What is the best way to dry fire at home or is it not recommended? I have over 1k of the cci mini mags threw my DTUXXXX so far without a single problem.
Dry Firing
- Thread starter Bert42
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infamous209
Member
bad idea! if you have to just keep the hammer from hitting the front of the lower.
OP
I have used snap caps in a few of my other 22 rifles and handguns to work on trigger control.
crap.. i just looked in the manual, and there is a dry warning. kinda sucks since now this is the only gun i own that i can't dry fire. dry firing is excellent practice. and the fact that the only malfunction i get is a failure to lock the bolt back on a empty mag. which usually results in dry firing.
Brett248Vista
Member
I just put a chamber flag in the chamber and pull the trigger 
Brett248Vista
Member
Brett,
Nah just paint them pink and all will be well...
Nah just paint them pink and all will be well...
Maybe you'll like these more:
Pachmayr Snap Cap 22 Long Rifle Polymer Package of 24 - MidwayUSA
Those sweet, sweet Tipton snap caps I posted are for .22 short and long rifle but you can only dry fire LR, it can't feed and..probably have problems ejecting? Lame. Wish they would make a dedicated .22lr one.
Pachmayr Snap Cap 22 Long Rifle Polymer Package of 24 - MidwayUSA
Those sweet, sweet Tipton snap caps I posted are for .22 short and long rifle but you can only dry fire LR, it can't feed and..probably have problems ejecting? Lame. Wish they would make a dedicated .22lr one.
jonrobertd
Member
Why not save some fired brass for dry fire practice? Placing one in chamber might be difficult but it works. Or I think its #4 plastic drywall anchors that work well. Some report the anchors will feed from mags. Almost all reviews on the snap caps on other forums say they break fast, some on the first strike. I would be interested in a neoprene, semi-hard rubber, or silicone style one, now that I think about it I am gonna try a few things and post back later.
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Yeah but I wouldn't say that these caps are advertised for long term use but the "massagers" are said to last 5 hits each, I think? They're pretty cheap plus they usually come in a pack as well
tacticool22
US Veteran
If your firing pin doesn't hit the breech, why worry about it? There are people who dry fire a LOT and they are having no problems with their rifles. I don't dry fire as a matter of practice, but I don't worry about ruining or breaking anything when I do.
Emoto
Member
This is what I do with my .22 guns. I don't spend any time dry firing them, but when I want to, I just pop a spent case into the chamber.
william f
Member
Greetings all, I'm new to posting but for a couple of years now, I have been learning from the pros on this and other forums. Those that do not know about these forums are missing out. I bought my wife a S&W 317 because she is recoil shy. She likes it but the trigger pull is a little stout. As the closest range is about 40 miles away, we don't get to practice as often as we would like or I would have shot enough to break it in more. I used some old brass and aligned them to strike at a different place and cycled them a few times and then reloaded, relocating the strike area again. I was a little concerned about using the brass shells so I bought some Pachmayr snap caps to use. They fit fine but I was surprised to see they said they said they were only good for 10 shots. I loaded and pulled the trigger in a 10 shot cycle and then reloaded, relocating the round for a different strike area. Unfortunately, most didn’t make 10 shots. Several broke after 6 or 7 cycles and some the whole end came off with less than that. I went through a whole pack of 24 in less than an hour and that is not the results I was hoping for. I saw the Tipton brand and am wondering if they will have the same problem. I’m not anywhere close to being an expert on guns and am not even 100% certain why you can dry-fire a centerfire round but not a rimfire. If it is to keep the firing pin from going to far, would not a old shell do the job even after it has been stuck one time. The firing pin would not go any further than it did the original time. I see some think using old brass is not a problem but do I need to change the location of the strike after several cycles? I think the brass would take more punishment than the Pachmayr material as it could not stand the repeated strike on the same place. I suspect the plastic material tries to flex and the repeated strikes stresses the material and makes it brittle to a point of breaking.
wbear
Member
A used brass case works well but can cause a problem. Used them in my 10-22. One time the used case wouldn't extract with the bolt. I then used a cleaning rod to push out the case.
Just a warning that .22lr cases are not very robust.
Just a warning that .22lr cases are not very robust.
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scootle
Member
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Be very careful using spent brass...
I tried using a spent casing to do some dry fire with the 15-22 when I first got it and two problems arose... 1) the edge of the casing started to wear after a couple of cycles and the extractor could no longer grab the rim of the case to extract it. 2) since the case was taking a hammer hit repeatedly, if you hit the same spot over and over, it can wedge the casing into the chamber.
I had to do the same thing wbear did... pass a cleaning rod from the muzzle end (bad news) and down into the chamber to push the casing out.
If you just want to test out the trigger feel of the AR platform (no matter what flavor), the best way I've found is to disassemble the rifle and using just the lower, hold the palm of your hand on the hammer while you actuate the trigger group normally... you can learn the trigger feel and control the hammer so it doesn't swing forward and impact the edge of the lower. A lot faster to reset for the next shot too... and you can also test and see how the disconnector functions on semi-auto ARs in the process -- i.e. the standard M16/AR function checks.
If you are trying to do dry-fire rifle maneuver drills... well you still have to rack the bolt every shot anyhow, so how realistic is it to begin with?
