Dry Firing a Springer

A place to share your projects, technical advice. and tutorials
Post Reply
User avatar
Tank
Pistoleer
Pistoleer
Posts:505
Joined:Sat Jan 05, 2013 7:08 pm
Dry Firing a Springer

Post by Tank » Sat Aug 24, 2013 8:33 pm

We all hear about this, broken springs from dry firing. But I know for a fact that some people think it is just "scare stories"
Well actually, dry firing does major damage in three places:

1) It damages the piston and seal
2) It damages the cylinder wall - the end of the breech
3) It breaks springs

The first two I have no pictures of, but yesterday I pulled a rifle apart because it was "shooting badly" and this is what we had. The spring had snapped around two inches back and then because it had continued to be used "shooting like sh*t" the smaller broken part wound itself up the longer part. This was inside the piston of course so not immediately apparent.
I cannot stress strongly enough how important it is to thoroughly clean everything on disassembly. The bottom picture shows the two tiny spring parts that had broken away from the couls and were buried in the grease at the very head of the piston.
Had I just taken the old spring out and replaced it, these two small hardened still parts would have remained, wreaking havoc on every firing.

The spring as removed from the piston:
Image

Compared against a new replacement:
Image

And the two tiny pieces of hardened spring coil removed from the head of the piston:
Image
graham.
I’m going off to go find myself. If I’m not back by the time I return, keep me here.
https://tamesidepistol.club/

User avatar
Big Steve
Posts:41
Joined:Mon Jun 03, 2013 5:34 pm

Re: Dry Firing a Springer

Post by Big Steve » Sat Aug 24, 2013 10:52 pm

This is the first time I have ever seen actual objective evidence that dry firing a springer causes damage, good post.
Baikal MP654K Gen1 Oupeaat, Gen2 Grom, Gen3 Thor, Gen4 Demimak & Gen5 Tatiana
Makarov Pistol Association http://makarovpistol.myfineforum.org/index.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

beeker
Marksman
Marksman
Posts:115
Joined:Thu Nov 22, 2012 12:32 am

Re: Dry Firing a Springer

Post by beeker » Mon Aug 26, 2013 8:20 am

Good post and as I've just had this debate with a fellow club member, I will direct him to this article.
Bill

User avatar
garryt
Posts:19
Joined:Wed May 15, 2013 10:23 pm

Re: Dry Firing a Springer

Post by garryt » Wed Aug 28, 2013 10:02 pm

People really are daft not to listen sometimes.
It's fairly obvious it'll do the gun no favours. As the piston moves down the cylinder and compresses the air in front, it will build up a pressure behind the pellet and within the cylinder in front of the piston, as it tries to force the pellet up the barrel. The air acts as a cushion for the piston. If no pellet is present, the resistance is vastly reduced, as is the cushion, so the piston will hit the end of the cylinder with much increased force.

Sorry,
Not teaching anyone to suck eggs......... :mrgreen:
Duracoat service available.
http://www.gt-pistols.co.uk/

Jim caffery
Posts:17
Joined:Mon Jun 03, 2013 10:57 pm

Re: Dry Firing a Springer

Post by Jim caffery » Thu Aug 29, 2013 11:20 pm

Nice bit of info, just wish this was about when I was a lad, I dread to think of the damage I did to some nice springers when I was a youngster doing exactly this.

Leonardj
Marksman
Marksman
Posts:128
Joined:Sun Dec 23, 2012 4:58 am

Re: Dry Firing a Springer

Post by Leonardj » Fri Aug 30, 2013 4:19 am

Something that IMO, also bears mentioning, is the abuse to one's airgun caused by the use of the super-light PBA, and steel tipped plastic pellets in magnum rated springers. What many people don't consider is that with such lightweight pellets, it is comparable to dry-firing, and will, without doubt, damage the gun.

I just recently had a pair of very nice Diana model 34 rifles in for repair. Both had been fed a steady diet of PBA pellets from new, and both had ceased functioning within six months, both suffering from badly broken mainsprings, and smashed rear guides. In one gun, the mainspring had broken into five pieces, and in the other, three pieces, but with four more very distinct fractures that would have broken completely through before too long.

I explained all this to the owners when they picked the guns up (father & son), and specified which pellets should be used for greater longevity of their freshly repaired guns.

Post Reply