Dry fire and FP breaks

[EnjoyTheRide01]

Does dry fire actually lead to broken firing pins? I have a M2.0 that I use for USPSA, and like to get some practice around the house when I can't live fire.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

[915]

Does dry fire actually lead to broken firing pins? I have a M2.0 that I use for USPSA, and like to get some practice around the house when I can't live fire.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

Definitely! Although, it seems to be more common in Eastern European guns in my experience...I've had several CZs and a Czech built P.38 break firing pins over the years. I use snap caps in all my guns now if I need to dry fire for testing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gxceb0t]

Does dry fire actually lead to broken firing pins? I have a M2.0 that I use for USPSA, and like to get some practice around the house when I can't live fire.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

People say no. The pin in my shield broke after a few hundred dry fires. Who knows.

 

[bigwheelzip]

...I've had several CZs and a Czech built P.38 break firing pins over the years.

I picked up this technique on a CZ forum.

Place a small O-ring in between the slide shoulders on each side of the firing pin, so that the pin base is surrounded and isolated from the hammer.

The O-ring can be from faucet repair kits available in home improvement stores.

 

[RGVshooter]

I've been using my M&P 9 for the past 3 yrs for IDPA/USPSA, it has I'm guessing over 9k rounds fired thru it and thousands of dry fire around the house. (not including the countless times where you show clear, point downrange & pull trigger) But I've always used snap caps. S&W say's it's safe to dry fire pretty much all their pistols except the rim fires.

 

[Redcoat3340]

Snap caps. In all my pistols and revolvers. And I don't dry fire rimfires. Like one of the other fellows said, Euro guns, especially older ones are more susceptible to breaking fireing pins that modern US guns. But snap caps for everything. Always.

 

[NewToGuns17]

I'm 50/50 snap caps and no snap caps. It depends if I feel like emptying my magazine or just pulling the trigger a few times lol

 

[Walt Sherrill]

Firing pin breakage? The risk may vary by manufacturer (and individual gun designs.)

The breaks experienced with CZs are typically the firing pin retention roll pin (in the slide) rather than the firing pin, and the broken part can be replaced by a roll pin from a local hardware store. But the O-ring solution or a snap cap avoids possible damage.

I had a P-38, but never had a problem with it -- and I've not heard of that being a common problem with that specific gun. But a snap cap there also avoids problems.

 

[Rastoff]

No snap cap necessary. A quality aluminum snap cap, like an A-Zoom, won't hurt, but you don't need it.

I have 5 M&P handguns. Without exaggeration, I have done hundreds of thousands of dry presses. Most of them have been with an M&P 45. I also know several other people with the same experience. None have had a striker break.

This is not a CZ forum. There may be some quirk of that gun, I don't know, but it's not relevant to this discussion. But as long as another brand was mentioned, I have done many more dry presses on other brands and never had a striker or firing pin break.

If a striker or firing pin were to break within a couple hundred dry presses, it was defective and was going to break anyway.

So, go ahead and do dry practice. You won't damage your gun. In the unlikely event it were to break, S&W will fix it for free.

 

[Trailryder50]

That's good to hear, because I've been dry firing without my snap caps. Started to use them but I only have 6 that I can load up in a mag. After 6 dry fires I'm chasing them around the room and reloading the mag.

I've tried to get by with just using 1 and trying to cycle the slide just enough to reset without it ejecting or causing the cap to jam up, but that doesn't work so well.

Hmmm.....Maybe I'll try shaving down a cartridge rim so the ejector doesn't grab it.

 

[NewToGuns17]

I eject them onto my bed so I don't had fed to chase them. Pick a spot on the wall to end up at and good to go. But like I said, I don't always feel like unloading my magazine

 

[Smakmauz]

agreed. snap cap will only help things. that being said, I rarely use them. lazy I guess. I have tens of thousands of dry presses on my first M&P 9mm and never had any issues. only thing I've ever replaced was a striker spring and that was just because I thought I should.

 

[rwsmith]

Any firing pin can break....

....but S&Ws are designed not to break due to dry firing.

 

[Nicefish]

Smith & Wesson said it's fine and most of the research I've found regarding modern stiker fired pistols says it's fine. I've done it untold amounts of time on all of my striker guns in the 8 years. No snap caps, no problems. I suppose you couldn't do any harm if you wanted to use them, it didn't seem necessary to me.

 

[Walt Sherrill]

That's good to hear, because I've been dry firing without my snap caps. Started to use them but I only have 6 that I can load up in a mag. After 6 dry fires I'm chasing them around the room and reloading the mag.

For striker-fired guns, you don't have to fully rack the slide. You can generally push it back JUST far enough to reset the striker, let it go forward, and dry-fire away. With my S&W M&P Pro, I have to move the slide about 1/2" (maybe a bit less) to reset the striker. That means you only need 1 snap cap, and you don't have to chase any that are missing.

I'm thinking about buying a pack or two for my other guns and store them all with one in the chamber -- especially the .22s (handguns and rifles!)

 

[RobzGuns]

According to the S&W FAQ site: FAQs | Smith & Wesson

Q: Can I dry fire my Smith & Wesson?
A: Yes, except for the .22 caliber pistols which includes models 22A, 22S, 422, 2206, 2214, 2213 and 41.

.22 caliber revolvers such as models 17, 43, 63, 317 and 617 also should not be dry fired.

Q: Why can't I dry fire my .22 pistol or (.22) revolver?
A: Dry firing a S&W .22 pistol or revolver will cause damage to the firing pin.