Definitely depends on the gun. My Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 magnum specifically says in the manual that dry firing causes no damage.
Posted on 05/10/2011 8:26:46 PM PDT by KoRn
Hello all,
FR has to be one of the better places I know to ask a question regarding firearms. I was just looking for a definitive answer - Is it safe to 'dry fire' a firearm without doing any harm to the gun?
All throughout my growing up, I was told that dry firing a gun was a big 'no - no', with people saying that it would damage the gun. After doing some reading here and there, I've found that this may not be the case, and it's perfectly fine to dry fire a gun without worry. As anyone would expect, I found nothing but contradictory information searching Google, with some folks saying dry firing is ok, and others not.
I recently purchased a Ruger LCR .357 Mag, and in the owner's manual, it read that it was ok to dry fire the pistol.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks!!!
Definitely depends on the gun. My Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 magnum specifically says in the manual that dry firing causes no damage.
Wanna break the firing pin in your C96 Mauser?
Dry fire it. I know.
Star Model B’s? Same thing
CZ 52’s? same.
Don’t ask me how I know.
I about crapped when I broke the pin on a C96 Mauser.
Where will I find parts?
Whew!!!... Numrich came through.
Actually, there are two eras of Mauser metallurgy to worry about. Prior to WWII, springs and pins could be excessively brittle. After about 1942, I don’t trust the heat treating in the receiver or bolt. The slave labor in the Nazi war machine was either very sloppy about heat treating, or they were using defective heat treating as a lovely future “gift” to their Nazi hosts. I’ve seen some Mauser receivers be dead soft and some be so hard it is a wonder they didn’t shatter.
Many thanks to all for your replies!
All of my firearms are of new/modern design and fire centerfire rounds. As far as design, my oldest ‘type’ rifle is probably the PTR91(HK91 Clone). Given the info, all of mine can be safely dry fired, but I my look into getting some of those ‘snap caps’ just to be on the safe side.
Thanks again for your timely replies!
Beautiful gun. I will add it to my wish list.
Same was true for their armor plate
Same was true for their armor plate
Snap caps are cheap insurance against a broken firing pin.
I have dry fired many different handguns with an without snap caps an some were never damaged without them an some were.
I prefer to use em for that reason alone.
Enjoy...stay safe !
The PTR91 is way cool.
If you get one of those Sterlings that are on the market now, be advised that dry firing them can break the firing pin.
KoRo, read this post.
Snap caps are a good idea to protect firing pins.
Dry firing won’t harm your handgun.
Dry firing is a good way to practice for muscle memory purposes.
HOWEVER, never dry fire willy-nilly, such as when you are sitting around watching TV. Always concentrate on what you are doing when a weapon is involved. To do otherwise would be to condition your body to nonchalantly pull the trigger.
NEVER pull the trigger of a gun, loaded or not, unless you are fully committed to the task.
I’m sure you already knew that.
Germany ran out of manpower. Japan didn’t belong in WW-II in the first place, but Hitler had a dozen ways to win WW-II and two or three ways to lose it and found the two or three ways. Simplest path for him to win was not to invade Russia. Russians I’ve spoken with who were alive at the time have said the place would have fallen apart on its own in another four or five years and Germany could picked up the pieces for free. Not invading Russia would also have solved the manpower problem.
You can get snap caps, a dummy carrtidge with a shock absorbing insert in the primer pocket for most common rounds, or make your own.
It causes less wear on the weapon than live fire by orders of magnitude.
Been a gunsmith for decades and there is no general rule. Some makes and models will not be damaged and others will the first time time you do it. If you ask about specific models, I will be happy to let you know whether or not they are OK to dry fire.
In general, there is no need to remove tension on a hammer spring by dry firing it. In my experience, it takes many years for a spring to take a set from being compressed and on those guns which may be damaded by dry firing, the spring you are attempting to save costs a fraction of the damage caused by dry firing.
On a rimfire the concern is more about hammering a notch at the edge of the chamber.
As a rule, I do not dry fire any gun.
Use a spent case, or buy a rubber round. They are available, and made specifically for dry firing.
I do remember that just about every weapon in the Army had a ‘functions check’, after assembly, which involved dry fire. All firing pin style....and out of the dozens of things which would go wrong with these weapons, a damaged pin was never one of them.
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