Dry firing .22 rifle, harmful or not

[SDC]

It depends on the particular model of firearm you're talking about; RUGERS (as mentioned above) are designed so that the firing-pin never gets far enough forward to touch the back edge of the chamber; a pin through the body of the firing-pin stops them from moving past a certain point). Plenty of OTHER designs, though, either require you to hold the bolt back a little way off the breech and then pull the trigger, or to use a snap-cap. With these designs, the firing-pin ends up bouncing directly off the edge of the chamber, and it causes a burr that makes feeding OR extraction difficult.

 

[ArmedBear]

RUGERS (as mentioned above) are designed so that the firing-pin never gets far enough forward to touch the back edge of the chamber

That is true (and also true about some other guns, but not all, and the exceptions would surprise you).

WARNING.... The Ruger semiauto pistol is designed to make sure it doesn't dent the chamber face when dry-firing, but there's a steel pin that acts as a stop. With the steel pin, the gun is indestructible. If the pin falls out and you don't notice, the gun will destroy itself.

Universal advice for Ruger semiauto .22 pistols (which I love, BTW): read the manual, follow the manual exactly, and if in doubt about ANYTHING, put down the gun and go read the manual.

Sig-Hammerli pistols (sold until a year or two ago) are NOT safe to dry fire, and worse yet the barrel is cast with the receiver, so the gun is disposable if you mess it up. Just because something is higher-end, don't assume it will take more abuse than its more commonplace cousins, or any for that matter.

 

[cracked butt]

depends on the model and if it has a firing pin stop in it. I'd avoid doing it with old .22s, I've dry fired my Rem 581 and 541 100s of times.

If dry firing a .22 were as big of a problem as people purport it to be, we'd see threads here weekly about people screwing up their .22s by dryfiring.

 

[MrPeter]

Pray tell, how would one go and find out if their .22 was meant to be safe to dry fire? I don't entirely trust the manual of my Walther G22 (which I love by the way).

 

[kungfuhippie]

aparently one should trust the manual.
I'd go buy a snap cap, I bet a snap cap is a lot less money than replacing a firing pin (or barrel). If you are unsure about dry firing it don't take the risk.

 

[dstorm1911]

Kungfuhippie, a snap cap is ALOT cheaper than replacing a barrel because the chamber has been peened to cr@p.......

 

[kungfuhippie]

whoops typo!!!!

fixed

 

[Oohrah]

Almost all the older 22s should not be dry fired as they form
that raised burr that gradual break off leaving a void that no
longer supports the cartridge rim for a solid strike on the rim
containing the primer compound. Newer models claim it is ok
to dry fire. Mixed emotions as I recall breaking a family 32-40
Marlin M.95 by dry firing as a kid. Yet in Marine boot at the
range, we snapped in for a week. Assuming various firing
positions and dry firing the M-1 Garand ! Don't know of anyone
in the Platoon who broke a firing pin or had ever had any
weapon break from use!

 

[cracked butt]

The worst that can happen is the firing pin strikes the edge of the chamber peening it inward- most modern rimfires have a stop that keeps the firing pin from protruding far enough to touch the chamber. You'll know when this happens because a round will not chamber. Brownell's actually sells a tool (it costs about $20 iirc) that swages the bur out of rimfire chambers that have been damages as such- you don't need to replace the barrel.

edit: I've always found snap caps to be one of the biggest wastes of money- I can only think of a few centerfire rifles or pistols where they would actually prevent damage, but those guns are in chamberings that no snap cap is made for(ex. a cz-52 pistol), and a fired .22 rimfire case will work just fine to protect your gun if you want the extra piece of mind.

 

[kungfuhippie]

The empty case/snap cap not only protects the gun from damage but is a great way of physically clearing the gun so you don't damage you chamber or your wall.

My star in 9mm luger needs a snap cap...

 

[CoolTargets]

There are plenty of 22s that don't need to be dry fired to de-cock the firearm. My advice is to not dry fire any weapon you plan to keep and shoot...

 

[halvey]

If your so concerned about it, spend $4 and buy some .22 snap caps.

 

[kungfuhippie]

This thread is 25 posts longer than it needs to be. Unless we're trying to use peer pressure to convince him

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Dryfiring is a standard training method -- great shooters probably dry fire their guns tens of thousands of times a year.

Some guns can be damaged by dryfiring, but not all. I will not dryfire my Colt Woodsman, nor my Colt Officer's Model Target. But I have no qualms about dryfiring my Ruger MKII automatic or my Kimber M82 rifle.

Yes, you can make a dent in an anvil with a ball peen hammer. But it takes a lot of pounding. But the firing pin doesn't have the energy of the ballpeen hammer and the firing pin stop is made of better steel than the anvil.

 

[matt87]

matt87, that's interesting, as my brother had a Walther KK100 that was expressly OK to dry-fire without a snap cap. And his rifle would ALWAYS light off rounds that failed to fire in one of the other shooter's rifles (including the odd Anschutz misfire). Weird.

I was at a small bore target rifle match about 6-8 weeks ago, one poor girl got 17 misfires on a 20-round detail. Anschutz was the only brand present. Got to be careful oiling the firing pins too, as to much can slow them and caue a bad strike. We used to get the occasional failure to fire at the club especially during freshers' week with many rounds going downrange and minimal maintenance. None that I know of since we switched from Eley Club to RWS Geco though. (£1 cheaper per box too!)

Yes, you can make a dent in an anvil with a ball peen hammer. But it takes a lot of pounding. But the firing pin doesn't have the energy of the ballpeen hammer and the firing pin stop is made of better steel than the anvil.

You can take chunkss out of even a good anvil with very few strikes of a hammer, just ask over at Anvilfire or read Bealer Of course, ths is usually on the edge of the face, but then the ananlgy readilly transfers to .22 rimmies, as the strike point of the firing pin on an empty chamber would be right on the edge too.

As for 'better steel'... perhaps it would be better to say that the pin stop would be made from a softer-tempered steel (or even a low-carbon one which would be less likely to fail under repeated blows from a hard piece of steel. Not flaming you, but it is a rather important distinction; anvils are made from good quality (i.e. consistent) steel (except ASOs, but they don't count ); blacksmiths are rather picky about what one of their three core tools are made from