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shootitout · 10-13-2011, 07:56 PM

Hay everyone I was just wondering do firing pins really break because of dry firing? Also dose keeping mags loaded damage there spring?

**trip286** · 10-13-2011, 08:12 PM

Up for debate with some people. It's generally considered not a good idea by many people to dry fire anything. As with many situations, you should contact the manufacturer.

S&W says you can dry fire any of their revolvers except rimfires. The Ruger Mark III is supposed to be designed so that you can dry fire it, but I don't know.

Really the manufacturer is the best way to address this question, and sometimes (as in the case of S&W) it's available on the manufacturer's website.

fmj · 10-13-2011, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Up for debate with some people. It's generally considered not a good idea by many people to dry fire anything. As with many situations, you should contact the manufacturer.

I personally DO NOT dry fire anything if i can help it...i just dont see where its a good thing. If i am going to do dry fire practice/drills i will oad the chamber with a spent cartridge.

As far as leaving mags. loaded i cant see where it can be a good thing to keepo springs compressed.

**vincent** · 10-13-2011, 08:20 PM

Keeping mags loaded will not usually damage the springs, it's the actual use that wears on the springs. If storing a mag long term loaded, leave one or two rounds out just to be safe. Most manuals will tell you if dry firing is going to hurt your gun, worst case, call the manufacturer, snap caps are good too.

**trip286** · 10-13-2011, 08:24 PM

That's why I mentioned S&W. If you break it doing something approved by the company, they get to fix it.

**vincent** · 10-13-2011, 08:26 PM

Ruger's pretty much the same, which is why I own 3 of them

Poink88 · 10-13-2011, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shootitout

Hay everyone I was just wondering do firing pins really break because of dry firing? Also dose keeping mags loaded damage there spring?

I always use snap caps when dry firing. They are cheap insurance the way I see it but agree that best bet is to check with the gun manufacturer.

I read that keeping mags loaded will not hurt the springs...unless you stress it beyond its limit (i.e. compressed more than it should like putting an extra round). General consensus is to keep the mag loaded one less than full. Just for extra safety margin but as designed, mags should be fine even when fully loaded. It is the cycling (compression and decompression) that damages the spring.

**JonM** · 10-13-2011, 08:34 PM

the only firing pins that can break from dry firing are the ones that are on old revolvers where the pin is attached to the hammer.

think about it like this: how much force is the firing pin subjected to when a round goes off as opposed to when its dry fired?? which do you think is exerting more force on the part??

springs only lose their strength through work. sitting compressed or uncompressed does nothing to accelerate wear. only the compression/decompression cycle itself wears springs. if you want to wear out a magazine spring keep unloading it and loading it to let the spring "rest"

tellmaster207 · 10-13-2011, 08:38 PM

What I do & I'm no smith or pro.
If it has an exposed hammer I dry fire it.
If it has an internal I don't dry fire & use caps.
I've never had a problem.

Sent from my iPhone using FirearmsTalk

Poink88 · 10-13-2011, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonM

think about it like this: how much force is the firing pin subjected to when a round goes off as opposed to when its dry fired?? which do you think is exerting more force on the part??

From what I've read, it is the spring or retainer pins that can break...not the firing pin. The firing pin or striker should only move forward so much...without the ammo to stop it, it will go further causing the problem(s).

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