With all due respects, to those who say it is okay to dryfire w/o snap caps may have a point, but I will agree with Pope 130. Snap caps assure no damage and it adds to the training sequence when used. All of my firearms have snap caps for my practice training. IMHO
Lots of center-fire arms that shouldn't be dry-fired. Star Firestar pistols are notorious for breaking firing pins from dry fire, some Llamas as well. Early S&W revolvers with the fixed hammer nose can suffer peening and distortion, Lugers will jam the striker in the forward position, Savage/Stevens pump shotguns will break the tip off the firing pin. SKSs without the return spring will sometimes jam the firing pin forward and can slam-fire.
I wouldn't dry fire without a snap cap without specific advice from the maker.
I wouldn't dry fire at all.
The less you do it the better, honestly.
If you want to get a feel for your rifle or handgun, go to the range, load it up, and shoot it for real. That'll give you all the feel you could ever want and more. :]
Look; if you don't want to dry fire as a matter of principle; that's fine. If you don't want to dry fire because of certain rimfires or older weapons that had issues at one time; that's fine too. But don't have the original poster believe that somehow dry firing is going to harm is PA-63. It's not; it never has; and that's the way it is. No one is saying anyone else has to dry fire their gun. It's your gun, do what you want with it. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with dry firing most centerfire pistols; especially those with spring loaded firing pins. This firing pin has a spring around it; as well as a spring and plunger on the bottom of it to keep it moving straight. (Trust me; I'm one of those who wasn't thinking when I removed the firing pin and shot it across the living room and had to buy a new firing pin spring, tension spring, and tension plunger. Anyway, there is absolutely nothing going to be harmed by dry firing this gun.
I made my own snap cap for my CZ-82. Pulled a bullet, dumped the powder, shot the primer, stuck the bullet back in, drilled out the spent primer, and stuffed part of a pencil eraser in there. Works like a charm.
I always use snap caps with my Rem. 700. Like Pope130 said, cheap insurance. The best use of snap caps that I have found is to randomly load them into a magazine with live rounds. It helps to drill in the automatic reaction to a misfire.
Its your weapon if you want to beat it with a sledge hammer that is fine with me .There are not any weapons dryfired in my house and it is my preference not to,it was the way I was taught and even air rifles have isues with dryfireing that will shorten the life of the rifle(or seals)my Dad and Grandpa would rollover in their grave should I ever dryfire a weapon,snapcaps all the way for those that can not be decocked to relieve spring tension and dont care if the factory said I can once it is mine it will get TLC.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dakoma
Its your weapon if you want to beat it with a sledge hammer that is fine with me .There are not any weapons dryfired in my house and it is my preference not to,it was the way I was taught and even air rifles have isues with dryfireing that will shorten the life of the rifle(or seals)my Dad and Grandpa would rollover in their grave should I ever dryfire a weapon,snapcaps all the way for those that can not be decocked to relieve spring tension and dont care if the factory said I can once it is mine it will get TLC.
i been waiting all day to quote clint eastwood
lighten up francis.
seriously
the owners manuals for my ruger sp-101 and the new model blackhawk as well as my S.A.1911A1 say to dry fire them to get used to the trigger pull.
__________________ "I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person I'm preaching to."
Yes, and there's people who still change their oil in their car every 3,000 miles because they think they're suppose to. Probably because Jiffy-Lube puts the little sticker in your window saying that's when it's due. (They make more money that way). Even though the owner's manual says 5,000-7,500 miles depending on most cars.
But you are correct Billy. Many gun; and most all newer ones; have absolutely no problem with dry firing them. If there's a gun out there who's manual says not to; I'll buy that. But saying not to because that's the way you were taught and great grand dad did it that way isn't the right answer. That leads to people believing that some actual harm will come to it. When in fact, there won't on most guns.
Then again, people use to use leaches to suck blood out of people to heal sickness. At least some things we've evolved and "LEARNED" the truth about. The funny thing is that you MUST PULL the firing pin totally forward manually on the PA-63in order to take the safety out and remove the firing pin. TOTALLY FORWARD is about 1000% further than the firing pin would EVER go firing it. I'm curious how many people who think dry firing the PA-63 is bad, has actually ever taken the firing pin out???? If you had, then you'd know that there is absolutely no way based on the channeling of the firing pin, spring, AND CHANNEL HOLE that it sits in; that any damage could ever happen. Sorry; but I only deal with facts.
If you are referring to the scene in Stripes, quoting Sgt. Hulka as saying "Lighten up, Francis", you would actually be quoting Warren Oates, not Clint Eastwood. I have a feeling that if it were Clint Eastwood in Stripes, they wouldn't have even been able to come close to pulling off what they did in that movie! Reference Heartbreak Ridge for how it SHOULD have been run!
Back on topic... I have to go with you 100% in saying to read the manual!
I have always wondered about the PA-63 in regards to dry firing. I have a CZ-70 and broke the firing pin in two by dry firing it. 15 to 20 times at the most and it broke. The pin looks like a long, skinny hourglass shape and it broke at the skinny point. $20 bucks to get a new one. Since they are similar, I never dry fired the PA-63. I will abstain from doing that, just to be sure. thanks for the information.
My 2 cents, for what it's worth, I agree with the comment, CHEAP INSURANCE.
And my own thoughts, IT SURE CAN'T AND WON'T HURT, SO WHY NOT..They're not that expensive. It's sure cheaper then having to fix it because you didn't use them and should have.
__________________ "My next door neighbors two dogs have created more shovel ready jobs then Obama has." - Gary Johnson
