Ruger Mk II Dry Firing

[Larry C]

Does anyone know if the MkII Rugers can be dryfired or is dryfiring NOT recommended by the factory?

[TexasRusty]

I have a 22/45 and I dry fire it quite a bit. It says in the manual to not dry fire it without the firing pin stop pin (or whatever it is they call it). I read this as, it is Ok to dry fire it as long as that pin is in place. The pin cannot be removed except when the gun is field stripped. And then it can only be removed by pounding it out.

I have dry fired mine at several thousand times with no ill effect.

[Ledbetter]

What Texas Rusty said. It's called a firing pin stop, and it stops the firing pin from damaging the chamber. It's the semi-circular thingie through which the firing pin passes perpendicularly; it sits in a slot at the top of the bolt on the end nearest the chamber.

[Calif Hunter]

Does anyone know if the original Ruger .22 auto had the firing pin stop?

[johnwill]

All the MK-II pistols have a firing pin stop, and can be safely dry-fired. I don't know if the earlier ones have the stop, if not, they may be damaged by dry-firing.

[MADISON]

I have had a Ruger Mk-2 pistol since 1989. The only trouble I have had with it was when [1] I used a STAINLESS STEEL cleaning brush.It took the rifling right out of the barrel. [2] I have lost 2 ejectors in eleven years.

You notice I have not mentioned "dry-firing". The OLDER guns would not let you dry-fire them. That has changed. I dry-fire mine to clear it, every time I finish shooting it. No problem with broken firing pins.

[PLASTIC SIG]

From what i understand the MK series were damaged by dry firing, while the newer 22/45 has the firing pin stop installed. At least thats what the aurmors say at the diffrent shops i buy from.


Tim

[redhawk44p]

I pull my bolt back a little when I dry fire. It keeps the firing pin from hitting. I never store a gun with the springs compressed.

[Fourgun Conclusion]

Fellow Ruger shooters be forewarned. I have a MK II SS slabside target with a trigger that is so sweet it begs to be dryfired, and have recently discovered that the entry into the chamber has been so damaged by dryfiring that a fresh round will nor chamber. A round inserted to the brass is so marked by the burr that it shaves lead on removal. As you can imagine, the burr is curled inward and makes an effective "barb". This was great shooter regularly turning in winning scores. I'm sick but wiser. I havn't learned many lessons for which I did not pay. I know this is an old thread, but if it helps someone else, so much the better.

[30-30remchester]

Speaking "rule of thumb" it is never ok to dry fire a rimfire firearm. The reason for this is the firing pin stikes a loaded case and crushes the rim of the soft brass case between the firing pin and the chamber rim of the barrel. If no case is in the chamber when it fired then the firing pin strikes the hard steel chamber. This can result in a few problems. Either the firing pin can break as it is smaller and lighter in construction. The firing pin can also be peened flat and thus not has as much crushing effect on the loaded cartridge as it has been shortened by repeated hammering against a hard surface instead of a soft brass "buffer". The chamber mouth of the barrel or cylinder of a revolver can be hit often enough to either peen a burr into the chamber and thus making difficult extraction or loading, also it again will lenghten the firing pin travel and again resulting in misfires. The last thing that can happen is the eventuall peening of the cylinder mouth or the outright breaking of the chamber mouth. I have a Colt Woodsman that was dry fired so much that it has a chip broken from the chamber mouth thus rendering the firearm usless. While gunsmithing I had a customer bring in a Smith & Wesson 22 revolver that had been dry fired so often that it peened a piece of the cylinder mouth into each chamber thus making it impossible to be loaded. All that being said apparently a few companies have addressed this problem like Ruger has of late.

[lee n. field]

Does anyone know if the MkII Rugers can be dryfired

Yes, it can.

[_CY_]

all Ruger .22 auto has a firing pin stop... but if you dry fire it enough... you will need to replace firing pin... big deal for the privilege of drying firing a jillion times.

[Walt Sherrill]

Hard to claim you shouldn't dry-fire a Ruger .22 semi-auto when 1) they have firing pin stops, and 2) you MUST dry-fire during disassembly and reassembly.

If the chamber is damaged from dry-firing, send it back to Ruger -- as the firing pin stop is obviously not functioning correctly.

[cecILL]

Fourgun, take a small chainsaw file and carefully remove the burr. Pistol will never know the difference.

[Dallas Jack]

If you are worried about dry firing get some snap caps.
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct...tnumber=213850
Dallas Jack

[demigod]

I had an old Ruger Mk 1 built in the 60s. Those models didn't have a bolt stop, so you ended up firing on and empty chamber at the end of each mag.

We must have put 40 thousand rounds through that thing. NO KIDDING. We shot a whole brick EVERY time we took it out. There was never an issue with that gun after thousands of dry fires.

[OJ]

TexasRusty
Senior Member
I have a 22/45 and I dry fire it quite a bit. It says in the manual to not dry fire it without the firing pin stop pin (or whatever it is they call it). I read this as, it is Ok to dry fire it as long as that pin is in place. The pin cannot be removed except when the gun is field stripped. And then it can only be removed by pounding it out.

Clearances differ in mass produced items and some of those pins come looser - you can probably guess how I know the pin can drop out accideentally and not noticed at the time. The "damage" is a nick in the top of the chamber - that can be smoothed out - making the gun usable again but it isn't the same - I call it tuition I paid.

Fourgun Conclusion Fellow Ruger shooters be forewarned. I have a MK II SS slabside target with a trigger that is so sweet it begs to be dryfired, and have recently discovered that the entry into the chamber has been so damaged by dryfiring that a fresh round will nor chamber. A round inserted to the brass is so marked by the burr that it shaves lead on removal. As you can imagine, the burr is curled inward and makes an effective "barb". This was great shooter regularly turning in winning scores. I'm sick but wiser. I havn't learned many lessons for which I did not pay. I know this is an old thread, but if it helps someone else, so much the better.

I'm with you -

I have a Government Model still intact and have learned to be more careful on dissassembly - really seldom needed.

MK 512 - the injured one -



Government Target Model - intact -

[Smaug]

I'm bumping this super-old thread to add some info, as I'm just encountering this now.

I have Iowegan's Book of Knowledge on the Mk. II pistols. I went to replace the worn extractor and file a flat on it per Iowegan's suggestion. Upon disassembly, I found the firing pin stop hard to remove. Reading more in the book I found that bending of the pin is caused by dry firing.

You won't damage the chamber, because of the stop pin. Yes, you have to dry fire it to disassemble, but dry firing other than that will eventually bend that pin. Better to use snap caps than to screw around and bend the pin.

Iowegan says a new stop pin can be made from a 1/16" drill bit. I *think* he also said it's the same pin as in the 10/22, but don't quote me on that; I'll have to double-check. 10/22 pins are easily available, while Mk. II parts are being slowly discontinued.

Also, Ruger Mk. III and newer pistols use a roll pin not a solid pin. Maybe that will hold up better to dry firing, as it has room to spring back?

I can't seem to find the buggers in stock anywhere, so I'm going to see if a 1/16" drill bit does indeed fit. If so, I'll make my own pin out of it with a Dremel cut-off wheel.

[Pahoo]

I am not a proponent of dry-firing "any" firearm unless there is some protection, like snap caps or blocking with your thumb. .......

However,
Before you guys snap back at me, "Again", I would add that there are times when it is neccessary/required. .......

So, staying on point; YES; but as an exception, on the MK-Family. ..


Be Safe !!!

[SIGSHR]

I use No. 6 drywall screw anchors. Yellow, easy to see, last boc, $5/100, each is good for about 10-12 hits.

[HighValleyRanch]

I shot a Ruger Mk I and and then a Ruger Mk II for all my years of bullseye competition. I dry fired the heck out of both of them, mainly the Mk I as it had a cleaner break on the trigger.
What I used was a small plastic tab to just keep the bolt open enough so the firepin would not slam, but still be able to activate the trigger. Had to keep it in place or put it back in every time I racked the bolt to reset the trigger. I mean like thousands of times.
I made it from the cap of a 5 gallon water bottle. Much easier to use than plastic screw anchors.

[Bill DeShivs]

There is a lot of information in this thread- both good and bad.
Removing a chamber burr with a chainsaw file is bad- very bad. The burr can usually be moved back into place with a chamber iron. Never remove the burr! Damaged chambers can now be laser welded back up. If you have a hole in your chamber where the pin hits a cartridge rim, the cartridge will not fire-at least reliably.

Any time you hit a piece of metal with another piece of metal, some deformation occurs-usually on the smaller part. Even if you won't damage your chamber dry firing, you can damage your firing pin. Drywall anchors won't help this, as the firing pin simply pierces them, providing little or no cushion to the firing pin.

[JohnKSa]

The burr can usually be moved back into place with a chamber iron.

Exactly.

https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-t...rod144240.aspx

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1007111192

[JJ45]

Originally Posted by TexasRusty

I have a 22/45 and I dry fire it quite a bit. It says in the manual to not dry fire it without the firing pin stop pin (or whatever it is they call it). I read this as, it is Ok to dry fire it as long as that pin is in place. The pin cannot be removed except when the gun is field stripped. And then it can only be removed by pounding it out.

I have dry fired mine at several thousand times with no ill effect.

I have a 22/45 standard 4 3/4" and can tell you the firing pin stop (pin) can fall out on it's own without any effort besides gravity if you are not careful. There may be different dimensional tolerances in some pistols that can cause this.

I always dry fire that pistol to de-compress although it might not be necessary. Years ago, after field stripping, the pin slipped out, unnoticed, and when I dry fired the weapon without the stop in place the firing pin put a notch in the breech face.

This made chambering a round impossible until I did some research and carved the notch even with the breech face with a sharp knife.

I found the escaped pin on my cleaning mat. There is still a vestige of that notch visible although not as deep and doesn't effect functioning But still bothers me.

[gwpercle]

Just Say No To Dry Firing ... without a snap cap / drywall anchor or some sort of protection ... just don't take a chance .
Gary