Dry-Firing

[Kujones]

I have a CZ 455 and want to practice more often but can't always get to the range. Is it OK to dry fire my rifle?

[acorneau]

According to CZ it is completely safe to dry-fire.

[Jerry G]

I would go to the local hardware store and buy a small package (box of 100) of those little yellow drywall inserts . They feed from the magazine and eject when you pull the bolt back. They can be used over and over. Great buy for under $5.00 and you won't have to worry about your firing pin.

[asymmeter]

I recently picked up a CZ 455 MT and was wondering the same thing, so I reached out to CZ support and got this excellent response back:

"""
You are correct that you can dry fire with no issues, as that is how the bolt is designed. In the bolt, the firing pin is designed not to protrude past the edge of the most forward point on the top of the bolt. The most strain that occurs when dry firing (which will be the same strain as when live firing) is on the spring, as well as when the striker base contacts the bolt body, which is what stops the firing pin from protruding too much. I even went back to confirm with our rifle gunsmith, and he simply said, fire to your hearts content. As far as the lifespan, with that much dry firing (**I asked about my pace of doing a few hundred dry/live fires a week at least**), you might have to replace the spring within a few years, but the bolt itself should last many many years before you should have to replace the bolt, as the striking of the striker to the bolt (at the point where it stops the firing pin) will not be impacting too hard, and should hold up just fine for you for quite some time.
"""

I also did a quick confirmation test by placing masking tape over the breech face - after a few dry fires it was completely unmarked. I've been doing dry fire practice every day since and there's no evidence of damage anywhere on the rifle, so go crazy!

Another note re: the drywall anchors - I tried this and they kept getting jammed into the barrel and failing to extract for this rifle. It's not dangerous, but it is a pain to drag them out, so be cautious there.

[Jerry G]

I have never has that problem in my annie.

[MetalMisser]

If the firing pin hits the rim edge of the chamber it can ruin the rifle. Also, small diameter firing pins if dry fired a bunch (older Anschutz were prone to this) the forward momentum in an empty chamber would work stretch them and the end can fly off--expensive! You will not see this with high power rifles. I dry fire by inserting a fired case in the chamber and then snapping against it for five shots by just lifting the bolt to recock, and after five shots I eject it and replacing with another for the next five.

[abraverman]

I personally think that dry-firing is a very, very, very bad idea. I think you should go to the range and shoot as much rimfire ammunition as possible in order to really affect good practice!! Contact Cathy or any other dealer and get some good practice ammo!!

[Bob259]

I personally think that dry-firing is a very, very, very bad idea. I think you should go to the range and shoot as much rimfire ammunition as possible in order to really affect good practice!! Contact Cathy or any other dealer and get some good practice ammo!!

Good one Adam