Dry fire
- Thread starter Blaine15
- Start date
"Most" rimfires advise to Not do Dry-fire, although the 'better designed' guns seem to be OK, the FPs are cut to avoid striking the chamber rim. The cheaper FPs are not.
The bolt of C-fire should be OK, but 'Why'? Get Snap-caps for both. The 'Tipton' red ones are brittle plastic and only good for 5-10 snaps b4 they fall apart - and sometimes leave a 'stub' in the chamber that can jam your gun - ask me. The Pachmeyer orange ones are softer plastic but still fall apart, just last a bit longer - I've got 10-20 shots. They both are on amazon and cost about the same. The Blue ones are for 'Cycling tests only' since they are aluminum and not good for many hits at all. The good C-fire ones have 'rubber' primer sections that are good for a "boom-boom long time". (joke)
The bolt of C-fire should be OK, but 'Why'? Get Snap-caps for both. The 'Tipton' red ones are brittle plastic and only good for 5-10 snaps b4 they fall apart - and sometimes leave a 'stub' in the chamber that can jam your gun - ask me. The Pachmeyer orange ones are softer plastic but still fall apart, just last a bit longer - I've got 10-20 shots. They both are on amazon and cost about the same. The Blue ones are for 'Cycling tests only' since they are aluminum and not good for many hits at all. The good C-fire ones have 'rubber' primer sections that are good for a "boom-boom long time". (joke)
Last edited:
The Ruger Precision Rimfire manual mentions dry firing many times and suggests you do it.
Page 29 for example
Familiarize yourself with the trigger’s pull weight by dry firing the rifle
(ensure the magazine is removed, the chamber is empty, and the rifle remains
pointed in a safe direction) after a trigger pull weight adjustment, before live
ammunition is fired.
Always visually double check the chamber to be certain it is empty prior to dry
fire.
Page 30 of the Precision Rifle Manual says exactly the same thing
Page 29 for example
Familiarize yourself with the trigger’s pull weight by dry firing the rifle
(ensure the magazine is removed, the chamber is empty, and the rifle remains
pointed in a safe direction) after a trigger pull weight adjustment, before live
ammunition is fired.
Always visually double check the chamber to be certain it is empty prior to dry
fire.
Page 30 of the Precision Rifle Manual says exactly the same thing
As a general rule, avoid the practice. Rimfire/CF/shotgun etc. You can easily de-coque bolt actions/exposed hammer guns etc. For everything else, there are snap caps or dummy rounds.
I never dry fire anything, and never even look to see if the manual says yes/no. Also have never had a problem with firing pins, so I'm sticking with my method.
I never dry fire anything, and never even look to see if the manual says yes/no. Also have never had a problem with firing pins, so I'm sticking with my method.
I dry fire the #### out of my centerfire rifles and shotguns.
Not rimfire though. At least, not without a snapcap of some sort. I have a pack of blue metal ones that do good for testing feeding, ejection, etc. but they get dented if you dryfire them, and after a while the rim gets all chewed up and they won't feed right anymore, especially in a tube magazine. Yellow drywall anchors are my main go-to for actual dryfire with rimfires.
Not rimfire though. At least, not without a snapcap of some sort. I have a pack of blue metal ones that do good for testing feeding, ejection, etc. but they get dented if you dryfire them, and after a while the rim gets all chewed up and they won't feed right anymore, especially in a tube magazine. Yellow drywall anchors are my main go-to for actual dryfire with rimfires.
Last edited:
Thunderhog
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- East Kootneys
As far as I know it is difficult to test the trigger pull of a firearm with a trigger gauge like a Lyman without dry-firing the firearm.
In saying this, if one is concerned about rimfire guns, use a yellow drywall plug. They work well for this application.
Most centerfire rifles should be okay for testing trigger pull. But if worried, use a dummy round that has a rubber or soft primer plug.
In saying this, if one is concerned about rimfire guns, use a yellow drywall plug. They work well for this application.
Most centerfire rifles should be okay for testing trigger pull. But if worried, use a dummy round that has a rubber or soft primer plug.
Dry Firing practice is essential to being a good shooter.
Just ask any of the top 100 shooters on earth (start with Erik Cortina).
I dry fire my CF rifles many many many many times (at least 10 times each before a live round, every session at the range).
I have never had a single issue with firing pin damage or function.
That said, I am less diligent with RF as I kinda treat them like dry fire practice and it's a big reason why I own a very good one.
If I was the type of person to give advice, I would say
If you can't bring yourself to dry fire practice your CF's, get a decent RF and use it as practice for your CF work.
If you only have plans to be a competitive RF shooter, DRY FIRE, DRY FIRE, DRY FIRE!.
Using snap caps or drywall plugs or however you get there.
If you are just planning to use your 22 for plinking and hunting, just shoot live ammo. it's cheaper than bottled water.
Just ask any of the top 100 shooters on earth (start with Erik Cortina).
I dry fire my CF rifles many many many many times (at least 10 times each before a live round, every session at the range).
I have never had a single issue with firing pin damage or function.
That said, I am less diligent with RF as I kinda treat them like dry fire practice and it's a big reason why I own a very good one.
If I was the type of person to give advice, I would say
If you can't bring yourself to dry fire practice your CF's, get a decent RF and use it as practice for your CF work.
If you only have plans to be a competitive RF shooter, DRY FIRE, DRY FIRE, DRY FIRE!.
Using snap caps or drywall plugs or however you get there.
If you are just planning to use your 22 for plinking and hunting, just shoot live ammo. it's cheaper than bottled water.
- Location
- Southern Vancouver Island
I've done that for many yrs then switched over to yellow drywall plugs. Both work dandy.
dry firing centrefire guns are fine nothing will be damaged
exception sxs shotguns and o/u shotguns as mentioned target shooters do it all the time
because the internet gurus will be all over this i will state my experience
have been a professional gunsmith since 1977 that means making my living at it
i have handled a million firearms and have never replaced a firing pin in a bolt action centre fire rifle
only a few sxs and a few over under the o/u were mainly target guns so tens of thousands of rounds fired
beside all this this topic has absolutely been beat to death
exception sxs shotguns and o/u shotguns as mentioned target shooters do it all the time
because the internet gurus will be all over this i will state my experience
have been a professional gunsmith since 1977 that means making my living at it
i have handled a million firearms and have never replaced a firing pin in a bolt action centre fire rifle
only a few sxs and a few over under the o/u were mainly target guns so tens of thousands of rounds fired
beside all this this topic has absolutely been beat to death
Agreed - although my experience is with thousands, not a million.
You don't mention rimfires. In my experience, if the firing pin makes contact with the barrel, the edge of the chamber will be damaged. Of course, if the rifle is well designed and properly set up, the firing pin will not make contact.
If I may, I think the reason it's been beaten to death is because of threads like these. It would be easy to come away from this conversation thinking; "sounds like it's safe to dry fire anything, in fact it's a good idea. Even a great idea if you compete. Except SXS or O/U shotguns...and probably most rimfires".
Thanks for your input though, I was a bit surprised about having never replaced a pin on a CF rifle in that many years of smithing. I'll chill out a little bit then maybe. lol Good to know!
Only firing pin I've replaced was on an O/U shotgun (Browning Citori) but I inherited it with a broken pin. The correct pin from Browning takes allot of fitting to make it work. So much so that I contacted Browning to make sure I got the right part! lol
