is it bad to "dry fire" a shotgun? like firing it without bullets. i have a pump shotgun, and i accidentally pulled the trigger when there was no shell in there.
You can dry fire it all you want and it will not hurt the gun in the least. The only guns that you don't want to dry fire is a rim fire cause the firing pin will make contact with the breech face and eventually dent it.
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With most guns other then rim fire unless checked for firing pin protrusion, it is fine and actually a good way of practicing trigger control and all those fine points of shooting.
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Only if there's something already wrong with the firing pin. The metals used to manufacture modern firearms parts are strong enough to easily withstand the relatively mild force of the hammer/striker falling without yielding a bit. I wouldn't spend a lot of time dryfiring a gun that was made over 75 years ago, but any CF gun made in the last half of the twentieth century can take all the dry firing you could ever hope to do over the service live of the weapon.
If you are really worried, you can get yourself a couple "Snap-Caps" or a similar off brand product. These are plastic "dummy" cartridges that have a brass base and a spring loaded brass "primer" that is designed to provide the same resistance as a real primer and absorb some of the force of impact. They are fairly cheap, and can be ordered for just about any cartridge you can think of. They aren't really necessary, but if they offer you peace of mind then go for it.
On a side note about the Snap-Caps; they make excellent training aids at the range if you shoot a semi-auto pistol or rifle. You can have a friend load one or more (or none) Snap-Caps in the magazine so you don't know where they are. Then the "coach" can watch you shoot and when you drop the hammer on a Snap-Cap you'll instantly see any flinch and many other marksmanship wrecking tendensies that are covered up by recoil. You as the shooter will also see/feel the problems with your shooting form when there is no shot to mask the problem.
dry firing is ok... But if it is a semi-auto I wouldn't cycle the chamber over and over again... I am in the opinion that any metal/metal contact is bad.
I am in the opinion that any metal/metal contact is bad
Then you'd better not ever operate any type of firearm, as they all exhibit a great deal of metal-to-metal contact during their normal operation.
If metal-to-metal contact of so harmful, then firing the rifle would wear it out just as fast as cycling it by hand. If a semi-auto couldn't handle the repeated impact of the action cycling then the life expectancy of a semi-auto firearm would be very short. But the fact is that semi-auto firearms are capable of experiencing literally thousands of shots without appreciable wear, with the bolt slamming home at full force every time. The simple fact is that the yield strength of the metals used so far exceeds the forces applied to them during all normal operating conditions that no appreciable damage will ever occur from the simple manual manipulation of the slide/bolt.
Nothing wrong with dry firing, BUT there's a heck of a lot wrong with accidentally pulling a trigger! Keep your finger off the trigger until you're ready to shoot
(or dry fire). Be sure of your target, always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction,
and remember, IT'S LOADED (even if it ain't).
it this bad for it?
