Myth – “Dry firing guns can damage them or wear them out.”
Fact – Dry fire exerts virtually no wear on most firearms.
Other than some slight wear and tear on some moving parts, dry fire does no harm and is crucial to learning to shoot better. Besides, if a firearm is doomed to failure if exposed to dry fire how can it ever hope to withstand the tens of thousands of pounds of pressure exerted inside the barrel every time a live cartridge is discharged?
Let’s pretend that dry fire will wear out parts prematurely. Ammunition is expended after one firing and must be replaced in order to shoot again, too. Having to occasionally replace some other component is just the cost of learning how to shoot better.
Keith G
Jan 29, 2010 @ 00:48:46
I learned from experience that this is not true. First let me say that dry firing is probably the most important step to becoming a good shooter. I dry fire a lot and have seen huge performance gains when competing. Even when not being able to make it to the range for long periods I have “improved” my shooting by dry practice. I have seen improvement in Bullseye, IPSC and 3 Gun shooting.
That being said if you dry fire enough you can damage some guns. I have personally broke the firing pins on a Beretta 92FS and a Sig 229. After that I started using snap caps and have never damaged any part of a gun since.
Glock and XD pistols don’t need them but most of the others handguns do.
Just my 2 cents.
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Mike L
Sep 24, 2010 @ 18:33:40
While I generally agree with you that dry firing important, there are many guns that just have “weak” firing pins. For example, the Cz. 52 has possibly one of the worst firing pins in the world. And this is from a gun that I bought unissued. Many older guns have flaws like this and I’m even told older ruger rifles.
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Chris
Mar 18, 2011 @ 15:54:19
My 92FS firing pin came out in 5 pieces. Now using snap caps, no further issues.
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Steve Boissoin
Jul 20, 2012 @ 10:35:24
My instructor wants me practicing via ‘dry firing’ on a daily basis. I get about 30-45mins in 4-5 days a week. According to him I don’t do it enough.
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