Dry firing questions?

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alexlacelle

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I'd love for someone to explain why dry firing causes firing pins to break. I mean doesn' the pin move back and forth freely if there is no ammo in the gun.

Also, I just bought a .22 revolver. Is it true that I definately can't dry fire this gun?

In both cases, what about inserting spent casings into the gun and dry firing it with them in place? Thanks!
 
You should not dry fire a rimfire because it hits on the rim of the chamber, eventually you could cause a divit. As for center fire pistols I have been dryfiring mine for 15 years with no ill effects. I used to dryfire every day for 30 min (when I used to compete) but only about once a week now.
 
Many newer rimfires are designed so that the firing pin's travel is limited and it will not strike the chamber mouth if a case is absent.

Every gun is different, but in general most guns made since WWII are fairly tolerant of dry firing. For pistols in particular, i find that an hour spent in dry fire practice is more worth while than wasting the same amount of ammo. Not to suggest that live fire isn't needed. I would just prefer to take the time to grow acustomed to the feel of the trigger break at home, and concentrate live fire for the drills that you can not replicate at home.
 
I need a visual to understand things; so this might help you too.

Shoot your rimfire 22 and take a look at the spent casing. Imagine the firing pin striking a hard metal (chamber) instead of the soft brass of a round. The brass "buffers" some of the impact. By repeatedly dry firing a rimfire, the firing pin will wear or break. As Canuck223 stated, some guns have limited travel on the firing pin, but do you really trust it?

As to centre fire, some use the theory that the firing pin travels to full extention with no buffer and causes stress on the pin itself. I have dryfired for years without a problem
 
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There are many trains of thoughts regarding dry firing any firearm. One thing is certain though, repitition=proficiency. If you can make trigger control a thoughtless act, through muscle memory, then you have the biggest battle of the war won. The only way to do this is to do it often. Obviously it is impossible to shoot all the time, here is where dry firing comes in. It is easy to sit in the comfort of your home and dry fire at small pieces of paper taped up on the walls, faces on television etc etc. So, if you are freaked out about dry firing, why now invest a few bucks and buy some snap caps. They make them for every caliber whether rifle, shotgun or handgun. They are made from plastic, aluminum or other stuff. If you are a reloaded or know a reloader, have them drill some holes in the casing, load a bullet and fill the primer pocket with silicone caulk or glue in a pencil eraser etc. Use a bullet puller to put a bullet into a fired .22 or other rim-fire round for a home made snap-cap. Now dryfire to your hearts content....
 
trubluscrew said:
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As Canuck223 stated, some guns have limited travel on the firing pin, but do you really trust it?
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What's not to trust? It's the same as a centerfire, the pin is stopped by hitting something in the works before it strikes the edge of the chamber. It's not that much of a precision operation.

Snap caps are cheap, if it bugs you. If I were going to do thousands of dryfire cycles I might bother, but if the pin isn't hitting the chamber, the odd practise session seems unlikely to hurt anything.

Lots of guns instruct you to dryfire before taking them down in the owner's manual. (Ruger .22 autos for one)
 
Actaully a center-fire's firing pin wouldn't stop it's travel by hitting the edge of the chamber would it???

Dry firing once in awhile, yes I doubt it will affect the firearm much, but thousands of practice 'shots', well err on the side of caution, shoot the snap-caps, commmercial or home made. Dry fire the Ruger .22 to take down, yes, but again, how often do you take it down and clean compared to dryfire practice sessions...sooner or later you're gonna damage something....
 
echo4lima said:
Actaully a center-fire's firing pin wouldn't stop it's travel by hitting the edge of the chamber would it???
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What I meant was that on a center-fire the pin is stopped by hitting the back of the boltface, which is the same as a rimfire designed not to strike the chamber edge, which is most modern rimfires that I'm aware of. It's easy enough to check; measure the amount of pin protruding when it's fully extended, then measure the distance from the boltface to the chamber edge. If the pin doesn't come out far enough to hit the chamber, it should be exactly the same as a centerfire. The worst that could happen is that you might break a firing pin, which of course is also a possibility when you're firing live ammo.
 
Thanks for all the responses.

I read the owners manual today for the New model Single Six. In it, it says that this gun is designed in a way that dry firing it will not dammage it at all.
 
Ah geez you read the manual. I usually wait until I can't get it back together before I do that.

But I have been dry firing for years with no ill effects other than a few nasty looks from the wife when I start adding sound effects to it.
 
Sig Sauer has discouraged people from dryfiring without a snap cap in some of their pistols. They initially encouraged it, however reports of broken firing pins were coming back, so they strongly recommended the use of a snap cap. I personally have broken a firing pin in a P229 and have seen several others broken in that same model. I am a very strong proponent of dry firing for reasons previously mentioned, and have dry fired my AR15 thousands and thousands of times without a snap cap (under K. Cunningham's tutelage for those who know him). The issue seems to be very firearms specific - having said that - do NOT dry fire a .22 excessively. Those of us with 10/22's and Ruger handguns will occasionally let the hammer drop on an empty chamber but to purposely dry fire thousands through a rimfire is asking for a peened chamber or a broken firing pin.
 
I am a very strong proponent of dry firing for reasons previously mentioned, and have dry fired my AR15 thousands and thousands of times without a snap cap
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Every Marine who qualifies on the KD course has a week of 'snap-in' drills, through this week, the M16A2 is dry fired thousands of times...course we always had the luxery of an armorer around incase of a broken FP....
 
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