[Partisan Ranger]

I'm reading Boston's Gun Bible, which I'm finding fascinating. Among many other points, he stresses the importance of practicing by dry firing several times per week. I understand the usefulness of practicing your shooting technique without the distraction of the bang, but I'm wondering -

Will dry firing damage my K-9? You always hear you shouldn't dry fire, but I wonder if that's like your mom saying sitting too close to the TV will hurt your eyes? Is it just a myth? Thanks.

PR

[BevrFevr]

Snap caps are fake rounds made of various materials like plastic or aluminum. They are made specifically for dry firing. They have fake primers made of rubber or brass etc.

Insert one of these into your chamber then you can dry fire at will.

With the k9 it may be safe to dry fire anyways I'm not sure. I think you will have to rack the slide everytime to reset the action which is a huge pain in the ???.

I own AZOOM aluminum snap caps for my guns. They have a silicine rubber primer which I have found can be sensitive to some solvents. Pachmyer makes plastic ones with brass primers and springs. I may pick some of those up too just to compare.

good luck
-bevr

[BevrFevr]

To answer your other question. Dry firing (without snap caps) many types of weapons is a huge NO NO! I have busted the firing pin in a Star 9mm doing this.

On the flip side it is necessary to dry fire some guns to take them apart like the Glock and the Ruger MKII pistols.

The safety lecture:

Before dry firing any gun make sure the chamber and magazines are completely empty of all ammo! And always point the barrel in a safe direction!

have fun
-bevr

[PCRCCW]

With the firing pin arrangement the K9 has...you can dry fire it until your finger falls off. The snap cap is always a good idea but is primarily for guns that are a little on the more delicate side.
Ive dry fired my guns...including Kahr K series guns, thousands of times and have NEVER had a problem.
Shoot well

[Partisan Ranger]

What is it about the K-9 in particular that makes it okay to dry fire? I've read that Kahr guns are built like tanks.

And yes, you do have to rack the slide every time when you dry fire it. You also do need to dry fire the K-9 to disassemble the gun, so I'd reckon that dry firing it is okay.

[Handy]

Use a snap cap - then it isn't really "dry firing". Plus, it insures that you have an empty chamber.

The K9 might have a sturdy striker design, but so does the Glock. On Glocks, the breech face can crack from too much dry fire.

Essentially, dropping the firing pin too much without a real or fake primer is going to beat up something, eventually. The energy that normally dimples the primer gets expended inside the gun instead. Not good, if you think about it.

You can also make a snap cap with an empty shell and a piece of leather or pencil eraser stuck in the primer pocket.


The ultimate snap cap are those laser practice units that throw a red dot at an electronic target, confirming your aim. Seems like if you're that serious, that would be the tool to buy.

[El Tejon]

PR, I've dry fired the stuffing out of my P9s that I use as a bug since I bought one when Justin released them (cannot remember year). No ill effects whatsoever.

[synoptic]

Handy, where could one find one of those tools? I would do a search, but I don't even know what to call it in the search.

Thanks

[AirPower]

I've dry fired thousands of times on Sig P226, no problems so far. I would say snap caps are good if you want to make sure you don't have a live one in there.

[XavierBreath]

If you get snap caps, get AZoom. They will last forever.

The part plastic part brass with a spring inside type are junk.