Dry Firing Savage MKII

[DavidRSA]

It seems that there is some controversy whether dryfiring can cause damage to a rimfire rifle. Some say always yes, some say depends on the firearm.

My bottom line question is, is it OK to dryfire a Savage Mkii?

[Ogre8472]

It seems that there is some controversy whether dryfiring can cause damage to a rimfire rifle. Some say always yes, some say depends on the firearm.

My bottom line question is, is it OK to dryfire a Savage Mkii?

After consulting every firearm instructor i know about this most agree not to dry fire any weapon more than needed. I have an old single shot .22 that the firing pin has broken to do age and excess dry fires. (Lesson learned the hard way) needless to say parts are not available to fix it.

[nick]

Unlike centerfire guns, it's generally not a good idea to dry-fire rimfires. The firing pin hits the side of the chamber, which isn't good either for the firing ping, or for the side of the chamber (you'll acquire a nice pit there, and start having issues chambering and extracting rounds). However, Azoom makes plastic rimfire snap caps. Just make sure you buy the plastic snap caps, and not the aluminum rimfire dummy rounds.

[tonyxcom]

Or you can just remove the firing pin from the bolt.

[G-forceJunkie]

The design of the savage makes it "ok." You'll notice the firing pin is very tall, and only the lower portion shaped in a wedge contacts the cartrage rim. This wedge is shorter than the rest of the firing pin which contacts the barrel well above the chamber. So, it is still steel hitting steel, but not over the chamber where it can damage it. I wouldnt sit and dry fire it excessively, but occationally will not hurt the rifle. Like most bolt actions, you can gentally lower the firing pin by holding the trigger back as you lower the bolt if you don't want to store it cocked or dryfire it.

[chucksolo69]

The only rimfire I have ever encountered where it said in the manual that it was safe to dry fire it was my Kimber.22 Conversion Kit. Even then I didn't do it.

[korny351]

Plastic drywall anchors work well for snap caps in 22's. I believe size #4-6

[Izzy43]

I will occasionally dry fire my rimfire firearms, including a Savage MKII and 93R17 but only when I lose count of the rounds fired. I never, ever do it on purpose and than includes my centerfire pistols. Firing pins are meant to hit the brass on in the case of centerfire, the primer.

For .22s if I want to practice I use #4 drywall anchors (the yellow ones). I have found they will even feed from most magazines and eject just like empty cases from a bolt action rifle or manually from a semi-auto pistol.

Why take a chance on damaging the edge of the chamber????

[covingtonhouse]

Champion shooters supply sells the plastic Pachmayr snap caps for about 8 dollars. Way cheaper than a damaged chamber/pin.

[chucksolo69]

Yes, I have bought 100 of the Pachmayr snap caps and they work fine. I find I can use them about 20 times each before I have to use a new one.

[chingdaotze]

I owned a MkII BTVS that I dry fired regularly. You can see a vertical line about 1mm thick where the firing pin slams into the breech face. Don't know if it damages the firing pin at all, and the impact marks did not affect accuracy, but I would not recommend it.