Dry-firing a Ruger MkII?

M

madkiwi

New member
I just got my KMK-678GC home. I RTFM. Now where in there does it tell me how to de-cock the gun? It doesn't!

Can I safely dry-fire it to acomplish that?

Thanks,
Madkiwi
 
There is a firing pin block in the bolt. It will be ok to dry fire, I do it all the time when I take my 22/45 apart for cleaning.
 
IIRC, in my manual under disassembly/reassembly, it does say to dry-fire the pistol in order to de-cock it. However, Nine is right - it's one of the few rimfires that is safe to dry-fire.
 
As above... I dry fire my Ruger Mk I to decock... and to store it... never a problem, and it was a used gun when I got it in 1988...

not a problem in the 14 years I have had it...
 
Dry-firing a Ruger MkII

YES it is OK to dry fire the Newer Ruger MK-II's.
When cleaning and re-assembling the gun it requires the hammer to be down. If you couldn't dry fire it, how could you clean it?
MADISON
 
Just to be on the safe side of this subject, I chamber a spent cartridge and dry fire. Having the firing pin hit the softer brass is preferable to me. Just my .02. :)
 
If you look at the bolt when the gun is dissassembled you will see a pin through the bolt that retains the firing pin. if this pin falls out the gun will function fine EXCEPT that the firing pin will be able to strike the rim of the chamber.

The retaining pin holds the firing pin back from striking the edge of the chamber, so make sure this pin is in, or to be safe buy a snap cap or use a spent shell.
 
I put my MkII away

uncocked by putting a spent case in and snapping it. When I do this, the firing pin makes a pretty deep mark in the rim. I have a hard time seeing how the pin could fail to hit the chamber rim without a case in the chamber. Does it say anything about this in the manual? Mine was bought in 1982, and I don't recall seeing anything about it.

Khornet
 
First off, mine will put a dent in a shell, even with the blocking pin, otherwise it wouldn't fire, think about it! While it'll certainly hit the rim to fire the round, it should not hit the chamber face if it's properly assembled. If you left out the lock pin, it will probably hit the chamber face and peen it, my comments were for properly assembled MK-II pistols.
 
I'm a little anal about dry-firing, so I ONLY dry-fire my MKII when I clean it. It might get accidentally dry-fired if the magazine follower doesn't occasionally engage the slide lock after the last round is fired.

JQ
 
I just put a plastic snap cap in the mag, chamber it, & dry fire before storing. Otherwise, the firing pin spring will be under constant tension until you shoot it again.
 
See my post above. If you have not left out the stop, you won't damage the MK-II by dry firing it. Mine has been dry fired thousands of times, and it has never peaned the chamber, and still shoots great.
 
Ditto everything above about the Ruger having a pin to prevent the firing pin from hitting the breech face.


HOWEVER!!!!

My .22/45, as I've mentioned before, has over 35,000 rounds through it and has been dry fired every time I've cleaned it. In all those firings, there has been some wear in the hole in the firing pin as well as the pin that goes through that hole. Enough *slop* has developed that I can see a visable mark in the breech face where the firing pin strikes.
(I'm not overly concerned with peening the firing pin since they're cheap and easy to replace. What concerns me most is putting a dent in the breech face)

Based on my experience, the firing pin and the firing pin blocking pin should be replaced somewhere between 30 and 35 thousand firings,,,,live or dry. A new set of springs wouldn't hurt either.
I'd be inclined to say the same holds true for the entire Mark series of Rugers. Can't comment on the rifles since I don't have one.

Now to put it a bit more in perspctive, if you shot 500 rounds each and every month it would take you about 5-6 years to get there.
 
RAE, you make a good point about wear. Of course, this applies to any gun you own, shoot it enough, and it'll require maintenance. :)
 
That's great to know, I have certainly dry-fired while cleaning and upon storing the gun....but not to practice my trigger pull like other guns I own. I had a Clark trigger and Volquartsen sear installed (plus a little smoothing) and my Mk 2's trigger is now
just TOO darn sweet to leave alone!
I plan to dry fire the heck out of it now and try to impove my shooting.
VF
 
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