Last night I was dry firing my 17-6 in double action when the spur just snapped.It's the second time it happens and I bought the gun not even a year ago...anyone here with similar experiences? I admit I dry fire a lot(with used shells in the cylinder) but I think this shouldn't happen so often...

i have replaced several of the eary model 17 hammers for other people,i don't know if they were dry firing or not. even with fired shells in the chamber they will get battered down and then it is basicly metal hamming metal and fatigue sets in. cheap as 22 ammo is why dry fire just shoot live ammo. they same thing happens on s&w semi autos when you constantly drop the hammer with the safety. i always pull the safety down while lowering the hammer.

I guess I'll have to limit the dry firing time from now on.Which is a pity because it really improves one's marksmanship.Time for some MIM parts bashing now!

Do you guys think it's okay to dry fire .22s? I've always felt that it's not a good idea in S&W revolvers, but okay in Rugers.

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Aaron Terry

i don't dry fire anything except a 1911 when i am working on the trigger and very little of that. i would much rather shoot live ammo.

read any of the S&W owners 'manuals' and they all say it's ok to dry fire center fire guns but to never dry fire a .22.

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ASA/NSA 67-71
NRA Benefactor

So this was a MIM hammer? I'm no fan of MIM but I know this happens to forged hammers as well that are subject to heavy dry firing. If you dry fire enough you will certainly experience parts breakage.

I no longer dry fire my 617 but when I did I always used empty cases.

Ruger revolvers will also incur damage but in a different way. I did a tremendous amount of dry firing with a Redhawk and broke two hammer links and wore out a transfer bar. I no longer dry fire my Redhawk.

I also managed to break the pin that goes through the slide of a Sig 229 DAK via heavy dry firing. The pin broke into three pieces but the gun still functioned fine for thousands more dry fires and a bunch of live fire too. Then one day the firing pin got stuck in the forward position and wouldn't retract. I now dry fire that Sig with empty cases and I think I'll ask the department armorer to change the pin tomorrow at my qualification.

Dave Sinko

The 17-6, -7, and -8 have the old-school forged hammers. The only 17 with a new MIM hammer is the "Classic" model, the 17-9.

There is one say to safely dry fire any of the 22 revolvers is by using a fired cases and rotating the cases after each strike. For a 6 shooter this means popping the cases free after each full turn of the cylinder and rotating each one to expose an undimpled area on the rim. This is a bit of a PITA but it will protect the lockwork while dry firing.