Dry Firing...truth or myth?

[Thaifighter]

I dryfire everything but my rimfires... I easily put in 50 rounds of dry for every live round I send downrange.

 

[jpwnomad]

My Browning Buckmark 22LR specifically says Do Not Dry Fire. I made a label to go into the storage case to remind me. Normally use Snapcaps, but do, on the rare occasion, dry fire. As to the M16/AR15/AR10 there is no firing pin spring to damage, but I always keep spare firing pins. Some consideration might be warranted to premature buffer spring wear, but they are mil-spec and rated for thousands of cycles. Thanks to all the members for the great ideas for homemade dummy rounds. going to check out using mechanical pencil erasers for the primer pockets, used ones ought to be just the right height. Brass that is past its reloading life should make great donors.

 

[crkckr]

Ruger says dry firing the 10/22 and Mk pistols is ok. Truth is, they pretty much get dry fired every time the mag runs dry unless the bolt stop actually works (maybe 50%?). When the manufacturer says it's ok, I'll take their word for it. I'm not talking dry firing a 1000 times a week here, we're talking about occasional dry shots to confirm holds, positions, etc. before firing a shot and after emptying a mag. Some .22's will damage the barrel, so caution needs to be used.

If you do a LOT of dry firing then snap caps can (should) be made or purchased. I used to dry fire my revolvers a lot (S&W, Ruger, Colt) so I have snap caps for them.

The bottom line is, be reasonable about it. If you dry fire a lot, get the snap caps. If it's occasional, don't worry about it.
Cheers,
crkckr

 

[skipglo]

Thanks one and all...! Some great answers giving me enough confidence to try a few! I certainly won't be trying to achieve the Dry Fire trophy but time permitting I definitely will use the exercise in the field before trying an 800 yard shot on game! (If I can remember not to jack a round in as soon as I see game walk out....muscle memory can be a B..ch)

 

[Ingwe]

Great thread.

I use A-Zoom snap caps and I noticed that after a while the plastic primers become indented, and I always wondered if they still cushion the firing pin blow when this happens.

 

[kiwikid]

If you are after top quality snap caps have a look at this site
http://www.harbourarms.com/
Their snaps caps are beautifully made plus they make them in calibers that A-Zoom don't make such as 6.5-284. As others have mentioned some rifles are OK to dry fire and others aren't. The early Dakota M10 falling blocks were notorious for breaking firing pins when dry fired but the newer ones are fine. I certainly wouldn't dry fire a fine English shotgun without snap caps.

 

[Ingwe]

If you are after top quality snap caps have a look at this site
http://www.harbourarms.com/
Their snaps caps are beautifully made plus they make them in calibers that A-Zoom don't make such as 6.5-284. As others have mentioned some rifles are OK to dry fire and others aren't. The early Dakota M10 falling blocks were notorious for breaking firing pins when dry fired but the newer ones are fine. I certainly wouldn't dry fire a fine English shotgun without snap caps.

Placed an order, Thanks!

 

[J E Custom]

From the time I was Six and up until last year (57 years) I was always told dry Firing was at the very least extremely hard on the firing pin, right up to...if you do that you will break your firing pin. Now on Wild T.V. I see folks dry Firing not once or twice but four times preparing for THE LONG SHOT! Albeit the question...truth or myth! Will it damage the action (pin) or not?

Dry firing is done quite often, Match shooters use dummy rounds to practice loading, firing and ejecting In different positions and if done right, does not damage the firing pin. I recommend using a dummy round to absorb some of the impact on the firing stop. The firing pin stop maintains the firing pin protrusion and if allowed to strike it without some dampening, over time it will extend the firing pin protrusion to the point of piercing the primer.

As to rim fire rifles, some have a stop on them and others rely on the case to stop the firing pin without doing damage to the breach from striking it. So unless you know which type of rim fire system your rifle has, I don't recommend dry firing any rim fire. The rim fire firing pins are not as robust as the center fire firing pins are and will not take the abuse.

Firing pins are designed to strike the primer with enough force to set off the primer and slow as the primer absorbs some of the energy in the process, and if it reaches the stop without some loss in velocity they will normally not last as long, or they will pierce the primer.

So in my opinion, the less you dry fire the longer the firing pin will last before it starts causing problems. I test firing pin protrusion on all builds and on the older rifles many times I have to machine down the length to set the correct protrusion because it has been dry fired many times without any means of slowing the firing pin down before it strikes the stop.

J E CUSTOM

 

[emp1953]

Any bolt action all you have to do is pull the trigger first and hold it until you close the bolt.it insn't dry Firing at that point

K, that's what I do.