Do you Dry Fire??? - Page 4

TheBear · October 4, 2012, 01:19 PM

yes, all day long...
never had any problems

TAKtical · October 4, 2012, 08:56 PM

Dry fire my EDC a few hundred times a day. Usually at the tv.

Rainbow Demon · November 14, 2012, 09:28 AM

Dr Rich

Quote:

I'll normally get one dry fire a week right after cleaning. Its a Savage Mark II. I cringe every time too. But I'm OCD about having a cocked gun. Maybe someone can tell me its ok to leave my 22 cocked after I clean it and put it away...lol

Its not necessary to dry fire my Savage MkII in order to lower the striker. Just pull the trigger as you ease the bolt forwards and turn it home, the cocking cam does the rest.

My Savage does not have the Accutrigger, so if those triggers have some effect on the normal operation then things might be different.
Few if any turn bolt rifles require dry firing to lower the striker.

PS
I've repaired a dozen or more handguns with firing pins damaged by dry firing. Excessive dry firing can also wear away at the opening in the breech face of both handguns and rifles. Excessive clearance of a worn firing pin hole, coupled with upturned edges of the hole, can result in blown primers with a disc like piece of primer cup driven into the firing pin hole.
This can cause breakage of the firing pin shaft with the broken shaft and cocking piece driven out of the bolt to impact the shooter's face.

zukiphile · November 14, 2012, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Dry fire my EDC a few hundred times a day. Usually at the tv.

Want to know how we know you aren't married?

TAKtical · November 14, 2012, 07:18 PM

To the funny guy above, my wife does the same thing.

AdamSean · December 17, 2012, 09:12 PM

I practice weapon presentation almost daily. I do some dry fires weekly, and I use snap caps. The snap caps also help with practicing clearing malfunctions and reloads.

crankshaft45 · December 18, 2012, 02:22 PM

When I was a young deputy I was cleaning my revolver (A Colt with a free floating fireing pin) one day just before time to leave for work. I closed the cylinder, pulled the trigger and the fireing pin broke off and flew out the end of the barrel. It was time to walk out the door to work and it was the only hand gun I had. I reported in with a loaded but in-operable firearm.

When I went on the road I drove straight to a gun shop. He didn't have a new pin, but he kindly loaned me a gun until mine was fixed. Since then, if I don't have snap caps in the right calibre I double check them and put spent casings in to dry fire.

Panfisher · December 22, 2012, 12:26 AM

Very few days go by that I don't dry fire something, AR and 1911 are the most common ones as they are the handiest. In college on a rifle team we dry fired target rifles (Anschutz 64) thousands of times, neve had any problems there either. While I don't make it a continuous habit on rimfires I do dryfire them occasionally also. The next time I break a firing pin or damage something will be the first time.

colbad · December 22, 2012, 01:51 AM

I dry fire my Sig all the time. Dry fire, especially in front of the mirror working from the holster, is one of the best way to develop consistent presentation and muscle memory. Key is to make sure the weapon is empty

....have known folks who forgot the unload part. I do believe that if you have a snap cap it takes some of the stress off the firing pin more in some guns than others.

Nnobby45 · December 22, 2012, 08:51 PM

I've broken two firing pin noses: One a Model 13, the other a M66. One broke at the range and wasn't related to dry firing. The other--don't know when it broke, but the smithie saw a "problem" with the way the hammer aligned with the slot, and fixed it.

Broke a firing pin on a SIG P239. Don't know when it broke--it still fired with the broken pin. The folks at SIG (back when you could actually talk to a real gunsmith) said to use snap caps. The firing pin can break because if it doesn't hit something it "wants to keep going".

I use A-Zooms. Don't care for the brass kind with the spring. I've found pieces of brass in my trigger mechanisms. Empty shell casing in revolvers work ok for short term. Very short term, they become useless after a few strikes.

A note on dry firing. It teaches you how to pull the trigger properly, and that's good, but it does NOT teach you about anticipating recoil and flinching. It teaches what you should do, but you still have to apply it during live fire. The cure for recoil anticipation and flinching is the very widely known (but not always practiced) principle of concentrating on the front sight until the shot breaks.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

**Unclenick** · December 23, 2012, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nnobby45

…but it does NOT teach you about anticipating recoil and flinching.

Which, it should be emphasized, is a good thing! The whole object of the exercise is to learn not to associate either of those things or any other thing that disturbs the sight picture with pressing the trigger.

ChasingWhitetail91 · December 23, 2012, 01:19 PM

I never dry fire my shotguns or rifles. I don't own any handguns but if I did I wouldn't dry fire those either.

solocam72 · December 23, 2012, 09:59 PM

Some people dry fire in hopes to eventually get a better feeling trigger pull, I personally don't dry fire unless its to check trigger weight and or feel, so I do dry fire but rarely, if I feel the need for a better trigger I either do a true trigger job or replace the trigger with a quality after market like a timney, jewel, rifle basix, jard. The last thing I would do is sit and dry fire away! To each his own

dmazur · December 23, 2012, 10:22 PM

Handguns, probably weekly. Rifles, almost never.

And I "mix" iron sight (in reasonable light) and laser sights (in hardly any light), and try to watch the front sight/dot as I dry fire.

My wife has always had trouble with squeezing the trigger, and she started doing dry-fire practice, too. It has helped, and she is encouraged by this.

ltc444 · December 24, 2012, 08:18 PM

When I was firing competitively, I dry fired 10 per each live round.

The dry firing was conducted with a pencil with tape around it so that it did not rattle in the barrel. When the hammer fell it launched pencil into a target taped to a wall which was 2 inches in front of the barrel.

The pencil made a mark which allowed us to see exactly what we were doing. If the tape was properly applied we would achieve groups of 1/8 to 1/4 inches. Flyers were obvious.

PVL · April 17, 2013, 10:29 PM

I dry-fire the gun that I'm currently getting used to. The trigger is part of it, but the way you hold while firing also gets a workout.

When first I took my new BLR '81 home, the trigger was less than delightful, being a bit hard and gritty. - So I practiced dry-firing at a knot hole on the tree outside my shop, through the window three or four times a day, three or four dry-fires each time. After a couple of weeks, the trigger was much smoother, and I was adjusted too... I got used to how it worked and how to hold the rifle by then, and the crosshairs were right on target whenever the hammer fell.

Part of dry-firing is to call your shots. That's what Bell was doing, out in the African bush.

Now, if I ever have to shoot a knothole through the window of my shop, I know that I'll probably nail it, first time!

Seriously; The dry-fire practice with the BLR not only smoothed up the trigger, but also has given me a bit more confidence about hitting things with that gun, and taught me the best way to hold it for accuracy. It is intended for hunting, so confidence and proper handling is a big factor, there.

I dry-fire my shotgun too, a nice over/under and you betcha I use snap caps in that gun. Something about the way it sounds when I dry-fire it without a snap cap tells me that it needs them.

The manual to my Ruger Mk III says it's OK to dry-fire, but I try my best to avoid dry-firing rimfires anyway.

October 4, 2012, 08:56 PM	#77
TAKtical Senior Member Join Date: September 25, 2012 Location: ohio Posts: 145	Dry fire my EDC a few hundred times a day. Usually at the tv. __________________ Due to several differences of opinion with staff, I am choosing to no longer do business on this forum. Everyone that has a pending order will need to contact me via email at TakticalHolsters@aol.com Thanks, -Tom&Tricia

November 14, 2012, 07:18 PM	#80
TAKtical Senior Member Join Date: September 25, 2012 Location: ohio Posts: 145	To the funny guy above, my wife does the same thing. __________________ Due to several differences of opinion with staff, I am choosing to no longer do business on this forum. Everyone that has a pending order will need to contact me via email at TakticalHolsters@aol.com Thanks, -Tom&Tricia Last edited by hogdogs; December 6, 2012 at 11:44 AM. Reason: Removed image

December 22, 2012, 01:51 AM	#84
colbad Member Join Date: December 3, 2012 Posts: 71	I dry fire my Sig all the time. Dry fire, especially in front of the mirror working from the holster, is one of the best way to develop consistent presentation and muscle memory. Key is to make sure the weapon is empty....have known folks who forgot the unload part. I do believe that if you have a snap cap it takes some of the stress off the firing pin more in some guns than others.

December 22, 2012, 08:51 PM	#85
Nnobby45 Senior Member Join Date: November 20, 2004 Posts: 3,143	I've broken two firing pin noses: One a Model 13, the other a M66. One broke at the range and wasn't related to dry firing. The other--don't know when it broke, but the smithie saw a "problem" with the way the hammer aligned with the slot, and fixed it. Broke a firing pin on a SIG P239. Don't know when it broke--it still fired with the broken pin. The folks at SIG (back when you could actually talk to a real gunsmith) said to use snap caps. The firing pin can break because if it doesn't hit something it "wants to keep going". I use A-Zooms. Don't care for the brass kind with the spring. I've found pieces of brass in my trigger mechanisms. Empty shell casing in revolvers work ok for short term. Very short term, they become useless after a few strikes. A note on dry firing. It teaches you how to pull the trigger properly, and that's good, but it does NOT teach you about anticipating recoil and flinching. It teaches what you should do, but you still have to apply it during live fire. The cure for recoil anticipation and flinching is the very widely known (but not always practiced) principle of concentrating on the front sight until the shot breaks. Just my thoughts on the matter. Last edited by Nnobby45; December 22, 2012 at 09:04 PM.

December 23, 2012, 01:19 PM	#87
ChasingWhitetail91 Senior Member Join Date: October 10, 2012 Location: Connecticut Posts: 197	I never dry fire my shotguns or rifles. I don't own any handguns but if I did I wouldn't dry fire those either. __________________ Abraham Lincoln made all men free, Samuel Colt made them equal.

October 4, 2012, 01:19 PM	#76
TheBear Senior Member Join Date: April 11, 2011 Posts: 215	yes, all day long... never had any problems

December 17, 2012, 09:12 PM	#81
AdamSean Senior Member Join Date: November 18, 2007 Location: Tuscaloosa, AL Posts: 417	I practice weapon presentation almost daily. I do some dry fires weekly, and I use snap caps. The snap caps also help with practicing clearing malfunctions and reloads.

December 18, 2012, 02:22 PM	#82
crankshaft45 Junior Member Join Date: December 17, 2012 Posts: 3	When I was a young deputy I was cleaning my revolver (A Colt with a free floating fireing pin) one day just before time to leave for work. I closed the cylinder, pulled the trigger and the fireing pin broke off and flew out the end of the barrel. It was time to walk out the door to work and it was the only hand gun I had. I reported in with a loaded but in-operable firearm. When I went on the road I drove straight to a gun shop. He didn't have a new pin, but he kindly loaned me a gun until mine was fixed. Since then, if I don't have snap caps in the right calibre I double check them and put spent casings in to dry fire.

December 22, 2012, 12:26 AM	#83
Panfisher Senior Member Join Date: July 30, 2010 Location: Missouri Posts: 217	Very few days go by that I don't dry fire something, AR and 1911 are the most common ones as they are the handiest. In college on a rifle team we dry fired target rifles (Anschutz 64) thousands of times, neve had any problems there either. While I don't make it a continuous habit on rimfires I do dryfire them occasionally also. The next time I break a firing pin or damage something will be the first time.

December 23, 2012, 09:59 PM	#88
solocam72 Senior Member Join Date: December 15, 2012 Location: Idaho Posts: 221	Some people dry fire in hopes to eventually get a better feeling trigger pull, I personally don't dry fire unless its to check trigger weight and or feel, so I do dry fire but rarely, if I feel the need for a better trigger I either do a true trigger job or replace the trigger with a quality after market like a timney, jewel, rifle basix, jard. The last thing I would do is sit and dry fire away! To each his own

December 23, 2012, 10:22 PM	#89
dmazur Senior Member Join Date: July 5, 2007 Location: Pacific NW Posts: 1,239	Handguns, probably weekly. Rifles, almost never. And I "mix" iron sight (in reasonable light) and laser sights (in hardly any light), and try to watch the front sight/dot as I dry fire. My wife has always had trouble with squeezing the trigger, and she started doing dry-fire practice, too. It has helped, and she is encouraged by this. __________________ .30-06 Springfield: 100 yrs + and still going strong

December 24, 2012, 08:18 PM	#90
ltc444 Senior Member Join Date: March 3, 2011 Location: Vernon AZ Posts: 1,192	When I was firing competitively, I dry fired 10 per each live round. The dry firing was conducted with a pencil with tape around it so that it did not rattle in the barrel. When the hammer fell it launched pencil into a target taped to a wall which was 2 inches in front of the barrel. The pencil made a mark which allowed us to see exactly what we were doing. If the tape was properly applied we would achieve groups of 1/8 to 1/4 inches. Flyers were obvious.

April 17, 2013, 10:29 PM	#91
PVL Member Join Date: February 20, 2013 Posts: 79	I dry-fire the gun that I'm currently getting used to. The trigger is part of it, but the way you hold while firing also gets a workout. When first I took my new BLR '81 home, the trigger was less than delightful, being a bit hard and gritty. - So I practiced dry-firing at a knot hole on the tree outside my shop, through the window three or four times a day, three or four dry-fires each time. After a couple of weeks, the trigger was much smoother, and I was adjusted too... I got used to how it worked and how to hold the rifle by then, and the crosshairs were right on target whenever the hammer fell. Part of dry-firing is to call your shots. That's what Bell was doing, out in the African bush. Now, if I ever have to shoot a knothole through the window of my shop, I know that I'll probably nail it, first time! Seriously; The dry-fire practice with the BLR not only smoothed up the trigger, but also has given me a bit more confidence about hitting things with that gun, and taught me the best way to hold it for accuracy. It is intended for hunting, so confidence and proper handling is a big factor, there. I dry-fire my shotgun too, a nice over/under and you betcha I use snap caps in that gun. Something about the way it sounds when I dry-fire it without a snap cap tells me that it needs them. The manual to my Ruger Mk III says it's OK to dry-fire, but I try my best to avoid dry-firing rimfires anyway.