Is Dryfiring affects Rimfire Rifles?

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gary09

Moderator
I have been using centerfire designs for months. But I don’t have any idea about rimfires Recently I came to know that when we do dry fire in a rimfire rifles it ill affect the gun’s performance because of its brittle firing pins. If we do so how many rounds of dryfire will it take to affect the gun. Or is there any Gun Customization tricks to make it more reliable
 
Depending on the gun most rimfires should only be dry fired with a fired cartridge in the chamber, I save a hand full of dead ones while I'm shooting to use at home to cushion the firing pin when dry firing. Generally speaking you can hit the same case 3-5 times before changing it.
Always clean the barrel after words because the burnt carbon from the priming compound is dislodged and launched down the barrel.
I have several high end guns that are supposed to be ok to dry fire on an empty chamber but I don't do it.
There are a few guns out there that have an actual dry fire setting.
 
It depends. A LOT. Some rimfires are designed to handle it. Some will be damaged by dryfiring and the damage can occur very quickly, with just a few dryfires.

When it comes to rimfires, the problem with dryfiring is usually peening of the steel near the chamber which can make it difficult or impossible to chamber rounds. It's not usually a firing pin breakage issue.

If you don't know whether your rimfire firearm is safe to dryfire then it would be best not to dryfire it at all.

Your owner's manual will usually tell you about things like dryfiring. If you don't have a manual, sometimes you can download one from the manufacturer's website. Or, you can post information about your rifle here and someone will likely be able to provide the information.
 
I've used fired cases.

A friend bought a second firing pin then cut its tip off.

Some Anschutz rimfire match rifles have an adapter that is used for dry firing. My 1911 prone model does.
 
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It depends on the gun. Many rimfires will have the firing pin strike the rear of the barrel if dry fired. Some are fine.

It's best to use drywall inserts or similar as snap caps. Using fired cases trains your brain that it's OK to see brass in the chamber and still pull the trigger.
 
BB said:
A friend bought a second firing pin then cut its tip off.
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This is my solution for rifles with delicate firing pins. Fortunately for me, the delicate firing pins break in a manner that permits them to be used as dry fire pins.

Gary09 said:
But I don’t have any idea about rimfires Recently I came to know that when we do dry fire in a rimfire rifles it ill affect the gun’s performance because of its brittle firing pins.
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I've lusted after some S&W 22lr pistols over the years. S&W warns against dry firing, so I've never bought one. Dry fire practice is important to me.

I've dry fired Ruger 10/22 rifles and MKII pistols many thousands of times with no ill effect whatsoever, EXCEPT once when I reassembled a pistol without replacing the firing pin stop. The damage to the barrel, not the firing pin, was immediate.

On my Ruger pistols, there isn't even a way to let the hammer fall gently on the bolt with the bolt partly open; the trigger is essentially dead until the bolt is nearly closed. Ruger's design for that pistol contemplates dry firing.

If you are just worried about damaged firing pins in a design in which dry fire is otherwise safe, buy extra pins and consider them consumables. Before you buy your next rimfire, research the manufacturer's position on dry firing so you are getting a solution you can live with.
 
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Respect

My rule is to NEVER fry fire a .22. Any .22.
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This has also been my philosophy, even when the instructions and experts, say you can. There are my alternative methods to work around dry-firing. This post is referring to rifles but handguns may be a different story. .... :cool:

An important note is to respect someone else's firearms when they don't want theirs dry-fired or mishandled .... :(

Be Safe !!!
 
I believe the manuals for most Ruger rimfires (rifle or pistol) claim that they CAN be dryfired because of the use of some sort of blocking mechanism. I don't make a special point to dryfire them much, but I do it occasionally without worrying about it. If I ever damage one on a 10/22, replacements are less than $5.

Also, some rifles and pistols have external hammers and a safety that stops the hammer from engaging the firing pin.
 
"...its brittle firing pins..." The FP isn't brittle. What happens is the FP gets whacked into the edge of the chamber and can peen that edge. Peening that edge means the chamber is damaged and won't allow the cartridge to feed. It has nothing to do with reliability or performance. And there is no number.
Using a snap cap will help. And it still depends on what rifle. Ruger, Henry and Browning say dry firing won't hurt their rifles/handguns. Smith says don't. So does Anschutz.
 
JWT said:
Best bet is to never dry fire a rimfire weapon. Why take a chance of damaging a firing pin?
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1. Dry fire can be a valuable part of practice.

2. Dry firing is part of the take down process for some arms.
 
That is the real danger of dry firing a .22......peening the edge of the chamber. After it is peened, you might have problems loading or ejecting cases.
 
I did a similar thing to my 514, shot thousands of 22 shorts that made the front half of the long rifle chamber rough so when I got older and wanted to shoot the longer cartridges they wouldn't extract.
These days firing pin peened chamber faces and rough chambers aren't that big a deal, plenty of good gunsmiths around who can set the barrel back a 1/2" and your good to go again.
Brownells even sells a little punch that will re-round the chamber from peening, never tried it I assume it works.

I know silhouette shooters who dry fire there 1712 Anschutz's thousands of times a year with no ill effects, it would bother me to do it without a dead cartridge in the chamber but that's just me.
 
Generally speaking, shooting .22Short in a .22LR chamber doesn't damage the chamber, it just builds up a fouling ring in the chamber that can cause sticky extraction and even, in really bad cases, difficult chambering. It can be cleaned out, but it's a bit of a pain.

The Brownell's chamber swage works ok as long as the damage isn't too severe. It does not reverse the damage completely so if the peening is really bad it may not fix the problem.

While it may be possible to remedy severe peening in a rimfire rifle, it won't be cheap.

In other guns (revolvers, for example) it can be the end of the gun unless replacement parts are available.
 
Be aware that the #4 drywall anchors don't last very long after repeated dry firing hits. The base flatbed outer edges of the anchor wear out very easily...and after a dry firing hit --- they can become dislodged into the bore; and you'll need a cleaning rod to remove it.
 
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Some Anschutz rimfire match rifles have an adapter that is used for dry firing.
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As does the Benelli Target Pistols, MP90 and MP95. It's not that the firing pin hits the chamber face, the firing pin itself will break. There is a dry fire plug that holds the bolt open about 3/8 inch, and the hammer actually hits the bottom of the bolt and not the firing pin. Same for the .32 Benelli pistols.

I found out the hard way. Broke a firing pin on both the rimfire and centerfire before I figured it out, and these aren't cheap, around $30 shipped.
 
I've dry fired Ruger 10/22 rifles and MKII pistols many thousands of times with no ill effect whatsoever, EXCEPT once when I reassembled a pistol without replacing the firing pin stop. The damage to the barrel, not the firing pin, was immediate.
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Yep. Did the same thing with a Ruger Mk.II. One dry fire and the breech was peened.
Fortunately, there is a tool that will repair the damage by swaging the edge of the peen back.
It works. The gun has been used for many thousands of rounds since the carelessness.
 
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