Dry fire and racking the slide question...

[Mystery123]

This is what I was doing.
I racked the slide all the way to the back and it locked.
Then I pulled the rack back so I can press the slide lock down.
Then I pulled the trigger.
Again, I racked the slide all the way to the back and it locked... same thing as before.
And I thought, man this dry firing takes a lot of work to pull trigger one time.
Yes I'm a n00b, what do you expect?
So I watched review videos carefully and noticed they are racking slide only a little bit to reset the trigger, almost same as press check.

I did the same and it works but still have a question.
How far am I supposed to rack the slide for trigger reset so I can dry fire without locking/releasing the slide?

 

[Odd Job]

If that was me I would get a magazine full of snap caps and dry fire with those.
Back in the day I used Pachmayr snap caps like these:



Can't mistake those for live rounds.

 

[Labguy47]

Even one time can hurt your firing pin. It is important to find a trigger breaking reset point. And I’m sure that was your intent. Odd job is right on by suggesting snap caps, keeps the gun from breaking.

 

[MedWheeler]

You don't say what gun you're using. Hybrid-double-action guns, like the Kel-Tec PF9, Taurus TCP, or Ruger LCP, do indeed require at least a partial resetting of the hammer, since the hammer is not precocked if the slide doesn't cycle (like in a dry-fire.)

If the gun you're using is safe to use without Snap-Caps, and does not have a magazine disconnect, simply remove the empty magazine. The slide won't lock back then. This works for traditional DA/SA guns (Beretta M92, Walther PPK, Ruger P-series, etc.) and SAO guns (1911, BHP, etc.) These won't even require manipulation of the slide, as you can simply thumb-cock the hammer. If the gun has a "true" DAO feature (SCCY, Kel-Tec PF9, etc), you will have to cycle the slide.

There are few striker-fired guns (striker-fireds include Glocks, Ruger SR-series, S&W MP, etc.) that are capable of being dry-fired without at least a partial slide re-rack. Taurus makes a couple. Again, simply drop the magazine, or use Snap-Caps.

Snap-Caps can pretty much put your mind at ease. You'll only have to use the slide release after the last one is ejected.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

How far am I supposed to rack the slide for trigger reset so I can dry fire without locking/releasing the slide?

For every striker fired pistol I have, not much. Handling my Sig 365 right now and it would be difficult to rack the slide too short for reset, less than a half inch. I have dry fired my strikers thousands of times without damaging a firing pin. Not saying it can never happen, if it does $50 or so will replace one.

 

[JTQ]

This is what I was doing.
I racked the slide all the way to the back and it locked.

Take the magazine out of the gun.

 

[sparkyv]

MedWheeler covered it well 》》》 with most autoloaders, you can partially rack the slide or just cock the hammer, depending on which type you have. Except for rimfires or if contraindicated in the user manual, I dry fire liberally with no snap caps. No issues, but damage can happen as can happen with any piece of equipment that has moving parts.

 

[edwardware]

How far am I supposed to rack the slide for trigger reset so I can dry fire. . . ?

Far enough to reset that trigger. Is that a trick question?

On my various striker-fired tactical tupperware, the striker resets with ~0.5" of slide travel, so that's all you need.

Also, before we get too much more traffic re: dry fire leading to broken pins and hair loss. . . don't sweat it. Dry firing a minty classic is disrespectful, but modern center fire arms are quite robust and can be dry fired extensively without issue. If you dry fire enough to break a pin, the extra familiarity you have with the trigger will be worth it.

 

[Mystery123]

Thanks for replies.

@MedWheeler
I'm using M&P 2.0 9mm compact 4.0".

 

[1KPerDay]

Yes. Triple check for empty. Check again. No ammo in the room. Remove the magazine. Rack the slide half an inch after each dry fire.

 

[shoobe01]

...before we get too much more traffic re: dry fire leading to broken pins and hair loss. . . don't sweat it. Dry firing a minty classic is disrespectful, but modern center fire arms are quite robust and can be dry fired extensively without issue. If you dry fire enough to break a pin, the extra familiarity you have with the trigger will be worth it.

And "modern" means since the mid 1960s or so for almost everything, since the '30s for a lot of guns. A (very) few rimfires are still made with a dumb overtravel-allowed system that can eventually damage the firing pin, but a lot of the rumor of firing pin damage is from the previous century; dropping the hammer without a cap on the nipple will slowly peen the iron and brass bits. We're way past that.

Aside: If you find it's hard to get enough range time in so really need the dry fire capability, look into a dedicated dry fire trainer (E.g. SIRT) or set up an airsoft range in the basement (they make very good replicas of most guns, many sold through the OEM). They reset for you and provide additional helpful features.

 

[LiveLife]

Take the magazine out of the gun.

That depends whether pistol has a magazine disconnect. OP has M&P which can come with or without magazine disconnect.

I'm using M&P 2.0 9mm compact 4.0".

 

[HPCadm17]

One advantage of hammer-fired is you can chamber a single snap cap and remove the magazine, and either keep doing DA trigger pulls or cock the hammer. No need to rack the slide unless you want to test reset. For striker-fired pistols I use a laser bore sight (gives the striker something to strike) and rack the slide just enough to reset the trigger. I use the laser because there's nothing for the extractor to hook onto so you don't need to worry about racking too far resulting in extraction/ejection and having to reload the snap caps.

 

[LiveLife]

How far am I supposed to rack the slide for trigger reset so I can dry fire without locking/releasing the slide?

As others already posted, just enough to reset the trigger.

While dry firing, consider doing another thing - Watch the front sight. If the front sight jumps or moves when striker is released, practice until front sight is steady and this will reduce your group size on target.

If you don't have the basics of grip/trigger release to steady the pistol, check out this post - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...-help-me-speed-up.824618/page-4#post-10902444

Rob Leatham demonstrates dry fire exercise in this video



Additional dry fire exercise videos - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTA5eZBBe1pXuIt0QbqFavd9cLjaWlzet

And if you want more drills to practice at the range, consider point shooting drills - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...-help-me-speed-up.824618/page-4#post-10902245

 

[Mystery123]

Yes. Triple check for empty. Check again. No ammo in the room. Remove the magazine. Rack the slide half an inch after each dry fire.

The M&P doesn't have magazine safety but I want to dry fire with the magazine.
It doesn't feel the same without magazine sticking out on the grip and weight is off as well.

As for ammo in the room, I lock ammo inside the pistol safe.
How important is another room? I heard it in few videos.
It's hard to find another room.
Probably basement is an option. Hmm...

 

[uofaengr]

Most any striker fired gun, you can reset the trigger with minimal slide travel and without overriding the magazine. Just be smart about it and you can feel and hear the point at which the trigger resets.

 

[JTQ]

The M&P doesn't have magazine safety but I want to dry fire with the magazine.
It doesn't feel the same without magazine sticking out on the grip and weight is off as well.

In that case you may want to use one of these https://www.safariland.com/products...ies/rogers-top-rack-training-aid-ROG_TRT.html

For what it's worth, I never dry fire with a mag inserted.

 

[jar]

The M&P doesn't have magazine safety but I want to dry fire with the magazine.
It doesn't feel the same without magazine sticking out on the grip and weight is off as well.

As for ammo in the room, I lock ammo inside the pistol safe.
How important is another room? I heard it in few videos.
It's hard to find another room.
Probably basement is an option. Hmm...

As long as you set a routine of putting all the ammo out of reach, whether it's in a different room, in a small safe, in a cigar box, anywhere you can't easily put a live round in during a session you will be fine. The goal is to create a physical and temporal separation between cleaning or dry fire or inspection sessions and a ready state.

 

[murf]

and get in the habit of dry-firing a dozen times, or so, at the range before your live fire session and before you switch guns (when you purchase more guns(hint, hint)).

luck,

murf

 

[1KPerDay]

For what it's worth, I never dry fire with a mag inserted.

Me neither.... just one more thing you might overlook through repetition.

 

[1KPerDay]

The M&P doesn't have magazine safety but I want to dry fire with the magazine.
It doesn't feel the same without magazine sticking out on the grip and weight is off as well.

As for ammo in the room, I lock ammo inside the pistol safe.
How important is another room? I heard it in few videos.
It's hard to find another room.
Probably basement is an option. Hmm...

Safe is fine. However a bulletproof backstop is preferred. Basement sounds like a good idea to me. And reconsider dry firing with mags inserted.

You want your dry fire manual of arms to be as different as possible to actually loading and firing your pistol. IMO

Triple check the mag out/chamber empty. Every time you start your dry fire session. Without exception. If you set the gun down or are interrupted, triple check again before you resume.

 

[Jim Watson]

There is a device.
https://www.dryfiremag.com/product/dryfiremag-for-smithwesson-mp/

It costs a hundred bucks and will protrude a bit from your Compact, but it will let you click away to your heart's content.

 

[ATLDave]

Depending on what you are working on, you do not have to get the trigger to re-set.

Everyone here is assuming that the objective of the OP is to learn to pull the trigger through the sear release without disturbing the sights. That's a very important use of dry-fire, but hardly the only one. For instance, a very important use of dry fire is learning things like transitioning between targets, or reloading.

I do a fair amount of dry-fire with my competition guns, all of which are SAO hammer fired guns. Less than 5% of my total dry trigger-pulls are with the hammer cocked. It would be impossible to dry-fire a multi-target array with the trigger being live.

Given that the OP has posted elsewhere about his relative new-ness to shooting, my point may not be of great relevance to him yet, but I do want to have it in the record of this thread that many kinds of useful dry-fire practice are incompatible with getting a hammer/sear or striker/sear engagement-and-release on every shot.

There is a lot that can be learned with a "dead" trigger.

 

[ATLDave]

There's nothing wrong with dry-firing with a magazine inserted. We've all read countless reports of guns firing with no magazine in them, so it's not like having no magazine is some kind of solves-all against AD/ND's. What is critical is that there be no ammunition in the gun - chamber or magazine. And the best ways to do that are to physically separate the two (some people are adamant about the room, but the main thing is to make sure it's far enough away to require conscious action to get it into the gun) and to have your brain engaged while you are handling a firearm.

And, as always, stick to the rules of gun safety. Never, ever, ever point the gun somewhere where it would be tragic if the gun went off. Remember that interior walls are generally not bullet proof, nor are exterior non-masonry walls.

 

[JTQ]

There's nothing wrong with dry-firing with a magazine inserted. We've all read countless reports of guns firing with no magazine in them, so it's not like having no magazine is some kind of solves-all against AD/ND's.

I'm not primarily looking at it as a safety thing (though there is a little advantage), but more a convenience thing that the slide doesn't lock back when the slide is racked with no magazine in place.