Dry Fire

[Rising Sight]

Will dry firing an 870 damage the gun?

Thanks.

[richardschennberg]

A lot of Clays sport shooters occasionally dry-fire by accident by selecting the wrong barrel, with no apparent damage to the gun. However, shotgun firing pins hit very hard, so repeated dry-firing could enlarge the firing pin hole or break the firing pin, so snap-caps or dummy shells are advised. Make sure the base of the snap cap is no wider than shells you know to cycle in the gun. I had to modify a couple to get them to work in my Winchester 1897 for Cowboy Action practice.

Richard

Schennberg.com

[homeinvader]

You are probably better off just dry-firing it with no snap-cap, you'll get more out of the excercise that way. If a firing pin breaks or other damage occurs over time, those are not expensive parts to replace. Maybe buy a new bolt and a couple firing pins just in case, but it will be a LOT of dry firing before you do any damage.

The snap-cap will really get in the way of actually practicing the trigger pull as the 870 will want to eject the snap-cap every time you cycle the action to reset the trigger. That will slow down your practice ridiculously. Snap-caps are great for testing function, but not for repetitive practice drills.

[mike.45]

GH,

Dry fire away until you get a sore trigger finger !!! Its no problem at all and an 870 is not a traditional shotgun with firing pins etc, it is exactly like any rifle or pistol with its hammer and firing pin etc and will take decades of abuse - ask any SWAT team member if they have ever had a hammer of firing pin brake regularly due to dry firing - very rare ! Click away !!