Dry Fire?

[Fox]

I picked my new 15-22 today. Owner's manual on page 20 says "never dry-fire with the rifle dissassembled." So is it OK to dry fire with the rifle assembled?

 

[srgvaz]

DON'T DO IT!!

Buy some snap caps for that.

 

[HAWKEYE10]

"Never" Dry fire any 22 cal. gun. Don

 

[MouSe-05]

The only dry fire I recommend is for function check and to rack safe the weapon.

 

[Tram]

I wouldn't recommend it, but it always cracks me up how people freak out about this.. If dry firing was blowing guns up all over the place, there'd be no .22 guns left..

Try not to do it, but if you do a time or 10, your world will not come crashing down around your ears..

 

[BeginingOfTheEnd]

Never dry fire a rimfire. Ever.

 

[Scuds03]

Don't dry fire it. If you want to relieve the firing pin for storage pull the bolt back about half way, pull the trigger, then let the bolt go forward. That way you let the firing pin go without it smacking and possibly chinking the chamberwall.

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

I wouldn't recommend it, but it always cracks me up how people freak out about this.. If dry firing was blowing guns up all over the place, there'd be no .22 guns left..

Try not to do it, but if you do a time or 10, your world will not come crashing down around your ears..

My Ruger .22 manuals say it is fine to dry fire. My S&W 22S manual says to not dry fire cuz it is possible to damage the firing pin. It gets dry fired once at the end of every range session. Low estimate 300 times over the past decade or so. No striking issues whatsoever. No noticeable marks on pin or chamber.

Don't recommend dry firing or eating fast food...but...

Don't dry fire it. If you want to relieve the firing pin for storage pull the bolt back about half way, pull the trigger, then let the bolt go forward.

+1

 

[reelman]

While I'm sure it doesn't do a rifle any good I think a lot of people way over emphasize the dangers of dry firing. I do it with my guns all the time. Just last week I put a new trigger in my 15-22 and had to do quite a bit of work on the disconector and dry fired it probably around 200 timed in a coupld hours of work. After I did all this I checked the firing pin and the breech block and there were no issues.

 

[~tc~]

While the argument about dry firing a centerfire gun can be debated either way, with a rimfire, things are different as the firing pin WILL contact the chamber.

I am of the never dry fire a rimfire weapon camp. (Although, if it happens, I don't freak out about it)

 

[kilo6echo]

woopsy. I have been doing it once or twice after each cleaning session. Now issues so far. I guess I will stop now.

 

[chuck s]

.22LR designers figured out decades ago how to prevent the firing pin from striking the chamber wall. I see no evidence the M&P15's firing pin can reach that far (nor my Ruger MKIII) so dry fire won't hurt it.

Dry firing just the lower receiver will damage the magazine well section of the receiver after a while.

Recheck your owners manual. I see no cautions or warnings about dry firing this rifle in mine (but who reads these anyway!).

-- Chuck

 

[HalfSwiss]

Chuck, my manual explicitly says the following on page 13, "Caution: Never dry-fire the rifle as damage to the firearm could result."

​

 

[whoppo]

I avoid "dry fires" by submerging the rifle in the swimming pool (or bath tub) whenever I get the urge to drop the hammer without a chambered round... but that just me... I'm like that.

 

[chuck s]

You're right!

Very top of the page in small, black text. I was expecting a WARNING!

On p.13, though, it also states "Always be sure that all cylinders and actions of firearms are open...": I'm still looking for those cylinders.

-- Chuck

 

[HalfSwiss]

Go to a different forum on this site and you'll see plenty of cylinders. Real nice ones at that.

I interpretted that "Always be sure that all cylinders and actions of firearms are open...": to be a general firearm safety rule whereas the no dry fire applied specifically to THE 15-22 rifle.

Now the question is, is S&W just playing it safe or is there a real good reason not to dry fire the 15-22? When in doubt don't so I won't.

I was also told I could dry fire a Ruger Single 6 to my heart's content. Wrong!! Required a trip to the gunsmith to take the "pings" out of the edges of the chambers that were causing significant extraction problems. Bottom line, I just don't dry fire 22 rimfires. Others are welcome to do whatever they are comfortable with.

 

[Scuds03]

Clearly everyone is saying dry firing is definitely worse than not doing it, so simply don't...when ever you are itching to dry fire it, for whatever reason you want/need to, just pull the bolt back a quarter of an inch then pull the trigger. Do that and you get your dry firing fix without possibly hurting anything. Case closed lol.

 

[chuck s]

This rifle will fire a long distance out of battery! A spacer inserted where the extractor can't reach it will allow dry firing until your fingers can't retract the bolt again.

I sense a marketing opportunity here.

-- Chuck

 

[JSR III]

I don't dry fire any of my guns. In my "yute" I watched the firing pin of a Colt .32 ACP go flying down range while dry firing. Since then, I make it a practice not to dry fire.

Why take the chance? If you feel the need to drop the hammer, I always use either a snap cap or a fired case.

 

[Neezer]

You're right!

Very top of the page in small, black text. I was expecting a WARNING!

On p.13, though, it also states "Always be sure that all cylinders and actions of firearms are open...": I'm still looking for those cylinders.

-- Chuck

did you send it back to the factory for those new blue-colored cylinders?