[Spike52]

...I thought that if you dry fire a buck mark one or two times the gun was screwed...

Then... I'm screwed.
Doh!

Look, I don't know what the experts will say, but dry-firing a Buckie a few times is not going to destroy the gun. I've dry-clicked mine a number of times with no ill effects.

Now, there may be wisdom to the advise not to dry-fire a rimfire. The firing pin is pretty small, and of a specific shape and dimention (unlike a centerfire pin that's basically a circular punch). Sitting around dry-clicking to, say, smooth out the trigger is certainly a bad idea.

What I do is to grab an empty cartridge when I'm done shooting, stick it in the chamber, close, point down range and snap the trigger.

What the workers at Browning probably do after inspection and/or test firing is close it up and pull the trigger, drop it in the box and seal it. "Ship it!"

I don't recall if mine had the little plastic pin protector in there when it was new. If you're really concerned, ask your favorite gun merchant if he has anything like that laying around, or find a thin sheet of plastic to cut that will fit betwixt chamber and boltface. Snap the pin on that.

There is no way to decock a Buckmark without actually pulling the trigger. Leaving it cocked might not hurt it, but personally, I don't store my firearms cocked... except that they be stored on my hip.

-S

 

[chuckles]

Traditions and others actually sell plastic snap-caps for .22 rimfires. The are not for action cycling but the come 12 or so to a package and they are cheap. I leave them in my .22s just for the purpose of "uncocking" I think Midway sells them. HTH :t

 

[muskrat30]

I agree with the above(or below). While generally it may not be a good idea to repeatidly dry fire a rimfire, a few clicks will not ruin a gun. If that where the case there would be plenty of ruined rimfires, and unhappy owners around. I also like to relieve the tension prior to longer storage on mine. I use an empty 22 shell if I am doing some trigger testing with multiple dry fires. The snap caps are also an idea. I usually don't like to leave a spent shell in the chamber longer term for cleanliness reasons. I guess you could clean & lightly oil a spent shell. I'll have to look closer to see If I have any possible 'pin' marks near the rim of my chambers. I have a BM handgun and rifle.

 

[21905]

I have dry fired mine plenty of times and never have any problems with it. I never do it repeatedly. I shoot my .22's weekly so most the time they just sit cocked and ready for a mag. I very rarely decock them anymore I have a pretty big indentation at 12 Oclock and don't feel like replacing the firing pin assembly anytime soon. Never new if it was bad to leave them cocked but so far no problems with leaving them that way. :t

 

[wmrimfire22]

I am looking at getting a brand new buck mark camper on Tesuday and notice that when the dealer took it out of the box from the factory it was not cock with hammer down or un-cock. On the back of the barrel was a very faint indentation of where the firing pin hit the back of the barrel at 12:00 clock. Now this ding in the barrel face is very, very small. I know that you can dry fire a ruger because the hammer has to be uncocked before you can take it down but I was unawear of the fact you can dry fire A browning. The dealer had 6 more brand new unopen and all were dry fired Is this something that browning does just for shipping the guns? Now I'm not talking about just sitting around and snaping the gun 100s of times :1t I thought that if you dry fire a buck mark one or two times the gun was screwed. What do you guys do, like say in the winter time and snow's up to your rump and you can't get out and shoot any, do you leave your gun cock all the time or uncock? HELP!!!
.22LongRifle

.22LongRifle,

NEVER DRY FIRE YOUR BROWNING!!!! What you described is the typical firing pin indentation that occures when you do the no no. Always use "snap caps" if you must dry fire it for any reason and even so as little as possible. That store clerk is runing all the Brownings he has in his shop for sale and should be giving you a "snap cap" with your purchase to keep things right. What he did is too late now but from now on be cautious when you pull the trigger dry like that. That little dimple you saw on the back to your barrel didn't get there by itself. That dude should not be selling Browning and should be reported!

wmrimfire,22

 

[Little River]

Here's another good discussion on this:

http://rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50019&highlight=dry+fire

chim gives a good explanation as to why you can dry fire the BM.

 

[Spike52]

If I may be so bold as to cross post...

I own and dry fire 4 Buckmarks without ill effects. Try something. Take a piece of paper and lay it in between the bolt and breech. Dry fire. Look at the paper. If it isn't cut (marks made by dirt and **** don't count) by the firing pin, the pin isn't hitting the breechface..................chim

Mm.... most interesting.
-S

 

[chim]

Spike, one poster (sorry, but I can't recall who) did report trying this and his gun cut the paper. I was surprised. None of the 7 or so Buck Marks I've owned had firing pins long enough to hurt anything...............chim

 

[10135]

chim my buckmark is the one that you are refering to. the firing pin on mine may be a few thousands long. it doesn't damage the breech face but does cut the paper.

 

[ccw1911]

Dry firing is not going to hurt anything as long as you do the paper check and make sure the pin is not hitting the barrel. Everyone worries too much about " relaxing the springs " on their guns. Practicaly speaking his is not going to make the springs last any longer. The springs are good for so many cycles so actually you're wearing your spring out to dryfire, not really because they are good for thousands of cycles and are made stronger than they have to be. What does springs in is, corrosion, rust, high tempratures, over extension or overload, and too many duty cycles. Snap it if you want but you're not really doing anything but making it harder to pull the slide back next time you shoot. Magazine springs are a little more stressed especially with the newer double stack where they have sacraficed some room for spring for more round capacity. But, I've left 45 magazines loaded for 2 years and they worked fine when tried. I don't recomend that but it was a test I did. Unless your putting your gun up for a few years I wouldn't worry about snapping it.
Ross

 

[lefteye]

I was getting a slight ding on the chamber from the firing pin, not yet enough to impede chambering (although I can see a slight indentation intruding into the chamber). I tried the paper trick expecting that I would see a nice cut, and there was. Tonight I pulled the firing pin out and filed off a couple of thousanths ... no more paper cutting (not even a mark now) and still makes a good deep hit in the brass. Thanks for opening my eyes to this problem on my new buckmark. As an aside, on the new models like mine I notice that the firing pin stop is housed in the PLASTIC carrier, sounds like trouble in the future to me.

 

[22038]

I've got 22 snap-caps for my Buck Mark, but they don't cycle. Must be manually inserted in barrel. Anyone know of a source for 22LR snap-caps that can be magazine loaded and cycled? I'm new to all this, so don't laugh if what I just asked is silly.

 

[Spike52]

Rimfire Snaps

Hardly silly, Ron.
How about these?
They appear to be a hard plastic that might hold up under an extractor claw.
...Probably break down after awhile, that's why I'd get the econo-pack of 25 (maybe a couple).
HTH
-S

 

[22038]

Those look a lot like what I have, but thanks anyway.

I think I found a solution. I shaved off the lip of the snap-cap on one side and then insert it into the barrel with the flat (shaved) side facing the extractor. This allows me to dry fire and cock the BM repeatedly without the snap-cap getting ejected. Makes dry firing practice less work.

 

[Spike52]

That'd do it!
-S

 

[Hutt]

My new Buckmark rifle was also dry fired off the dealer rack. It had left enough of an indentation that it would score the case upon loading and actually split the case during firing. I finally deburred the chamber mouth to eliminat this problem

 

[Molly]

What I saw today

I went to a local shop and they had a brand new BM that they had just opened. They guy cocked and dry fired it a few time and handed it to me. I could not believe the huge dent it made above the chamber. Like some others said, it peened it enough to sink down into the actual chamber. I showed the store owner and said the gun needed to be discounted. He inpected it and admitted it was dinged badly but refused to discount it. I was just blown away at how badly it did this on a brand new gun. Also, I have a BM of my own which has been dri fired hundreds of times, and has no pin mark whatsoever.

 

[chim]

I saw a new one with a fairly significant dent at Cabela's in Hamburg PA. Maybe Browning has made a slight change in dimensions somewhere along the line. I never saw an older pistol dent the chamber mouth..................chim

 

[17598]

Take a dime out of your pocket, pull the slide back enough to put the edge of the dime in the chamber. Pull the trigger to release the hammer. It will hold the slide back just enough to allow the pin to strike but not hit the barrel. Works on all my 22's. I don't like leaving the spring pressure on a gun in storage either.