Why does slamming the slide closed on an empty chamber or dry firing damage a handgun?

[JesusFreak]

I've seen articles and videos that say not to slam shut an empty chamber on your handgun because it damages it. They all just say "it causes damage" without any detail. I don't doubt this claim at all, that's not why I'm asking. I have a very engineering-oriented mind and would like to know why this is. I'm also still learning the "anatomy" of a fire arm beyond the basics so an explanation of this will probably go a good ways to that end.

 

[printcraft]

Massad Ayoob says don't release slide on empty chamber.

This is one of those subjects where there is serious disagreement. Gun Blue says it's fine. Massad Ayoob says it's not good. I say it's fine. What do you say? Has anyone taken microscope pictures of a gun and it's parts, then released the slide on an empty chamber 1000 times, then took more...

www.indianagunowners.com

 

[ZurokSlayer7X9]

Technically you damage your weapon every time you shoot it, but it's probably not a quantifiable amount. Some people have different philosophies on this where some will do dry fire tests, while others use dummy rounds and snap caps. Some guns should not be dry fired however. Specifically older rimfires where the firing pin may slam into the chamber and peen the side. Guns with finer tuned triggers and controls should probably not be dry fired or slammed shut on empty, but that discussion goes on in further detail in printcraft's link above.

 

[CCPLuvr]

The only guns I'm concerned about dry firing is rimfire, don't want the firing pin to indent the barrel/chamber. I dry fire (without snap caps) my 1911s and revolvers 2-3 times as much as I shoot them, no concern at all.

 

[BigMoose]

There are a lot of different guns..
Be particularly careful about doing ether with guns that are of older designs. Astras are know to eject broken firing pins across the room from dry firing.. and its not that great on a Walther or Luger ether.

 

[OneBadV8]

The only guns I'm concerned about dry firing is rimfire, don't want the firing pin to indent the barrel/chamber. I dry fire (without snap caps) my 1911s and revolvers 2-3 times as much as I shoot them, no concern at all.

 

[vork08]

DO NOT dryfire a rimfire pistol. I have seen some beautiful, and pricey, pistols become completely inoperable because of this. Some modern pistols have addressed this, but most don't know which ones, treat them all the same.

I'm pretty sure the misnomer of damage from dry firing a center fire pistol comes from
"When the SLIDE IS REMOVED, never drop the hammer." This will damage the frame and hammer.

Sure, some super tight, highly tune pistols with minimal sear engagement may see some adverse effects from dropping the slide, but the slide release is meant to release the slide. The pistol is engineered that way.
Brownell's has a video series called "Smyth Busters" and they address this topic in an episode. I recommend checking it out.

 

[jcj54]

As for centerfires Lugers and Walthers are prone to firing pin damage if dry fired. Older hammer mounted firing pins on S&W revolvers can be damaged, but is not common. As to dropping the slide on an empty gun, 1911 pistols can suffer sear and hammer notch damage as well as extractor damage. Other autoloaders can suffer extractor damage.

 

[DadSmith]

DO NOT dryfire a rimfire pistol. I have seen some beautiful, and pricey, pistols become completely inoperable because of this. Some modern pistols have addressed this, but most don't know which ones, treat them all the same.

I'm pretty sure the misnomer of damage from dry firing a center fire pistol comes from
"When the SLIDE IS REMOVED, never drop the hammer." This will damage the frame and hammer.

Sure, some super tight, highly tune pistols with minimal sear engagement may see some adverse effects from dropping the slide, but the slide release is meant to release the slide. The pistol is engineered that way.
Brownell's has a video series called "Smyth Busters" and they address this topic in an episode. I recommend checking it out.

Taurus TX22 you can dry fire.

 

[JesusFreak]

So I guess it's more of a "YMMV" topic depending on the engineering in the weapon?

 

[Sigblitz]

As to some center fire guns, the firing pin shoulders out to a hard stop without the primer loaded, and the pin can break off the shoulder from impact.
All guns are different.

 

[BigMoose]

So I guess it's more of a "YMMV" topic depending on the engineering in the weapon?

Correct. Depending on the platform its ether, safe.. or unsafe... anyone making a blanket statement for ALL firearms, is just wrong.

Evaluate each firearm on a case by case basis. Do the research, and decide yourself.

 

[CCPLuvr]

Taurus TX22 you can dry fire.

I believe Ruger MKII's are safe to dry-fire.

 

[nucular]

I don't think I could ever slam a slide shut on an empty chamber enough to cause any real damage. If you have a round chambered, you can damage the extractor over time but that's the only issue i can think of.

 

[92FSTech]

I believe Ruger MKII's are safe to dry-fire.

They are, and it's necessary to pull the trigger to disassemble them. The key is to ensure that you install the firing pin retaining pin properly in the bolt. It arrests the firing pin before it can strike the edge of the chamber mouth and cause peening. If you leave that pin out you will have problems.

 

[russc2542]

Yes, "it depends" on how the firearm was engineered and built.

generally it's from parts impacting each other at higher than ideal velocity leading to peening and cracking where the stresses are focused. For example: Rimfires have the firing pin hit the edge of the chamber. Without a rim there to dampen the impact, it's steel on steel. Early Beretta 92 models (like the first few hundred for army trials) had trouble with the frames cracking just forward of the breech, the front half of the slide was pulling away from the rear half and that was the weak point where the stress focused. They revised the design to reinforce it going forward. Closing the slide involves more gradual deceleration as energy is absorbed picking a round off the top of the magazine and loading it into the chamber. Without that energy absorption, all the recoil spring energy slams the slide into the forward travel limit, peening the impact points and trying to split the slide.

On dry fire: With a round in the chamber, the firing pin may not travel as far because there's a primer in the way. When it reaches the end of the travel, it'd decelerated more gently by the primer deformation rather than hitting the end of travel suddenly on the steel back-side of the breech. The stopping force is on the center of the pin rather than on the shoulders. stop-springs help but aren't proof. Some guns, like my CZ52s are known for the tip of the firing pin breaking off where the shoulder hits the back of the breech. This is also because of the engineering side because they used a cheap cast firing pin. The aftermarket has provided firing pins out of much stronger/better steel alloy.

Yes, firing does the same thing but as mentioned, less energy. In material science there are different levels of deformation as a material is stressed. First it enters the elastic phase where it can spring back. if you apply more stress you can cross the yield point into the plastic phase where the material does not return to it's original shape. The reduced energy of firing and loading cycles stays elastic. the unabsorbed energy from dry fire and dropping the slide may push it into the plastic phase.