Ruger 10/22 dry fire?

W

Wrothgar

Moderator
I just bought the wife a Ruger 10/22 for Christmas/birthday. I took it to the range yesterday; it does not have a bolt hold open when the magazine is empty. We were shooting it, and we kept dry firing it when the magazine was finished. Is this okay, or am I going to have to count bullets? Please tell me we're not going to have to count, as that is not going to make it not worthwhile. We had a bolt action 22 I traded in for this one. We got a semi-auto so she could shoot "fuss free", and if we have to count each shot, that is going to add to the fuss, and thus we might as well have kept the bolt action.
 
I try to limit the number of times I fire on an empty chamber. With a 10 round mag, I just count them as I shoot them. I have had issues in the past with both the 10/22 and the Marlin 39A with firing pins and dry firing and needing to replace them. That's just my experience - whether it is common or just my bad luck, I can't say
 
Dry firing is always harder on rim-fires and older/more brittle firing pins.
I can hear when my model 60 doesn't load a round. You should be able to learn to do the same. Or just load a preset number of rounds and get used to counting them.
 
The problem with dry firing a rimfire is that it can hit the chamber lip and cause a burr that burr will then cause problems big time.
 
Part B-13 is a pin that retains the firing pin and limits it's forward movement. I've dry-fired my 10-22 thousands of times.
 

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Slopemeno: That's what I wanted to hear! I was thinking "Surely, if they didn't make a bolt hold open on empty, they did something to help prevent dry fire damage."
 
You can dry fire your 10/22 all you want. In addition to the firing pin limiting pin, there is also a groove on the breech end of the barrel to avoid peening.
 
Yes, the 10/22 and all other Ruger rimfires that I'm aware of can be dry-fired without damage. Ruger even suggests dry firing in their 10/22 owners manual in order to familiarize yourself with the trigger.

See "Special Safety Note" on page 14 and item #8 on page 19.

Ruger 10/22 Owners Manual
 
I bought a little $13 dollar part called an auto bolt release.

Its a plate that makes it to where you can just pull the bolt back a little and let go and it will push a round home, where as with the stock bolt release, you have to push the little tab infront of the trigger guard, and I think its a pain.

BUYER BEWARE. Some of the wordings of the website would lead you to believe that this locks the bolt back after the last round is fired, but it doesn't. I got hosed.


Also, you can modify your existing bolt release to do what this one does in about five minutes with a Dremel tool.
 
Even if dry firing were bad... we're talking a 10/22, people!!! WHO CARES???

Parts are cheap... shoot!... the whole gun is relatively cheap!!
 
demigod "Parts are cheap... shoot!... the whole gun is relatively cheap!!"

Why would you break something just because you think it's cheap to fix. Makes no sense.

I don't regularly dry-fire mine so I don't know for sure if it will break.
 
Count as best you can and when you get a dry fire, don't worry about it. As it has been posted and printed in the manual, you are okay. Every once in awhile, I shoot with a group that lives and breaths these 10/22s. One of the guy claims he owns over twelve, in many variations. I have never experienced or heard of any real damage from dry firing. When I'm working with these on the bench, I test my trigger work, using snap-caps.

Also, you can modify your existing bolt release to do what this one does in about five minutes with a Dremel tool.
Click to expand...

I would recommend this, in addition to replacing the bolt stop with a bolt buffer.

I don't know if these are avialable anymore, but a few years back, they made an aftermarket fix that would perform as you have stated. It wasn't cheap, took a different mag and I guess did not really catch on. ... :rolleyes:

Be Safe !!!
 
From page 19 of the Ruger 10/22 manual:

"8. With the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, push the safety to the “off” position and pull the trigger to decock it. The rifle can be “dry fired” for practice as long as it is empty and pointed in a safe direction."
 
Many modern rim fires can be dry fired without damaging the chamber, whereas most older rim fires will have the chamber damaged by dry firing, and often will have the firing pin broken.
Checking with the owners manual will.answer the question. Pretty much all Rugers are safely dry fired.
This is not to say that you should just sit around dry firing it all day, but doing it before putting the rifle away for safe keeping is ok.
 
Yeah, I was going to respond to post # 11 and point out that he wasn't saying to break it intentionally, he was just saying that if it breaks under normal use it's not a big deal. But yeah, that would be pointless considering that user posted that comment years ago. I didn't even notice it was a zombie thread until you guys pointed it out.

I don't see the point in resurrecting a five-year-old thread just to repeat something that was already stated in post #8. But hey, whatever floats your boat. Welcome to the forum, Iguanaman.
 
Well, as long as we're here,
The Rugers are safe to dry fire as long as that cross pin for the firing pin is in place.
They can fall out if the gun is stripped down for cleaning and such.
Just a thought.
 
Dry fire them and be sure to dry fire your 1911 pistols if the sales man says that it's not good for them tell him you want a real 1911 one you can practice with including dry fires !!!! The military dry fires 15000 times a year or more with no issues !!! Just say in! !!
 
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