dumb pistol question

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diymirage

diymirage

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so im rotation some pistols out, and they are all striker fired
i figured the daily carry will be ready to shoot, but maybe it is a good idea to release the strikers on the ones that will be "unloaded" in the safe (unloaded meaning, no round in the chamber)

since i keep hearing i dont want to dryfire striker fired guns, i decided to be smart about this
so i replace the round in the chamber with a snapcap and pull the trigger

good, striker is released
rack the slide back to extract the snap cap and son of a gun, the striker is cocked again

so short of dry firing a without a round in the chamber, is there a way to release the striker?
or does it really not matter to keep then cocked, for perhaps years on end?
 
Doesn't matter. The amount of energy in a striker spring is pretty low, the amount of tension when 'cocked' is even lower.
If you really worry about it, just remove the slide from the frame. Fire on the snap cap, remove the slide, remove the barrel, remove snap cap, and put all the parts into a case to prevent part loss.
I'd be more worried about losing parts than about striker springs though.
 
Modern striker pistols don't really have a problem with dry firing. However, if you're worried about it, dry firing to release the spring tension is not a problem. Problems generally occur from repeated dry firings.
 
A few dry fires won’t hurt anything. It’s that or leave the snap cap in... I dry fire my Ruger at least once a week. Also why I like my CZ75 with a hammer and decocker...
 
I wouldn't own a firearm that can't be dry fired. In a modern pistol there should be no issues.
On the other hand, in order to not have the firing pin spring under compression you might try racking the action with the trigger pulled. That works on bolt action rifles for sure, maybe a pistol too.
 
why don't you dry fire the snap cap and just leave that cap in the chamber, if you have to use it you will have to chamber a round anyway thus ejecting the snap cap.
 
gzig5 said:
I wouldn't own a firearm that can't be dry fired. In a modern pistol there should be no issues.
On the other hand, in order to not have the firing pin spring under compression you might try racking the action with the trigger pulled. That works on bolt action rifles for sure, maybe a pistol too.
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this sounds sensible, so i will give that a shot
Ron816 said:
why don't you dry fire the snap cap and just leave that cap in the chamber, if you have to use it you will have to chamber a round anyway thus ejecting the snap cap.
Click to expand...

apart from tying up the snap caps, i like the idea of leaving the gun "empty"

but if i cant, this will probably be what i'll end up doing
 
I would be concern about dry firing a pistol or rifle that uses rimfire amno, the striker hits the outside mouth of the chamber instead of the soft brass rim of the cartridge. This can not only damage or destroy your firing pin, but over time will also peen the barrel face.
 
Dicer said:
I would be concern about dry firing a pistol or rifle that uses rimfire amno, the striker hits the outside mouth of the chamber instead of the soft brass rim of the cartridge. This can not only damage or destroy your firing pin, but over time will also peen the barrel face.
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These are all 9mm, so center fire
 
Pulling the trigger while racking the slide won't work in a pistol. Semi auto pistols have a 'disconnector' which disconnects the trigger from the action and allows the sear for the striker to reset. This is similar in almost all semi auto designs. It's what allows the hammer or striker to remain cocked without going full auto while the trigger is held.

I seriously wouldn't worry about it - or like I said, remove the slide. You'll get your snap cap back, you'll know the gun is in a safe condition, and no springs will be compressed (including the action spring in many cases). Just do yourself a favor and zip up the whole thing into a soft case so nothing gets lost.
 
We dry fired our M16's about a 1000 times in the week prior to qualification week, snapping on on barrels on the various shooting positions. Cocked them every time to get the feel of the trigger travel. Dry fired our M1911s into a sand filled "clearing tube" every time we did a guard change. I think the .45 I used in Barracks Duty was as old as the Commandant. Dry fired every day at least 6 times..year after year. No experience with rim fire but break barrel pellet rifles are not supposed to be fired with no pellets.
 
Some rimfires can be dry fired. It depends on whether the firing pin will actually contact the barrel face or not, and sometimes the FP design. My Anschutz target rifles can be, but I know a lot of lower and mid level stuff can peen the chamber and cause issues in short order.
 
dart_68 said:
Modern striker pistols don't really have a problem with dry firing. However, if you're worried about it, dry firing to release the spring tension is not a problem. Problems generally occur from repeated dry firings.
Click to expand...

There is such a thing as dry fire dummy rounds , for practicing/familiarization .
 
Scody21 said:
There sometimes call “snap caps”
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If you are too cheap to buy them, take a spent cartridge and use it as the snap cap. The primer will absorb the FP hit quite a few times. If you want a permanent one, punch the primer out and stick piece of eraser, plastic, rubber or what have you in the hole. I've found erasers to work well. Rimfire shells work well as snap caps too.
 
gzig5 said:
If you are too cheap to buy them, take a spent cartridge and use it as the snap cap. The primer will absorb the FP hit quite a few times. If you want a permanent one, punch the primer out and stick piece of eraser, plastic, rubber or what have you in the hole. I've found erasers to work well. Rimfire shells work well as snap caps too.
Click to expand...
You can't kill nobody with no eraser??????????:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::poke::mad:
 
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I'm against using spent cartridges for dry fire especially "for storage" Here's why:

AND NOW YET ANOTHER ANNOYING story from the old days

Dad had a couple of semi auto rifles Remington? I think? has the magazine in the butt. Anyhow, one of them had a fired round in the chamber and I was fiddlin' around and could NOT get it out of there. And I fiddled and diddled and tiddled and you know. And, about the 5th time I fiddled, and dry fired the thing IT WENT OFF into the floor of my upstairs bedroom. It turned out to be a short, and did not go through the ceiling below. BUT GOD DAMN!!!! I had dry fired the thing several times, and it "looked" like it obviously had been FIRED!!!
 
Put a lock on it or leave the slide open and put a cable lock on it. S&W come with a cable lock.
 
67Dart273 said:
I'm against using spent cartridges for dry fire especially "for storage" Here's why:

AND NOW YET ANOTHER ANNOYING story from the old days

Dad had a couple of semi auto rifles Remington? I think? has the magazine in the butt. Anyhow, one of them had a fired round in the chamber and I was fiddlin' around and could NOT get it out of there. And I fiddled and diddled and tiddled and you know. And, about the 5th time I fiddled, and dry fired the thing IT WENT OFF into the floor of my upstairs bedroom. It turned out to be a short, and did not go through the ceiling below. BUT GOD DAMN!!!! I had dry fired the thing several times, and it "looked" like it obviously had been FIRED!!!
Click to expand...

That was obviously not a spent cartridge, but a live round. Can't help you with that one other than to reiterate the Golden Rule.
 
gzig5 said:
That was obviously not a spent cartridge, but a live round. Can't help you with that one other than to reiterate the Golden Rule.
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What I'm sayin is, you leave a "spent" round in the weapon, IT MIGHT NOT be
 
Exactly. Hence the Golden Rule. Treat every firearm as if it is loaded. At all times.
 
gzig5 said:
I wouldn't own a firearm that can't be dry fired. In a modern pistol there should be no issues.
On the other hand, in order to not have the firing pin spring under compression you might try racking the action with the trigger pulled. That works on bolt action rifles for sure, maybe a pistol too.
Click to expand...

You don't own any rimfires?
 
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