Dry fire practice and firing pin happiness

[watson]

What does it take? I'd like to do a lot of dry fire with a 1911, is it going to just require more frequent firing pin spring replacement? How about with a SW686? I've dry fired my taurus PT99 a LOT and haven't seen any problems.
do I need "snap caps" or can I use an empty case with a fired primer? i realize it may need a bullet in the case to feed in the chamber.
Seems like just having a case in there to keep the firing pin from overtraveling should be enough, but I'm not that familiar with the 1911. Just learning and loving it.
Thanks for any help

[SAChamp]

You may want to check out this thread: http://www.1911forum.com/forums/show...&threadid=9421

IMO, dry firing will not hurt a 1911. For the price, snap caps are cheap firing pin insurance, but I personally would avoid using a spent case (see my post in the above link). Unfortunately, I can't speak to the issue of firing pin spring wear.

[watson]

Talk about rookie mistakes, I didn't even think to do a search. duh.
Thanks for the somewhat gentle reminder to do my homework.

[SAChamp]

No problem, but you also raised a few different issues: Namely your SW686 and the effect dry firing may have on the firing pin spring.

Welcome, I hope you find this forum as valuable as I do. Lots of great info and friendly folks...

[kbear38S]

So what if you wear out your firing pin spring? The expensive, premium ones only cost $2.00. FWIW, I generally use Wolff recoil springs which I replace every 3,000 rounds or so and they come with an extra-power firing pin spring - $8 or $9 for the pair.

Same applies to the firing pin. A quality 1911 firing pin only costs $10 or so. It's not that big a deal if you do wear it out.

Personally, I've only had one firing pin ever fail and that was the factory part in my Para P16 which was made of typical Para mush-metal. I replaced it with an EGW and it lived happily every after.

[BERGER]

dryfire with a "dry" 1911, and dry fire a lot, it will not hurt the weapon. Dryfire is very underrated as a training tool, trust me, it will improve your shooting abilities immensely.