Gun shop customers and dry firing.

[TCL]

It's all about courtesy. Just because a car has 4-wheel drive doesn't mean that veering into a mudpit at 60 miles per hour is part of the test drive.

Yup. I always clear a gun when it's handed over to me, then release the slide (gently!) in the case of an automatic. Then I ask permission to dryfire. I've never been refused, but I always ask. It's just the right thing to do.

(Tangent: I've never veered into a mudpit at 60mph on a test drive, but I was test-driving a Subaru once in the winter and the salesman invited me to take it into their snow-covered empty back lot and see what it could do. I didn't buy the car, but it sure was a fun test drive.)

[Aguila Blanca]

Just to get back on track, and not get sidetracked by a discussion of what's "proper etiquette" and what isn't (since it's unlikely there will ever be agreement on that), the actual question was

Originally Posted by shaunpain

The manuals say otherwise, but is it really okay to dry fire my semis like that? Am I going crazy?!?!?

So why is everyone spending so much time discussing gun shops? What about just answering the question?

[FrankenMauser]

I'm having a lot of trouble visualizing this one. Considering that the breech face is behind where the case head should be, and the firing pin extends through the breech face, how could dry firing even a rimfire possibly do ANYTHING to the breech face?

Hey, you're right. All my life, I've been using the term incorrectly.


I'd like to point out, though, that these pits (from JohnSKA's post) are some of the shallowest I have ever seen on a Buckmark:

The guy may have dry-fired enough to peen the chamber face, but he probably cleaned it frequently.