Had an interesting discussion on another forum and thought the information gathered there would be of interest here.
The discussion was about dry firing the Remington 597 semi-auto 22 LR rifle. There were three revisions of the Owner's Manual involved in this discussion.
Two of the OMs stated that "excess dry firing may damage the rifle." The newest OM did not have any cautions about dry firing either way. I called Remington to get the true skinny. According to the tech guru I spoke with this rifle SHOULD NOT be dry fired.
I only bring this here because we tell the shooter to dry fire. I do believe we need to reconsider this advise when talking about this rifle. :slap:
Having been involved in said other discussion: I'd love to see a cheat-sheet for dry-firing rimfires (if not for each model, for manufacturers).
It may already exist somewhere, but this was what I started earlier today (http://dayid.org/protect/dryfiring.html) (due to that exact discussion).
Just ask EZ3. Dry fire WILL RUIN A REMINGTON 597.
We need to let manufactures know that any firearm that can be damaged by dry fireing is a poor design. I won't own one of them.....O.L.
Use a Snap Cap in the Mossbergs, Marlins, Remingtons Etc: to do dry fire practice.
Just take a file and cut a notch in the rim so the extractor will not catch (or 2 notches if you have dual extractors). This will allow you to cock your piece and not reload the round each time.
When your finished dry firing poke the dummy round out with a cleaning rod.
Check your favorite Gun Shop or eBay has a 24 pack for $9.99
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pachmayr-24-Pack-22-LR-Rimfire-Snap-Caps-New-in-Package-22lr-24-pack-03200-/110932820476?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d41c81fc
As an idea to float out there, maybe the Shoot Bosses keep a few for the shooting line. If they were bought as a bulk purchase through Uncle Fred and sold through the Appleseed store the cost should drop a lot. Just an idea.
I produce the world's greatest .22 snap cap (just my humble opinion). I have had these for sales for a couple of years in the AS forums under the Support our Volunteers - Small Business listing section. I would make a special deal to AS if they wanted to include a couple in every shoot box.
http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=18263.0
I do believe that if I owned one of those rifles your snap caps would be a good addition to the range bag.
You would think that by this time they could design a rifle that didn't have this problem. %)