Dry Firing...Yes or No

[fdegree]

I have heard some say that dry firing is bad for the gun. I can see the problem for a rim fire. But, I don't see the problem with dry firing a center fire gun.

Am I overlooking something?

 

[LVLouisCyphre]

There isn't. It isn't a bad practice to use snap caps though.

 

[lukem]

I've been told center fire is ok but rimfire isn't. When I first attended Front Sight that is one of the first questions I asked. I've been dry firing ever since.

 

[Red Hat]

Never dry fire any rimfire firearm. Some center fire manufactures don't recommend dry firing. I know Kel-Tec doesn't. The best thing to do is read the manual and see if it's recommended or not. I dry fire about 98% of my firearms a little. I prefer live fire...:biggrin:

 

[lukem]

I do have snapcaps but I never use them.

 

[Boomboy007]

+ 1 on the snap caps. Then you don't have to worry. Every time I have bought a new caliber weapon, a pack of matching snap caps is on top of the inevitable 200 rounds of ammunition on the counter. Dry fire is great practice for home defense scenario training.

 

[Bagger Jim]

Now that's a good thing to know. I guess that I always thought it was that way ,but I was never really sure.

 

[Big Gay Al]

Depends a lot on the firearm. Older ones (i.e., those made before 1960 something) I would recommend against, unless you have snap caps. Also, it is usually recommended against dry-firing a CZ-52. Unless you have extra firing pins, or unless you have snap caps.

 

[Scarecrow]

I dry fire about everyday. it's a good way to see if you are pulling or pushing the trigger left or right as you fire. ccw instructors I had highly recommend dry firing.

 

[Jay]

I don't dry fire without snap caps ..... centerfire, or rimfire. This is simply how I look at it.......

A firing pin has a functional distance of travel. If the firing pin is an intregal part of the hammer, and does not impact a cartridge case, another part of the hammer, or firing pin block receives the impact. If the firing pin floats, and does not strike a cartridge case, a shoulder on the firing pin, or another stop device must prevent firing pin from extended travel. If the shoulder or stop device is designed to allow dry firing, hooray, and the manual should say so. I tend to protect my firing pins from hammering against their respective stops.

Dry firing is an excellent parctice tool, but I just prefer to use snap caps, as I think it's easier on the firing pins. I"m not saying that anyone else should. Y'all suit yerselves....

 

[skipjack_1st]

Yep, snap caps... For a few bucks why risk any damage at all.....

 

[DarrellM5]

I believe that a person can improve their accuracy with dry practice more than they can with firing live ammo.

I recently made Distinguished Graduate at Front Sight's 4 Day Defensive Handgun class with my support side hand. My 2 months of training support side consisted of 20 minutes a day, 4 days a week of dry practice and only about a total of 50 rounds fired at the range.

I use snap caps in my Sig P229, since it has double strike capability. I don't use snap caps in pistols that require resetting the action every shot, like my XD-M's. I log my dry practice and the Sig has been dry fired over 30,000 times. My XD-M 40 has been dry fired about 2500 times.

 

[EPeltz]

DRy fire

I have been dry firing my weapons since I attended my fist class at Front Sight about 8 years ago. I doubt that it does any damage to my firearms. I know it helps my surprise break. The more you rain the better you get.

 

[{TEX}Hawaii((]

Dry firing is a proven technique to improve shooting skills in a wide variety of weapons. Have at it.

 

[AZSATT]

Myth Busting.

If the practice of dry-firing were to damage your firearm, be glad the damage occured during dry-fire and not with live ammo. But that's a big "if."

If your gun can't handle dry firing, how can you expect it to handle the enourmous chamber pressure with each live shot?

I personally believe the myth of dry firing is founded in partial truth, in that if you disassemble many handguns and THEN dry fire them, that steel hammer is designed to strike the steel slide and firing pin, NOT the non-steel material of the trigger housing in the frame. Dry firing a disassembled handgun could easily result in damage to the trigger housing area, frame, springs etc.

Dry firing is an outstanding and cost-effective way to continually work on the two most important of the fundamentals of marksmanship: sight alignment and trigger control. While the recoil of the actual round "masks" many/most shooter-induced errors, dry firing can still be beneficial in "perfect practice."

Because it's only perfect practice that makes perfect. Practicing a bad habit or a poor technique makes "permanent." Not perfect.

 

[HK4U]

Get something like the following then you can be sure there will be no problems. There are different brands out there. I have about 20 rounds of 9mm in orange color. Makes it easy to see the gun is safe also. Also makes the gun close to normal weight. That is better for proper practice.

A-Zoom Metal Snap Caps / Practice Ammo

 

[Pure Kustom®]

Dry firing is fine with everythhing but rim fires.

 

[wuzfuz]

Dry firing

I had occasion to send a Ruger .22 pistol to Sturm Ruger for repair and tune-up, and while discussing the details, I aksed if dry firing would hurt a rim fire. I was informed by the person I was talking to that any gun made by Sturm Ruger could be dry fired with no damage, and that included .22 pistols and rifles. When unloading the firearm, the last step is to dry fire the piece to relieve the pressure on the firing pin spring. since there is no piece that protrudes from the rear of the rifle that you can hold and ease down the striker, dry firing is the only way to take that pressure off, instead of leaving it perenially cocked.

 

[HunterLee]

I VERY rarly purchace a firearm without first dry-firing it. If the seller will not let me try the trigger pull (mostly because of bad information), that is his loss (and mine) because I want the trigger to pull the way I like it without spending money on a gunsmith after spending money on the gun. Unfortunatly I run into alot of that. I agree that dry-firing "centerfire" firearms is not harmfull to the firearm, but if you got a few extra bucks-why not go ahead and get some snap-caps?

 

[jchantelau]

You gotta dry fire a glock in order to field strip it.