Dry Fire AR?

[USMC 0802]

Originally Posted by spoolup

Voted yes, no snap caps needed. When in the Marines we would sit for hours in the various shooting positions before qual to refresh the fundamentals (lets not talk about the DAYS you sit in the positions in boot camp), I would dry fire my firearm several hundered times a year.

+1

Never seen a problem and our rickety A2s had some mileage on them before we got the M16 A4s in '03.

[Liquid Rhino]

Originally Posted by Joeywhat

The only guns you can't dry fire are rimfires.

You shouldn't dryfire guns with inertial firing pins (like P22's), either.. rimfire or otherwise.

Dryfiring AR's is OK.

[shacobo]

Originally Posted by Deadcenter

just gotta make sure the upper is on it ... do not dryfire just the lower!

This is the typical vague response on dry firing an AR. An explanation is rarely given to illustrate why one should not dry fire a separated lower from an upper.

I've tried to answer this myself and concluded during my examination the hammer contacts the bolt catch and if a lower is dry fired without an upper, the hammer strikes the bolt catch and I assume has the potential to cause some sort of damage to it. Worse case scenario, the actual receiver can be damaged.

Are my extrapolations correct?

[ZXD9]

Bump.

I'd also like to know what happens if you fire w/o the upper attached. I know I did it once by accident.

[JBHorne]

Originally Posted by ZXD9

Bump.

I'd also like to know what happens if you fire w/o the upper attached. I know I did it once by accident.

Simple: The hammer strikes the lower with considerable force. Doing it once or twice isn't going to hurt. Dry firing 200+ times will weaken the metal and indent the hammer and lower.

[JBHorne]

Originally Posted by shacobo

This is the typical vague response on dry firing an AR. An explanation is rarely given to illustrate why one should not dry fire a separated lower from an upper.

I've tried to answer this myself and concluded during my examination the hammer contacts the bolt catch and if a lower is dry fired without an upper, the hammer strikes the bolt catch and I assume has the potential to cause some sort of damage to it. Worse case scenario, the actual receiver can be damaged.

Are my extrapolations correct?

Yes, it could augment the bolt catch. My concern is more the unnecessary strike on the lower and contact point on the hammer.