Is it safe to dry fire a pistol?

[tricolordad]

What kind of damage can be done from dry firing your pistol without a snap cap? Does a spent casing work just as well as a snap cap? Have you had any damage done to any of your firearms due to dry firing?

 

[Firefighterchen]

No substantial damage unless the firearm is a .22 rim fire.

None of my firearms have broken after thousands of dry firing.

None of my firearms have broken on letting the slide go into battery with out a magazine inserted.

Edit: It looks like from the responses below, certain modern .22 rim fire firearms are okay to dry fire. Look at your manual or contact your firearm manufacturer and see what they say if you can't find the answer.

 

[AndyAlex]

I agree. Dry fire is a recommended method of training and modern firearms are perfectly fine to dry fire.

 

[Andrew17]

Ya you're good unless you're using an old hammer fired gun "where the firing pin is a part of the hammer". Even most rimfires will be fine, it's all modern design.

 

[wolf_fire]

^^^ These guys said it well.

 

[shane34652]

I've got an old H&R .22 revolver with the firing pin attached to the hammer. do spent casing work instead of snap caps?

 

[Almost_Blameless]

the problem with 22's is that they fire by punching a dent to the rim....without a case there, the firing pin strikes the cylinder where the rim should be, and many of them (firing pins) have been broken by doing so.

A spent case should provide enough cushion, but I'm not sure how many times you can dry fire this way before 'denting' the old case too far/deeply and reaching the cylinder frame with the firing pin... Pay attention as to how deep the dent gets over time, and you should be OK. When u get around to it, snap caps in 22 would probably be a good idea.

 

[Geezer]

Common 4-6 wall anchors are a cheap substitute for snap caps for .22's. After they get beat up, toss them.

Link Removed

 

[Greggatshack]

An Australian shooter comes over here every-so-often and cleans up in our national Service Pistol competition gold medal when he does. In a coaching session he told us that he does 1 million dry fires per year as part of his training regimen. I believe he uses a S&W 686. I'm nowhere near as dedicated as he is and don't even approach a 10th of that number. I'm not concerned about damage if he isn't.

 

[Rocketgeezer]

On a centerfire gun, pistol or revolver, when dry fired the firing pin don't hit anything so it should not be damaged, on a rimfire the firing pin will hit steel on steel so yes it can be damaged if a snap cap or at least a spent case is used

 

[stantheman1976]

From everything I've ever read or heard pretty much Amy modern center fire pistol should br OK to dry fire. The only time you'd need to be concerned is on a pistol like the Ruger SR series that have a magazine disconnect safety. Ruger recommends you don't dry fire these excessively because safety is a piece of plastic that stops the firing pin when the magazine is out. Excessive dry firing could possibly damage it.

 

[XD40scinNC]

In rimfire the hammer is designed to strike the softer brass of a round, and not the hard steel of the edge of the chamber.

 

[kerb]

An Australian shooter comes over here every-so-often and cleans up in our national Service Pistol competition gold medal when he does. In a coaching session he told us that he does 1 million dry fires per year as part of his training regimen. I believe he uses a S&W 686. I'm nowhere near as dedicated as he is and don't even approach a 10th of that number. I'm not concerned about damage if he isn't.

That would be around 2700 dry fires a day. Somehow I doubt even he approaches a 10th of that number.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2

 

[Riverkilt]

Guy on you tube uses cheap pens with the round plastic insert on top. Drops them down the barrel. Verifies the firing pin is working when the pen flies out the barrel...fun if you're careful.

 

[Greggatshack]

That would be around 2700 dry fires a day. Somehow I doubt even he approaches a 10th of that number.

Well you could be right, I'm just going by what he told me he did.

However in my lead-up to the National Champs, I was practising the match at home. The match involves 90 shots and I was easily going through the complete match (dry firing) more than 30 times each day. Unfortunately I started late and overdid it. I ended up getting tendonitis in my trigger finger from all the repeated double action shooting. Got so that I was single-actioning on all the shots where I had time in the nationals and I didn't shoot very well. If I'd built up to it I could have avoided the injury I suspect.

That year the guy I'm talking about, Greg Armstrong, set a record for the match in New Zealand of 883. Still stands. He hasn't crossed the Tasman for the last couple of years so it has given us locals a chance for the gold medal. However he will come over for the Champs in November this year.

Because I never watched him I cannot verify the 1 million dryfires in a year. He is far more serious about winning that match (in Australia as well as here), than I am. I'm just not prepared to put in that much work. But as I said, it was no problem for me to dryfire at the rate of more than 2700 per day and he is the champ.

Cheers
Gregg

 

[jcreek]

From everything I've ever read or heard pretty much Amy modern center fire pistol should br OK to dry fire. The only time you'd need to be concerned is on a pistol like the Ruger SR series that have a magazine disconnect safety. Ruger recommends you don't dry fire these excessively because safety is a piece of plastic that stops the firing pin when the magazine is out. Excessive dry firing could possibly damage it.

Who cares lol? Those things suck anyways. Breaking them would be an improvement to the gun. First thing I did when I bought an LC9 for my woman was rip that stupid thing out. If I could've gotten some dry fire practice in while doing it I would have, but the LC9s disconnect safety is steel.

 

[stantheman1976]

Who cares lol? Those things suck anyways. Breaking them would be an improvement to the gun. First thing I did when I bought an LC9 for my woman was rip that stupid thing out. If I could've gotten some dry fire practice in while doing it I would have, but the LC9s disconnect safety is steel.

Who cares if you think they suck? Your opinion of a brand or series of pistols is irrelevant to the question that was asked.

 

[jcreek]

Who cares lol? Those things suck anyways. Breaking them would be an improvement to the gun. First thing I did when I bought an LC9 for my woman was rip that stupid thing out. If I could've gotten some dry fire practice in while doing it I would have, but the LC9s disconnect safety is steel.

Who cares if you think they suck? Your opinion of a brand or series of pistols is irrelevant to the question that was asked.

^^So was your little butthurt retort^^

 

[snatale42]

What kind of damage can be done from dry firing your pistol without a snap cap? Does a spent casing work just as well as a snap cap? Have you had any damage done to any of your firearms due to dry firing?

You should always use a snap cap, but with that said it would take a lot to actually do damage. Spend casings are rigid, while a snap cap absorbs the shock. When the primer was good it sorta absorbs force as the pin is slamming into it, but once thats done, it's done.

No substantial damage unless the firearm is a .22 rim fire.

To quote the manual for my SR-22 "The Ruger SR22 Pistols can be dry fired without damage to the firing pin or other components as long as the magazine is inserted."

 

[Merf]

was going to ask this question.. pulled a search forst and found this.. Great