Opinion on Dry Fire

What is your experience and expert opinion on dry firing? I have heard that all Smiths can be dry fired which would include my 686 and 442. Others say be safe and use snap caps. I'm confused, any experts out there? Also, how would this relate to Beretta's pistols. Can they be dry fired or should snap caps be used. I'm really hoping for an expert to guide me with. Thanks in advance for your answers!

The only guns I have NOT dry fired are ALL rim fires. Dry firing any rim fire will peen the edge of the cylinder. Opps, almost forgot about the one CF that I dry fired about 10-12 times and broke the firing pin nose. That was on a CZ-52. They are known to have problems with the firing pin breaking when dry fired.

Class III

Maybe not expert opinion, but I've always used snap caps and never had a problem. Regards, Chef

There are a few pistol designs that are notorious for breaking firing pins. One is the CZ-52 already mentioned. Another is the old Star A, B, BS, and BM series pistols. The firing pin is retained by a cross pin located under the rear sight, and dry firing routinely breaks the firing pin.

I've always been reluctant to dry fire any gun. Snap caps are cheap, and I'd rather be safe than sorry.

I'm with Misty on this.

I never use snap caps[S&W says don't dry fire .22's]I have only revolvers.

Don't take this the wrong way. There has been a bazillion threads on this here and every other forum on line. You will get the same opinions as should I get a Glock or a SA XD, Ford or Chevy.

It depends on your definition of dry fire. Some folks think they help "break in" a gun by dry firing a gun 500 -100 times while watching TV or something.That probably isn't good.

A few time times after cleaning or checking function isn't gonna hurt a centerfire. Rimfires you will eventually mess them up.

How are you going to "decock" a striker fire gun after cleaning and racking the slide? Stick a snap cap in it ever time? I dry fire my revolvers after a trigger job and cleaning them.

Sooo, just don't over do it and IMO you will be fine.

Click, Click, Click, Click

I own a Springfield XD-40 and practice dry firing every day. It is cheaper than going to the range for tactical practice. Most striker fired guns are safe to dry fire. Do not dry fire .22 revolvers. Use a Snap cap when dry firing those guns. I have dry fired most revolvers and never had a problem. But again, I only can attest to my experiences.
Nick

I used to think no big deal either way(except rim fire of course) and then I noticed this in "The S&W Revolver" by Kuhnhausen. On page 6 under Gunsmith's Safety Rules #12. DON'T dry fire any revolver without snap caps.

I use caps now.

Bob

Even if not needed snap caps are cheap insurance, and can be used with loading drills as well.
Just remember to unload then reload your revolver in a different room from where you will be dry-firing; please don't ask me how I learned this lesson

I have seen firing pin bushing back out to were the cylinder would bind with a cartridge in the chamber from dry firing.

I had a striker break in a sigma with less than 100 rounds through it. I dry fired more than that though.

I dry fire my cf guns, not my rf ones. I always have used snap-caps and have not had any broken FP's or any other problems.

bk43 said:

I used to think no big deal either way(except rim fire of course) and then I noticed this in "The S&W Revolver" by Kuhnhausen. On page 6 under Gunsmith's Safety Rules #12. DON'T dry fire any revolver without snap caps.

I use caps now.

Bob

Click to expand...

I've always used snap caps with any of my centerfire guns. I also recently had to purchase a new set of snap caps for my model 67, shot the rim off of one snap cap and found 2 more that were pretty close to failing in the same manner. Once you do something similar, you'll come to understand the value of a good snap cap, the urethane cushion in the primer pocket soaks up a lot of the shock that would be wearing on the gun.

As for 22 caliber rimfires, nobody makes a snap cap for these guns. What looks like snap caps are really intended for cycling checks in semi automatic actions, they are NOT intended to be used for dry firing. Don't believe it, read the packaging. The best thing to use with any 22 rimfire is a fired casing and these should be rotated after each strike.

I believe some guns must be exceptions to this rim fire rule. I think my Ruger 10/22 owner's manual states that dry fire is alright. The slide does not lock back on the final round so this will result in frequent dry firing among those who fail to count the number of rounds fired.

If I may ask, would using a shell casing going to be the same as a snap cap?

I see snap caps for sale and never bought any. From an engineering stand point, it would seem an old shell casing would be the same and a lot cheaper since we all have them.

And why would would a snap cap need replacing?

As an opinion that I have offered in the past, a gun, center fire or rim fired, has X amount of times it will go through the single or double action cycle. It does not matter if it is dry fired, dry fired with snap caps, empty shell casings or whatever, you are slowly but surely reducing the functioning life of the gun. To me dry firing a gun is kinda like a waste. I also believe a person is more likely to dry fire a gun that they are not planning on growing old with, or keeping as long as possible. I wouldn't want to buy a gun that had never been fired, but had been dry fired a few thousand times.
Every time you dry fire a gun, that is one less dependable cycle it can go through in its lifetime without being repaired.
This is an opinion based solely on the desire to prolong the life of my weapons.
Peace,
gordon

it may or may not be ok to dry fire hand guns...............BUT, i like all my S&W SS revolvers and good quality snap caps are cheap.....................so, i ALWAYS use snap caps.

oldman45 said:

If I may ask, would using a shell casing going to be the same as a snap cap?

I see snap caps for sale and never bought any. From an engineering stand point, it would seem an old shell casing would be the same and a lot cheaper since we all have them.

And why would would a snap cap need replacing?

Click to expand...

Snap caps for center fire handguns normally employ some type of rebounding mechanism in the primer pocket. With the Azoom snap cap it's a small plug of urethane which has properties similar to a hard rubber, however urethane is a much more durable material than rubber. Basically, a snap cap acts to cushion the firing pin strike in a manner to hitting a fresh primer.

Fired cases won't do this. Once that primer has been dimpled it won't do any cushioning at all. The only exception to this is with rimfire ammunition, because you can rotate the casing to an undimpled area to provide an effective cushion.

If you want an good demonstration of this, put some fired casings in a 22 revolver while insuring presentation of an undimpled area of the rim. The first time around the cylinder you'll hear a thud each time the hammer falls. On the second time around you'll hear the clang of the hammer driving the firing pin into the frame.

As for why snap caps need to be replaced, the firing pin hits that snap cap with a fair amount of force. Over time this will cause damage to the body of the snap cap. If it's a rim retended snap cap the rim will eventually fracture from the body of the snap cap. If it's a headspace positioned snap cap, the headspace rim will get peened to the point where the snap cap can jam in the chamber. Quite simply, they don't last forever.

As for why do dry fire practice, it's simple, dry firing improves trigger control. That is why every single professional shooter will state that they do lots and lots of dry fire practice. Jerry Miculek didn't atain his speed by shooting lots of ammo, he attained his speed with untold hours of doing nothing but pulling a trigger. Then he put in the hours needed in live fire to get his accuracy to the point where his accuracy matched his speed.

As for wear and tear due to dry fire practice, snap caps do act to reduce the wear on the firing pin mechanism and the components that retain the firing pin at it's forwardmost point. While there will be some wear to the moving parts, in most cases those are relatively inexpensive parts that can be replaced. In addition, most sear surfaces are hardened and can withstand many many thousands of cycles. In most cases many thousands more cycles that most of us are willing to subject our trigger finger to.

Finally, compared to the cost of the ammunition we will use in a lifetime of shooting, guns are dirt cheap. If using snap caps makes you a better shooter while at the same time saving 1000 dollars a year on ammo costs, it's basically a net gain of about 900-950 dollars. That adds up to about the cost of one new high quality gun per year.