How to Avoid Dry Firing

J

Joyride

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I've searched this forum and Googled this topic but haven't been able to find an answer to my specific question.

A little while ago I inherited a High Standard Victor .22 pistol but I don't have much experience with self loading pistols. I took it apart to clean and oil it since it hadn't been done for awhile. When putting it back together I could not figure out how to release the spring tension on the firing pin without dry firing it. I've read the short manual provided with the pistol but it does not describe how to de-#### it. It only says that when dry firing use a dummy round.

My thought is that it shouldn't be stored with the action open and constant tension on the spring or with the fire pin cocked and its spring in constant tension for long periods of time. I realize a spent round can be placed in the chamber and it then dry fired but is this the only way to de-#### the pistol without dry firing. If this is the only way to de-#### the pistol I think this would mean I would always have to store the pistol with a spent round in the chamber because as soon as I open the slide to remove the round it would #### the pistol again. I tried holding the trigger when releasing the slide as I would do with a bolt action rifle but it's still cocked. I have seen other pistols that have a de-cocking mechanism but this pistol has no such mechanism that I'm aware of.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated as I'm interested in getting into pistol shooting. Sorry for the long description but I wanted to provide as much information as possible. Thanks for the help.
 
Leaving the hammer cocked won't hurt anything. Springs are worn out by cyclic loads, not constant ones.
 
I dont see whats wrong with dry firing once every time your done shooting, especially a 22, it would be alot easier on it than say a 45
 
Dacton said:
I dont see whats wrong with dry firing once every time your done shooting, especially a 22, it would be alot easier on it than say a 45
Click to expand...

Other way around. a rim fire firing pin is not centered like a center fire. When you dry fire a rim fire fire, the firing pin strikes the face of the chamber. this can bend the pin and deform the chamber. I have a .22 revolver and one of the chambers is really stiff when loading/unloading, most likely due to dry firing deforming it. To see what I am talking about, look at a fired rimfire case. You will se the strike on the case is on the rim (hence rimfire). this rim sits on the chamber face.

A center fire has the firing pin centered, so when fired it simple goes into the chamber freely.

As for a solution, their is nothing wrong with storing it cocked, as like mention above, Its constant cycling that wears it out, not constant tension. If you still want to store it hammer down, just use a spent case. Why spend money on something a free case will do.
 
I am not sure if victor has open hammer or not, it has been a while since I touched such low end earthly target pistol used by some mortals. Here is how to dryfire closed-hammer types. Pull the slide back a little and insert a piece of thin cardboard or piece of paper folded a few times on the face of a chamber. Release the slide and you can now dryfire till you are blue in the face. Most pistols will allow to release hammer when slide is not fully closed, 2-3 mm or more.

With open hammer types this is obviously easier and I believe some hi standards have open hammer. You just put a slice of erazer or much thicker cardboard between hammer and firing pin. You can use anything else that will soften or eliminate completely contact between hammer and firing pin. Most pistols will have a nice "niche" where those make-do inserts will sit tight so you can cycle the action and dryfire time after time.

Inserting fired brass works well too, but only allows to dryfire once and then you have to re-insert paying attention to the indentation to be in a new spot. Say, its only good for storing your pistol, not for dryfiring training sessions.
 
Unfortunately, what are sometimes sold as RF snapcaps, are in fact only inert proving or cycling rounds. Dryfiring on these results in there eventual destruction. I dryfire on spent cases fired from that FA.
*Before attempting the following ensure the FA is unloaded*
If a spent case is preferred to not be used - what I have tried and works on some RF actions is to open the action a slight amount to create some relief between the chamber face and the bolt or striker carrier, about 1/8th of an inch. Release the trigger if it will. This works for all my RF handguns. Works on 10/22 rifle also.

22LR You got in just ahead of my post , but the same idea. Cheers
 
A #6 plastic screw anchor for concrete can be trimmed to make a snap cap for .22 rimfires. The dummy rounds sold by A-Zoom and others aren't suitable for use as snap caps as mentioned above.
 
Dry-firing a Hi-Standard might pein the breech. Leaving it cocked won't hurt anything.
 
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