35+ years ago, I was a cadet in the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Academy. We were issued S&W Mod. 15 .38 revolvers, and the range staff told us to dry-fire practice the trigger squeeze as often as we could. After range sessions, I’d go home and clean the revolver and dry fire double action. I must have dry-fired that revolver tens of thousands of times, and the hammer nose was never damaged. That goes for all the other people in our class, and many other classes besides. I don’t remember any cadet ever experiencing any firing pin breakage due to dry fire practice. That same Model 15 still shoots great.
I have a Model 19 from about the same period. Dry-fired it for months until the action was nice and smooth, and then the firing pin snapped off. It was an easy fix, though. I'd just hate for that to happen when I was actually firing the gun in a self-defense situation.
@@JozlynHensley-dw8cm.22’s are actually the one thing you really don’t want to risk dry firing because of rim fire. Rim fire 22s will take some serious damage from dry firing
One of my "favorite" early experiences was showing someone a Spanish handgun I had and asking them not to dry fire it. I was lectured about how that is bull and he pulled the trigger anyway. An audible plink was heard across the room. "Welp, that was my firing pin's tip. I guess you know where to order a replacement then?" Fun fact: he never found one and we had to lathe up a copy.
Thanks for the dry wall anchor tip! Another type of gun that should never be dry fired without a snap cap are older side by side double barrel shotguns. Many of the better ones even came with snap caps.
Ask any competition shooter- they'll tell you they pull the trigger in dry fire 5-10 times for every time they pull the trigger in live fire. Dry fire is the foundation of good gun handling, good transitions, and good visual discipline and patience. Live fire is for working grip and trigger control at speed.
I'm a competition shooter (currently not shooting) and no, I NEVER dry fire. Snap caps if I have them or at the least a fresh fired case at the very least. The firing pin has to hit something.. something it isn't designed to hit in normal operation with that kind of force. The primer will "push back" somewhat when the pressure builds in the chamber and this will counteract the spring force.
The Smith & Wesson instruction sheet that was supplied with every revolver back in the 70s (the one that was a folded paper with a picture of the revolver on the front) included an instruction that the user should “practice dry-firing with empty revolver,” or words to that effect.
For Cz B firing pin safety models it is highly recommended to use an oring to be placed at the hammer notch during dry fire to prevent possible damage to the firing pin roll pin.
@@InsanePacoTaco if you see a hole where the rear cocking serrations are on the slide then that means the gun has a firing pin/drop safety therefore using an oring is a very good idea during dry fire
I fixed a inexpensive German made .22 lr single-action for a friend, it had been dry-fired so much the chamber mouths were peened out to where a round couldn't load! Replaced the broken frame mounted firing pin with one from Numrich, and removed the chamber peening with a fine rat-tail file, got it back into service....
@matthewbeaver5026 Nope. The "dimple" was where the cheap steel cylinder chambers were struck by the frame-mounted firing pin, during "dry firing", driving metal over time into the bore of the Chamber. The rest of the rebated chamber fully supported the rim of the cartridge, and the new firing pin was still able to crush the rim, setting off the rimfire priming. I just carefully filed the "dimple" down to where a .22 could slide past it easily, and it worked fine. I strongly pointed out WHY it had gotten so battered to the owner, with instructions to NEVER DRY FIRE IT AGAIN, unless he religiously used snap-caps! Far as I know it's still working...
Oh man... I remember back in the days (the '80s) when I and my bro were kids.. We actually had an easy access to our dad's Colt Peacemaker .22. Yea. That western revolver was way cool. We dry fired it often. I can just wonder how back in the days we did not get ideas to point it at each other nor other living beings etc. We also knew where the ammo was stored (different location) - but somehow no ideas to load the sweet thing came to mind. We did get to shoot it live at times - accompanied with dad, of course. But. From what gotten to know: yea, we temporarily ruined it by dry firing it. Dad got it easily fixed - but still.. Yea. If we back then woulda gotten a technical explanation of how and why (not to) - we coulda avoided it completely. Back then a thing as centerfire or rimfire did not get explained to two very young boys... RIP Bengt Jordas (1954-2022).
During a Ruger Police Armorer school, the Ruger Technician encouraged each trainee to dry fire the then new GP-100. His recommendation was to use a moderate amount of forward pressure on the back of the hammer while pulling the trigger somewhat slowly. He advised that this helps to 'mate' the surfaces of the trigger and hammer. My almost 40 year old Stainless GP-100 is still a smooth working revolver.
When I was a kid, my first full size rifle was an old mossberg bolt action target rifle. I put thousands of rounds of .22LR thru that rifle. I also spent many hours practicing different shooting positions with dry fire practice. Eventually, the end of the firing pin broke off. My grandfather and I took it to a gunsmith to have it fixed. The rim of the chamber was also pretty deformed. The estimate must have been pretty high, because we left with a brand new 10/22 instead.
Before it became a "no-no", I've dry fired my S&W Mod 19 about a "gazillion" times since the 70's without any ill effect whatsoever. I also used to flip the cylinder shut with a flick of the wrist (like in the movies) about a couple of "Bazillion" times and the cylinder and crane are still like the Rock of Gibraltar. That's one tough gun, Thank God!
I don't get to the range as much as I would like to, so I use the iTarget laser system at home. It uses a laser cartridge that functions as a snap cap. I have had catastrophic failures of my Ruger LCP II and Ruger LC380. The firing pin retainer spring of the LC380 broke during a session, and the firing pin and firing pin spring ejected through the hammer port across my thumb and fell to the floor. In another session, the LCP II's hammer broke and flipped out across my shoulder and fell to the floor. Ruger repaired both pistols free of charge, but told me to avoid "excessive" dry fire.
As a US Marine, the first week of marksmanship training was called "snapping in". This was sighting in with a condition 4 (completely cleared and unloaded) weapon. We dry fired these M16 A2 rifles thousands of tomes a day at a 55 gallon drum, painted white with the 3 different target variants. Able, dog and B- mod shapes. Dry fire allows for the marksman to know the cycle of the trigger group and to practice sight alignment, sight picture, trigger sqeeze and breath control in congruence with pulse and body position. These, for a basic Marine, are the keystone of building a great marksman. Every Marine is taught these principals of shooting. The tear down and reassembly of your weapon are also integral to making an effective shooter. Dry firing will not hurt any center fired weapon. So long as they are clean and properly lubricated. However, never dry fire a compound bow. That's bad. But dry fire is a great way to know your weapon. Good video gents. Carry on. OOH RAH!!!
My CZ P-01 had the roll pin that retains the firing pin break after many thousands of dry fires. I have no idea how many dry fires it was, but I imagine a lot more than most people ever do. Thankfully it was a $5 part replacement, and it gave me an excuse to put in the Short reset/ trigger spring kit from Cajun Gun Works. Zero issues since then, and I still love my P-01! Best pistol I’ve ever shot
Charter arms revolvers can't tolerate it. I got in the habit of dry firing my Glocks and one day tried my little .38. It took only 3 trigger pulls to break the transfer bar right off onto the floor.
I smoothed out the trigger pull on a Smith & Wesson 629 by adding some oil and dry firing repeatedly. This method was recommended to me by a gunsmith. He was right.
Love to see Caleb's m51. Took a while to restore mine, but w n at an oddball little gem. As for the great dry-fire debate, it will never be settled because some people (on both sides) always know "better".
I have a Springfield Armory Mil-Spec 1911 in .45 that I dry fire three or four times a week and have for years without any damage. It is an identical gun to my carry gun that is a 42 year old Colt Mk IV Government in .45. Both have the spur hammer, standard grip safety, 5” barrel but the SA is Stainless vs the blued Colt. Part of my dry fire drills include drawing from concealment so I don’t want excessive wear to the blued finish or to put a lot of mechanical wear on the Colt. I do regularly shoot both guns at the range so they both shoot the same for me. Good video. Thanks.
I’ve got .22 snap caps. I believe I got them from Hornady years ago. I’ve got a Winchester 94 in .25-35 that was made in 1912. When I was a teenager a friend of mine dry fired it a few times and broke the firing pin. I got to admit I’d dry fired it a few times too but it never broke on me. Luckily a modern firing pin (1974) fit.
I had the hammer nose break on my 4” model 66 while dry firing back in 1982. Easy fix. It didn’t stop me from continuing to dry fire and it’s never happened since. I’ve never seen any other S&W center fire revolvers break a hammer nose for any reason.
I had a Ruger 77/22 that I never dry fired, but would decock it by holding the trigger back while slowly closing the bolt, and still it raised a burr on the edge of the chamber mouth.
I have a Taurus Judge that I bought for shooting.45. I was surprised by its accuracy. The manual says no dry firing. I keep that pistol in my desk drawer in my office. I have dry fired it thousands of times. Still shoots great on the range.
I use snap caps exclusively when dry-firing during function tests and practice, and in the case of rim-fire firearms, either a snap cap or dry-wall anchor works just fine, thank you. In some pistols, excessive dry-firing without a snap cap can damage a firing pin stop (CZ and Springfield Armory XDs come to mind).
Most guns will be 'damaged' each and every time it is dry fired.. what stop the firing pin from flying down the barrel? where those hard parts meet peening will happen eventually, or outright breakage.
Years ago a friend of mine owned a cheap 25 auto and he would watch cop shows and dry fire it shooting the bad guys on tv. After several months of being cooped up in the winter months and having some health issues, he went out on his farm to shoot it. He loaded it up and fired it, and the magazine emptied with one pull of the trigger. He now had a full auto 25 auto. I'm not sure what happened, but I think maybe all of the dry firing may have peened the bolt face forward enough to cause this. He no longer has the gun.
Guys, thanks for clarifying something that many of us try to do (dry fire) with center fire guns, generally with a snap cap, but also do without with newer firearms. Don't generally do with rimfires without snap caps, though guilty a few times... Caleb, been voting for ya in the Gundies!
Man! You outed my secret snap caps!!! On some revolvers the cylinder won't turn because of the flange thickness of the plastic anchor. Just sit there with a file for about 10 minutes and you can thin down about 20 of them. Also, Alan Rickman was the bad guy in another of my favorite movies, Quigley Down Under. He played baddies to the hilt---great actor!
I'm glad henry says its ok to dry fire their rimfires. I don't dry fire for practice with my lever action .22, but it's nearly impossible to not dry fire it because there's no way to tell when you are out of rounds unless you count each shot, or watch the action to make sure a new round loads into the chamber each time. But doing those things is really no fun when you are trying to have fun plinking, so I almost always dry fire it at least once every time I shoot a tube through it.
I've dryfired a Beretta 92 until the tip of the firing pin snapped off. I think there was some issue with the heat treat on those parts because the trigger bar also was wearing extremely quickly and the trigger pull became inconsistent during that dryfiring. Sent it to Beretta, got it back in a month and the gun has been fine ever since, dryfiring it thousands of times.
The Beretta Tomcat is the only centerfire I’ve owned that was damaged by dry fire. The tip of the firing pin popped right off at some point and there I was at the range with the pistol a few weeks later (having carried it during the interim) and no bang.
Same with mine, to me it looked like the firing pin is machined with a stress riser. Thank goodness I didn't carry mine but it was an awkward range trip until I figured out what the heck happened... Fortunately it was easy to find new firing pins, although I also had to buy a new set of punches to get one small enough to do the install.
The Beretta Pico had the same problem initially, though Beretta supposedly fixed the problem in later versions. Berettas are great guns, but springs and firing pins seem to be a recurring issue.
I dry fire my grandfather's old Mossberg 151 (made in the early 1950's) all the time. Never had any issues with it. It was passed down to my father and now to me. All of its life it has been dry fired with no visible marks on the chamber face. If you look at the firing pin, there is a chisel point that strikes the cartridge but there is also a square flat section that would strike the chamber face if no cartridge is present. This prevents it from destroying the chisel tip or the chamber face. I am not sure if the newer 151's have changed but mine is about 70 years old with no issues.
I have an original Colt Mustang Plus II from about 1983 that ended up with a bent firing pin from dry firing. By the time this had happened, parts were unavailable and I had to have a new firing pin custom made. She works fine now but I won't dry fire again without snap caps. Being a retired Air Force weapons instructor, I'm used to dry firing and have no issues doing so with all kinds of guns, but I don't dry fire any rim fires regardless what the manual says.
Just thought I'd add that many owners of Ruger LC9/LC380 believe that excessive dry fire without a snap cap, may cause damage to the firing pin retainer and firing pin. On inspection, my firing pin retainer was pretty bent, which allows excessive travel of the firing pin. Ruger made some unusual design choices with this gun. I started dry firing the LC380/LC9 only with a snap cap. And I started doing that with other guns too even though I probably don't have to.
I had my ruger ec9 firing pin break from dry firing with a barrel block. I thought it would be safe since it was like a snap cap but apparently not. I have seen quite a few lc9/ec9 have the same issues with strikers
Some Over/Under and Side by Side Shotguns can have their Firing Pins damaged by Dry Fire. Had that happen on an old Fox Model B SxS. Cz75B and other Cz Pistols with the Roll Pin Firing Pin Retainer can damage that Roll Pin with Dry Fire. Placing an O-Ring over the Firing Pin will allow for Dry Fire Practice. Some older Rossi and Taurus Revolvers with the Hammer mounted Firing Pin can break or damage the Firing Pin with dry Fire.
I have a Ruger Single Six stainless .22/.22 mag convertible I bought in 1978. I dry-fired it some, but stopped because the firing pin dented the chambers where the cartridge rim would fit. I am not sure how hard those older stainless are compared to the blued models, but it obviously wasn't designed to be dry-fired. Because of that, I stopped dry-firing rimfires afterward. Oddly enough, I have a Savage 24D in .22 mag/20 gauge bought for me in 1967 or 68 that I dry-fired (.22 mag bbl) for a while and there was/is no damage to the chamber.
I have an old spanish side by side 12 GA that I broke almost as soon as I got it by dry firing it without snap caps. The internal hammers both broke and I used a dremel and an old lawnmower blade to make new ones. It was either that or hang it on the wall so I figured there wasn't much to lose. That gun never gets snapped any more without at least a snap cap or a spent shell. The rest of my guns that I compete in CAS with are modern Italian manufacture and I dryfire the heck out of them without damage except I have worn out some main springs but no damage from the hammer/firing pin. Cheers. Pop
I purchased an Iver Johnson Trailsman 66 project gun. Timing & lockup is off as well as cylinder damage from dry firing. The chambers are slightly mushroomed, the firing pin is on the hammer.
Definitely dammaged a few old 22's but never any others iv ever dry fired. One thing u forgot is: it's highly discouraged to dry fire a percussion gun.. most of the time u can replace the nipple, but why risk damming it or the hammer or striker on it.
The firing pin of a Llama .380 ACP (the one that looks like a shrunken 1911, complete with grip safety, swinging link and locking lugs on the barrel) broke while dry firing without a snap cap. Suggests that 1960s Spanish metallurgy might not actually be up to the potential otherwise implied by the locked-breech design.
I dented the chamber on my old S&W 22a really badly. It also broke the firing pin. I barely dry fired it at all and it still caused a massive amount of damage. I have owned dozens of other centerfire and rimfire guns that I dry fire all the time with zero issues. I hated that 22a so much!
Good info, but please, stop covering the muzzle with your hand when the slide is in battery. Proof at 3:15 with the Gucci gun, and so on...left hand starting low near the frame rail then sweeping in front of the muzzle and over the front sight to lock the action open. Then again, with the next gun.
You shouldn’t dry fire a Beretta TomCat either. I have replaced broken firing pins because of such behavior. PS: as mentioned, people shoot holes in their walls all the time from dry firing. My father said to never pull a trigger in the house. That probably saved a few holes in our house. I use A-Zoom snap caps for everything. Thanks for the video.
I've gotten into so many debates on this. But ppl just love retaining the first thing they heard. This video is good. Generally speaking.. if the firing pin is hitting air when dry fired. It's fine. Then some ppl claim the hammer hitting the firing pin while dry firing will break it, but magically the hammer hitting it when fired with a bullet in the chamber won't.
I have a Ruger 22-45 I got from my grandpa that has a notch out of the breach from him dry firing. I should mention he only dry fired it to disassemble it and it broke two firing pins. Ruger sent him two firing pins Wich one he put in but the gun won't function because the case expands and won't eject now. I must also say that Ruger's customer service hasn't been great through this process. My grandpa passed away about ten years ago but I have letters back and forth between them and they wouldn't take responsibility for the faulty firearm.
I have a SP2022 and a P229 Legion, both Sigs. I have had to replace the firing pin positioning pin on the SP2022 about 6 times since buying it in 2013. I’ve had the P229 since 2020. It has less than 400 live rounds through it and I’ve had to replace the firing pin positioning pin in it once. I use snap caps and or a laser bullet whenever I dry fire. With availability and pricing I don’t shoot live fire as much as I used to. The firing pin positioning pin is a rolled pin and looks like the Apple Logo when it fails. To be safe I started replacing the pin on the SP2022 every six months to a year depending on the volume of dry fire after the first failure. Now that the P229 has the same problem and the same rolled pin type I’ll replace the pin in it at the same frequency. When that pin fails the firing pin will slide beneath the “bite” on the pin and get lodged in the channel to where its unseen or will protrude out the breech face and be stuck there. Needless to say these guns are not handling dry firing well. Needless to say I’m skeptical about the claim that dry firing doesn’t hurt a gun. Every trigger pull is going to put wear and tear on parts. Some parts are more durable than others. These rolled pins are the weakest link for the guns I have.
I was at camp Pendleton in 2002 and I dry fired my M 16 100s if not 1000s of times at the snap in barrels. That's what the PMI coaches instructed us to do.
Ruger MK1 pistols must be dry fired to disassemble. My father told me that during WWII he had a rifle in .35 Remington that would break the firing pin if it was dry fired. Therefore each model is different.
20 years special operations in the military, 8 combat tours, multiple weapon systems--- I dry fired away, this is exactly what I would expect civilians to overcomplicate
I had a mossberg .22 just like the one in the video. It was one of the first guns I ever owned. Lost it in hurricane katrina. I really loved that old rifle.
I try to be careful with what I dry fire. I use snap caps when I can. I broke the firing pin in my older marlin 336 30-30 years ago because I thought it was safe to dry fire. Being center-fire and all. Now i am really carefuo with rimfires especially and older center-fire guns.
Not the LC9.... but (from personal experience), Ruger is fantastic about fixing the gun for a very fair cost! ...even when you have a used gun and the firing pin flies out the back of the pistol dry firing........just expect the magazine disconnect to be replaced when it's returned....
I dry fire a couple times after cleaning for the function tests, but if I'm working the trigger repeatedly, snap caps. Why not? A-Zoom makes snap caps that don't eject on each racking which makes it even better.
The Ithaca single shot .22lr lever action I learned to shoot on was damaged by dry firing. Ironically, the firing pin is fine, but the chamber mouth was peened to the point that you need a knife to extract spent cases. Still good for plinking, but it is "slow fire only."
Browning Buckmark. When I first got mine, I was putting a spent brass into the chamber when not in use because I didn't want to leave it cocked. Then I took it into a gun shop, and the guy there racked the slide to clear. Standard procedure. The spent brass ejected, and he was briefly outraged because he thought I'd handed him a pistol with a live round in the chamber. Thereafter I just left the chamber empty. Very soon the chamber developed a little ding where the firing pin was hitting it. Effects? None whatsoever. Yes, the breach end of the barrel has a ding, but it works perfectly.
My Walther SSP .22lr pistol came with a combined safety flag/snap cap that doesn't get extracted when you open the slide. It's perfect for dry fire training and storage, it's made of soft plastic. If you can't get one, try holding back the slide just a little bit with your left hand and then dry fire. Your hand holding the slide plus the little bit of distance will dampen the force of the firing pin hitting on metal. Don't know if this works on all guns, but it worked on all .22 lr pistols that I tried it with.
I have a No. 1 SMLE that I believe has been damaged by dry firing. The striker will impact inner contours on the bolt if dry fired. Mine has peened out an impacted interior bolt surface that will now cause the bolt to lift if dry fired, but not lift if fired on a cartridge with primer. I consider it safe as opening a bolt on an empty chamber is harmless, but it is disconcerting.
Ruger LC9S manual doesn’t recommend dry firing without a dummy round in the chamber. My girlfriends dad did that and we went to the range. It wouldn’t shoot. It had broken the firing pin they sent out another one and I put it in for him beretta has a warning not to dry fire without a snap cap in place also. I didn’t believe that until his gun didn’t go bang when you pulled the trigger.
I dry fired my first Glock 19 over 50,000 times. I wore out the take down lever springs and the slide would sometimes fly off. I was tap racking the slide hard. I would recommend only running the slide enough to reset the trigger, and make sure to replace your takedown springs periodically. This goes for all your springs. Point is, you can put high mileage on some parts quick if you’re dry firing everyday.
Paul Howe(of Black Hawk Down fame) hace a talk at an NRA event in Ft Worth a couple of years ago. He mentioned dry firing and I stated I had heard that dry firing was bad for the firing pin. His response was "Would you trust the reliability of a gun that you couldn't dry fire?".
Personally I use snap caps for not only "Dry firing", regardless whether the manual says yes or no, but for saftey as well. I put a cap in each gun then fire it then insert the magazine and put it in the safe...
Rugers that have a magazine disconnect explicitly tell you not to dry fire without having a magazine inserted, as this "safety" feature will let the trigger drop, but not let the firing pin travel all the way forward when not depressed by the top of a mag damaging the pin with enough repetition. The magazine disconnect can be removed to allow safe dry firing without damage. This is true for the SR9 anyway.
There are some centerfire guns with certain conditions for dry fire as well. For example: "CAUTION: Dry firing your RUGER® SR-SERIES with the magazine removed may result in damage or unnecessary wear to the magazine disconnect mechanism and/or striker." RTFM
I have taken a spent cartridge, removed the primer and stuck a pencil eraser in the hole and use it to dry fire. This will work for a little while. Be sure the cartridge is fired before trying to remove primer as "safety first" is always the rule.
Ruger sr9c firing pin step broke off after a couple thousand dry fires. Sent it back to Ruger for free a it came back like a brand new gun. A little frustrating because I had to wear in the trigger and slide stop all over again. Great customer service though.
You would think that for all of the times I’ve heard people say not to dry fire a gun that my old Menck chamber iron wouldn’t see any use, but it does, lots.
I've only ever damaged one gun by dry firing, and that's the Vz.52 pistol. Only dry fired it once and out came the tip of the firing pin. Thankfully, I had an upgraded one as spare that I was able to swap in, but still. Don't dry fire the Vz.52 lol.
I have a Ruger EC9s that I broke the firing pin on. Brand spanking new, no rounds through it, dry fired it some 300-odd times. I went to the range, put one round through it, and the firing pin broke off of the striker. They sent me a new one, but I was pretty livid. I don't dry fire that anymore.
Alan Rickman was an excellent actor, but the next time you watch Die Hard look at the expression on his face as he falls from the building. It is a genuine look of surprise because the director initiated the fall without warning Alan ahead of time.
Top tip: Rather than a snap cap, I just wedge a foam earplug in the rear of the slide, between the firing pin and hammer face, on hammer-fired autos like 1911, H&K, Walter, Tokarev, Auto Mag, Star etc. I can pull the trigger and drop the hammer a million times and it will never touch the firing pin. Some guns can take dry firing, others (notably the Star) cannot. But why subject a gun to unnecessary abuse when you don’t have to?
Never dry fire a center fire revolver with a hammer mounted firing pin. I have never had a problem dry firing a revolver with frame mounted firing pin. Concentric travel vs linear travel.
One time in Iraq, an Iraqi was driving a truck onto base for a delivery. He had to be disarmed prior to entry. His gun was a cheap old revolver, with the firing pin integral to the hammer and likely made of pot metal. Anyway, the gun was secured and unloaded, to be returned to him when he left the base. Dumb private had to go and dry fire the dang thing, which caused the firing pin to snap off of the hammer. That was a real pain in the butt.
I bought a Model 60 new in 1986 - I think. Can't uqite remember, but I still have it. It has seen at least five thousand rounds fired in rapid succession in defense practice. I dry fired it plenty as well. Eventually, while at the range, the hammer nose shattered and impacted into the hole. I took it to my smith, who replaced it, and it's good as new. So, whether dry firing or just thousands of shocks finally broke it doesn't matter, and who can say. Whata I am certain of is that I am a pretty good operator of the Smith &Wesson Model 60 as a result of dry firiong to develop muscle meory and actual rapid fire double action practice. Plinking isn't training. Serious drill does cause wear and tear. It's natural.
Similarly centerfire firing pins/strikers are designed to impact a relatively soft primer. Constantly bashing the firing pin into a retaining pin or part of the bolt can cause a premature failure in one of these parts.
I think it's important to dry fire but I want to put on the record I broke the firing pin in my Glock 19x by dry firing. I hadn't even had it to the range yet I fired a single round in my backyard (allegedly) to make sure it functioned then carried it for 6 months. I do dry fire practice for at least 10 minutes every single day. One day I noticed my trigger pulls and the impact of the striker just felt off. Didn't think anything of it, then last July 4th I went to fire a couple rounds into the dirt and nothing. Tap-racked and rechambered a round, annnnd nothing. Did that another time, thinking I had bad ammo, and nothing again. That, was how I found out my firing pin didn't work. Couple weeks before I had a situation with a street rat that could've went south, VERY VERY VERY important to check your gear always. I almost had to learn the permanent way.
I won't dry-fire a gun unless I'm positive it's ok for that model, even then only with the permission of the owner if it's not mine. often the owner doesn't know so this avoids any looks of horrified surprise. I just went to re-supply with a variety of snap-caps. these don't last forever. some are dark red/brown. yeah, you can generally tell vs. live ammunition but I'm going for the standard dummy-blue color this time to be more obvious. thanks for the reminder! 😎
I bought a Chiappa M1-22 and it had a sear issue, and the firearm would constantly burst fire until it would sometimes not pick up a round. Of course when this happened, it would cause a dry fire. I sent the rifle to Chiappa to get repaired and one of the receptionist ripped me a new one for "dry firing" the rifle. I tried explaining to her that I wasn't dry firing the rifle, the rifle was dry firing itself after the end of a burst fire because of their poor machine work on the hammer sear. She refused to understand what I was trying to tell her and just kept telling me that I can't be dry firing the rifle. There was chamber damage because the firing pin is long and was peening over the edge of the chamber. Once again... Not my fault. I wasn't intentionally dry firing the rifle, it's just what would happen at the end of a period of burst fire caused by their shotty work. She simply refused to except my explanation and just kept telling at me about not dry firing the rifle...lol 😂
35+ years ago, I was a cadet in the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Academy. We were issued S&W Mod. 15 .38 revolvers, and the range staff told us to dry-fire practice the trigger squeeze as often as we could. After range sessions, I’d go home and clean the revolver and dry fire double action. I must have dry-fired that revolver tens of thousands of times, and the hammer nose was never damaged. That goes for all the other people in our class, and many other classes besides. I don’t remember any cadet ever experiencing any firing pin breakage due to dry fire practice. That same Model 15 still shoots great.
SW15 is a great gun. I like my 14-3 more…it’s a single action w case hardened competition trigger and it’s awesome.
I’m sure that was fine back then but I’ve got a couple old 70’s & 80’s Smith revolvers and I’m not dry firing them. Not taking a chance.
What if it’s a 22 caliber i drily fired it and now I’m worried because the firing pin was hitting in between the cylinder where the bullets go
I have a Model 19 from about the same period. Dry-fired it for months until the action was nice and smooth, and then the firing pin snapped off. It was an easy fix, though. I'd just hate for that to happen when I was actually firing the gun in a self-defense situation.
@@JozlynHensley-dw8cm.22’s are actually the one thing you really don’t want to risk dry firing because of rim fire. Rim fire 22s will take some serious damage from dry firing
Beware of dry firing! It may drastically improve your weapon handling along with aiming and firing capabilities!
XD
One of my "favorite" early experiences was showing someone a Spanish handgun I had and asking them not to dry fire it. I was lectured about how that is bull and he pulled the trigger anyway. An audible plink was heard across the room.
"Welp, that was my firing pin's tip. I guess you know where to order a replacement then?"
Fun fact: he never found one and we had to lathe up a copy.
I hate people like that; that is why I hestitate to let anyone handle my firearms.
Just out of curiosity, what handgun was it?
Ruger 22
Ouch
He recently revealed in a recent upload that it was a Spanish Astra 400 or 600 (I forgor)
Snap caps are useful to do function checks and practice loading/unloading, in addition to making dry firing 100% OK.
Thanks for the dry wall anchor tip! Another type of gun that should never be dry fired without a snap cap are older side by side double barrel shotguns. Many of the better ones even came with snap caps.
Good to know.. thank you. Those I hold deer.. although I don’t have as many as I’d like to…
Just dont forget to remove it. 🇺🇸👌
Ask any competition shooter- they'll tell you they pull the trigger in dry fire 5-10 times for every time they pull the trigger in live fire. Dry fire is the foundation of good gun handling, good transitions, and good visual discipline and patience. Live fire is for working grip and trigger control at speed.
I'm a competition shooter (currently not shooting) and no, I NEVER dry fire.
Snap caps if I have them or at the least a fresh fired case at the very least.
The firing pin has to hit something.. something it isn't designed to hit in normal operation with that kind of force.
The primer will "push back" somewhat when the pressure builds in the chamber and this will counteract the spring force.
The Smith & Wesson instruction sheet that was supplied with every revolver back in the 70s (the one that was a folded paper with a picture of the revolver on the front) included an instruction that the user should “practice dry-firing with empty revolver,” or words to that effect.
I think Ruger still does (certainly the last few Super-Blackhawks (one Bisley, one plow handle) I have say that).
Rickman also played the bad guy in Quigley Down Under. Nice guns in that movie, too.
Very nice guns in that movie.
For Cz B firing pin safety models it is highly recommended to use an oring to be placed at the hammer notch during dry fire to prevent possible damage to the firing pin roll pin.
Learned that the hard way...
Thanks for the tip, got my first handgun, a cz75b a couple of weeks ago
Does this apply to the SP-01?
@@InsanePacoTaco I'd say 'yes', the only hammer-fired CZ that might not need to worry is the Shadow 2 or others without a firing pin roll pin.
@@InsanePacoTaco if you see a hole where the rear cocking serrations are on the slide then that means the gun has a firing pin/drop safety therefore using an oring is a very good idea during dry fire
Die Hard is the best Christmas movie ever made!
I fixed a inexpensive German made .22 lr single-action for a friend, it had been dry-fired so much the chamber mouths were peened out to where a round couldn't load! Replaced the broken frame mounted firing pin with one from Numrich, and removed the chamber peening with a fine rat-tail file, got it back into service....
You removed metal instead of putting it back in place?
@@johnqpublic2718 That is the function of a file. How would you have gone about the repair?
Wouldn't that mess with headspace?
@matthewbeaver5026 Nope. The "dimple" was where the cheap steel cylinder chambers were struck by the frame-mounted firing pin, during "dry firing", driving metal over time into the bore of the Chamber. The rest of the rebated chamber fully supported the rim of the cartridge, and the new firing pin was still able to crush the rim, setting off the rimfire priming. I just carefully filed the "dimple" down to where a .22 could slide past it easily, and it worked fine. I strongly pointed out WHY it had gotten so battered to the owner, with instructions to NEVER DRY FIRE IT AGAIN, unless he religiously used snap-caps! Far as I know it's still working...
Was it a Rohm? My grandfather had one
Oh man...
I remember back in the days (the '80s) when I and my bro were kids.. We actually had an easy access to our dad's Colt Peacemaker .22. Yea. That western revolver was way cool. We dry fired it often. I can just wonder how back in the days we did not get ideas to point it at each other nor other living beings etc. We also knew where the ammo was stored (different location) - but somehow no ideas to load the sweet thing came to mind. We did get to shoot it live at times - accompanied with dad, of course.
But. From what gotten to know: yea, we temporarily ruined it by dry firing it. Dad got it easily fixed - but still.. Yea. If we back then woulda gotten a technical explanation of how and why (not to) - we coulda avoided it completely. Back then a thing as centerfire or rimfire did not get explained to two very young boys...
RIP Bengt Jordas (1954-2022).
During a Ruger Police Armorer school, the Ruger Technician encouraged each trainee to dry fire the then new GP-100. His recommendation was to use a moderate amount of forward pressure on the back of the hammer while pulling the trigger somewhat slowly. He advised that this helps to 'mate' the surfaces of the trigger and hammer. My almost 40 year old Stainless GP-100 is still a smooth working revolver.
When I was a kid, my first full size rifle was an old mossberg bolt action target rifle. I put thousands of rounds of .22LR thru that rifle. I also spent many hours practicing different shooting positions with dry fire practice. Eventually, the end of the firing pin broke off. My grandfather and I took it to a gunsmith to have it fixed. The rim of the chamber was also pretty deformed. The estimate must have been pretty high, because we left with a brand new 10/22 instead.
Rim fire cartridge vs cemter fire. You don't dry fire .22s
@@Sgt_Kilbornunless the manf tells you you can.
The winchester wildcat requires dry firing to field strip after shooting
Before it became a "no-no", I've dry fired my S&W Mod 19 about a "gazillion" times since the 70's without any ill effect whatsoever. I also used to flip the cylinder shut with a flick of the wrist (like in the movies) about a couple of "Bazillion" times and the cylinder and crane are still like the Rock of Gibraltar. That's one tough gun, Thank God!
I don't get to the range as much as I would like to, so I use the iTarget laser system at home. It uses a laser cartridge that functions as a snap cap. I have had catastrophic failures of my Ruger LCP II and Ruger LC380. The firing pin retainer spring of the LC380 broke during a session, and the firing pin and firing pin spring ejected through the hammer port across my thumb and fell to the floor. In another session, the LCP II's hammer broke and flipped out across my shoulder and fell to the floor. Ruger repaired both pistols free of charge, but told me to avoid "excessive" dry fire.
You told me I could dry-fire all I want... now my Mathew's bow is in shambles. Thanks a lot guys smdh.
😂
That's funny, thanks
😂😂😂
😆🤣😂
As a US Marine, the first week of marksmanship training was called "snapping in". This was sighting in with a condition 4 (completely cleared and unloaded) weapon. We dry fired these M16 A2 rifles thousands of tomes a day at a 55 gallon drum, painted white with the 3 different target variants. Able, dog and B- mod shapes. Dry fire allows for the marksman to know the cycle of the trigger group and to practice sight alignment, sight picture, trigger sqeeze and breath control in congruence with pulse and body position. These, for a basic Marine, are the keystone of building a great marksman. Every Marine is taught these principals of shooting. The tear down and reassembly of your weapon are also integral to making an effective shooter. Dry firing will not hurt any center fired weapon. So long as they are clean and properly lubricated. However, never dry fire a compound bow. That's bad. But dry fire is a great way to know your weapon. Good video gents. Carry on. OOH RAH!!!
Stars in 380 (S) and 9 (B Super) NEED SNAP CAPS,
from experience. They're also difficult to find and hard to replace. Hope this helps.
My CZ P-01 had the roll pin that retains the firing pin break after many thousands of dry fires. I have no idea how many dry fires it was, but I imagine a lot more than most people ever do. Thankfully it was a $5 part replacement, and it gave me an excuse to put in the Short reset/ trigger spring kit from Cajun Gun Works. Zero issues since then, and I still love my P-01! Best pistol I’ve ever shot
Yep don’t dry fire a CZ without a snap cap. My P10 came with a snap cap in the case so I never dry fire without it
Love the p01
As an owner of a cz p01 as well, isn’t it great being the owner of one of the best pistols ever made (if not the best)
Charter arms revolvers can't tolerate it. I got in the habit of dry firing my Glocks and one day tried my little .38. It took only 3 trigger pulls to break the transfer bar right off onto the floor.
I smoothed out the trigger pull on a Smith & Wesson 629 by adding some oil and dry firing repeatedly. This method was recommended to me by a gunsmith. He was right.
Love to see Caleb's m51. Took a while to restore mine, but w n at an oddball little gem. As for the great dry-fire debate, it will never be settled because some people (on both sides) always know "better".
More love for the m51. I have one, rather complicated to work on. It makes me appreciate the simplicity of a 10/22.
The firing pin has to hit something.. something it isn't designed to hit in normal operation with that kind of force.
I have a Springfield Armory Mil-Spec 1911 in .45 that I dry fire three or four times a week and have for years without any damage. It is an identical gun to my carry gun that is a 42 year old Colt Mk IV Government in .45. Both have the spur hammer, standard grip safety, 5” barrel but the SA is Stainless vs the blued Colt. Part of my dry fire drills include drawing from concealment so I don’t want excessive wear to the blued finish or to put a lot of mechanical wear on the Colt. I do regularly shoot both guns at the range so they both shoot the same for me. Good video. Thanks.
You guys have such an amazing but relaxed banter.
11:47
I own a Magnum Research 45-70 BFR. The manual says do NOT dry fire this gun. It will dislodge firing pin bushing
I’ve got .22 snap caps. I believe I got them from Hornady years ago. I’ve got a Winchester 94 in .25-35 that was made in 1912. When I was a teenager a friend of mine dry fired it a few times and broke the firing pin. I got to admit I’d dry fired it a few times too but it never broke on me. Luckily a modern firing pin (1974) fit.
I had the hammer nose break on my 4” model 66 while dry firing back in 1982. Easy fix. It didn’t stop me from continuing to dry fire and it’s never happened since. I’ve never seen any other S&W center fire revolvers break a hammer nose for any reason.
I just replaced the hammer nose in mine. It snapped right off at the range while firing live ammunition.
I had a Ruger 77/22 that I never dry fired, but would decock it by holding the trigger back while slowly closing the bolt, and still it raised a burr on the edge of the chamber mouth.
I have a Taurus Judge that I bought for shooting.45. I was surprised by its accuracy. The manual says no dry firing. I keep that pistol in my desk drawer in my office. I have dry fired it thousands of times. Still shoots great on the range.
Thanks guys! You cleared up a lifetime of confusion for me. Great vid!
I use snap caps exclusively when dry-firing during function tests and practice, and in the case of rim-fire firearms, either a snap cap or dry-wall anchor works just fine, thank you.
In some pistols, excessive dry-firing without a snap cap can damage a firing pin stop (CZ and Springfield Armory XDs come to mind).
Most guns will be 'damaged' each and every time it is dry fired.. what stop the firing pin from flying down the barrel? where those hard parts meet peening will happen eventually, or outright breakage.
Years ago a friend of mine owned a cheap 25 auto and he would watch cop shows and dry fire it shooting the bad guys on tv. After several months of being cooped up in the winter months and having some health issues, he went out on his farm to shoot it. He loaded it up and fired it, and the magazine emptied with one pull of the trigger. He now had a full auto 25 auto. I'm not sure what happened, but I think maybe all of the dry firing may have peened the bolt face forward enough to cause this. He no longer has the gun.
He no longer has the gun. *winks aggressively*
Guys, thanks for clarifying something that many of us try to do (dry fire) with center fire guns, generally with a snap cap, but also do without with newer firearms. Don't generally do with rimfires without snap caps, though guilty a few times... Caleb, been voting for ya in the Gundies!
Man! You outed my secret snap caps!!! On some revolvers the cylinder won't turn because of the flange thickness of the plastic anchor. Just sit there with a file for about 10 minutes and you can thin down about 20 of them. Also, Alan Rickman was the bad guy in another of my favorite movies, Quigley Down Under. He played baddies to the hilt---great actor!
To the hilt? You mean like Sheriff of Nottingham skewered by Costner in that holywood parody on Robin Hood? :)
He was the angel Gabriel in “Dogma”.
I'm glad henry says its ok to dry fire their rimfires. I don't dry fire for practice with my lever action .22, but it's nearly impossible to not dry fire it because there's no way to tell when you are out of rounds unless you count each shot, or watch the action to make sure a new round loads into the chamber each time. But doing those things is really no fun when you are trying to have fun plinking, so I almost always dry fire it at least once every time I shoot a tube through it.
I've dryfired a Beretta 92 until the tip of the firing pin snapped off. I think there was some issue with the heat treat on those parts because the trigger bar also was wearing extremely quickly and the trigger pull became inconsistent during that dryfiring. Sent it to Beretta, got it back in a month and the gun has been fine ever since, dryfiring it thousands of times.
The Beretta Tomcat is the only centerfire I’ve owned that was damaged by dry fire. The tip of the firing pin popped right off at some point and there I was at the range with the pistol a few weeks later (having carried it during the interim) and no bang.
Same with mine, to me it looked like the firing pin is machined with a stress riser. Thank goodness I didn't carry mine but it was an awkward range trip until I figured out what the heck happened... Fortunately it was easy to find new firing pins, although I also had to buy a new set of punches to get one small enough to do the install.
Beretta Manual specifically mentions Not to Dry-Fire. It also mentions not using certain ammo...
@@LionheartSails yeah, I never read the manual. Bought it used. I replaced the FP and sold it. Other micro-compacts in 9mm more effective.
The Beretta Pico had the same problem initially, though Beretta supposedly fixed the problem in later versions. Berettas are great guns, but springs and firing pins seem to be a recurring issue.
benadryl cumberbun @6:38 had me rolling
I was looking for this comment
I dry fire my grandfather's old Mossberg 151 (made in the early 1950's) all the time. Never had any issues with it. It was passed down to my father and now to me. All of its life it has been dry fired with no visible marks on the chamber face. If you look at the firing pin, there is a chisel point that strikes the cartridge but there is also a square flat section that would strike the chamber face if no cartridge is present. This prevents it from destroying the chisel tip or the chamber face. I am not sure if the newer 151's have changed but mine is about 70 years old with no issues.
Back many years ago the firing pin on my smith 15-22 chattered into several pieces from dry firing so much. I didn’t know any better back then
I have an original Colt Mustang Plus II from about 1983 that ended up with a bent firing pin from dry firing. By the time this had happened, parts were unavailable and I had to have a new firing pin custom made. She works fine now but I won't dry fire again without snap caps. Being a retired Air Force weapons instructor, I'm used to dry firing and have no issues doing so with all kinds of guns, but I don't dry fire any rim fires regardless what the manual says.
Just thought I'd add that many owners of Ruger LC9/LC380 believe that excessive dry fire without a snap cap, may cause damage to the firing pin retainer and firing pin. On inspection, my firing pin retainer was pretty bent, which allows excessive travel of the firing pin. Ruger made some unusual design choices with this gun. I started dry firing the LC380/LC9 only with a snap cap. And I started doing that with other guns too even though I probably don't have to.
I had my ruger ec9 firing pin break from dry firing with a barrel block. I thought it would be safe since it was like a snap cap but apparently not. I have seen quite a few lc9/ec9 have the same issues with strikers
Some Over/Under and Side by Side Shotguns can have their Firing Pins damaged by Dry Fire. Had that happen on an old Fox Model B SxS.
Cz75B and other Cz Pistols with the Roll Pin Firing Pin Retainer can damage that Roll Pin with Dry Fire. Placing an O-Ring over the Firing Pin
will allow for Dry Fire Practice. Some older Rossi and Taurus Revolvers with the Hammer mounted Firing Pin can break or damage the
Firing Pin with dry Fire.
Why does it hurt a hammer mounted firing pin on a centerfire firearm?
I have a Ruger Single Six stainless .22/.22 mag convertible I bought in 1978. I dry-fired it some, but stopped because the firing pin dented the chambers where the cartridge rim would fit. I am not sure how hard those older stainless are compared to the blued models, but it obviously wasn't designed to be dry-fired. Because of that, I stopped dry-firing rimfires afterward. Oddly enough, I have a Savage 24D in .22 mag/20 gauge bought for me in 1967 or 68 that I dry-fired (.22 mag bbl) for a while and there was/is no damage to the chamber.
I have an old spanish side by side 12 GA that I broke almost as soon as I got it by dry firing it without snap caps. The internal hammers both broke and I used a dremel and an old lawnmower blade to make new ones. It was either that or hang it on the wall so I figured there wasn't much to lose. That gun never gets snapped any more without at least a snap cap or a spent shell. The rest of my guns that I compete in CAS with are modern Italian manufacture and I dryfire the heck out of them without damage except I have worn out some main springs but no damage from the hammer/firing pin. Cheers. Pop
I purchased an Iver Johnson Trailsman 66 project gun. Timing & lockup is off as well as cylinder damage from dry firing. The chambers are slightly mushroomed, the firing pin is on the hammer.
Definitely dammaged a few old 22's but never any others iv ever dry fired. One thing u forgot is: it's highly discouraged to dry fire a percussion gun.. most of the time u can replace the nipple, but why risk damming it or the hammer or striker on it.
The firing pin of a Llama .380 ACP (the one that looks like a shrunken 1911, complete with grip safety, swinging link and locking lugs on the barrel) broke while dry firing without a snap cap. Suggests that 1960s Spanish metallurgy might not actually be up to the potential otherwise implied by the locked-breech design.
Star model b and BM are known for breaking too
I did it once to my .25 pistol. Doing it one time shouldn't hurt anything would it?
spanish guns shatter in your hads. noted
I dented the chamber on my old S&W 22a really badly. It also broke the firing pin. I barely dry fired it at all and it still caused a massive amount of damage. I have owned dozens of other centerfire and rimfire guns that I dry fire all the time with zero issues. I hated that 22a so much!
Good info, but please, stop covering the muzzle with your hand when the slide is in battery. Proof at 3:15 with the Gucci gun, and so on...left hand starting low near the frame rail then sweeping in front of the muzzle and over the front sight to lock the action open. Then again, with the next gun.
You shouldn’t dry fire a Beretta TomCat either. I have replaced broken firing pins because of such behavior.
PS: as mentioned, people shoot holes in their walls all the time from dry firing. My father said to never pull a trigger in the house. That probably saved a few holes in our house. I use A-Zoom snap caps for everything. Thanks for the video.
thank you for naming the gun we shouldnt buy if we actually want to train
Thanks for mentioning Henry! That’s the exact reason I came looking for videos like this!
I've gotten into so many debates on this. But ppl just love retaining the first thing they heard. This video is good. Generally speaking.. if the firing pin is hitting air when dry fired. It's fine. Then some ppl claim the hammer hitting the firing pin while dry firing will break it, but magically the hammer hitting it when fired with a bullet in the chamber won't.
I have a Ruger 22-45 I got from my grandpa that has a notch out of the breach from him dry firing. I should mention he only dry fired it to disassemble it and it broke two firing pins. Ruger sent him two firing pins Wich one he put in but the gun won't function because the case expands and won't eject now. I must also say that Ruger's customer service hasn't been great through this process. My grandpa passed away about ten years ago but I have letters back and forth between them and they wouldn't take responsibility for the faulty firearm.
I have a SP2022 and a P229 Legion, both Sigs. I have had to replace the firing pin positioning pin on the SP2022 about 6 times since buying it in 2013. I’ve had the P229 since 2020. It has less than 400 live rounds through it and I’ve had to replace the firing pin positioning pin in it once. I use snap caps and or a laser bullet whenever I dry fire. With availability and pricing I don’t shoot live fire as much as I used to. The firing pin positioning pin is a rolled pin and looks like the Apple Logo when it fails. To be safe I started replacing the pin on the SP2022 every six months to a year depending on the volume of dry fire after the first failure. Now that the P229 has the same problem and the same rolled pin type I’ll replace the pin in it at the same frequency. When that pin fails the firing pin will slide beneath the “bite” on the pin and get lodged in the channel to where its unseen or will protrude out the breech face and be stuck there. Needless to say these guns are not handling dry firing well. Needless to say I’m skeptical about the claim that dry firing doesn’t hurt a gun. Every trigger pull is going to put wear and tear on parts. Some parts are more durable than others. These rolled pins are the weakest link for the guns I have.
Love the 151 have one I picked up a few years back and redone the stock on it great 22 !!
Gotta love the Alan Rickman duel in, Quigley Down Under.
Suppose he shouldn’t dry fire his percussion cap revolver.
I was at camp Pendleton in 2002 and I dry fired my M 16 100s if not 1000s of times at the snap in barrels. That's what the PMI coaches instructed us to do.
Ruger MK1 pistols must be dry fired to disassemble. My father told me that during WWII he had a rifle in .35 Remington that would break the firing pin if it was dry fired.
Therefore each model is different.
20 years special operations in the military, 8 combat tours, multiple weapon systems--- I dry fired away, this is exactly what I would expect civilians to overcomplicate
I had a mossberg .22 just like the one in the video. It was one of the first guns I ever owned. Lost it in hurricane katrina. I really loved that old rifle.
I try to be careful with what I dry fire. I use snap caps when I can. I broke the firing pin in my older marlin 336 30-30 years ago because I thought it was safe to dry fire. Being center-fire and all. Now i am really carefuo with rimfires especially and older center-fire guns.
Not the LC9.... but (from personal experience), Ruger is fantastic about fixing the gun for a very fair cost! ...even when you have a used gun and the firing pin flies out the back of the pistol dry firing........just expect the magazine disconnect to be replaced when it's returned....
I dry fire a couple times after cleaning for the function tests, but if I'm working the trigger repeatedly, snap caps. Why not?
A-Zoom makes snap caps that don't eject on each racking which makes it even better.
The Ithaca single shot .22lr lever action I learned to shoot on was damaged by dry firing. Ironically, the firing pin is fine, but the chamber mouth was peened to the point that you need a knife to extract spent cases. Still good for plinking, but it is "slow fire only."
Browning Buckmark. When I first got mine, I was putting a spent brass into the chamber when not in use because I didn't want to leave it cocked. Then I took it into a gun shop, and the guy there racked the slide to clear. Standard procedure. The spent brass ejected, and he was briefly outraged because he thought I'd handed him a pistol with a live round in the chamber. Thereafter I just left the chamber empty.
Very soon the chamber developed a little ding where the firing pin was hitting it. Effects? None whatsoever. Yes, the breach end of the barrel has a ding, but it works perfectly.
My Walther SSP .22lr pistol came with a combined safety flag/snap cap that doesn't get extracted when you open the slide. It's perfect for dry fire training and storage, it's made of soft plastic.
If you can't get one, try holding back the slide just a little bit with your left hand and then dry fire. Your hand holding the slide plus the little bit of distance will dampen the force of the firing pin hitting on metal. Don't know if this works on all guns, but it worked on all .22 lr pistols that I tried it with.
I have a No. 1 SMLE that I believe has been damaged by dry firing. The striker will impact inner contours on the bolt if dry fired. Mine has peened out an impacted interior bolt surface that will now cause the bolt to lift if dry fired, but not lift if fired on a cartridge with primer. I consider it safe as opening a bolt on an empty chamber is harmless, but it is disconcerting.
Ruger LC9S manual doesn’t recommend dry firing without a dummy round in the chamber. My girlfriends dad did that and we went to the range. It wouldn’t shoot. It had broken the firing pin they sent out another one and I put it in for him beretta has a warning not to dry fire without a snap cap in place also. I didn’t believe that until his gun didn’t go bang when you pulled the trigger.
7:05 - Nothing Lasts Forever is the name of the book that Die Hard is based on. Caleb definitely has Die Hard on the brain
I dry fired my first Glock 19 over 50,000 times. I wore out the take down lever springs and the slide would sometimes fly off. I was tap racking the slide hard.
I would recommend only running the slide enough to reset the trigger, and make sure to replace your takedown springs periodically. This goes for all your springs.
Point is, you can put high mileage on some parts quick if you’re dry firing everyday.
Paul Howe(of Black Hawk Down fame) hace a talk at an NRA event in Ft Worth a couple of years ago. He mentioned dry firing and I stated I had heard that dry firing was bad for the firing pin. His response was "Would you trust the reliability of a gun that you couldn't dry fire?".
Personally I use snap caps for not only "Dry firing", regardless whether the manual says yes or no, but for saftey as well. I put a cap in each gun then fire it then insert the magazine and put it in the safe...
Would be cool to see a pt2 to this in regards to dryfiring without a firing pin.
Rugers that have a magazine disconnect explicitly tell you not to dry fire without having a magazine inserted, as this "safety" feature will let the trigger drop, but not let the firing pin travel all the way forward when not depressed by the top of a mag damaging the pin with enough repetition. The magazine disconnect can be removed to allow safe dry firing without damage. This is true for the SR9 anyway.
There are some centerfire guns with certain conditions for dry fire as well. For example: "CAUTION: Dry firing your RUGER® SR-SERIES with the magazine removed may result in damage or unnecessary wear to the magazine disconnect mechanism and/or striker."
RTFM
thank you for naming the gun i shouldnt buy “warning. we made this gun kinda poopy. please baby it and never do hardcore training with it”
I have taken a spent cartridge, removed the primer and stuck a pencil eraser in the hole and use it to dry fire. This will work for a little while. Be sure the cartridge is fired before trying to remove primer as "safety first" is always the rule.
I had the firing pin on an older taurus model 85 snap at the taper from dry fire, mind you it came to me used and I had dry fired it quite a bit...
Ruger sr9c firing pin step broke off after a couple thousand dry fires. Sent it back to Ruger for free a it came back like a brand new gun. A little frustrating because I had to wear in the trigger and slide stop all over again. Great customer service though.
You would think that for all of the times I’ve heard people say not to dry fire a gun that my old Menck chamber iron wouldn’t see any use, but it does, lots.
I've only ever damaged one gun by dry firing, and that's the Vz.52 pistol. Only dry fired it once and out came the tip of the firing pin. Thankfully, I had an upgraded one as spare that I was able to swap in, but still. Don't dry fire the Vz.52 lol.
i wont BUY that pistol and save myself the trouble. me me want a clicky clicky
@@fluffypinkpandas Okay? It's not a practical pistol, considering it's a 70 year old design now. People that want a Vz. 52 are collectors.
@@sgthop oh then it will be in a display case anyway and never touched
I've broken a firing pin twice from dry firing. On a Llama 1911 and on a blowback operated 9mm AR15.
I agree with following manufacturers recommendations.
I have a Ruger EC9s that I broke the firing pin on. Brand spanking new, no rounds through it, dry fired it some 300-odd times. I went to the range, put one round through it, and the firing pin broke off of the striker. They sent me a new one, but I was pretty livid. I don't dry fire that anymore.
Alan Rickman was great in Galaxy Quest, too!
I do dry fire but I always use Snap Caps , rim fire is a must and I still use Snap Caps in center fires too !
I've heard that with some Mil-Surps you shouldn't dry fire due to poor quality steel in the firing pins, especially those that are free floated.
Back in the day we were taught to never dry fire and I still follow that rule. If you want practice drawing from concealment ect go to the range.
Indeed, nothing lasts forever. RIP Alan Rickman
Alan Rickman was an excellent actor, but the next time you watch Die Hard look at the expression on his face as he falls from the building. It is a genuine look of surprise because the director initiated the fall without warning Alan ahead of time.
Top tip: Rather than a snap cap, I just wedge a foam earplug in the rear of the slide, between the firing pin and hammer face, on hammer-fired autos like 1911, H&K, Walter, Tokarev, Auto Mag, Star etc. I can pull the trigger and drop the hammer a million times and it will never touch the firing pin. Some guns can take dry firing, others (notably the Star) cannot. But why subject a gun to unnecessary abuse when you don’t have to?
I love finding this a month late and getting movie trivia out of it.
I broke the firing pin on my Star BM. Thankfully I was able to pick up a replacement, and install it. I learned later it was caused by dry firing it.
Never dry fire a center fire revolver with a hammer mounted firing pin. I have never had a problem dry firing a revolver with frame mounted firing pin. Concentric travel vs linear travel.
this is one of the questions i have seen batted around more than most others over the years
One time in Iraq, an Iraqi was driving a truck onto base for a delivery. He had to be disarmed prior to entry. His gun was a cheap old revolver, with the firing pin integral to the hammer and likely made of pot metal. Anyway, the gun was secured and unloaded, to be returned to him when he left the base. Dumb private had to go and dry fire the dang thing, which caused the firing pin to snap off of the hammer. That was a real pain in the butt.
I bought a Model 60 new in 1986 - I think. Can't uqite remember, but I still have it. It has seen at least five thousand rounds fired in rapid succession in defense practice. I dry fired it plenty as well. Eventually, while at the range, the hammer nose shattered and impacted into the hole. I took it to my smith, who replaced it, and it's good as new.
So, whether dry firing or just thousands of shocks finally broke it doesn't matter, and who can say. Whata I am certain of is that I am a pretty good operator of the Smith &Wesson Model 60 as a result of dry firiong to develop muscle meory and actual rapid fire double action practice. Plinking isn't training. Serious drill does cause wear and tear. It's natural.
Similarly centerfire firing pins/strikers are designed to impact a relatively soft primer. Constantly bashing the firing pin into a retaining pin or part of the bolt can cause a premature failure in one of these parts.
YES, finally somebody who gets it :) also the soft primer will "push back" somewhat from the case pressure during firing.
I think it's important to dry fire but I want to put on the record I broke the firing pin in my Glock 19x by dry firing. I hadn't even had it to the range yet I fired a single round in my backyard (allegedly) to make sure it functioned then carried it for 6 months. I do dry fire practice for at least 10 minutes every single day. One day I noticed my trigger pulls and the impact of the striker just felt off. Didn't think anything of it, then last July 4th I went to fire a couple rounds into the dirt and nothing. Tap-racked and rechambered a round, annnnd nothing. Did that another time, thinking I had bad ammo, and nothing again. That, was how I found out my firing pin didn't work. Couple weeks before I had a situation with a street rat that could've went south, VERY VERY VERY important to check your gear always. I almost had to learn the permanent way.
The old guys face when he slammed that slide shut empty the first time hahahahaha
I won't dry-fire a gun unless I'm positive it's ok for that model, even then only with the permission of the owner if it's not mine. often the owner doesn't know so this avoids any looks of horrified surprise. I just went to re-supply with a variety of snap-caps. these don't last forever. some are dark red/brown. yeah, you can generally tell vs. live ammunition but I'm going for the standard dummy-blue color this time to be more obvious. thanks for the reminder! 😎
I bought a Chiappa M1-22 and it had a sear issue, and the firearm would constantly burst fire until it would sometimes not pick up a round. Of course when this happened, it would cause a dry fire. I sent the rifle to Chiappa to get repaired and one of the receptionist ripped me a new one for "dry firing" the rifle. I tried explaining to her that I wasn't dry firing the rifle, the rifle was dry firing itself after the end of a burst fire because of their poor machine work on the hammer sear. She refused to understand what I was trying to tell her and just kept telling me that I can't be dry firing the rifle. There was chamber damage because the firing pin is long and was peening over the edge of the chamber. Once again... Not my fault. I wasn't intentionally dry firing the rifle, it's just what would happen at the end of a period of burst fire caused by their shotty work. She simply refused to except my explanation and just kept telling at me about not dry firing the rifle...lol 😂