of the above steps for dry firing practice. In a word,
SAFETY! By confining the dry firing to a specific area and target we can help to eliminate negligent discharges resulting from the "one more time" syndrome in which the shooter does one more practice drill but forgets that the firearm is now live resulting in an embarrassing "bang" when one expected a "click." Leaving a designated area and removing the target help to reinforce the notion that practice time is over. In regards to dummy ammunition it is imperative that it be clearly and easily identified as such by sight. This can be accomplished by insuring that the dummies are distinctly different in appearance than loaded ammunition--by drilling large holes in the cases, chemically staining the cases black, plating them, or using commercial red or clear plastic dummy rounds. However, remember that above all, safety is a state of mind and not mechanics.
http://home.sprynet.com/~frfrog/safety.htm 