Gun abuse???

[Blitzkrieg]

Many guns can be dry fired extensively without harm. Newbs should get specific info on their gun before doing so. On a .22 just use a fired .22 casing as your snap cap

 

[mjbskwim]

On my Keltec PF9, it says in the manual do not dry fire without a snap cap. Well, when I first got the gun, I didn't have any snap caps, so I figured how much damage can it really do? So I dry fired it quite a bit to get a feel for it.

Quite a bit later, I decided to do a full teardown of the pistol for cleaning (it was functioning perfectly fine). Remove the bolt that captures the firing pin and the firing pin is supposed to just fall out the back. It didn't. I had to make a tool to punch out the firing pin from the front using a hammer because it was so deformed it would not come out of the channel it rides in. You could tell where the firing pin was impacting the bolt that captures it because the bottom of the threads were really screwed up as well. A new firing pin and a new bolt and some snap caps for future dry-firing and no problems ever since, firing pin just falls out now.

So dry-firing a weapon can do damage, it depends on the design of the weapon and probably on how many times you dry-fire it.

Yeah but firing a keltec with live ammo can damage it....and you

Sorry couldn't help myself.

 

[Allfat]

Yeah but firing a keltec with live ammo can damage it....and you

Sorry couldn't help myself.

Haha, yeah, good one.

Say what you want, but that little gun has been 100% reliable for me, never even a hiccup, even with the damaged firing pin. And when I called Keltec to buy another firing pin, they sent me one for free even after I admitted to doing the damage myself, great customer service to back up their product.

 

[Buddhalux]

I personally don't dry fire my weapons unless they're disassembled and I'm doing function checks. To me that's too close for comfort compared to actually firing the weapon. If, and that's a big if, I mess up clearing my weapons then I dry fire it then it would be a serious problem. However, I was also trained to keep my weapons safe and pointed in a safe direction at all times. Of course that doesn't work well in reality when doing live fire execises where we're firing hundreds of rounds at targets a few feet away from your buddies or a couple of feet over their head.

 

[One-Eyed Ross]

gads....most you guys must have never been on active duty. We dry fired our weapons A LOT....every time you do the manual of arms you dry fire the thing, every time you practice breaking it down and putting it back together you dry fire it....never saw any damage at all....

Of course, those were real, honest to God made of real steel weapons, and one of them was JM Browning's gift to the fire arms world, so YMMV.

 

[Buddhalux]

gads....most you guys must have never been on active duty. We dry fired our weapons A LOT....every time you do the manual of arms you dry fire the thing, every time you practice breaking it down and putting it back together you dry fire it....never saw any damage at all....

Of course, those were real, honest to God made of real steel weapons, and one of them was JM Browning's gift to the fire arms world, so YMMV.

Never did manual of arms after OSUT. Spent too much time in the field learning how to fight behind enemy lines. Rest of the time was on DRF alert status or pushing out the DRF1 BCT.

 

[iomatic]

Every rifle, pistol and shotgun manufacturer manual I've read says to dry fire (after clearing), when field and detail stripping.

I imagine this applies to center fire arms only, and makes sense since firing on an empty chamber make firing pins -- fire (i.e., strike) -- nothing.

 

[revjen45]

I had a High Standard HD that had peined the chamber mouth from dry firing. The HS .22 Mag Derringer can be dry fired without harm. The older guns were probably more prone to damage than new ones, and of course the CZ52 takes only a few times to FUBAR the firing pin by dry firing.

 

[borrowedsig]

Never did manual of arms after OSUT. Spent too much time in the field learning how to fight behind enemy lines. Rest of the time was on DRF alert status or pushing out the DRF1 BCT.

010110101001010101010010101 <=== thats binary, i dont speak that either..

Matt

 

[jasonabernathy75]

gads....most you guys must have never been on active duty. We dry fired our weapons A LOT....every time you do the manual of arms you dry fire the thing, every time you practice breaking it down and putting it back together you dry fire it....never saw any damage at all....

Of course, those were real, honest to God made of real steel weapons, and one of them was JM Browning's gift to the fire arms world, so YMMV.

i agree with that statement, prior to loading and make ready commands, you were told during quals to dry fire. on the m9 beretta, we dried fired and released the slide under spring pressure a bizillion times i feel. When we worked with SIGS in the Navy, we dried fired them with no problems either, M4's, same thing. I dry fire now still looking in the mirror to perfect trigger squeeze and that is on a Glock and a Beretta. No malfunctions so far...

 

[Kevatc]

Considering the stresses when a gun actually fires ammo I can't imagine dry firing be that big of a problem. And what forces does a snap cap attenuate and dissapate with dry firing? My snap caps dont even show marks from the firing pin contact.

There are a few things I have read on the various gun forums over time that just are nothing more than perpetuation of opinion and not based on facts or on the preponderance of evidence. Dry firing is one, not tumbling loaded ammo is another, and you can't load pistol brass more than a few times.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Considering the stresses when a gun actually fires ammo I can't imagine dry firing be that big of a problem. And what forces does a snap cap attenuate and dissapate with dry firing? My snap caps dont even show marks from the firing pin contact.

There are a few things I have read on the various gun forums over time that just are nothing more than perpetuation of opinion and not based on facts or on the preponderance of evidence. Dry firing is one, not tumbling loaded ammo is another, and you can't load pistol brass more than a few times.

EXCEPT.. many 22 rimfires can be easily damaged by dry fire.. know your guns before you do this

 

[ORSECTRAIN]

I think that there is alot of mis/dis-information out there.

Check the owners manual on dry firing. Unless it says DO NOT DRY FIRE then its a good way to mechanicly function the firearm.

Please be sure to tripple check both visualy, and physicialy all firearms (3x) before dry firing, and have a safe bullet stopping aim point (Rule #4)

NOTE: I edited this one alot lol.

Respectfully,

ORSECTRAIN
"Be Safe Out There!"

 

[Gun Mechanic]

OP,

Both questions all depends on the gun.

Glock, 1911, Sig Sauer, H&K and newer .22’s with a firing pin that does not touch the face of the chamber, dry fire all you want.

Older 22’s that do touch the face of the chamber, do not dry fire the gun.

If it’s someone else’s gun or at a gun shop I always ask their permission if it’s ok the dry fire the gun. Some people don’t like to dry fire their guns and I respect that.

Tap, rack and roll or slam the slide forward to your hearts content on a Glock, Sig or H&K.

Never slam the slide forward on a 1911 without a live or dummy round.

Doug Koenig encourages dry fire practice

Competitive Shooting Tip: Dry Practice - NSSF Shooting Sportscast - YouTube

 

[BillyDa59]

As a general rule of thumb, if your handling a firearm in a gun store, ask before dry firing. I think everyone can agree on this. Although, you'll often get told "You only have to worry about dry firing .22's."

 

[Kevatc]

Tap, rack and roll or slam the slide forward to your hearts content on a Glock, Sig or H&K.

Never slam the slide forward on a 1911 without a live or dummy round.

Why?

 

[Gun Mechanic]

Why?

Slamming the slide forward with out a round is hard on the sear/ hammer engagement and really hard on a 1911 with a trigger job. It also is hard on the frame, slide, barrel and barrel link. When the 1911 strips a round from the magazine it slows the action down enough to prevent excessive force on those parts when the gun goes into battery.

Gun Mechanic

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Slamming the slide forward with out a round is hard on the sear/ hammer engagement and really hard on a 1911 with a trigger job. It also is hard on the frame, slide, barrel and barrel link. When the 1911 strips a round from the magazine it slows the action down enough to prevent excessive force on those parts when the gun goes into battery.

Gun Mechanic

I have done it for decades and no problems have yet surfaced

 

[Mark W.]

When you hit the slide release and let it slam home, when firing there is a cartridge in there for a cushion..When its empty is just slams home, the slide batters the barrel face..Like on Hi Standard 22 pistols (or Brownings 22, Colts 22 etc etc) the slide just bumps right off the breech face...Any dirt or crud gets embedded into both surfaces. It really wont hurt it, but yah it does a little.

1911's or Hi Powers, its meant to be closed on a round, and it does batter several metal to metal surfaces...but it takes quit a few times to do any real damage.

I have worked on 1000's of pistols and you can really tell some of them have had the rat snot dry fired out of them!

Your saying that on a Semi auto like a 1911 the bolt face will actually touch the back of the chamber? unless there is a round in the chamber? So the slide sits in a different position on the frame when there is a round in the chamber then when the chamber is empty? It sure the heck doesn't on my Star Model B My or any of my other 5 Semi Auto Pistols.

 

[Velzey]

No, not on 1911's! on the old 22's!

But by all means everyone keep dry firing all their guns!!