Dry firing a pump?

[Virginian]

A lot of people have dry fired with no problems. Some people have had problems from dry firing (including handguns). I have never heard of anyone having problems using snap caps. NO ONE has ever had any problems from NOT dry firing.
It's your gun, and your money, do as you please.

 

[Pete409]

Gunsmiths make a lot of money replacing broken firing pins.

They always break during dry-firing, not during shooting.

Not true! Just in the past 5 or 6 weeks, I personally know of two individuals who broke firing pins in their over/under shotguns while shooting sporting clays targets at our shooting range.

I was there both times when this happened. One minute the gun was shooting fine. The next minute, there was a broken firing pin. I explained to them how easy it is to replace the firing pins in an over/under. It's even easier in most pump shotguns.

The strange thing about this is that both individuals use snap caps in their guns when putting them away after cleaning.

 

[Pete409]

As a follow-up to my post above, I saw both of the guys at the gun club today who had firing pins break on their O/U's a few weeks ago. I asked them about their guns. One of them replaced the broken firing pin himself, and the other one took his to a gunsmith for replacement since he didn't have the socket or extension necessary to remove the buttstock.

It's actually a pretty simple job, but you do need a few basic tools. It's even easier to do on most pumps and autos.

 

[Ron-Bon]

Snap Caps are a must.

 

[jakemccoy]

I have never understood dry firing. It accomplishes nothing. You can't see a pattern or group. You only get better firing live ammo at a target.

That's wrong for me. I didn't know I had a flinching problem until I started dry firing. Now, I don't, and my shooting is much better.

 

[the foot]

Don't take a chance with dry firing; you must have confidence that the next time you need that shotgun to fire, it will.

Use snap caps, and that will minimize the chance of firing pin malfunctions.

 

[peacemaker45]

I've dry fired my '97 and stoeger SxS more times than could be counted. But, since the whole purpose of the excercise was to practice loading, it i've always used dummy shells.

My dummy shell recipe:

I use regular fired hulls, but of a different color than the ones I load for real. In my case, match shells are green, dummies are red. Anyhow, deprime, and replace primer with pencil eraser. Instead of powder, use sand. Add power piston and shot. Crimp. voila. The part that usually winds up going is the plastic of the hull. When it does, I cut it open to retrieve the lead, and pitch the rest.

~~~Mat

 

[BADUNAME37]

Great idea, Matt!

Too bad I never got into reloading for shotgun.

 

[arizona98tj]

If it is mechanical, it can break.
Things can be done to minimize the chance of breakage.
Snap caps fall into the how to minimize category.

If you are paying $20 or $30 for snap caps, you are being bent over the reloading table, IMHO.

My shooting buddy donated a handful of practice rounds to me (I believe he said they cost $1.50 a piece). They have a plastic insert for the firing pin to strike. About 10 minutes of time, a little JB weld, and some shot yielded a nice snap cap/practice round that had nearly the same weight as a target load. They function perfectly in my Benelli.



More details on making practice rounds.

 

[Hollywood Marine]

I've broken two firing pins in my supposedly un-breakable model 12's, so I'm convinced that snap caps are a necessity.