Is it bad to dry fire the shield?

No problem dry firing any modern centerfire pistols. As a matter of fact, doing so will smooth out the working parts.

Really? So dry firing will not break firing pin? Cause when i come home and unload my pistol i usally break the trigger to take the tension off the firearm and was worried i was gonna break something.

No worries. Dry fire away.

Awsome thanks guys. Do you carry one in chamber? And if so so u use your safety? I actually do not carry one in the chamber and i put safety on. Im afraid of it going off and me getting in trouble. Any thoughts?

Not gonna do you much good if it's not ready to go JMHO.

Dry fire is a great was to practice sight alignment and trigger control.. If you still feel odd about this pick up some snap caps/dummy rounds. But dry fire DOES NOT hurt the weapon. It is my opinion that you MUST chamber a round for it to be an effective CCW. Picture a scenario when you need your weapon and cannot chamber a round basically now you have a paper weight. THere are to many internal safties in the M&P (or any mordern semi auto for that matter) for it to "go off" unless you physically press the trigger. Make sure you buy the right holster for the Shield there are a many great custom holster companies out there.
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1SG
Out

If you have to rack and then take the safety off there is a good chance you may not be alive to get your first shot off. You would be better off running away.IMHO.

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'THE HYPNOTIZED NEVER LIE"

I was taught to carry chambered. I don't have any safeties on my 9c and don't use the one on my Shield. I rely on top quality holsters and proper skills to prevent ND's.

A gun WON'T go off by itself something, or someone has to pull the trigger. Get professional training.

Dry firing is perfectly fine. It's a no no with rimfire, not center fired guns.

In the situation that you would need to use your firearm the less steps the better....seconds count, also racking the slide could give your position away. (if you were to have the advantage in a stuation were there are multiple innocent bystanders)

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Aim small miss small

I do dry fire drills all the time and its all good. Dry fire all you want.

so I will defer my reply

The firing pin is not fully "cocked" after the slide cycles. The only way that gun can fire is for the trigger to be pulled which finishes the cocking and then the firing pin is released. Get over your fear of the gun going off and keep a round in the pipe. Like others have mentioned, you may not have time to rack the slide or your off hand could become disabled and may not be able to rack the slide even if you have time.

Website says the only one not good for it is the .22 model. I dry fire mine to get used to that trigger before popping some targets. It helps prepare me for that "wall" everyone talks about.

Not so...
There ARE some brands that specifically say NOT to dry fire their centerfire pistol. For some, like Kel-Tecs, it's because the firing pin is held in place by a screw and when if it's allowed to go full stroke without hitting some sort of stopper (like a Live Round, or Snap-Cap), it can damage both the Firing Pin and the screw (if done repeatedly hundreds of times per session). On these, Dry-Fire practice should only be done with a Snap-cap in place.

There's no real reason that I've heard of for needing to take the tension off. At shooting some matches, part of ending the Stage is Dropping the mag, Showing Clear and dropping the hammer (again to demonstrate the pistol is empty?) before holstering.
You could leave the pistol cocked pretty much indefinitely and not harm it.

I also don't unload at the end of the day (or range session). My carry pistol stays loaded 24/7, with one in the chamber.

Carry ready or don't carry.

Carrying your weapon with the safety on and no round in the chamber is just begging for trouble. As long as a handgun is properly carried in a quality holster (one that holds the gun securely and covers the trigger), you are good-to-go.

You need to get over your irrational fear of negligent discharge. They are rarely caused by weapon failure. The vast majority of NDs occur when the shooter breaks one or more of the main gun rules.

When I EDC'd my Kahr CW45, it was with one in the chamber. Always. I currently carry a 1911 and it's cocked-and-locked, one in the pipe. Always.

IMO, you need to get some combat pistol training and practice carrying that gun with the safety on, one in the pipe. Learning to present the weapon and sweep off the safety while engaging the target has to become second nature if you are to use your pistol effectively.

Ruger also says it's Ok to dry fire. But I had a new LC380 only 4 months old and less than 400 rounds through it when the firing pin fell out on the floor when I cleared a misfire. Caused by dry firing? No way to tell for sure but now I don't trust the weapon anymore. Traded it for a shield. Why take the chance? Use snap caps.

It's OK and good practice to dry fire your Shield. Just be absolutely certain there is no ammo anywhere in sight, especially in the gun, while doing so, and do your dryfire while pointing at something that you wouldn't mind having a hole in!! In other words, BE CAREFUL!

Your gun was made expressly for the purpose of carrying a round in the chamber. The only way it will "go off" is if the trigger is pulled. When and if that happens is totally up to you and in your area of responsibility. If your gun goes off, it's not the gun's fault!

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So long ... Ken

I keep one hot in the tube and none of my guns have "safeties"....just like a revolver. In a hot situation, the less you have to think about, the quicker you can respond....which just may save your life or someone else's. Stuff goes down really quick....no time for racking slides or did I take the safety off. If the gun comes out, it comes out blazing.
The "safety" is my finger OFF the trigger, a good holster and that tiny little bit of gray matter between my ears.
As stated above, proper training is a must, if you're gonna carry properly. Range time will show you how much it takes to fire your weapon. It's not gonna go off by itself. The trigger has to be pulled.

Smith and Wesson says it's okay. I have snap caps anyway, as I've always used them for my DA/SA Sig. My snap caps could use replacement though but I'm still using them.

Dry practice is the key to quality shooting. I generally do 20 dry presses to every one live round. I have one gun with over 100,000 dry presses. I have others with close to that much. None have ever had an issue.


Good to know; never buy a Kel-Tec. I wouldn't own a center-fire gun that couldn't be used in dry practice.


Agreed. Springs will compress over time, but not significantly enough to cause a problem. Perfectly fine to leave it cocked.

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If you're not going to carry with one in the chamber, you might as well leave it at home. It's a useless paperweight.

I also don't put the safety on. Because I don't have a safety to begin with. I wouldn't want one with a safety on it. All extra things to have to deal with in a bad situation.

These guns were designed to be carried with one in the chamber. The bad guy is not going to wait for you to rack the slide then engage you. He is going to get it away from you and beat you with it before you can do that.


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I've bought twice from this guy, http://stores.ebay.com/snapcapemporium/. What I like about his product is that they have the weight of real ammo. The downside is that they look and feel like real ammo so you need to BE ABSOLUTELY SURE you know what you have in your hand/gun. I'm using his .380, 38S and 9mm. I've taken to striping them with a magic marker to make them more identifiable.

Having the weight of real rounds allows me to load a new gun and get used to its weight on my hip or in my pocket before I carry it. It also makes it "real" to practice loading them into a magazine, speedloader or cylinder.

The guy's prices are crazy cheap and he ships almost instantly. You'll be happy you tried them.

That's awesome, thanks for the reference.

I've used A-zooms on my 40, tried all polymer this time and they wore out quick. On the other hand, the A-zoom aluminum casings started to wear lol.

Could try a little spray paint on them to make them more discernable.

You're more than welcome!

I considered paint but didn't want to chance that paint flecks might collect in the magazine or gun. Whatever you do to identify them, you'll find it necessary to touch it up occasionally. I have to "re-magic marker" them once in a while.

I'm also looking forward to using a trick from Hickok45 which is blindly mixing them in with real rounds at the range. He pointed out this will help in understanding the difference between recoil and flinching on pulling the trigger.

Please let us all know how they work out for you.

I can understand why you would not want to carry with a round chambered. But, if you are doing that, it does not make any sense to me for you to also have the weapon's safety on. IMHO, given your conservatism (which is fine and your choice), carry chamber empty/ safety off, or, chamber loaded/safety on. Make sense? JMHO.

If this doesn't convince you to carry a round in the chamber, nothing will:

This is Why You Carry With A Round in the Chamber! | Active Self Protection - YouTube

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