Is it really bad to dry fire a gun

Question

i have always heard it was bad to dry fire a gun. but then i was reading a manual for one of my shotguns, and it said after cleaning and reassembling the gun, to pump the shotgun, and then pull the trigger with the safety off to make sure the parts were properly assembled. and then they said to repeat it the dry firing procedure! i know that it is bad for the gun to be dry fired, but is the myth true? if i did dry fire my shotgun would it ruin the gun? why would the gun manufacturer tell a consumer to do that?

Answer 1

NO not really, however there are a few rare exceptions that you would not want to, but with some of the older bolt action 22's or pumps.* When in doubt use empty cartridges or snap caps.*

Answer 2

It depends on the firearm. For center-fire rifles and shotguns, its not as risky as it is for rim-fires. That's because the firing pin shouldn't hit anything on a center-fire. However with a rim-fire, dry firing will cause the pin to smack the barrel next to the chamber and may damage the chamber and or the firing pin. That's why you need snap caps when dry firing a rim-fire. Its also probably not a bad idea to use snap caps when dry firing a center-fire since they simulate a cartridge.

Answer 3

It depends on what kind of gun your using some will some won't.

Answer 4

If your gonna do it all the time then use snap caps.  Like the first poster said, it's okay to dry-fire once or twice now and then.  Big exception is rim-fires where the firing pin could actually strike the breech-face blunting or even breaking the firing pin.  

H

Answer 5

With newer guns it doesn't really matter except with rimfire guns. Older guns it it better not to dry-fire. Doing it a every so often won't really bother it, it's when you do it repeatedly is where you could damage the pin.

Answer 6

Whether or not you can safely dry fire a gun depends on the particular gun.  E.g., most centerfire guns made in the last 40 years or so are safe to dry fire.  Rimfires (.22s) should never be dry fired without an empty case in the chamber.  Make sure that the empty comes from that gun; if you use an empty from another gun it may jam in the chamber.

For center-fire arms, you can buy snap caps, which feature a spring-loaded "primer" to absorb the fall of the firing pin.  If you use these you do not have to worry about damaging your gun.

Also, you can make your own snap caps by taking an empty case, resizing it and punching out the old primer, and gluing into the primer pocket a piece of rubber from an eraser.   I made up 6 of these in .38 Special caliber and they work great.

Flintlocks can be safely dry-fired, as long as a flint or piece of wood is in the jaws of the hammer.  However, this will accellerate wear on the frizzen, if a flint is in the hammer.

Percussion muzzleloaders generally should not be dry-fired without a piece of rubber on the nipple to prevent it from getting mashed.  An exception to this is the Ruger Old Army cap and ball revolver, if it has Ruger nipples.  The Ruger nipples are slightly shorter than normal and the gun is designed to be dry-fired if the factory nipples are in-place.  If the nipples were replaced with non-Ruger ones, don't dry-fire it.

Answer 7

It's an old hunters tale that probably eventuated from some old coot breaking his firing pin in an old as the hills rifle and the rumor began.

It all comes down to metalurgical advances over the years.  

Basically the newer the rifle the less chance of breaking a firing pin. This is because just like in car motors, metals are much better now than the were in the early 1900's. Alloys are formulated specifically to the task they are intended and hence a much reduced chance of breaking a firing pin on a new weapon.

Good question, I personally laugh at idiots who tell me not to dry fire my rifle.

Cheers, Witty

Answer 8

Most center-fire guns are perfectly safe to dry fire.  Dry firing is excellent practice, and most world-class competitive shooters spend 5 times as much time dry-firing as they do shooting.  

If you're worried, use some form of snap cap, but it really, really, really is not necessary.

Trust me, I'm an NRA instructor.  My guns have been dry fired thousands of times by students, and thousands of times more by me practicing.  In 30 years of shooting, I have never had a gun damaged by dry firing.

Truthfully, the threat of damaging a rimfire is exaggerated.  The absolute worst case scenario would be having to replace a firing pin after hundreds and hundreds of repetitions.

Answer 9

doing it once or twice after you clean it will be ok.

Answer 10

depends which gun, some yes and some no

Answer 11

it depends upon the weapon-revolvers are not to be dry fired, it will damage the fireing pin mechanism-shotguns are not as prone to damage, and the manufacturer recs. dry firing to clear any debris and oil off the pin and mechanism-good luck.