Craig Boddington in his book Shots at Big Game makes a statement that dry firing any bolt action is NOT harmful to the action.This is contrary to everything I heard or read previously.
I usually fire onto a spent primer but would like to hear any opinions as to realty.

Thanks

Some shot guns and most rimfires can be damaged dry firing but I have never had any problems dry firing bolt action centerfires.

Rick

I believe the prohibition against dry-firing dates back to the old days of leaf springs that were tempered by eye. With the advent of temperature controlled tempering and quality steel coil springs, dry-firing became a good way to get used to one's rifle, cheaply and quietly.

I've never encountered a problem dryfiring any centerfire rifle in my life......but I've broken a couple shotgun firing pins doing this.

I find little reason to do so.....at least let the firing pin fall on a spent primer if you don't have snap caps.

It has long been my practice to pull the trigger as I am closing the action on my bolt action rifles, so that the striker/firing pin spring is relaxed during storage.

For years I did much the same with my semi-auto, 1911 type pistols. Then I learned that practice on the pistol actually degraded the crisp, light trigger pull.

Is there any evidence that my treatment of bolt action rifles (pulling the trigger as I close the bolt) has a similar, negative affect on their triggers?

I dry fire every single day when I get up in the morning (unless I am away from home). If you practice sitting with a tight sling you shouldn't have any problem holding on a .5 MOA dot, and that will bring home the bacon, rest or no rest, bipod or no bipod. Never in the 24 years that I have been dry firing have I ever broken a firing pin. But even if I did, I would still dry fire. It doesn't teach you how to shoot in the wind, but it does teach you how to hold.

I totally agree with you, and have dry fired my rifles and pistols for many years without any damage to them.

In Marine Corps boot camp (back when rifles still had wooden stocks!) we dry fired all day long for the first week at the rifle range before we ever fired a live round. They called it "snapping-in" and they had white 55 gallon drums with black aiming dots all over them and we practiced getting into the sling and the different positions... and dry fired all day long, every day for a whole week at those drums.

Don't recall any weapons breaking down after all that supposed "abuse" either!

Rick

Letting the slide slam closed on an empty chamber will eventually destroy a good trigger job on a 1911...but dry firing does not do any harm to the firing mechanism.

Check that out with any company that specializes in building 1911 pistols.

Rick

An old timer once told me " a rifle that can't be dry fired for fear of hurtin' it ain't worth owning ".

Hey sheephunter, I also do a good bit of Dry Firing with all my firearms and have never had a problem. In the 22LRs I do put a spent casing in the chamber.

The very last time I saw a Firing Pin break was around 1985 on a brand new Stainless 357Mag heavy barrel Rossi revolver that a buddy had bought. He got it to put up on a shelf in his boathouse with Snakeshot in it for the occasional snake.

He stopped by to show it to me right after he had purchased it. I looked it over and it was basically a S&W clone. I asked how the trigger was and he said pretty good and for me to try it. I Dry Fired it maybe 3 times and it was pretty good for right out of the box. Handed it back to him and I was flipping through the Owner's Manual as he began Dry Firing out my front storm door.

Just as I got to a page that had "DO NOT DRY FIRE AS DAMAGE MAY OCCUR TO THE FIRING MECHANISM!", I heard a small metallic "clink" over by my storm door. The tip of the Firing Pin had broken off, gone through the chamber, through the barrel and reached the metal bottom of the door.

He put it back in the box, took it to a GunSmith who replaced the Pinned Firing Pin in about 5min, and then he traded it off without ever firing it for a similar Taurus.

The Taurus has endured lots of Dry Firing and firing without a problem. And has been exposed to the high humidity environment for about 9 years now without any visible effect.

I have had bolt actions since 1958 or so .. I never dry fire with out a snap cap or fired shell in the chamber to take the hit unless I have to, I usually close the bolt while holding the trigger back to relax the spring when I put the gun away ..never a problem until last Spring when I broke a fireing pin on a Mauser 98 -8mm -military rifle when dry fireing, for the first time, while checking the new trigger installation -(you would think the military stuff would be the strongest- go figure).. anyway,my 2 cents .. MPB

I have broken 3 firing Pins by dry-firing.

#1 a CZ-52 pistol, never dry fire them the pin is brittle and the tip will break off - I could hear the tip rattling down the barrel when it broke off!

#2 Dakota Model 10. Not only did dry-firing break the firing pin but it reamed out the firing pin hole in the block, both had to be replaced. Most Falling Blocks with an angled pin shouldn't be dry fired. Ruger #1's may be the exception.

#3 Sako TRG-22. This rifles firing pin is held in by 1 role pin. Dry firing just a few times to adjust the trigger caused the pin to shear off and render the gun inoperable. Never dry fire a Sako TRG.

I've dry-fired Remington 700, Winchester Model 70's, CZ's, Kimbers etc thousands of times with nary a problem but the exceptions to the rules were expensive!