January 22, 2011, 05:39 PM | #1 |
Member
Join Date: January 11, 2011
Location: Monroe WA
Posts: 30
|
Do you Dry Fire???
How much and how often do you dry fire your weapons. Obviously not your rimfires because it is bad for it. Bolt guns and handguns. How much and how often?
|
January 22, 2011, 05:44 PM | #2 |
Senior Member
Join Date: December 19, 2008
Location: milton, wv
Posts: 3,640
|
Bolt guns.... I dont.
... handguns... usually not... ..but I have before..not very often.
__________________
Desert Eagle Alliance Group Launcher Extraordinaire ______ ----Get Busy Live'n.....Or....Get Busy Die'n......Red -------They call me Dr. Bob,,,, I have a PhD in S&W |
January 22, 2011, 05:46 PM | #3 |
Senior Member
Join Date: August 14, 2009
Location: Georgia
Posts: 386
|
I dont like to dry fire my bolt guns but Ive drie fired the mess out of my glock and airweight. its good practice for muscle memory. Never used a snap cap or nothin like that.
|
January 22, 2011, 06:10 PM | #4 |
Senior Member
Join Date: March 6, 2006
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 3,324
|
I've been dry firing my whole life and have failed to damage a single firearm yet, including rimfires. I don't know how this no dry fire myth started. Maybe from the very cheapest or old brittle firearms which I tend to stay away from.
__________________
Proud NRA Benefactor Member |
January 24, 2011, 12:09 AM | #5 |
Senior Member
Join Date: October 18, 2006
Posts: 283
|
Sometines but not much, no need to do kit anymore. I used to dry fire in the first few years I shot but I got to the point where I did not need it anymore. I still do kit with a new gun to get used to the trigger but then again the best way to get used to a trigger is to go shooting.
All the best, GB
__________________
When I look in the mirror, I am happy to see, some of that nine year old boy, who used to be me. http://ballseyesboomers.blogspot.com/ |
January 24, 2011, 08:30 PM | #6 |
Senior Member
Join Date: December 25, 2010
Posts: 587
|
I dry fire a lot. For me it let's me know how I'm moving the gun when I pull the trigger. With revolvers i usually lose count of my shots and end up dry firing at the end.
__________________
Someday I'll be good enough to know if a gun is accurate or not. |
January 24, 2011, 08:40 PM | #7 |
Senior Member
Join Date: September 5, 2010
Location: McMurdo Sound Texas
Posts: 4,322
|
A lot (and I consistently make dime sized groups at 200 yards with my P229 everytime
__________________
Cave illos in guns et backhoes |
January 24, 2011, 09:25 PM | #8 |
Member
Join Date: January 6, 2011
Posts: 17
|
I end up dry-firing at the end of my magazine on my BL-22. It holds 15 long rifles and I don't always keep track. can sometimes tell based on how it feels when i work the action weather or not it feeds a cartridge, but I end up dry firing plenty.
|
January 24, 2011, 09:34 PM | #9 |
Senior Member
Join Date: October 10, 2010
Posts: 317
|
i do on my pistols. i dont mind
yea. i bet we all have done the accidental dry fire when we empty the mag. |
January 24, 2011, 09:44 PM | #10 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: February 16, 2006
Location: IOWA
Posts: 8,783
|
Quote:
Others; Hardly ever and always ask permission. ... Last Saturday looked at a 10/22 and asked permission. One, I knew it was safe and two, I asked two more times so he was confortable. Be Safe !!! |
|
January 24, 2011, 09:48 PM | #11 |
Junior member
Join Date: October 4, 2007
Location: All the way to NEBRASKA
Posts: 8,722
|
Often..... at least once a week, all my pistols and most of my rifles.
|
January 25, 2011, 12:23 AM | #12 |
Senior Member
Join Date: June 16, 2008
Location: Wyoming
Posts: 11,061
|
Constantly, rilfe, pistol, revolver..............everything.
Excluding 22 rimfires of course but I dry fire them with snap caps.
__________________
Kraig Stuart CPT USAR Ret USAMU Sniper School Distinguished Rifle Badge 1071 |
January 25, 2011, 03:48 PM | #13 |
Junior Member
Join Date: January 25, 2011
Location: Overland Park, Ks
Posts: 1
|
I have been dry firing ever since Marine Corps boot camp. I do it alot with all weapons. I feel you get to know your weapon better by doing this. If you dont dry fire do it and you will see your trigger control increase.
__________________
Semper Fi "Keep your Powder Dry" |
January 25, 2011, 08:31 PM | #14 |
Junior Member
Join Date: June 27, 2006
Posts: 5
|
I dry fire all the time as well.
|
January 27, 2011, 11:30 AM | #15 |
Junior member
Join Date: March 22, 2009
Location: U.S.A.
Posts: 817
|
Depends on what it is. Most things it won't hurt.
I don't dry fire AKs because the hammer whacks against a receiver support member and I doubt it's hurting it but I don't want it repeatedly hitting that thing on the same spot. |
January 27, 2011, 11:42 AM | #16 |
Junior member
Join Date: January 13, 2011
Posts: 376
|
SSSDF.... ****, shower, shave, dry fire
|
January 27, 2011, 12:35 PM | #17 |
Senior Member
Join Date: October 18, 2008
Location: Northern New England
Posts: 169
|
I dry fire regularly (including my rimfire guns–see http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=438316) I prefer to use snap caps with my centerfire guns as well–just cautious. Dry firing is important practice for gaining trigger control. I don't put limits on the amount I dry fire. As much as I want.
|
January 27, 2011, 12:58 PM | #18 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 31, 2007
Location: NC
Posts: 2,614
|
Quote:
My primary match gun has tens of thousands of dry trigger pulls on it. Quality dry fire fine-tunes trigger control, but helps gun handling and perhaps more importantly, vision skills as well, so the actual trigger pull is sometimes skipped when I want primarily work on gun handling and "seeing more". Just as I'm my wasting time & ammo at matches if I haven't spent quality time at the range, I'm wasting time & ammo at the range if I haven't done my dry fire "homework". In the end, then, it all comes back quality dry fire practice. And, it's free, for Pete's sake!! Why anyone who sincerely wants to become a better shooter wouldn't dry fire is beyond me. |
|
January 27, 2011, 03:09 PM | #19 |
Senior Member
Join Date: November 16, 2005
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 109
|
Everything but the rimfires.
|
January 27, 2011, 05:04 PM | #20 | |
Staff
Join Date: March 4, 2005
Location: Ohio
Posts: 21,063
|
Quote:
So, it's not a bad practice to use snap caps. particularly on rimfire guns. Even in 1911's, which can usually take one heck of a firing pin beating, those orange snap caps make a good quick way to identify a safe chamber or a magazine filled with dummies for clearing exercises. Jcvibby, When I was still active in bullseye pistol match shooting, the rule of thumb was to dry fire three times for every live round you put down range. In those matches, with a couple of relays, you can spend most of a day just getting 270 rounds down range, so it didn't take much doing to triple that count during the week at home, while waiting for next weekends match day to roll around. In later years, when I starting visiting Gunsite, they taught a whole dry fire gun handling procedure that involves not only emptying the gun and or/using dummies, but locking your ammunition in a box so you can't get confused about the condition of the firearm. When you start working dryfire practice into presentation practice and magazine speed change practice, the feedback you get on front sight movement at hammer fall is especially useful to avoiding developing a bad trigger yanking habit.
__________________
Gunsite Orange Hat Family Member CMP Certified GSM Master Instructor NRA Certified Rifle Instructor NRA Benefactor Member and Golden Eagle |
|
February 15, 2011, 09:41 AM | #21 |
Senior Member
Join Date: June 23, 2010
Location: Missouri
Posts: 1,039
|
The manuals for two of the guns I own (Ruger SP101 and T/C Venture) both state "dry firing will NOT damage the weapon). Both of these get dry fired w/o snap caps. All the other center fires get dry fired with snap caps. It has improved my trigger control and shooting accuracy many times over.
The question in my mind after a session has always been, Is it worse to dry fire a weapon before putting it away or leave it cocked over a long period of time? Now, If I can release the trigger without dry firing (as in the case of a hammer gun) I usually do that. |
February 15, 2011, 10:07 AM | #22 |
Senior Member
Join Date: February 15, 2011
Location: Gods waiting room.
Posts: 103
|
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
|
February 15, 2011, 12:57 PM | #23 |
Staff
Join Date: March 4, 2005
Location: Ohio
Posts: 21,063
|
Cowboy_mo,
There's nothing to stop you from leaving a plastic snap cap chambered after dropping the hammer. In general, both mainsprings and magazine springs can take a set over time, losing strength, but how much time depends on the spring design and how compressed it is. Also, obviously, it depends how much extra strength margin was designed into the spring. I've never had either the mainspring or magazine springs in my 1911 take a set, despite spending extended periods of time cocked and locked. My old Ruger Mk I bull barrel pistol had a magazine spring that got weak and had to be replaced. I got that gun used for $68 in 1968, and the spring only went south about 5 years ago, so maybe that gives you some idea of the time required. I've probably put 25,000 rounds through it, and have no idea what went through it before I got it. At one point in the middle of its service life for me, I had to chamfer the back of the bolt tunnel because it had finally battered enough to drag on the bolt. So it's seen some wear. I normally only put 5 rounds in those magazines at a time, but it's like 6 because of my extended followers. The followers consume one round of capacity, so they make the magazines rest with the equivalent spring pressure of one round being in them all the time.
__________________
Gunsite Orange Hat Family Member CMP Certified GSM Master Instructor NRA Certified Rifle Instructor NRA Benefactor Member and Golden Eagle |
March 5, 2011, 09:31 PM | #24 |
Junior member
Join Date: February 2, 2010
Posts: 6,846
|
I have an 03A3 spfld set up with a dry fire device specifically for inside practice. This neat little piece replaces the firing pin tip making it impossible to fire a round while preventing damage to the bolt or striker/firing pin. Just watch hunting shows and take as many shots as you want while practicing your action operation to speed up followup shots.
|
March 5, 2011, 11:30 PM | #25 |
Staff
Join Date: February 12, 2001
Location: DFW Area
Posts: 24,994
|
I do a lot of dryfiring with my handguns, not nearly so much with my rifles.
__________________
Do you know about the TEXAS State Rifle Association?
|
|
|