Dry Fire .22 semi???

[Redcoat3340]

I NEVER dry fire a .22, And if I dry fire any of my centerfire pistols it's always with a snap cap.

I just picked up a S&W 22s and I'd like to practice dry firing it. I guess I could pick up some .22LR snap caps, but I'm wondering if a used piece of .22 brass would work just as well? (And yeah, I'm being a bit of a cheapskate and will probably buy some snap caps (Yea Amazon!)….but now I'm curious as well if .22 brass is a good idea.)

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Drywall anchors are often used as well.

 

[lsudave]

I've read that drywall anchors function fine. Don't overdo it on 1 single cap, rotate the cap so you don't strike the same spot.

Amazon has some, under $7 per box of 100.


http://www.amazon.com/Hillman-370326-Ribbed-Plastic-100-Pack/dp/B000H5WVCS

 

[Mauser lover]

I use my spent brass. Every now an then I'll pull out a case that won't fit because it was fired from a different chamber and it doesn't fit, but I'll use one piece of brass for a few strikes, rotate it, hit it again a few more times, etc. until that one looks nasty. Then I'll pull out another empty case and use it until it is toast. I haven't had any problems.

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

I've been advocating the use of these dry-wall anchors for over 10 years as 'snap-caps' for ALL .22 rimfire dry firing practice. In use, you will NEVER get a chamber mouth ding. From my experience, they will even feed and eject from my Ruger Mark pistol magazines. Yes, it is a good idea to rotate the anchors for the next hit and each wall anchor is good for around 10 firing pin strikes:

 

[bannockburn]

Redcoat3340

Have been using them for years. Just remember to move them around a bit so the firing pin isn't always hitting the same spot.

 

[doubleh]

Ruger tells you it OK to dryfire your 10/22. I used two of them for custom rifle builds and they get dry fired ever time I empty a magazine. One is a 1970 made rifle. No damage to either. This is not to say it's OK to dry fire every 22 rimfire because it isn't. Know your gun.

 

[Spats McGee]

I was always taught to never dry fire a .22. That said, my first pistol was a Ruger Standard .22, which did not hold open after the last shot and (if I remember correctly) had a 9-shot mag. IOW, I dry-fired one time at the end of almost every magazine for decades.

 

[MedWheeler]

I also use the drywall anchors. As noted, they'll even hand-cycle in any magazine I've run with them.

I've yet to see "true" snap-caps for .22LR in any gun shop, though I do see the "training rounds." These are NOT snap caps; their rims are made of the same aluminum from which the rest of the "round" is made. Make sure what you're buying, if you're buying snap caps, are not these.

An occasional overfire (pulling the trigger beyond the ammunition count in the gun) won't hurt the gun, nor will a dry-fire after chamber-checking. Beyond those, I won't drop hammer/striker on any .22 firearm without something there to catch it, not even my Rugers. It's just how I practice consistency.

 

[Dudedog]

Drywall anchors/snap caps are a much better idea than used brass.
Is used brass safe yes, but I don't like the idea of something that looks like a loaded round being in the chamber when dry firing.
Red or yellow plastic does not look like brass.

 

[Walt Sherrill]

Ruger tells you it OK to dryfire your 10/22. I used two of them for custom rifle builds and they get dry fired ever time I empty a magazine. One is a 1970 made rifle. No damage to either. This is not to say it's OK to dry fire every 22 rimfire because it isn't. Know your gun.

Even Rugers can have problems, over time. They have a firing pin stop which CAN wear or break, although it may take thousands and thousands of dry-fireds before it becomes an issue. Just check the chamber edge from time to time if you're not using drywall anchors or snap caps.

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

If you actually go to Rugers web-site, there is an admonition concerning dry firing Ruger Mark pistols. Yes, it is OK to "occasionally" dry fire these pistols, but NOT to excess. What constitutes excess? Ruger does not elaborate on this. What they do recommend, is that if you plan to do lots of dry firing of your Ruger Mark pistols is, you should remove the firing pin, along with the firing pin rebound and spring from the bolt. You can then dry fire to your hearts content, and no damage will occur.
One thing that I have found after dealing with a multitude of Ruger Mark III pistols. There was such a flurry to get these pistols produced, and due to the fact that Ruger outsources the 'solid' firing pin stop pins, during extensive production, they ran out of the longer, solid firing pin stop pins. So, some engineer thought that it was prudent to substitute a shorter, hollow split roll pin as the stop pin. Now, if this roll-pin was positioned with the slot either in the 12:00 o'clock or 6:00 o'clock position, the force from the striking hammer would collapses the slotted pin and the begin to create a chamber mouth ding, which is very hard to PROPERLY fix.
Now, if you have a Ruger Mark III bolt, take a look at the bolt stop pin, and if you find that it is hollow, showing light by looking through it, do not shoot your pistol and get a solid firing pin ASAP to replace the hollow, split firing pin stop pin. Don't take the risk of getting firing pin dings in the breech face of your pistol.

 

[Ignition Override]

Dudedog might have first cautioned us about this. How many times do we look to see whether we have an empty chamber, at least when in a gun shop, our home or visiting somebody?

I don't want to Now see a brass .22 case in my M&P's chamber, and view that as safe/normal. We are always conditioned to see that as "totally safe/normal" when about to aim at a target at the shooting club, which I suspect has contributed (subconsciously) to 'negligent discharges' in a house. If it looks 'normal', then-------

But...No brass/steel *in a chamber* when at home or in a gun show etc. No thanks.

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

Dudedog might have first cautioned us about this. How many times do we look to see whether we have an empty chamber, at least when in a gun shop, our home or visiting somebody?

I don't want to Now see a brass .22 case in my M&P's chamber, and view that as safe/normal. We are always conditioned to see that as "totally safe/normal" when about to aim at a target at the shooting club, which I suspect has contributed (subconsciously) to 'negligent discharges' in a house. If it looks 'normal', then-------

But...No brass/steel *in a chamber* when at home or in a gun show etc. No thanks.

Many of the .22 rimfire semi-auto manufacturers feel an abiding 'need' to protect us from ourselves. Due to this 'motherly' attitude, we now see 'loaded chamber indicators' on many semi-auto handguns. Anything in the chamber like a spent case, wall anchor, or in a self defense pistol, a loaded round will give indication of there being something in the chamber, which may not be a BAD thing for the careless few.
It's my way of doing things, but I just don't care to put any of my semi-auto handguns away with the hammer or striker in the cocked position, when that gun is stored for more than a month or three. A wall anchor will allow the hammer to be dropped, safely, but will indicate a false pretense if the loaded chamber indicator is still in working order. My routine is the same, so I do know what I've done and I haven't read, as yet, about anyone being shot by a wall anchor.

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

Even Rugers can have problems, over time. They have a firing pin stop which CAN wear or break, although it may take thousands and thousands of dry-fireds before it becomes an issue. Just check the chamber edge from time to time if you're not using drywall anchors or snap caps.

For a spate of time, when Ruger was producing the Ruger Mark III pistols at a break-neck pace, they would run out of the 'tried and true' SOLID firing pin stop pins. Ruger doesn't make very many of these small parts and seems to feel better farming those out to local companies that do large quantity production runs. The Ruger assembly department substituted 'split-roll' pins for the firing pin stop pins when the solid pin supply went dry until the new shipment of solid pins arrived. Unfortunately, the split roll pins not only have a slot that would easily collapse if those pins were positioned at 6:00 or 12:00 o'clock in the bolt, they were short on each end by a little over 1/16th of an inch. When the hammer was driven into the split-roll pin the pin would collapse until it finally started to drive the firing pin into the breech face:



Ruger's admonition, in the manual, recommends that the bolt be inspected regularly to check the condition of the firing pin stop pin and whether it may be bent broken, or missing. If you do indeed find that your Ruger Mark III has a split-roll pin installed, remove it, stop shooting that pistol until you get a proper solid pin. You will never be able to completely repair a chamber mouth ding once one has formed:

 

[bassjam]

I don't often dry fire my .22's, but when I'm adjusting a trigger or something like that I typically just use some spent brass. You can get 20-30 fires out of each one, rotating every couple shots, before you need another.

I've used drywall anchors a few times and they work too, they just don't last as long. I find those types of anchors SUCK if you're actually using them in drywall, so I don't really keep any in stock in my house.

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

I don't often dry fire my .22's, but when I'm adjusting a trigger or something like that I typically just use some spent brass. You can get 20-30 fires out of each one, rotating every couple shots, before you need another.

I've used drywall anchors a few times and they work too, they just don't last as long. I find those types of anchors SUCK if you're actually using them in drywall, so I don't really keep any in stock in my house.

20 to 30 firing pin hits for each spent .22 rimfire spent case is an ambitious expectation without the rim becoming severely deformed. I've never had the luck involved with spent cases feeding into the chamber when dry fire practice is being done. The dry-wall anchors will feed from a magazine, and an under-barrel tube used for .22 rimfire ammunition. Each dry wall anchor will accept, and survive, 10 to 12 firing pin hits and manually fed during dry-fire practice. A box of 100 #4 to #6 dry wall anchors costs around $5.00, so if you have an $8.00 calculator handy, you can quickly determine the paltry cost involved for SAFE dry firing of each anchor:

 

[Tallball]

I don't "dry fire" my firearms hardly ever, especially my 22's.

By "dry fire", I mean fire them without anything in the chamber. I know it's okay to dry fire some firearms and not others, but I have a bunch of them and forget which is which.

Snap caps are not that expensive. I always leave them in the chamber of my Buck Mark or Ruger Standard. If I don't have a snap cap with me, at the very least I leave an empty piece of brass in the chamber.

Like the other poster said, I don't want to leave them cocked in the gun safe for months at a time, so my last step after cleaning them is to put a snap cap (or brass) in the chamber, pull the trigger, then store them.

 

[bassjam]

20 to 30 firing pin hits for each spent .22 rimfire spent case is an ambitious expectation without the rim becoming severely deformed. I've never had the luck involved with spent cases feeding into the chamber when dry fire practice is being done. The dry-wall anchors will feed from a magazine, and an under-barrel tube used for .22 rimfire ammunition. Each dry wall anchor will accept, and survive, 10 to 12 firing pin hits and manually fed during dry-fire practice. A box of 100 #4 to #6 dry wall anchors costs around $5.00, so if you have an $8.00 calculator handy, you can quickly determine the paltry cost involved for SAFE dry firing of each anchor:

The rim does become deformed after that many strikes from a .22 cartridge, but it isn't cracked and it's still thick enough to prevent the firing pin from hitting the face of the chamber....and that's the entire point. Either way is safe, I just don't dryfire mine enough to bother spending even $1.00 on drywall anchors but I always seem to have some empty .22 brass laying around. I also load directly into the chamber, so loading from a magazine isn't a concern to me.