Dry Fire with the HK P30

[John Ralston]

I would normally use snap caps, but for many drills (malfunction drills for one), it can add a tremendous amount of tedium to the session and results in many less repititions, due to the snap caps ending up on the ground and having to be reloaded in the mags constantly. Since the hammer needs to be "Pre-Cocked" on the P30, you have to cock the hammer with your thumb if you have a snap cap already in the chamber and don't want to pick it up off the floor.

So...am I doing unseen damage to the firing pin and other slide internals by Dry Firing without snap caps? Can the P30 stand 1000's of Dry Fires without snap caps?

Thanks

[JodyH]

You won't hurt a P30 with dry fire.

[jslaker]

You won't hurt a P30 with dry fire.

Are there any modern centerfire semiauto designs that would, for that matter?

I'm always looking for things to add to my "avoid" list.

[John Ralston]

Thanks for the response.

The only reason I asked is that I know of some broken firing pins/strikers, firing pin retaining pins (SIG Stainless Slide P Series pistols) and have seen a few breech faces that were destroyed from extensive dry firing.

[ToddG]

Any can eventually show wear or suffer breakage from enough dry fire. Even a Glock -- which is probably the only gun on the market literally designed to be dry fired, as that is part of the takedown procedure -- can have problems at excessive reps.

While I'm not aware of any specific issue with the P30 (or the USP/P2000 family in general) viz-a-vis dry fire, as with any gun I would recommend regular inspections of potential wear parts. Also, as our own Tom Jones has learned the hard way, the P30 trigger spring gets worked just as hard during dry fire as live fire so be sure to keep your dry fire "round count" in mind when planning parts replacement cycles for that spring.

[John Ralston]

Will do...

[jslaker]

FWIW, I was meaning more along the lines of CZ-52s, that have a reputation for being brittle enough to break in a handful of dry fires.

[Vinh]

Mr. Ralston,

It is possible to cock an LEM P30 without ejecting the snap cap. Just ease the slide back far enough to cock the gun, but not so far that the snap cap hits the ejector. With familiarity, the process can be done at a decent pace.

That said, I've found that my A-Zoom snap caps mushroom and get stuck far too quickly, requiring the gun to be mortared after a single session of 15-20 minutes.

[John Ralston]

I will give it some practice - thanks Vinh

[gtmtnbiker98]

One benefit of the V3! No cocking requirement.