Releasing Pressure on Hammer Spring???

S

saddlerocker

New member
In my New Weatherby Vanguard owners manual it says the following....
"If storing your rifle fully assembled release the pressure on the hammer spring as follows:
1) make sure rifle not loaded ect....
2) with the bolt open and pointing the muzzle in safe direction, pull the trigger slightly while closing the bolt."

So what I want to know is is this really nessicary? Isnt dry firing bad? Should I just store my rifle with the bolt out?

Anyone have experiance with this?
 
Read it again. It isn't talking about dry firing, it is talking about pulling the trigger as you close the bolt.

Assuming your Vanguard is cock on opening like the vast majority of modern bolt rifles, the striker will be cocked with the bolt removed.

Also, on most modern center-fire guns, dry firing from time to time isn't going to hurt anything. Rimfires could damage the striker face, but you aren't going to hurt your Weatherby by occasionally dry firing it.
 
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Let me start by saying im a total beginner, this is my first rifle. I didnt want to try it without some clarification because I had heard that dry firing was bad.

So do you apply pressure to the trigger when slowly sliding the bold foward, or when you are pushing the bolt-knob down into the locked position?

And is it even necissary to release the spring pressure?
 
Essentially your rifle cocks when you open the bolt, because of a camming action in the bolt body.

What you are doing by pulling the trigger as you close the bolt on an empty chamber is using this same camming action to release the firing pin and allow it to move gently forward.

Try it, it will make a lot more sense.

And yes, you really don't want to keep the firing pin spring under tension during storage.
 
I have always done this. It surely can't hurt and if it keeps your firing pin spring strong why not. I do it every day after the hunt also.

Being a retired metallurgist in engineering for a transmission company I'm pretty familiar with springs and heat treating them. They will lose some power after being compressed for a long time. How much depends on the spring design, material and heat treat.
 
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