No pressure on the firing pin for storage? Do you?

kshuntercb

kshuntercb

New member
I have been thinking about this for a while. What are the schools of thought on pulling the trigger on your empty bolt rifle when you store it. Is there any facts to say this extends the life of your firing pin spring? Does anyone think this is a big deal or is it not even worth doing? Thoughts?
 
I relax the trigger on a bolt action --- with the bolt open, pull the trigger and hold it back, then close the bolt. I don't just close the bolt and dry fire it. Dry firing once in a while is OK, but my dad always told me it wasn't good to do it a lot.

Bob K.
 
on my bolt guns I do like mdsledder and pull the trigger then close the bolt. that way I release the trigger without dry firing. On my hammerless semi auto's and shotguns I make sure I have an empty chamber and I will dry fire them. I have heard it said that a dry fire is bad and others have said it does not hurt. Right or wrong that is what I do. Just a habit, for some reason in my head I don't like the spring to be under tension while in storage.
 
While I usually release all tension on springs inside a firearm, it's interesting to note that many people will keep a magazine fully loaded from a handgun or rifle for years and very seldom will this have a negative effect on the springs..

I've known officers that only empty a handgun magazine at the range during yearly or semi-yearly qualifications. Maybe it involves the way a spring is wound or tempered... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif..

We used to promote officers dry firing their weapons to practice better trigger control and I did it for years due to almost continual pistol team competitions.

The rimfire weapons are the only ones I 'know' of that can be easily damaged by dry firing since the industry moved from fixed to floating firing pins..
 
I release the firing pin when I store a weapon. But, I have come to learn that the tension will not negatively affect a spring one bit. With most springs, depending on stress levels, 95% of the "set" will be accounted for after only 1 compression. It is really not affected by any amount of time it is held. the other 5% of set would happen little by little on the next thousand compressions or so, each cycle with slighty less set than before, maybe .001" per cycle. Eventually the spring will break under fatigue but most springs in a gun would be designed for at least 100,000 cycles. So, technically speaking, releasing and recompressing the spring is more harmful than leaving it compressed, but niether one is damaging enough to see any effects during the useful life of the gun. The exception being, if the gun were to be exposed to extreme temperatures, say 300 degrees or more. That would tend to affect a compressed spring much more than a relaxed one. That is called heat-set.
 
I recently read in a magazine, don't remember which one, it might have been SWAT, that the average shelf life on compressed springs in loaded magazines was well over 10 years due to the improved metallurgical makeup of the spring metal. Like Blue Can said, I would imagine that the rapid compression and decompression would take more of a toll on the spring than leaving it compressed. I would think that a well made spring would be more prone to breakage than it ever would lack of tension.
 
Dry firing on an empty cylinder is not a good idea as the firing pin is case hardened metal. May break. Using snap caps that are made for that purpose is a much better idea. Leaving the spring under pressure is not good either as later in usage you may come with a harder or thicker primer and not enough pressure to force the anvil to engage. Always a good idea to release the pressure. Snap caps are cheap compared to the price some of the guns and customizing I am hearing on this blog.
 
None of my firearms are stored cocked. A trusted gunsmith told me it just was not a good idea.

I have three magazines each for AR and 9MM of which two are kept loaded. Two 30 rounders (AR) are stored with 25 rounds. The 15 rounders (9MM) are stored with 14 rounds. About two or three times a year the empty mag is rotated in to service and one of the loaded ones is emptied.

Good idea???? Just what I do.
 
I think most bolt springs are under pressure even when uncocked. They do not move or release very much anyway.

My opinion is worth what you paid for it.
 
Like stated above I have six mags for my Model 22 Glock I keep two of them loaded at all times. About once or twice a year I'll swap out the loaded ones for fresh ones, just a habit. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 
Quote:
It really doesn't matter on coil springs. I do pull the trigger on mine though.



Exactly.
I do the same thing.
Coil springs don't take a "set" when left compressed, but leaf springs are a different story.

Martyn
 
I relax all the springs in my weapons, except for rimfires as mentioned above.

My mags I switch out every three months. Some people tell me that it doesn't wear out the mag springs by keeping them loaded, but I switch them out anyway. This has worked for me so there is no reason to change in my book.
 
Quote:
Dry firing on an empty cylinder is not a good idea as the firing pin is case hardened metal. May break. Using snap caps that are made for that purpose is a much better idea. Leaving the spring under pressure is not good either as later in usage you may come with a harder or thicker primer and not enough pressure to force the anvil to engage. Always a good idea to release the pressure. Snap caps are cheap compared to the price some of the guns and customizing I am hearing on this blog.



While I fully understand your comment, most manufacturers aren't at all shy about saying dry firing is just fine. Ruger says go for it on all their guns INCLUDING their .22LRs as does S&W.

Having said that, I usually use snap caps when I'm dry fring more than once or twice. Don
 
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