Broke my gun dry firing

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AK

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I have a Norinco NP34 9mm. Haven't ever shot it but have been dry firing it quite a bit to smoothen out the DA pull. Today I happened to hear a "tick" sound on the floor after I pulled the trigger, as if something fell off the gun. I found a pin about 1mm wide and 5mm long which happened to be the tip of my firing pin. :mad:

All reports on the NP34 I've read state it is a reliable and solid gun. It's also stated that dry firing is NOT supposed to be harmful to it and is encouraged for practice and smoothening out triggers. Anyone else experienced this? And of course, how do I replace the firing pin.
 
dont have experience with pistols /but i just bought a beretta 90-two
also bought some practice caps to take the strain off the pin like i do with my rifles.so my question is why is it ok to dry fire pistols and not rifles.
dont want to steal the post just tag along with you to get some info
thanks
 
i've always used snap-caps when operating my pistol at home. i've always been told NOT to dry fire any firearm. maybe i'm just being paranoid.

anyways, i hope fixing this ends up being fairly easy for you my friend. i don't have enough experience to offer any useful advice.:confused:

good luck.:(
 
Well the ruger redhawk I just purchase states right in the manual dry firing will not damage the gun. My other handgun is a glock so I am not concerned. Even if it did break a new firing pin is a cheap and easy fix. Now for my rifles I only have dry fired then a couple times playin with the trigger but once its set I find no need to dry fire them.
 
ongaro said:
so my question is why is it ok to dry fire pistols and not rifles.
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Dry fire is bad for rifles? Not according to every marksmanship coach I have ever talked to. Winning shooters like David Tubbs preach more dry than live as well as hot and cold drills to work through flinch.

Dry fire might be bad for poorly designed/made firearms but with that in mind shooting them must be worse.
 
thats interesting ive always bin told not to dry fire rifles /all gun shops flinch when you do .
does anyone else have info on this/im going to start a post to ask this question
 
mlehtovaara said:
Well the ruger redhawk I just purchase states right in the manual dry firing will not damage the gun. My other handgun is a glock so I am not concerned. Even if it did break a new firing pin is a cheap and easy fix. Now for my rifles I only have dry fired then a couple times playin with the trigger but once its set I find no need to dry fire them.
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A Glock striker is $50+ tax shippinf etc.. Hardly cheap IMO. I don't think there is any worry though is a pretty solid peice of metal. I have dry fired mine well over a thousand times.
 
I have a Norkie NP58 which is similar to the OPs pistol and gives me cause for concern. Dry firing can cause firing pin damage or breakage. Some designs are more prone than others.

1. Centerfire - Inertia produced by the firing pin moving forward when hit by the hammer for example, then suddenly stopping, is what causes the forward tip to break. This is what happens when there is no live cartridge or snap cap to stop or absorb the firing pin's forward motion. The pin wants to continue moving forward and its kinetic energy has to be absorbed or released somewhere.

Unfortunately, some firing pins are designed with weak points or are made of weak materials.

OTOH, firing pins like that on the 1911 are very strong by design that breakage is uncommon.

The same thing happens in bullet pullers that reloaders use. Even tightly crimped bullets are pulled by one or two good whacks.

2. Rimfires - Damage is caused to firing pin tips and breech faces when the pin hits the breech face. Some rimfires are designed with pins that never actually touch the breech face, such as CZ452s, so are deemed safe to dry fire. I try to avoid dry firing my CZs or any rimfire nonetheless, perhaps by force of habit.
 
Another option to snap caps, I have cut a small rubber washer down to fit where the hammer strikes the firing pin. This way the hammer never even comes into contact with the firing pin. It doesn't fall out, unless I actually rack the slide, then the hammer drags on it. But when I dry fire, I normally just #### the hammer.
 
AK said:
I have a Norinco NP34 9mm. Haven't ever shot it but have been dry firing it quite a bit to smoothen out the DA pull. Today I happened to hear a "tick" sound on the floor after I pulled the trigger, as if something fell off the gun. I found a pin about 1mm wide and 5mm long which happened to be the tip of my firing pin. :mad:

All reports on the NP34 I've read state it is a reliable and solid gun. It's also stated that dry firing is NOT supposed to be harmful to it and is encouraged for practice and smoothening out triggers. Anyone else experienced this? And of course, how do I replace the firing pin.
Click to expand...

Some guns were designed can dry fire without snap cap but some don't, read the manual and don't argue or listen to others people said" it can be done without problem"
at the end of the day, who was in trouble?

Trigun
 
Bad Luck.

Dryfiring in old guns is bad for that very reason, however the thinking is that with new metal and modern processes the firing pin can handle dry firing.

Personally I'd want to know if my firin pin was on the edge of breaking so that I could replace it with a quality one.

Good Luck.

P.S. Stores don't like dryfiring their guns because it gives a "used" impression rather than "new inbox"... everyone will try to haggle a display gun.
 
Dan-O-Mite said:
Another option to snap caps, I have cut a small rubber washer down to fit where the hammer strikes the firing pin. This way the hammer never even comes into contact with the firing pin. It doesn't fall out, unless I actually rack the slide, then the hammer drags on it. But when I dry fire, I normally just #### the hammer.
Click to expand...

now that's a clever idea for hammers! i suppose in hammerless firearms you gotta suck it up and buy some snap caps, but this is actually pretty good and cheap for all the other guns!
 
It was probably a fluke; just put a new firing pin in it and don't worry about it. The vast majority of centrefire guns can handle dry firing just fine.
 
Too bad u hadnt a chance to fire it yet, but at least now you will know where to obtain parts and possibly install yourself! Hopefully it was purchased from Marstar who I am sure will be most helpful in remedying the situation.
Cheers
dB
 
Interesting discussion so far. Next buy will definitely be some snap caps then. How does Marstar's warranty work on something like this?
 
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