[Jeffg330]

I went to a local gunshop today and was looking at a few pistols (you can never have too many of course). While looking at a 10mm glock 29 i asked the saleperson if he minded if i dry fired it once, he looked at me in horror as if i asked him if i could bang it on the pavement outside to see if it would scratch or something. He blurted out something about thats "extremely bad" for the gun because you can ruin the firing pin! I started to explain to him that the gun has no firing pin to "ruin" but decided to bite my tounge rather than get into a debate.
Dry-firing is part of my weekly training when not at the range and am sure I'm not alone. I actualy dry-fire all of my pistols and never gave it a second thought before today. Do you all dry-fire also? what harm can come of it?

 

[Euclidean]

I dryfire like crazy. Well most of my guns anyway. Rimfires and certain things like my recent Colt Det. Special I don't. It's the only thing that's helped my GP-100's trigger pull significantly. It helps me learn to control the trigger too among other things.

It depends on the gun.

 

[Bud White]

its all BS anymore except for 22's..

think on it on a glock you have to dryfire it to take it down ..

If your gonna dry fire a ton then i recommend snap caps though you probley dont need um

 

[Jeffg330]

so what's the deal? is it an old wives tale or was there a time long ago that it could be harmful?

 

[Bud White]

Long time ago it could be harmfull to guns broken firing pins could happen ..

Now if you have a super slick 1911 2.5# trigger job don't dry fire it either

 

[rocky]

I imagine with enough dryfiring you can wear out something. I like snap caps for the fact they help to practice cycling thru , especially with mag changes.

 

[P95Carry]

Certainly - even with .22's like new Rugers where they say OK - hate the thought of pin hitting chamber face instead of brass!

Other guns, centerfires - well stuff like cast pins in CX-52's are a classic no-no - and it used to be said that excessive dry fire of some shotties peened the pin and could make removal hard if required.

Most modern guns are OK but still feel that repeated and frequent dry fire cannot but be made better for the gun by using snap caps - good ones do cushion FP from that fast travel against nothing! T

his I feel applies more to hammer driven pins than strikers, and revo's with transfer bars don't really complain.

 

[JT]

Dry firing should not hurt any modern center fire handgun. And I gurantee it won't hurt a Glock. I don’t go to bed without doing a little dry fire practice with my G23.

 

[acparmed]

Dry firing is common practice now-a-days for all modern firearms.
Back in the day it was hard on the gun because...the firing pin would exceed it's normal throw without a cartridge to stop it and in doing so could either cause stress wear to the firing pin or enlarge the firing pin hole on the bolt side of the gun. The metals inuse today are a lot harder and made differently than they were back then, and I'm only talking 40 or 50 years ago.

As for your comment Bud, I have a few VERY expensive 1911's and I dry fire them all the time. Sometimes up to 100 times in a night. It doesn't hurt them at all.

My .02

 

[V-fib]

I like to practice dry firing with my CT laser grips keeping the red dot held on an object while firing. I use A-Zoom metal snapcaps in my .38 and plastic snapcaps in my .22lr Empty .22lr cases work fine too.

 

[Gelicious]

On the XD you have to dry fire it to take the slide off the frame. IN the owners manuel it doesnt say anything about dry firing being bad for the gun. The manuel specificly says to pull the trigger after the dissasembly lock has been activated to release the slide. Hmmm so for the people taking their gun apart to clean it after each use are doing dammage? i think not.... So as far as the XD goes I dont think dry firing will cause dammage to the firing pin. Hmmm i might have to e-mail the mythbusters!!!

 

[Bud White]

Acparmed thats good to know i've always heard that and figured of you had a sweet trigger pull ya wouldn't want to do it

 

[Tubby45]

Your dealer does know you have to dry fire a Glock to disassemble it right? Don't buy guns from morons who stand behind gun counters. Next thing you know he will tell you you can interchange a 45acp and a 45gap, but only in a glock. Then run away quickly. Unfortunately I actually had a gun dealer tell me that very thing.

 

[PatrioticRick]

Says right in the Springfield 1911 manual, pg 11, to to test fire without ammo to get the feel of the trigger.

 

[ka0azs]

I've heard the term "No cost trigger job" applied to dry firing a DA Revolver multiple times a day over time to smooth up the action as parts settle in.

 

[dimmak]

I have a Ruger SRH that I have DF prob over 5,000 times and still feels the same to me...
Works everytime too...

 

[NaturalSelection]

I gurantee it won't hurt a Glock

hammering rail road spikes into pavement wont hurt a glock. :wink:

 

[Betty]

I will dry fire my own guns, and I have snap caps, too. With other people's guns, I ask first, since a lot of people are very touchy about it. I mostly avoid doing it at gun shows or gun shops, since the CLICK tends to make people's heads turn and I get glares, even when the gun was cleared and pointed in a safe direction.

I think Taurus has in their manual that they don't recommend dry-firing.

 

[SSKC]

I called the folks at H&K about this several years ago. I was told that if the firing pin was going to break at, say, 10000 shots, it didn't matter whether it was 10000 live rounds or 10000 dry fires. The guy followed up with "I dry fire mine all the time." Of course, he probably gets cheap or free parts and service.

As far as dealers, I had one tell me that their insurance company prohibited dry firing - I don't know if that's BS or not. I can see that the dealer might not want everyone dry firing their inventory. As a customer, if I buy a new gun I want a new gun, not one that has been dry fired 10000 times.

SSKC

 

[SARR001]

I dry fire my centerfires all the time. Rimfires-nope. I have a P99 Walther that has the longest and weirdest single action pull I have ever felt. Dry fired it for a while before I was comfortable with it.