New Rifle, dry fire? or store cocked?

B

Brad Greulich

Joined
Feb 4, 2006
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739
Hey all,
I just got a brand new Remengton 700 sps bolt action rifle (pics will be up later)
And I had a question. Now I have always been told that dry firing a rifle is really really bad, but not thinking, after shooting I put the bolt forward and pulled it down before putting it in the case and going home. thus cocking it.

I can't fire a round at home to unload it, so I need some help on what the best thing to do is. I always store bolt guns with the bolt removed, will it hurt it at all for the bolt to sit a few weeks in the cocked position? Or should I dry fire it? The manual actually says to dry fire it to test trigger pull force while adjusting (X markpro trigger). So I would assume that it wont hurt anything to dry fire. But I just wanted to get some advice from the pro's around here.
This is my first high end bolt action so I want to take care of it.

Thanks for all of your help!
 
Bolt actions are easy to un-cock, just open the bolt, check for an empty chamber and magazine and then hold the trigger as you close and lock the bolt handle. Most centerfire bolt action rifles won't be harmed by dry firing but I always just hold the trigger and close the action anyway. The safety has to be off for this to work so make sure it's empty and pointed away from persons, critters and valuables.
 
Dry fire. You would have to dry fire alot to harm it. You may also want to invest in a spring loaded dummy round for the future to dry fire without any chance to harm it.
 
On modern weapons, dry-firing is not a problem, you do not need a safety cap or dummy round, and you can safely store the bolt separately from the action without harming the spring.

Reminiscient of the "store the auto opener open or closed" threads.
 
Dry firing will not hurt anything unless you do it excessively and even then you have to do it a lot. You can also store the cocked bolt out of the rifle for a few weeks or months without hurting anything.

If I was going to store the bolt on a long term basis out of the rifle then I personally would uncock it. You should be able to just twist it to release the firing pin to the uncocked position but you have to twist it back to the cocked position to reinsert the bolt in the rifle.

You should do that occasionally just to clean all the gunk out of the inside of the bolt removing the firing pin and spring in the process and relubing everything. I do that every few years to all my bolts on rifles that see a lot of use.

If you like to practice dryfiring just get a Snapcap dummy round and dry fire all you like. It's cheaper than using live ammo and gets you real familiar with your trigger.
 
Remington bolt actions are pretty forgiving. Some rifles will break the sear or other parts if you dry fire them but, modern rifles generally have this problem solved. With a bolt action rifle, the parts that MIGHT break after hundreds or thousands of dry fires into an empty chamber are cheap to buy and easy to install.
 
I just got in the habit of closing a bolt while holding the trigger back on everything years ago, pretty simple & adds no cumulative stress on internals at all.
Denis
 
Like others said, hold the trigger back and ease the bolt closed. This gradually releases the firing pin spring in the bolt and there you are. My long time habit when hunting is to have the bolt handle partially up rather than using the 'click' safety. When I sight game and am ready to shoot, I silently close the bolt, aim, and fire. No sound, no spooked game. This may sound weird but, IMO, it's safer than the safety. With the bolt partially open the rifle canNOT fire regardless of what you do with the trigger.
 
Old CW4 said:
Like others said, hold the trigger back and ease the bolt closed. This gradually releases the firing pin spring in the bolt and there you are. My long time habit when hunting is to have the bolt handle partially up rather than using the 'click' safety. When I sight game and am ready to shoot, I silently close the bolt, aim, and fire. No sound, no spooked game. This may sound weird but, IMO, it's safer than the safety. With the bolt partially open the rifle canNOT fire regardless of what you do with the trigger.
Click to expand...

Im not sure how to ease the bolt forward. With my hammer shotguns I can hold the hammer back, pull the trigger, and let the hammer in slowly to uncock. On this gun however there is nothing to hold on to. the only thing that moves on the out side is a metal plug moves in to the bolt about 1/2 inch and there is no way to grab it.

Dont know how to let the bolt in slow.
IMG_0604.jpg
 
Modern springs won't fatigue under compression. They wear from use. You could leave that thing cocked for decades with no ill effect.
 
Brad Greulich said:
Im not sure how to ease the bolt forward. With my hammer shotguns I can hold the hammer back, pull the trigger, and let the hammer in slowly to uncock. On this gun however there is nothing to hold on to. the only thing that moves on the out side is a metal plug moves in to the bolt about 1/2 inch and there is no way to grab it.
Click to expand...

You don't ease the bolt forward. That's not what CW4 said.

A lot of bolt action rifles cock when the bolt is opened. The turning action rotates and inclined plane which pushes the firing pin back. (At least that's how it works on my .22's)

So if you hold the trigger down and slowly close the bolt...it should de-cock it.

lol on an empty chamber of course :D
 
fishshooter said:
Modern springs won't fatigue under compression. They wear from use. You could leave that thing cocked for decades with no ill effect.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

As well dry fire all you want. My 700 has as many dry fired trigger pulls as rounds through it.
 
Joben said:
You don't ease the bolt forward. That's not what CW4 said.

A lot of bolt action rifles cock when the bolt is opened. The turning action rotates and inclined plane which pushes the firing pin back. (At least that's how it works on my .22's)

So if you hold the trigger down and slowly close the bolt...it should de-cock it.

lol on an empty chamber of course :D
Click to expand...

Ok, ok, I understand now. Thanks for clearing that up for me. :thumbup:
 
Get a dummy round designed for dry firing and you will fine. If you do a lot of dry firing (1000's per year) then I suggest you replace the dummy round every year. The occasional dry fire will not harm the firing pin at all.

The reason that dry firing without a dummy dry firing round in the chamber can be harmful is because when you press the trigger, the hammer strikes the firing pin, which is designed to transfer the energy from the hammer to the primer of the round. Without a round in place the energy stops at the tip of the firing pin and eventually it will crystallize and break up. The dummy round is designed to absorb the energy, thus saving the firing pin.

I dry firing my handgun at least 500 times a week, and I replace my active firing pin and firing pin stop for sacrificial ones, but of course, the cost is MUCH less than a firing pin for a Rem700.

The rifle looks great btw. Enjoy.
 
the only modern firearms which should not be dry fired are rim fires such as a .22, reason being that the firing pin/striker tends to contact the breach face, as opposed to a center fire weapon where nothing imacts the breach. as stated, a snap cap or dummy round can be helpful, but not completely necessary.
 
Lapp_Dance said:
the only modern firearms which should not be dry fired are rim fires such as a .22, reason being that the firing pin/striker tends to contact the breach face, as opposed to a center fire weapon where nothing imacts the breach. as stated, a snap cap or dummy round can be helpful, but not completely necessary.
Click to expand...

+1 on this.... and there are even rimfires that are designed to be able to dry fire... such as my ruger mk3 and my cz452...
"snapping in" is a term coined by the usmc and recruits in boot spend time snapping in with their rifles long before they get live ammo. i use dryfire to supplament my range time for pistol, carbine and long range. dryfire is the cheapest and most useful tool to improve your shooting... just be smart about it... leave the ammo in another room...
 
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