LarryP Posted January 12, 2008 Share Posted January 12, 2008 Started shooting this year and been dry firing with my Glocks when my Rotator Cuffs permit. Last night at a Steel Match in Phoenix, one of the other Glock shooters gun stopped with the slide open. His mag. wasnt empty. Someone said "It was because of dry firing"..."it wears out the Slide Stop Spring!" Is that so? Also, does dry firing cause other wear & tear on any other parts? Thanks, LP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SA Friday Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 I have it on good authority that it will turn your Glock blue. But seriously, no. It might put more wear and tear on some of the springs and you might have to change them at the 13 month mark instead of the 14 month mark (as an example). I have never heard of dry firing wearing on the slide stop spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lexor40cal Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 If dry firing a gun wears out parts that quick, don't buy that type of gun, buy one that will with stand plenty of wear & tear. If you can't dry fire it a few hundred thousand times without a failure, you can't rust it in competition and as a defensive tool? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vrmn1 Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 I have seen extended slide stocks on Glocks cause problems with folks getting there thumbs under it by accident. Which is probably what happened here. That is the reason on my limited Glock the standard slide stop is cut down to just a tiny nub. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamann Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 Also, slide lock can happen if the if the slide stop is put back in the gun wrong, causing it to move up slightly. The locking block pin has to go in first, then install slide stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Di Vita Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 I was going to echo vrmn1's comment. Chances are it was user error - even if he may not have realized it. If you could truly hurt a gun by dry fire, I'm sure that Anderson, Myself, or PB would have done it several times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JThompson Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 I have it on good authority that it will turn your Glock blue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbullgpd Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 Also, slide lock can happen if the if the slide stop is put back in the gun wrong, causing it to move up slightly. The locking block pin has to go in first, then install slide stop. I have seen either this or the thumb raising it. This one occurs when its put back together wrong. You must put the top pin in first then the slide stop spring pushes against it and then put the bottom pin in. If you do it opposite then it will bend the slide stop spring and make it where recoil will jiggle it and it will continue to lock back until bent back or replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HI5-O Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 Also, the spring for the slide stop is "pinched" to the slide stop and have seen where it works itself loose and cause the slide to lock back on a loaded mag. Not caused by dry firing. Waiting for mine to turn blue so I can use it for sims Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 I have it on good authority that it will turn your Glock blue. If you could truly hurt a gun by dry fire, I'm sure that Anderson, Myself, or PB would have done it several times. +1 to both ( ) I have dryfired once or twice when I was bored, and here is what I found on your topic: Use dummy ammo! Without it, the feed lips of your mags will chew away at your magwell from missed reloads. I learned this the hard way. If you do a million reloads a day (and who doesn't) naturally you will be using your magazine release spring. Just be mindful of this. If you are a serious competitor, you have coughed up the $15 for two sets of replacement springs for each of your Glocks spring needs. I have had one break in almost 3 years of daily dryfire. Other than that, dryfire away! You're not going to hurt that bastard. You may wear the black of the slide if you do it enough...but consider that a badge of honor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRT Driver Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 A G34 I have broke the tip of the striker off once form dry firing ..during a dry firing session. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 Unless you are using diamond tipped primers in your dummy rounds, this is not the norm. I'd suggest you use my method of using a tiny piece of paper to leave the gun slightly out of battery when you dryfire anyway just to better simulate a more real trigger pull. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SA Friday Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 Unless you are using diamond tipped primers in your dummy rounds, this is not the norm. I'd suggest you use my method of using a tiny piece of paper to leave the gun slightly out of battery when you dryfire anyway just to better simulate a more real trigger pull. My penny is more cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atmar Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 use dummy bullets/snap caps....your breechface will last longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 I have worn out two magazine catch springs and one mag catch on my G17. I can't really tell you how long it took me, because the frequency of training has changed drastically over the last two years. Buy the spare small parts and change the springs for matches if you know you will really hate yourself if the gun malfunctions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryP Posted January 14, 2008 Author Share Posted January 14, 2008 I have worn out two magazine catch springs and one mag catch on my G17. I can't really tell you how long it took me, because the frequency of training has changed drastically over the last two years. Buy the spare small parts and change the springs for matches if you know you will really hate yourself if the gun malfunctions. Thanks everyone especially Bjorn, going to my Glockmeister today and play it safe. LarryP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bountyhunter Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 Started shooting this year and been dry firing with my Glocks when my Rotator Cuffs permit. Last night at a Steel Match in Phoenix, one of the other Glock shooters gun stopped with the slide open. His mag. wasnt empty. Someone said "It was because of dry firing"..."it wears out the Slide Stop Spring!" Is that so? Also, does dry firing cause other wear & tear on any other parts? Thanks, LP Another Glock jammed from an abused slide stop spring? Wow.... thats the second one this week. Seriously, how can dry firing affect the slide stop spring? That really is ridiculous. If you cycle the slide with no mag, the slide stop stays where it is and never moves at all. The only time it moves is when the follower in the mag pushes it up about 1/16" after the last round is fired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bountyhunter Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 I have it on good authority that it will turn your Glock blue.But seriously, no. It might put more wear and tear on some of the springs and you might have to change them at the 13 month mark instead of the 14 month mark (as an example). I have never heard of dry firing wearing on the slide stop spring. The only spring dry firing might beat up is the "damper" soring on the front of the striker that gets collapsed when the striker flies forward. Still, I would doubt you could hurt it in your lifetime. Even if it failed, it would not jam the gun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bountyhunter Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 A G34 I have broke the tip of the striker off once form dry firing ..during a dry firing session. I believe that could happen if you don't use snap caps. The tang on the end of the striker is very thin and could eventually get a crack along it from the impact vibration of hitting the slide face. Every time I see that striker design I cringe..... I am betting they took the mechanical engineer out for beers while some fool from marketing drew that one up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzzdraw Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 That snap cap (with moderately resilient primer replacement) will also take wear and tear off the breechface when dry firing. I run snap caps on all my semi-auto's and revo's these days, just because I have broken parts and don't like to fix what I can avoid fixing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rugerp89ipsc Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 that sounds ridiculous. I had a slide stop spring break, I electrical taped it down for a month and Glock sent me a new spring a week after contacting them to replace it. It was terrible. I just use the slide stop level so very often. Especially since I make it a point to run my gun dry before every mag change I really can't imagine how dry firing would effect that spring... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin c Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 Hmm. I usuall dryfire w/ an empty chamber. I tried a dummy round last pm, an painted empty case and bullet, and a spent primer. Interestingly, my dryfiring immediately IMPROVED, as far as mvt in the sight picture with the striker release. I'd been trying to eliminate a little, tiny, lateral mvt of the FS, which I thought was from not pulling the trigger straight back. Now, the FS is mostly dead still. Perhaps the mvt was the slide moving from the impact of the striker on the inside end of the FPchannel (other side of the breechface)? Hitting the primer instead may be cushioning the impact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Wood Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 Let's not lose sight of what's important here- the dry-firing far outweighs any damage it could do to your guns. If it completely destroyed the firearm I would still do it, I'd just be looking for a better gun. I'm more important than the tool. Let's face it any use of the gun will put wear on it. What did you buy the gun for in the 1st place to sit it in a gun safe & show your friends? Wring the damn thing out and if it breaks fix it! On Glocks if it is your carry gun keep an eye on the trigger spring, striker, striker spring, breechface etc. More than likely you will never have anything go wrong, but your shooting will improve a ton if you dry fire even 15 minutes a day. The gun works for you, not you for it. Most of the snap caps are useless after about 1 dry-fire session as the "primer" is dented or otherwise not providing a surface for the pin/striker to hit anymore anyway. If there are any out there that will hold up I would suggest using them. But don't forsake dry-firing for the gun. It's a tool use it. Even after thousands&thousands&thousands of clicks I haven't managed to do any harm to any guns I've ever had by dry firing for over 20 years. The only gun you should be concerned about is a rimfire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSGF109 Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Dry firing is not harmful to your Glock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxkcg Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 I reassembled my slide stop with the spring above the upper pin by accident one day. It didn't manifest any problems until I had been shooting for 45 minutes and it started locking back on every shot. None of the prior shots did it, luckily it's a simple fix. I just have to pay more attention next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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