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From: jamaass@bluemoon.rn.com (Jeffrey A. Maass)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Dry Fire
Message-ID: <36090@mimsy.umd.edu>
Date: 1 Jul 91 00:08:39 GMT
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kao@cae.wisc.edu writes:

# Hi there
# This question probably has been asked before. Sorry for asking again.
# Is dry fire good for a gun or will damage it? Some of my friends told me dry 
# 

When I obtained my Browning Target 5.5, I had been given the 
advice to never dry fire a rimfire, as it will damage the 
firing pin from impact with the barrel parts where the .22LR
rim would normally be. If you want to dry fire, insert a spent
case and dry fire of that, a tedious process for a .22 without
an exposed hammer!

I called Browning service, and was told that it's perfectly OK to dry fire 
my .22! The service person I spoke to (I have his name, I believe,
in my notebook) assured me that no damage would be done. 

I don;t believe him, and do not dry fire.

Does anyone have a good alternative way to gain the training
value of dry firing with a a .22LR?

I was thinking about this today when I tried the Browning 5.5
with my Aimpoint 2000 red dot sight: what a great aid to practicing
trigger control, if only I could dry fire with the red dot at home!

(BTW, this gun shot a 0.4-inch single-hole group of ten shots
from sandbags at 50 feet, sighting with the Aimpoint: gives me a
benchmark to shoot for freehand!)

 This is from
     jamaass@bluemoon.uucp
     jamaass@bluemoon.rn.com
who doesn't have their own obnoxious signature yet