Dry Fire Question?

[rbahri5206]

I have a Taurus pt145 (.45acp) and I also have my ccw so I carry this gun 98% of the time and everytime I do I chamber a round and when I get home I remove the round and put a snap cap in and pull the trigger to decaulk the gun is this bad for the firing pin to do this everyday I need to make sure that if I need to pull the trigger it goes boom. Also is there a better way than the snap cap?

[Bigtwin]

If you put a snap cap in before pulling the trigger you are not "dry firing" the gun!

[tujungatoes]

You're fine. The snap cap provides something for the firing pin to land on. Also, many people make WAY too big a deal out of dry firing anyway. It's not a good idea on rimfires because you can damage the chamber. On a centerfire though, you'd have to do a metric arse load of dry firing to ever damage anything.

[kcstott]

You're fine. The snap cap provides something for the firing pin to land on. Also, many people make WAY too big a deal out of dry firing anyway. It's not a good idea on rimfires because you can damage the chamber. On a centerfire though, you'd have to do a metric arse load of dry firing to ever damage anything.

And i'll take it one step further. My younger brothers are now CHP officers and when they were in the academy they had to be able to pull the trigger as though simulating dumping their full ammo load down range.

So this equates to 34 dry firings per hand ( they do weak side too) for a total of 68 dry firings.

This practice went on for days . Not to mention when they were not at the range just getting in some practice.

So yes dry firing will do damage to your firearm but not much.
Some firearms are more susceptible to damage then others.

Dry fire a fine Italian or english double shotgun and be lucky if you didn't screw something up. An old Colt SAA. Well you won't hurt it once or twice but that hammer is falling on the frame.
And rimfire as already mentioned you'll be lucky if you don't foul up the chamber.
But modern hand guns Not that big a deal.

[Mail Clerk]

I have a Taurus pt145 (.45acp) and I also have my ccw so I carry this gun 98% of the time and everytime I do I chamber a round and when I get home I remove the round and put a snap cap in and pull the trigger to decaulk the gun is this bad for the firing pin to do this everyday I need to make sure that if I need to pull the trigger it goes boom. Also is there a better way than the snap cap?

rbahru5206,

If you us a snap cap then your fine so don't worry about it . There are better ones also so next time look into them more nd selet the version you like most.

Since your Taurus is a centerfire with or without a snap cap won't hurt your pistol anyway. When you get into 45's the typical firing pin is robust anyway so dry firing won't hurt the pistol anyway. On my RIA the sysem is so simple if the pin breakes which is rare ll I have to do is get another firing pin and toss it in along with an extra power spring. Your Taurus has what I beleive is a Colt style system safety and much more complicated to wap out. That's beyond me as I'm just a back yard mechanic guy. Besides with Taurus's lifetime warranty they'll just repair it for free anyways. My suggestion to you is to dry fire absolutely when necessary and no more

Mail Clerk

[r3dn3ck]

dry firing of centerfire pistols is a long accepted method of getting trigger time in without spending ammo. I don't think a snap cap is even necessary. I've got guns that I dry fired 10's of thousands of times that are no different today than the day I got them. I have NEVER seen a centerfire gun damaged from dry firing. Rimfire damage isn't usually to the chamber that I've seen... it comes along as peening of the firing pin and subsequent failure to fire or a broken firing pin.

[razr]

Everything above + the cost of a new firing pin and spring is not much.