Dry Firing

[GunLvrNLearner]

I hear about people using snap caps but almost everyone i hear says in a MODERN gun dry firing is just fine and causes NO damage...what is the truth?

 

[highorder]

dry fire almost anything you like, as often as you want...

Just not rimfires and antiques.

 

[GunLvrNLearner]

Since dry firing is fine,why do some use snap caps?

 

[Pat-inCO]

hoghorder said it well. I would add that if you use snap caps you have the advantage of tap-rack drills as well (you can even put one snap cap in the magazine with other live ammo at the range).

 

[weisse52]

SEARCH FEATURE!

This one has been "snapped" to death.

 

[Ske1etor]

Since dry firing is fine,why do some use snap caps?

Tap, Rack, Bang drills aka Malfunction clearance drills and reload drills.

While dry firing does no damage to most firearms, releasing the slide from slide lock on an empty chamber can. I use snap caps for this reason. Lock the slide back with no magazine in the gun. Pull a mag from my belt and insert it in the gun... drop the slide like you would in a normal situation.

The most useful purpose for them is the tap rack bang drills. Have someone else load your firearm for you and insert a snap cap or two into the mag somewhere in the middle. Start shooting. You will experience a malfunction. Hit the bottom of the mag with your off hand (Tap) eject the problematic round with a quick hand cycle of the slide (Rack) and pull the trigger (Bang) If no bang happens, repeat the tap, rack and bang procedure.

 

[CWL]

Didn't you already ask this question?

Gunlvr, you really need to use the search function here.

 

[JImbothefiveth]

Some manufacturers say not to, that it's bad for the gun. Berreta, for instance.

Rimfires should not normally be dry-fired without snap caps, but rugers are the exception to this rule.(Though I don't know if you can dryfire their SR9 or their LCP.)

 

[highorder]

Rimfires should not normally be dry-fired without snap caps, but rugers are the exception to this rule.

You should not dry fire Ruger rimfire rifles or pistols. You can peen the chamber or break the firing pin.

 

[1KPerDay]

5. With the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, push the safety to the “off” (F)
position and pull the trigger to decock the pistol. The pistol can be dry fired as
long as the firing pin stop is in place (See NOTE in step 5 on page 21).

From page 17 of the Ruger MKII manual.

DRY-FIRING: Going through the actions of cocking, aiming, and pulling the
trigger of an unloaded gun is known as “Dry Firing.” It can be useful to learn the
“feel” of your revolver. Be certain the revolver is unloaded and that the gun is
pointing in a safe direction even when practicing by dry-firing. The Ruger New
Model revolvers can be dry-fired without damage to the firing pin or other
components.

From page 15 of the new model single six/bisley manual.

With the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, push the safety to the “off”
position and pull the trigger to decock it. The rifle can be “dry fired” for
practice as long as it is empty and pointed in a safe direction.

From page 20 of the 10/22 manual.

 

[Andy-Y]

I was always taught that dry fire was not only wrong, but caused serious damage to firearms. I bought my first handgun last week (glock) and thought "hmm... since I have to dry fire to field strip and clean, can I practice like this?". A quick search on this site yielded plenty of info.

I've been shooting bad guys on T.V. ever since!

 

[j1979]

I think the dry firing myth was created by the same person who started the "oil in your car is only good to 3,000 miles". Both are hokey.

 

[briang2ad]

It CAN break guns

I have broken about 8 trigger return springs in CZs from dry firing. Solution? Learn to detail strip a CZ, and don't buy a decocker model.

I broke two strikers in my Steyr M9A1 dry firing. Solution - use snap caps - the Steyr is very easy on them.

 

[Loomis]

Dry firing was hard on guns once upon a time. It still is hard on some foreign guns and lots of older american guns.

The oil only good for 3000 miles got started when engines didn't have oil filters or didn't have very good oil filters. Also, the additives in oil(anti-foaming agents, corrosion inhibitors, detergents, rubber seal&gasket rejuvenators, etc) do lose their effectiveness over time. My grandfather was an auto mechanic back in the 1950s. When he did oil and filter service, he saved the old oil, poured it back in the vehicle and added fresh additives. I don't know if you can still get the oil additives to add to your oil. I doubt it.

 

[VE2RF]

You can still get oil additives. GM's Engine Oil Supplement brand is probably the best.

In the name of environmental protection, our current conventional oil is some of the worst oil since the 50's. They've reduced the amount of zinc and anti-wear additives to a point in which it is barely worth a damn.

When I do a performance engine, it gets Valvoline's Racing Oil which still has all the good stuff the greenies hate. I'll usually run a can of EOS in the engine until it gets broken in.

 

[j1979]

This will be my last oil post. I have a diesel truck. Holds 4 gallons of oil, yea tell me about it. Change it every 5k miles. Have done oil analysis on it and says its still good for another 1k. Thats 6k out of one oil change, with 0 additives added to it. I usually run Rotella T or Delo 400 15-40

 

[Zeede]

Snap Caps are very inexpensive, even the quality aluminum ones from A-Zoom, so there's no reason not to get one, if you are even the slightest bit concerned (which you are, otherwise you wouldn't be posting about it). They are nice for the aforementioned clearance drills, good for practicing feeding and ejection on a new gun (like a pump shotgun or a lever-action rifle) and you won't be tempted to use fired brass for dry firing or "just testing things". More than one accident has happened because the operator thought they had a fired casing in the chamber when they pulled the trigger.

Cameron

 

[Dobe]

Dry Firing will eventually cause some damage. Whether or not it is worth it is up to you. Even with modern firearms, there is some amount of damage. Most notably the firing-pin hole will show burrs around it. The more you dry-fire, the worse it will get. This can even cause feeding problems, if it gets too bad. While most manufactures will state that dry-firing will not hurt modern firearms, they probably mean an occasional snapping of the trigger on an empty chamber, and not continual trigger work.

I am a habitual dry-firer, and I believe it is worth the damage based on the trigger control I have learned. Yet I have broken a few trigger rebound springs, and have had excessive protrution around the firing-pin hole.

Much of this can be alleviated by using some sort of snap-cap device such as Snap Caps or another type marketed by Pachmyer and Beretta. The aluminium Snap Caps are cheaper, but they do not last very long during long periods of dry-firing. You will eventually see a little aluminium dust, and finally you will need a dowl stick or something similar to help extract the Snap Cap from the chamber. The plus side of the Snap Caps is that the primers are hard rubber, and do not seem to give way. The rubber does harden with useage.

Those marketed by Pachmyer and Beretta will last longer. They are more expensive, but worth it. They are hard plastic with brass heads, and spring loaded brass primers. They hold up real welll, but eventually the primers crater. These are the ones I generally buy. When I wear them out, I dry-fire without them until I get some more.

 

[graygun]

Jimbo... : You CAN dry fire the SR9 but it's not recommended w/o a mag inserted because of the mag safety.

 

[XavierBreath]

You should not dry fire Ruger rimfire rifles or pistols. You can peen the chamber or break the firing pin.

The Ruger rimfire pistols and the Ruger 10/22 rifle have a cross pin that secures the firing pin in the bolt. This pin also acts as a stop to prevent the end of the firing pin from contacting the chamber. As a result they are safe to dry fire, assuming the cross pin is present.

Most modern centerfire pistols are safe to dry fire. Some com bloc Mil-Surps, the CZ52 in particular, have brittle firing pins. Avoid dry firing those without snap caps. I have seen firing pins peened in 1911s, but the use was long and hard. It is also entirely possible that the firing pins were substandard.

I'll put in my 2 pesos for A-Zoom snap caps.

 

[conw]

How raised.