Dry firing in a gun shop

[woad_yurt]

Just ask nicely, like one should do all the time when one wants to check out another's property.

 

[CJ]

Yes, polite to ask. In shops or at shows, you can see everyone in the area cringe (or so it seems to me) when someone grabs a firearm and rapidly and repeatedly pulls the trigger.

 

[Starcheck55]

ask - good
bring snap caps - better
buy the gun - best

 

[Nick5182]

When I asked my gun guy to dry fire, he told me to hold on, went to the back, and came back with a handful of snap-caps. Then he let me dry fire.

 

[Blind Bat]

Yep, no problem, just:

1. Ask first
2. Check and double check chamber
2b. Check and double check chamber
3. dry-fire, observing all safety rules (point at the ground or sky)

I remember hearing a story about a gun shop that got in a bunch of police trade-ins. The sales guy pulls one out of the box for a customer, racks the slide, and a round goes flying across the shop!

My guns get dry fired A LOT. I personally don't use snap caps because I want to see an empty chamber before I practice at home. ...But that's just my preference. The only gun I wouldn't dry fire is a 1911 with a nice super light trigger job.

 

[marv]

One store I go to has signs saying "If you dry fire it you have bought it" or words to that effect.

 

[maksim]

wow marv.... I would come in with a tshirt.... no dry fire = no buy.

If it is a new gun, I would ask about if it is ok to dry fire, always check to see if unloaded. never gave any issues.

If it is a used firearm, which I love to buy as they are typically much better priced, and why not let someone else take the hit.... at the very least my expectation is to dry fire, and take the gun apart. Even better, if I am buying a used firearm from a store that has a range... I am going to have the assumption that I will be shooting the firearm before I buy it.

If someone doesnt let me dry fire a firearm, I am walking out the door unless it is a once in a lifetime deal and I get a return policy on the gun.

But alot of the recent firearms I have purchased, I have shot them beforehand, either the exact gun or same model. Typically during one of our weekly get togethers on njgf, we get to play show and tell.

 

[CPshooter]

It is probably a good idea to ask, but generally it shouldn't be a problem. However, if it was a $3000 1911, you probably shouldn't dry fire it unless you are serious about buying it. Whatever you do, DO NOT let the slide slam forward by using the slide release/slide stop lever. Always guide the slide forward slowly as you release the slide. Most people would not appreciate that and I cringe every time I see some idiot let the slide slam forward on an empty chamber. It's not good for the gun and just plain stupid to do.

 

[WardenWolf]

I always ask. It's their gun, and they're just letting me handle it, and at the very least they'll want to know before I dry fire it. That snapping sound is never good if you're not prepared for it. I've found most people at gun shows will even let you handle guns for sale that are labeled "Please do not touch" if you ask them, particularly if you know what it is and call it by name. That tells them that you know what you're dealing with, and gives them a bit more confidence that you won't do something stupid with it.

 

[cyclopsshooter]

dry firing a rimfire = bad

most centerfires ok

 

[Demitrios]

Here in NJ I get some really. . . **AHEM** intelligent gents behind the counter of most gun shops and who act like they know everything, which as WE all know just makes those of us who do know everything look bad. But in all seriousness they have the attitude that dry firing is bad and that's that. Even on a revolver or 1911, which as far as I know will never damage the pistol, they become tentative over the matter.

Bottom line, just ask. Not only are you safer that way it shows courteousness as well.

 

[SuperNaut]

One store I go to has signs saying "If you dry fire it you have bought it" or words to that effect.

I sure wouldn't go there anymore.

 

[possum]

i go to teh same gun shop all the time, and they always promt me too try the trigger out, i never have to ask, but if they didn't tell me it was ok first, i would definetly ask.

 

[06]

Veyek, thanks for the terrific tip. I always keep a thumb on the hammer when testing the trigger pull but the "O" ring trick is super. I never dry fire a shooter unless they say yes. It bothers me to hear that hammer strike the pin and nothing be under it. If shops do not have "snap caps" then I wonder how many have dry snapped "my" shooter in the past. Just poor etiquette IMO.

 

[rattletrap1970]

I have an Altoids box that I keep Snap caps in. I keep a handful of calibers that interest me. They are usually sold in packages of 5, so you can either buy one off of someone who sprung for 5 of them or get a group buy with some buddies and split them up (that's what I did for most of mine). For instance A-zoom had .45 ACP for around $17 for 5 (or $3.50 each if you split with 5 friends). I ask them if I can dry fire and tell them I have my own snap caps. At the very least I think the shop owners tend to see you as a bit more serious buyer who cares about their merchandise. If they don't mind me not using a cap, then neither do I. I don't personally believe any gun's firing pin should snap when dry fired. If it does, it had some kind of issue in the first place.

 

[Volfy]

Instead of snap caps, wouldn't a spent empty casing suffice? Afterall, that's exactly what the firing pin is meant to hit.

 

[gwnorth]

Instead of snap caps, wouldn't a spent empty casing suffice? Afterall, that's exactly what the firing pin is meant to hit.

No, not really. The firing pin is "meant" to hit an undented primer, not one already punched in. A snap cap is intended to provide a constant resistance, like an unfired shell casing with intact primer would, so it buffers the firing pin from over travel.

 

[CoRoMo]

My wife has been looking at scads of handguns lately, and she groped a Taurus 941 a while back. She asked the counter help if she could dry fire it, and he promptly installed a plastic disc onto the cylinder so that she could fire away.

Always ask.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

A good gun shop, barring an unfired collector's item, will actually encourage you to try the triggers, as well as put a target on a far wall for a designated aiming point. But ask first.

 

[OldCavSoldier]

If you want to prove to them that you have their best interest at heart, ask them if they have some snap caps for you to try out the trigger...goes a long way in ultimate negotiations....

 

[hawkass13]

The shop i go to is like the one Marv visits. There are signs everywhere that state "If you dry-fire it, You buy it."

 

[Skillet]

Sorry for the dumb question. I'd rather ask then have a staff flip out on me.

That's not a dumb question at all. I have wondered that for a while, but have never really gone to the trouble to ask. but it never hurts to, right?