Hi All,

I just bought one of these jewels today. This is my first post, so it is a pleasure to be here and please forgive my lack of any other formal introductions (yet). So I read in the manual not to dry fire the 15-22 (p.13 at the top), but now my question is how do I decock this sucker? The best case scenario I can imagine for this is that it works like a striker type mechanism where pulling the trigger "cocks" and fires during the pull but I don't see it being like that. The only other thing I can figure is that it will have to remain under spring tension until it is fired (which could be some loooong intervals). Please forgive my ignorance but any help with this would be much appreciated!

Thanks!
JK

I've always popped the rear pin on mine, swung the upper away from the lower and pulled the trigger while holding the hammer so I can let it down slowly. Then, I swing the upper back into position and pop the rear pin back into place.

Welcome to the forum JK. Your post was not stupid. You should never dry fire a 22 rim fire on any gun. Follow the previous post and you will be OK. Also watch all the videos at the top of the forum page. You can learn a lot. Don

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"Don't worry be happy"

(After you check that the rifle is empty) Just pull back on the charging handle a quarter inch or so and pull the trigger.

I put a piece of paper or a cotton bud in front of the closed bolt and pull the trigger.

For under 5 dollars you can buy a Chamber Flag from Midway USA.

What he said ^, just takes a couple of seconds

Just pull the trigger and dry fire it. Dry firing does not do the damage everyone thinks it does. Target shooters dry fire their guns tens of thousands of times wihtout any ill effects.

Yes and they also replace parts and barrels all the time too...

S&W states Twice in the owners manual NOT to dry fire.

Why would you want to decock it?

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VIVERE MILITARE EST

I pull the bolt open and lower it slowly while pulling the trigger, it doesn't even snap follows the bolt down ,easy on parts

maybe on a centerfire, i dont know of any of my friends that dry fire their rimfires, and i certainly dont.

Dry Firing a Rim Fire without something in the chamber to block the firing pin, is a sure-fire way to nick the chamber wall.

Hey thanks everyone for your replies. I have also sent an email to S&W customer service via their website to see what they have to say about it. I just can't help to think that it would be better to leave a spring in an decompressed state as opposed to leaving it compressed. Thanks again!

And once you nick the chamber wall you've started to decrease the inside diameter of the chamber mouth through the continued peening action of the firing pin hitting the mouth. I learned this the hard way, please don't you do the same.

OK, sorry to hear about your learning experience. I've always been very cautious with rimfires due to the nature of the firing mechanism because I was afraid of something like this!

AS for the instruction book I believe that every centerfire gun I ever had said not to shoot reloads in it either! I dry fire my guns WAY more than I run ammo through them and have never had an issue. The other question is why worry about de-cocking a 15-22 anyway? Maybe a fine rifle that will be stored for a couple years but on a AR even if the spring does weaken, which is doubtful, you can buy a new spring for a couple bucks.

Why spend 8 dollars on springs if you just decock it for storage? Just because springs are cheap, doesn't mean you should fatigue a set during long term storage, when you could have easily decocked the rifle.

I shoot mine frequently enough that I don't worry about it. But if it was going to be on the shelf for a year, I'd relax the hammer.

well considering the hammer spring is 30 times to much anyway i wouldnt worry about leaving it cocked

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07/SOT2
NRA Instructor

+1 on this. Springs don't weaken from being compressed. I have several semi-autos that I have owned for years. They have been stored between usages in a cocked position. Never a problem to date.

Regarding dry firing: It is commonly known that dry firing a rimfire can result in damage to the barrel face where the firing pin impacts it. Not so with a centerfire. Even then however it is best to use a snap cap when dry firing.

Not sure if this is correct but I've heard that a compressed spring can develop a "memory" and not have a complete range of travel after it has been left compressed for an extended period of time. I can't imagine it would be a significant difference, but i have heard of it. Keeping in mind that these tolerances should forgive this effect.

NEVER EVER DO THIS WITH ANY RIMFIRE WEAPON !!!

Hey for what it's worth, the S&W customer service rep emailed me back when I asked them; he said what a lot of you said, which is pull the bolt back a bit and then fire it.

Phil,

The key words are "as long as the firing pin stop is in place". I do decock Rugers (semi-auto's only) but don't dry fire practice with them. Also, as I found out from experience, the "firing pin stop" on a Ruger Single Six revolver is the edge of the chamber. Had to have a gun smith take care of that problem. Like you said, a good rule to follow in general is to not dry fire 22's.

From my experience, springs fatigue from cycling under fire, not from being left in a compressed state for long periods of time. Having said that, I generally prefer to relieve the compression because I don't like leaving guns in a cocked state - just seems to be safer.

T'ain't so.

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VIVERE MILITARE EST

Amazon.com: 22LR Plastic Safety Snap Caps/24: Sports & Outdoors

Just load a snap cap

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In case of emergency call 1911

Right, HalfSwiss. Not advocating dry fire. Though, I would guess that the 10-22 is dry fired more than most since it doesn't have a bolt hold open and is quite often dry fired after every 10rd mag.

Right ChattanoogaPhil, and I've never liked the fact that the 10-22 won't stay open after the last shot. Nothing like a dud on the 9th round and you still have a live round in the mag. I really appreciated the MK II auto pistol locking the bolt back after last shot.