Dry firing my Model 41

[72AV8R]

Dry Fire M 41

New to this forum. Recently purchased an early model 41 (circa 1967) to replace the one I sold about 50 years ago. That one was a 1963 vintage with the 7 3/8 barrel. I bought the gun new to shoot on a bullseye team at college and I think it came with a small version of a 50' target (about 3"X5") to "dry fire practice" at 10 or 15 feet. Does anyone remember seeing such a target included with the early guns, or has my memory failed me again?

 

[Tom S.]

Use a drywall anchor and dry fire the snot out of it.

I guess I'm lucky because of my 41's came without any snot in them. Wouldn't cleaning have the same effect? Or did you mean the wall anchors have snot in them?

 

[Barrie]

Usually there is nothing in the wall anchors at all except air. If there is something in them I for one would not use them at all.

 

[Leon Narozny]

Drake Owens.....if you want a false muzzle brake, e mail me....
[email protected]

 

[Rowlf]

Snot was a little easier to type than saying dry fire all the 5's, 6's, 7's, 8's and 9's out of the M41. Save the 10's and X's for live ammo.

 

[Alexei]

Dry Firing

I use the yellow plastic screw anchors that I bought at the Orange box, about 100 of them for 4 bucks. Seem to work well.

I have taken this excellent suggestion, and gone so far as to hand out a few each of the little yellow suckers to various friends. I feel like a missionary in the Congo. Good stuff. - nobody I knw has ever heard of it, and they appreciate it.

 

[TheoW]

Dry firing a 41

Remove the slide, push the firing pin forward and note if the pin goes beyond the face of the bolt. It should not! I did this with my 1967 41 and two other slide assemblys. None went beyond the bolt face. Next test....Insert a 1/4"wide paper strip (from a business card) in front of the bolt when the gun is cocked. Dry fire the gun! SURPRISE,not a mark on the paper. The only benefit of a plastic insert is to prevent the bolt from marking up the breech face. Enjoy your 41's.

 

[Latch2013]

we just bought a couple of new Model 41s a 5.5" and a 7" . Since Dry firing is the best way I know of to become familiar with your firearm and get in practice at home without buying ammo and going to the range. Here is what I plan to do.

I will remove the firing pins from both guns and just dry fire to our hearts content.
when I want to hear a Bang I will put the pins back in.

So what is wrong with this approach?

 

[824tsv]

Why not just use a drywall anchor?

 

[oysterer]

Take a 10x loupe and look at the upper chamber rim. If there is a peen, guess what, firing pin hit it. If not, lucky you. If you peen the chamber rim I guess that won't be good for a tight tolerance gun like the 41. I did accidentally dry fire my 41 and also my MK4 once (lesson learned, always check chamber). Neither got a peen. I have seen a few excellent rifles with deformed and peened chambers...NOT GOOD.

 

[smithra_66]

This rimfire thing about the firing pin contacting the chamber is an old wives tale.

Maybe some poorly fit guns would do that, but certainly not a S&W model 41.

I have a Sig Trailside which is a copy of the Hammerli X-esse, and the firing pin doesn't contact the chamber. The rim of a 22 rimfire is fairly thick and if the firing pin is so long that it actually makes contact with the chamber, it would tear up the rim of the cartridge way too much during firing.

it would also split a chamber plug on the rim eventually and your gun would break its firing pin quite often if it was set up that way. Check your chamber with a magnifying glass. I'll bet that yours doesn't contact the chamber.

Dry firing most rimfires is no different than most centerfires. Don't worry!

 

[Ranger41]

The used High Standard I picked up had been dry fired extensively. The entrance to the chamber was peened to the point a cartridge would not chamber. Easy fix, but I don't dry fire it. Can't speak to the S&W 41.

 

[OLDSTER]

I NEVER dry-fire any rimfire firearm for reasons posted here. Dry-firing to relieve pressure on the mainspring is not necessary.

 

[Latch2013]

Why not just use a drywall anchor?

I have done exactly that for years with all my 22 rimfires. It works great with rifles like the CZ and new T-bolts or with my GP100 revolver but with the semi autos that you have to rack the slide with you end up chasing drywall anchors all over the floor. So I was thinking why not just remove the firing pin which is a simple thing to do in most semi autos.

 

[gwpercle]

I have a 1970's production Model 41 , used it to shoot NRA Bullseye in a indoor shooting league for years .
I never dry fired it or "snapped" it to relieve tension on the spring .
More harm can occure from dry firing than leaving the spring under tension .
If I was worried about the spring I would buy some good snap caps , insert one , drop the hammer and leave it like that for storage .

It doesn't take much to slightly peen the rim ... then you have problems . I think so problems related to feeding and extraction may be caused by the peened rim and it may be so slight as to be unnoticeable at first glance .

I leave my Ruger MKI Target and MKII cocked for the same4 reason .

Gary

 

[murphydog]

This thread is coming on 5 years old but there is good information here.

I see the decocking issue for a model 41 or similar as analogous to the common question about leaving a semi-auto magazine loaded, in that it is more the repeated compression and relaxation of the spring that causes stress. So in the grand scheme of things (and putting thousands of rounds through a pistol) leaving it cocked probably affects matters very little.

 

[Latch2013]

Removing firing pin on a model 41 to dry fire.

I sent S/W an email about removing the firing pin for their input. here is what they said:
"We would not recommend removing the firing pin.
Thank You for choosing Smith & Wesson / Thompson Center products. Have a great day."

All I can add "With technical assistance like this why would anyone ever choose another Manufacturer?"

 

[Gamecock]

I sent S/W an email about removing the firing pin for their input. here is what they said:
"We would not recommend removing the firing pin.
Thank You for choosing Smith & Wesson / Thompson Center products. Have a great day."

All I can add "With technical assistance like this why would anyone ever choose another Manufacturer?"

If you won't take "No" for an answer, why did you ask?

 

[wproct]

I don't think removing the firing pin is something that I would want to routinely do for dry-firing practice. I would instead use the yellow plastic dry-wall anchors.

 

[dmar]

When I want to decock my Model 41, I just wait for a FTE and leave that way until the next time I shoot the gun... .