[C1076USMC]

Okay, here's my beef. I emailed S&W and Walther in Germany asking whether it is safe to dry fire my brand spanking new P22.

Response 1 - S&W's customer service (Kate F.) replied and told me that you may dry fire the pistol without causing damage to it.

Response 2 - Carl Walther GmbH customer service replied saying the following, "As for all guns in caliber .22 l.r. dry fire should only be made with “snap caps” (dummy), as otherwise the firing pin hits the edge of the chamber."

Who is right?

I am leaning to the conservative side and not dry firing my P22.

That leads to my next question...where do you get a "snap cap?"

 

[Hal8000]

There is nothing in the manual to indicate anything one way or the other. I would suggest against it. Rim fires can peen the breach pretty good, and/or break, chip the firing pin...

I don't dry fire mine on purpose...

 

[P88]

You could leave the safety on and dry fire it that way. By doing so, the hammer never touches the firing pin. I've done this a lot, with no problems.

Or you could go get some snap caps.

 

[WaltherP99]

is it safe to dry fire with the safety on? I see it's not damaging the rimfire pin, but something has to be stopping the hammer, what stops it and does it have any issue with durabilty long term?

 

[freddyboomboom]

The pin that the safety lever is part of stops the hammer.

Take a good look at it the next time you cycle the safety.

 

[JDog]

P88 is correct. If you turn the saftey on it is ok to shoot it because it just cycles the hammer without ever hitting the firing pin. (that's why the safety works ) As for durability the saftey can easily hadle it.

 

[Headhunter13]

To answer the last part of your question, I got the snap caps for .380 through the Beretta catalogue but I saw them yesterday at a local store called Gander Mountain so I would check there at my local gun or sporting supply stores first. Unfortunately they were out of snap caps for my 9mm yesterday

 

[Nittanys1]

Im still learning...so the dry fire is pulling the trigger with no ammo in it right? I have done it a few times...with the saftey on and off...time to stop that now