Dry-Firing After Clearing

[RKM]

I always dry fire after clearing or storing. Though, most of my pistols are kept +1, so dry-fire is impossible :)

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[JOHNSMITH]

I don't think there is anything wrong with the way you are doing it. However, I personally do not dry fire if storing. I will dry fire after reassembling after cleaning a few times, just to make sure I didn't break anything ;). But other than that, I will store totally empty guns without dry firing. I just don't like dry firing if I can avoid it. Less chance of something happening.

[QKShooter]

A good valuable thread. Not much that I can add that has not already been thoughtfully covered.

I can add that SOME modern rimfire handguns and long guns can be safely dry-fired and that WILL almost always be stated in the manual.

One centerfire semi auto that should not be dry fired would be the KelTec P3AT as stated in the manual.

[gasmitty]

Well, you shouldn't do it with any rim-fired firearms as it WILL damage the firing pin

Just a suggestion from an engineer geek: I suggest changing the word "WILL" to "MAY." And actually, the chamber is at greater risk than the firing pin.

Most rimfire guns made in the US in the last 30-40 years are tolerant of dry firing. That's not an endorsement of the practice, but rather an acknowledgement that the gun designs have advanced over the years. Typically, there is a firing pin relief cut machined into the breech end of the barrel that allows the firing pin to fall without hitting anything, assuming the chamber is empty. Take a look at any Ruger rimfire and you'll have an idea of the design. (Any Ruger rimfire from Bill's first Standard Model may be dry fired with complete confidence that no damage will occur.)

Older guns without that relief cut will suffer peening on the edge of the chamber, which is bad news from an accuracy and feeding standpoint. My grandfather's otherwise pristine Winchester M1890 is damaged that way, and fixing dry fire damage on rimfire chambers is something most older gunsmiths are familiar with. The rimfire firing pins are typically less prone to failure due to their shape.

The only modern rimfires I own that I won't dry fire are S&W revolvers, M17 and M63... but all the rest are Rugers!

[rammerjammer]

limatunes method is kosher to me

[BugDude]

Unfortunately our handguns would not fit in our handgun safe that way. In the big safe, yes, and we do store them that way from time to time if they are going in the big safe but in the handgun safe we would have to lay them side-ways and pile them on top of each other to fit in at slide lock. And when you have lots of handguns.. well.. things get pretty piled up.

There are other applications such as fitting into a portable carry case from the range and back, going into a specific gun rug, etc, where they might not fit at slide lock.

I agree that slide-lock is a far better storing method as far as immediately confirming the firearm is unloaded but might not be the most practical in some instances.

One option would be chamber flags would be a physical check/barrier and bright visual indicator that would give you more storeage compactness allowing the slide to be 90% closed without having to pull the trigger. I don't see anything wrong with it, but over a given period of time the more times you pull the trigger there is conceptually more potential of an ND. That is certainly debatable, but statistically I can see how one could argue that point.

I personally keep my carry guns loaded and chambered in the safe, in their padded box. I treat them as if they are loaded at all times because they are. I do a press check to double check before carrying. I try to do everything to limit my handling, loading, unloading, etc. as possible. The gun comes out of the safe and directly into a proper retention holster. It doesn't come back out unless for use (defense or range) or to go back in its box in the safe. My rationale is the less I handle/manipulate the lower the odds. Does that make sense?

[Agave]

I don't dry-fire except for practice, demonstration for class, and disassembly.

[Blue Thunder]

What Agave said. All of my guns are loaded except when they are dry to go to the range that requires Unloaded and cased guns. At all other times they are loaded and safe as required by design. There are many that have trigger safeties and others that have manual safeties that live in my house with no children.

[devo6684]

I seldom dry fire my handguns. Like others have mentioned mine are always loaded and locked up when not on my person. However, if I were in a situation for an unload, I remove mag, rack clear twice and lock the slide back for the pinky test to ensure chamber is clear. I rack the slide closed and store. The only times I dry fire is to test a trigger pull on a potential new purchase or to practice my trigger control, say on my S&W 642.

[mr surveyor]

I can't believe that no one has mentioned the old standby. Given enough space in your gun cleaning area it's a simple process to have a 5 gallon bucket of dry sand nearby just for that purpose of the mandatory first "dry fire". It's also a good idea to use for charging a weapon. Personally I don't have to do this as I just step out on the porch and point at the ground. The bucket of sand may not work too well for those with cats though

surv

[dukalmighty]

One thing you need to do when clearing and dry firing a weapon is not to get distracted by anyone or anything during the procedure,or start over and reclear.
I was in the USAF Security Police in the late 70's,we checked out M16's/38's at the start of our shift and turned in at the end.during turn in one night the clearing Sgt was bsing with somebody as a guy stepped up to clear his M16,the guy locks bolt to rear and forgot to remove mag,clearing official glances over says go ahead and guy releases bolt chambering a round,he selects fire and pulls trigger gun goes bang,before clearing official can yell don't the guy panics ejecting#2 round chambering #3 round and pulls trigger firing round #3.By that time there are guys running out of CSC with weapons at the ready position.The clearing official was removed from clearing duties,and both him and the weapon handler had to fill out incident reports on how not only 1 but 2 rounds were discharged into the clearing barrel

[ArkhmAsylm]

Yes, this is a good point. Down is not always the safest direction. We used to live in an apartment where the "safest" location was out the window at the woods that bordered the property.

Yeah. I have a very small "safe zone" out one window... But you work with what you have. ;)

I cannot wait to have a house again and hopefully some land as well. We shall see what God has in store for us. :)

A stack of old phone books can be your friend!

[GreyGhost]

Dry firing after clearing has always been my standard practice.

All my carry guns are put away loaded with one in the chamber. They all have a loaded chamber indicator. And they are in one safe, and stored naked.

The guns stored in either boxes or rugs are always unloaded and in another safe.

Whenever I am handling my guns I only have one out at a time. And I'm in a room by myself. No distractions!

[Phoenixx6]

Sounds like a good method. For pistols I'm not a fan of confirming an empty chamber with a finger unless it is just so dark I can't see. I trust my eyes to visually confirm that the chamber is empty and no magazine is inserted in the magazine well. And becaues I have somehow fumbled an M9 enough to have the slide fall on my pinkie finger. For the sake of my finger I have not tried to figure out what I did wrong that time.

For most rediculous safety measures and clearing techniques I give my vote to US Embassy Baghdad.
In a clearing barrel with a guard watching put the weapon on safe, drop any magazine, lock slide to rear and confirm empty chamber. Let slide go forward. Take weapon off safe to fire and dry fire into clearing barrel. (Fine up until this point.) At this time lock the slide to the rear again and re-holster pistol with the slide to the rear and wait to enter the sally port.
Remove all metal objects from person, including weapon, magazines, and ammo, to be placed in a box and sent through a scanner (just like at the airport), walk through a metal detector (where I always forget my watch or pens in my pen sleeves) to retrieve weapon, magazines, ammo, and other metal objects back. Why send me through the metal detector just to give me my weapon back??

[BugDude]

I never dry fire, unless pulling the trigger is part of the required disassembly process, and even then it makes me squeemish (and I do so in a safe direction and manner). I guess I had "DO NOT TOUCH THE TRIGGER UNLESS YOU INTEND TO SHOOT" beat into my head for so long from such a young age that I can't get beyond it. I grew up shooting revolvers, so I didn't have this issue. I also prefer hammered semi-autos, many of which have more options for de-cocking than letting the hammer fall. I have a few striker-fired, but they stay loaded in the safe too. Since I'm the only one in my house that carries and has access to the safe, I don't have to be concerned about anyone else. 30+ years of not touching the trigger unless I intend to shoot is not likely to change.