ok just to be completely sure

[field]

you cause less damage to your firing pin with dryfire (and other related areas) than you would with actual shooting of live ammunition..? is this right? so its no big woof if i dont use any snap caps or nothin?

[psehorne]

From the XD(m) manual

Before attempting to shoot, practice operations by dry firing without a magazine and with the chamber empty

So for the XD(m), Springfield doesn't have a problem with dry firing.

[wingnut1983]

I wouldnt dry fire 100's of times without anything. But a few wont hurt. I have snap caps.

[psehorne]

Originally Posted by wingnut1983

I wouldnt dry fire 100's of times without anything. But a few wont hurt. I have snap caps.

In another post a guy reported that he has dry fired his SA 1000's of time, (that is 3 zeros)...

[GFunk]

I've heard people say it's bad due to something the firing pin slams into (I assume whatever holds it in the action and keeps it from falling into an empty chamber.

But I dryfire during all my drills .

[Pugs]

The striker hits the striker-retaining pin if there is no round or snap-cap in the chamber. For some, this cause that pin to crack pre-maturely. For others, they've done it thousands of times with no issue. The striker-retaining pin is a something like thirty-cents and is a do-it-yourself fix, so there's only the inconvenience of having to get the replacement and install it.

[psehorne]

Check out this discussion on dry firing.

Notice post #35

Originally Posted by FrankC

Snap caps are a waste of $$$ IMO, I've dry fired my xdm maybe 10,000 times and put about 2,000 rounds through it and I recently had the firing pin out of it to clean/inspect. There was some wear on the sides of the pin and the actual contact end but that is about it, the roll pin that restrains it from over travel was fine as well.

[sdm74]

i constantly dry fire...within reason..and never a problem...everyone i practice with, has said you cant harm it. just like every "load and make ready" command i draw get a sight picture and dry fire..and couple days a week practicing in my basement

[agalindo]

Originally Posted by field

you cause less damage to your firing pin with dryfire (and other related areas) than you would with actual shooting of live ammunition..? is this right? so its no big woof if i dont use any snap caps or nothin?

You cause less wear on the striker and retainer pin when firing live rounds.

Originally Posted by psehorne

Check out this discussion on dry firing.

Notice post #35

Originally Posted by sdm74

i constantly dry fire...within reason..and never a problem...everyone i practice with, has said you cant harm it. just like every "load and make ready" command i draw get a sight picture and dry fire..and couple days a week practicing in my basement

Several of the real gunsmiths on this board have recommended that if you are going to dry fire you should use snap caps. I also believe this to be a good idea.

[psehorne]

I too believe that it is a good idea to use snap caps. However, I think a lot of the belief that dry firing is bad stems from the state of technology 30 years ago. Many modern firearms apparently are not hurt by dry firing. So read the manual for your firearm. In the case of Springfield XDs (including XDm), as I quoted above, Springfield does not warn against dry firing.