If you're going to dry fire, get some snap caps first.

[4V50 Gary]

Fellow at Arfcom broke his Glock slide by dry firing without snap caps.

https://www.ar15.com/forums/general/...ce-/5-2032081/

[TXAZ]

Known problem with Glocks.
Once or twice shouldn't be an issue but repeatedly it's a statistical issue.

[O4L]

Originally Posted by TXAZ

Known problem with Glocks.
Once or twice shouldn't be an issue but repeatedly it's a statistical issue.

Never heard this before.

[DaleA]

I've made fun of Glocks a few times but I had never heard this either.

I mean, I believe the Glock requires you to pull the trigger before you disassemble it. Guess you better have a snap cap then.

Thanks for posting this.

Guess if I ever get down the bucket list far enough to get that 10mm Glock I better get some snap caps too.

[JohnKSa]

I mean, I believe the Glock requires you to pull the trigger before you disassemble it. Guess you better have a snap cap then.

You don't need a snap cap to disassemble a Glock without damage.

Once or twice shouldn't be an issue but repeatedly it's a statistical issue.

You can definitely dryfire a Glock more than "once or twice" without damage.

There's dryfiring and there's dryfiring.

If, when you say "dryfiring" you mean that you're going to dryfire to disassemble the gun, to perform basic function checks, and for occasional practice then there's no problem with dryfiring without snapcaps as long as the manufacturer of the firearm doesn't forbid dryfiring.

BUT, if, when you say "dryfiring" you mean that you're going to dryfire every night while you watch TV and keep it up, day after day, until the skin of your finger wears the face of the trigger to a mirror smooth finish, then it would probably be wise for you to use snapcaps--and probably other precautions against wear/damage.

Known problem with Glocks.

Well, yes and no.

Yes, it is possible, if you really try hard, to eventually damage a Glock by dryfiring it.

No, I don't think it's entirely accurate to call it a "problem with Glocks". I think you can wear out just about anything if you try hard enough. I've got a Ruger P89 that actually has serious wear to the frame from a LOT of dryfiring. The trigger pivots against the frame and that friction, over time, has actually caused enough wear that the trigger linkage tolerances have been altered to the point that the gun won't fire consistently in double-action.

[DaleA]

Okay then. I guess I've got the story and now 'the rest of the story'.

Thank you all for putting ALL this information out there.

[Spats McGee]

I kind of always figured that if you dry fired enough without snap caps, something would eventually break or get bent out of shape. I did not expect for that something to be the slide.

[johnwilliamson062]

Is this damage due to dry firing or cycling the slide tens of thousands of times to reset the action?
On SOME rimfires dry firing can wear the firearm out much faster than regular firing.
Anyone who thinks you aren't putting any wear on a gun when dry firing is a fool though. This info is only useful with the amount the firearm was dry-fired and live fired included. If it was dry fired 200,000 times on top of live fire, which is in fact possible if someone is doing dry fire training nightly, who cares?
Glocks are tedious, but very easy to dryfire a DA a thousand times during a few episodes of a show.

[Ricklin]

I had a heck of a time "adjusting" to my Gen 3 G19.

It took a lot of range time, and a crap ton of dry firing to become proficient with the Glock.

Only thing that did is improve the trigger. Other Glock owners ask me what I did to get such a great trigger.

All I did was use it a lot.....Oh and cleaned it. No mods. I did try changing to a lighter trigger, thought better of it and went back to stock.

Great break, and a really quick reset. Well great for a Glock.

[hdwhit]

4V50 Gary wrote:
If you're going to dry fire, get some snap caps first.

Amen.

It takes a pretty stiff jolt for the firing pin to deform the primer cup against the anvil of the primer sufficiently to ignite it. The deformation of the primer cup acts sort of like a "trampoline" absorbing the energy of the firing pin. Whether hammer fired or striker fired, when a gun is dry fired, the energy that would otherwise be expended crushing the primer cup against the anvil has to go someplace and a lot of that energy is consumed in vibrating the firing pin itself. How long the firing pin can dissipate that energy without sustaining damage is dependent upon the material and design of the firing pin, but it is not infinite, so using snap caps to cushion the blow is a reasonable, prudent and inexpensive way to safeguard the life of a critical component.

[Hawg]

I've dry fired my 1911 thousands of times and my SA 44-40 about the same. The only thing I won't dry fire are .22's except for when they run out and anything that takes percussion caps.

[dgludwig]

Taurus advises not to dry-fire their double-action revolvers-I have no idea why the reason(s) for said admonition but I'm not going to argue the point.

[Ricklin]

Glock has no recommendations against dry fire.

I don't dry fire many others at all, but I am not anal about it. It took a lot of shooting and dry fire to get comfortable with the trigger on the G19.

Never dry fire percussion guns, really hard on the nipples. I typically don't dry fire my .22s either. Only the Glock really. And hey it got better.

[reddog81]

IMO snap caps are a waste of money. The guy in the posts admits to dryfiring a ton. Snap caps aren't cheap and if used enough will start to fall apart. You'd probably spend hundreds of dollars replacing crappy snap caps before you'd dryfire it enough to risk damage to the gun. I'll take the risk that the Glock breaks and have the manufacturer replace it before wasting any more money on snap caps.

[dgludwig]

[QUOTE]: IMO snap caps are a waste of money.

Yeah, they're really expensive...

[jmr40]

Most modern firearms that breaks while being dry fired with or without snap caps would have broken at exactly the same round count if it were all live fire. There are a handful of exceptions.

I have 40 year old guns that I'd estimate have been dry fired 100,000 times of more. If you fire a gun, dry or live, 100,000 times something is prone to break.

Dry fire is cheap practice, to have live fired 100,000 rounds of 30-06 ammo over the last 40 years would have cost me $50,000-$75,000. If the something breaks I came out ahead even if the gun can't be saved.

[reddog81]

[QUOTE=dgludwig;6510445]

: IMO snap caps are a waste of money.

Yeah, they're really expensive...

Expensive or not they're a waste of money... at $3 a pop they aren't cheap

[Ibmikey]

Sometimes I use snap caps in my single action Colts mainly to practice reload and lining the five cartridges correctly in the cylinder (empty under hammer). My Star pistols have a snap cap in them as they are FP breakage prone if dry fired, my 1911's have had a jillion dry fires by me and no idea while in the hands of GI's.
I dry fire my Smith revolvers and always have since joining a PD in 1963, shot on the pistol team and built shooting abilities by dry firing....never broke a revolver yet.
With few exceptions dry firing is a help not a hindrance.

[johnwilliamson062]

Snap caps aren't cheap and if used enough will start to fall apart.

Seriously? I don't know how many fires a decent snap cap can take, but my 9mm certainly have tens of thousands and I haven't had any issues at all.

Compared to all the other expenses of shooting snap caps are absolutely negligible. Eat a can of tuna and pack of ritz crackers for lunch one day and use the saving to pay for snap caps.

[44 AMP]

Cheap plastic snap caps will get chewed up, over time, in a semi auto. Metal ones cost more, but last about forever.

If you reload, make your own! cost, one case, one bullet and a piece of hard rubber or plastic glued in place to replace the fired primer.

I have a Ruger Blackhawk, (from the 80s) and the manual specifically states "dry firing will not harm the gun".

[AK103K]

I dont know if the snap caps do anything to prevent this or not, but I figure they cant hurt.

I dry fire my one 17 pretty heavily, and pretty much daily, and have done so for the past 8 years or so. I do use snap caps (AZoom's), and this is one of the reasons why. The other is safety. You cant "accidentally" have a live round in the gun when the snap cap is in there. The AZooms last a good long time and are cheap enough.

I shoot this gun at least once a week, and considering its just passed 122000+ rounds this past weekend, and its easily got 10 times that in dryfire, and so far, the only thing to have broken has been a trigger return spring at around 90,000 rounds (the gun still actually functioned with it broken too), I figure I got my money out of it, and those AZooms still arent hurting anything.

[Ibmikey]

No one has said snap caps would "hurt anything" I sometimes use them but my point is except with certain pistols they are not needed. As far as the safety aspect, true with a. Snap cap there will be no AD however make sure no loose live ammo is mixed with the caps.
With any rimfire I hesitate to dry fire, Azoom .22's are not snap caps but action proving cartridges and will be destroyed with just a few dry firings. I have not seen how the 17 cap is made So no comment.

[Rangerrich99]

That guy did an enormous amount of dry-fire practice.

On a side note, I was thinking of making my own snapcaps, but I figured I could just leave the spent primers in? Will that not work?

[AK103K]

I sometimes use them but my point is except with certain pistols they are not needed.

They may not be needed with casual handling, but I wonder about constant and heavy dry firing and use. I dont think that is something youre average shooter does, nor do the makers consider likely.

Over the years, Ive only had a couple of guns break parts due to use, and one of those was the firing pin in my one M1A that was used in competition. It too had a high round count and was constantly dry fired and shot. I didnt use snap caps with it, mainly because the AZooms werent available at the time, and the old "Tipton" type in .308 would not fit properly. Not that they would have lasted long anyway.

These days for those type rifles, they make a small dry fire device that eliminates the problem.

Snap cap there will be no AD however make sure no loose live ammo is mixed with the caps.

I think thats a pretty obvious thing. I only use the one snap cap in the gun, and dont load the mag with them.

Ive actually quit using snap caps for failure drills with my hanguns since Ive found out how crappy Remington primers are. They offer random and constant failures, so its a lot more realistic.

That guy did an enormous amount of dry-fire practice.

On a side note, I was thinking of making my own snapcaps, but I figured I could just leave the spent primers in? Will that not work?

It wont work long, and whats worse, you cant tell at a glance, that you actually have a snap cap in the gun. Everything looks like live ammo.

I tried making them early on, looking for a solution back before the AZooms were around. Those old red plastic "Tipton" type caps suck and were very short lived.

I tried all sorts of things in the primer pockets of decapped brass to help cushion the firing pin with poor to mediocre results. More apt to cause problems than help.

The AZooms are of a color you cant mistake and hold up very well to constant use.

[mrdaputer]

On a side note, I was thinking of making my own snapcaps, but I figured I could just leave the spent primers in? Will that not work?

You can make up a few dummy rounds. Old spent primers no powder. To be on the safe side I would color them so there is no chance of mistaking a live round for a dummy round.