DRY FIRE

Disagreement here seems to be based on semantics:

All firearms may be dry fired. Some firearms may be damaged by dry firing without the use of snap-caps. If you are not sure, consult the owners manual or a knowledgeable party, or always use snap-caps.

For example: ( Personal knowledge) Cost me a few bucks to fix this one:
A model 66 or model 19 S & W revolver SHOULD NEVER BE DRY FIRED WITHOUT A SNAP CAP IN PLACE IN THE CYLINDER. -- The firing pin nose may break, when it does, it will fly out of the muzzle like a BB. Can an unloaded revolver seriously hurt you? Yes, if you were dumb enough to be looking down the barrel when dry firing your S & W Modle 66 WITHOUT SNAP CAPS IN PLACE. ( I WAS NOT LOOKING DOWN THE BARREL). The aforementioned broken firing pin nose left the muzzle and ricocheted off of two walls in my living room before coming to rest harmlessly on the floor.
 
Dry fire

I will keep this as simple as I can: I firmly believe that the rim fire and center fire cartridges act as a shock absorber for the firing pin and without the cartridge you have metal on metal, either on the chamber (rim fire) or inside the bolt (center fire),that is why I use snap caps.

Cliff
 
I have snap caps for every center-fire cartridge gun that I own. But I have not found a snap-cap for rimfire. Does anyone know of one? A-Zoom, for example, sells excellent snap-caps for centerfire calibers. But for rimfire they sell "training rounds" that say on the pack they are intended for cycling, not dry-firing. That is because center-fire snap caps have a nifty piece of silicone mounted in place of the primer, kind of like the rubber on a tire. But they have not been able to come up with a rim on a dummy rimfire round that can take the abuse of repeated direct hits from a hammer, the way a rimfire case takes the hit (and becomes non-reloadable).

On the rare occasions when I load once-fired rimfire cases into a revolver for a friend to try, I rotate the cases to get the fired indent at six-o'clock from the hammer hit. It's not the end of the world, but rimfires are very different from all centerfire cartridges with regard to dry-firing.

Disclaimer: I don't and won't buy any gun that has a transfer bar. So I don't know if there are any transfer-bar rimfire guns out there. If there are, I wouldn't trust my life with one.
 
Regarding rimfire snap caps, some have gotten good results by filling 22 case with putty or something similar to absord the impact.
I dry fire all the time, a good way of developing shooting skills, getting familar with a firearm, and perhaps slicking up an action.
 
different take

Strictly my opinion here...

...but I really think dry firing w/o snap caps or dummy rounds is not a good practice. I'm not talking about breaking the firing pin or anything like that. I'm referring to the building of a habit that could lead to a ND/AD.

When I pull the trigger on any firearm, it's either a part of firing it, assembly/dis-assembly, checking function with a snap cap, or dry firing as practicing trigger control with a snap cap. When one gets into the habit of pulling the trigger on a gun without making the conscious effort of loading a snap cap or dummy round, it makes for a bad habit. Again, just my opinion.
 
Here the last few days, I've been practicing shooting off my Primos Tripod sticks, and of course I'm dry firing my rifles to get the feel of the rifle and trigger squeeze and timing down.

There's no harm in this with or without "snap-caps",,, most of you nimrod computer sniper, psuedo rifle experts could use some practice too!!!:rolleyes::p:D
 
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When I pull the trigger on any firearm, it's either a part of firing it, assembly/dis-assembly, checking function with a snap cap, or dry firing as practicing trigger control with a snap cap. When one gets into the habit of pulling the trigger on a gun without making the conscious effort of loading a snap cap or dummy round, it makes for a bad habit. Again, just my opinion.
Click to expand...

But, if, as you should, you literally treat ever weapon as loaded until you, personally and directly, have thoroughly and carefully, visually and tactilely checked that it is unloaded, you will never pull the trigger on a loaded gun.

I think relying on the conscious act of loading a dummy round is folly itself. If you are going to practice trigger control by dry firing, then you need to make sure the gun is not loaded, then check it again, then once more to be sure. And if it leaves your hands at any time during that (even if still in sight), you start the clearance procedure all over again from scratch

Load a snap cap at that point if it makes you feel better about dry firing sure, but that act should not be part of your standard safety routine before handling any firearm.

When I pull the trigger on a firearm, it is either to shoot it, or only after I have made very, very sure it is not loaded. Anything else is completely secondary to that procedure of clearing the weapon first.

Not slamming your opinion, just giving the flip side of that same coin.
 
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