dry fire?

[weeds]

how many dry fires is to many on a NP?  consequently i have seen it said not to use cleaning pellets in you spring or NP rifle because they are to light... but how often do you use a cleaning pellet really??... not very often which brings me back to the first question. as in some firearms companies will state limited dry fire without snap caps or NO dry fire period .... at what point will dryfiring damage your air rifle?

[BenjiHunter]

1 is too many.
 I've made it a rule never to dry fire any of my springers.
Same goes for NP piston guns.

[NitroBobby]

in my opinion/experience any dry firing of a NP/Springer is too much. when my NPSS was new i didn't know this and used probably 10 cleaning pellets. a few weeks later i used 20 or so more. my gun now shoots down around 530FPS when it should probably be over 700. i now have to replace the piston seal and hope nothing else is damaged.
simply stated, do not dry fire a springer. you may get away with a couple, but in the end you will have damaged or shortened the life of something (seal, spring, etc.)

kgb

[Dockey 454]

1 is too many.
 I've made it a rule never to dry fire any of my springers.
Same goes for NP piston guns.

+2, and throw the cleaning pellets away. Get some patches, goo-gone, and a piece of weed eater line.
Tom

[weeds]

i am not trying to be contentious but i just go this off of Pyramid:
Spring-piston guns: Beeman recommends using two pellets in low-powered spring guns and at least three in moderate- to high-powered air rifles. These are loaded at once to help increase air resistance and stop the piston from slamming into the end of the compression chamber... https://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2009/06/beeman-quick-cleaning-pellets/ Yep i know that beeman has a pony in the race...

i do not disagree with anyone would not intentionally dry fire just wondering how serious it is or has it risen to the ranks of Urban Legend.

[thekid]

Its is serious. You will smash the seal, possibly even splitting it at the same time the violent impact can do serious harm to the scope.
As for the cleaning pellets, I load one in the breach, then put a pellet behind it, you will never dry fire that way.

[BenjiHunter]

If Beeman sell these cleaning pellets , I understand why they want people to use them.
Do what Tom said, get a crown saver, patches and goo-gone instead.
That way you wont risk damaging the piston seal.

[amb5500c]

On a break barrel gun, the felt cleaning pellets can be pushed through with a wooden dowell, or as stated above, simply shot through ahead of a pellet. Don't dry fire your gun, theres no reason to and theres no since in risking the damage.
Richard

[NitroBobby]

i am not trying to be contentious but i just go this off of Pyramid:
Spring-piston guns: Beeman recommends using two pellets in low-powered spring guns and at least three in moderate- to high-powered air rifles. These are loaded at once to help increase air resistance and stop the piston from slamming into the end of the compression chamber... https://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2009/06/beeman-quick-cleaning-pellets/ Yep i know that beeman has a pony in the race...

i do not disagree with anyone would not intentionally dry fire just wondering how serious it is or has it risen to the ranks of Urban Legend.

buddy, it's your gun. you asked the question and got unanimous answers. there is a ton of experience here and everyone will tell you the same thing based on their experience. if you want to follow the instructions on the web site, it's your call. there are also a lot of instructions on how to change piston seals, springs and scopes here as well. so either way you're set. 
dry firing the gun is certainly not an urban legend. it's been proven to be harmful to the gun in many ways.
happy shooting.

kgb

[jonnnyboy]

Quote -"stop the piston from slamming into the end of the compression chamber..."

Therein lies the problem.  The only way to "stop the piston from slamming into the end of the compression chamber..." is to not dry-fire at all.  This question comes up pretty often.  "How many times is too many times?"  For the vast majority on the GTA, the answer is one time is too many. 

For me, the guys who tear them apart, repair them, put them back together and who I trust implicitly say "do not dry-fire at all!"  That's enough for me. 

joe

[White Eagle]

I have 2 rules regarding dry firing:

RULE #1:  DO NOT DRY FIRE A SPRING PISTON AIR RIFLE!

RULE #2:  REFER TO RULE #1

[aack73]

if you have already dry fired it, maybe no damage was done. hope for the best. but for future reference i wouldn't chance it again. as for the cleaning pellets, either what the kid said: cleaning pellet then a lead pellet or i would double what pa stated. maybe 5 or 6 cleaning pellets if you insist on using those. but for a springer or np i would definitely recommend the crown saver and dry patches. its a better option. save the cleaning pellets for the pcp/co2/pneumatic guns that you have or will own in the future.  

[Nod]

I posted previously that I had dry-fired my Winchester 1000X at least 50 times (at that time I didn't know it was bad for the rifle). And as I mentioned in that post, when I tore the rifle down to home tune it before I sold it to my neighbor, there was no visible damage to the seal.  It still shoots in the 900's with CPHP's.  Plus it had very little lube in it when I tore it down.  Maybe I was just lucky. Now of course I NEVER dry fire.

[White Eagle]

for a springer or np i would definitely recommend the crown saver and dry patches. its a better option. save the cleaning pellets for the pcp/co2/pneumatic guns that you have or will own in the future.  

+1