Dry Fire 39A?

[crabo]

Is it okay to dry fire a Marlin 39A rimfire?

Thanks,

Crabo

[Scrounger]

NO! I will not dryfire any rimfire. Look where the firing pin impacts on a fired case. With no case in the chamber, the firing pin will dig a little groove and peen metal into the chamber. Very shortly you will not be able to get a round to chamber. Brownells sells a little tool to 'iron' the displaced metal back into its origin if some boob has already messed up your rifle.

[runfiverun]

i can't make letters that big.........so NO!

[miestro_jerry]

I agree NO

[Blackwater]

As issued by the factory, the answer is no, as stated above. However, if you really want to dry fire, and that's never a bad thing if the gun's OK for it, then a good gunsmith ought to be able to trim the firing pin in the right places so it'll still reliably fire the primers in the ctg's rims, but won't be long enough to hit the face of the barrel.

There's one caveat, and I can't recall right now off the top of my head whether it'll be a factor with the Marlin or not, but if the firing pin doesn't have a reliable stop, that will limit forward travel, trimming the firing pin won't work very well, if at all.

Who here doesn't have CRS disease and can remember if the Marlin's firing pin has a reliable stopper to limit forward travel?

[MtGun44]

I have zero idea on the 39A, but it is not true that all rimfires have a
problem with dry fire. Many rimfire designs have positive stops on the
firing pin and will not hit the chamber. For example, the Ruger std auto.

There are many that have a flat firing pin running in a slot with a crosspin
in an oval hole to limit pin travel and avoid problems.

Bill

[Scrounger]

My memory is good enough to remember not to do it and I shall continue that practice. There is no need for it anyway.

[MakeMineA10mm]

I had to replace the firing pin on my 39A when I was about 15 years old, because, being young and dumb, didn't know about dry-firing RFs. (The 39A was my first long-gun.)

Never did cause a dent in the chamber area, but I've heard of that happening too, to the point that cartridges won't seat after the peening gets too bad.

[Glen]

This was a problem on the older .22 rimfires, and we have had some trouble with this in the rifles we use in our NRA Junior Marksmanship Program (which get dry-fired extensively). Many of the older .22s did not have a positive stop on the firing pin and it would hit the breech face of the chamber and eventually would peen the edge of the chamber to where loading would become difficult. This would take many, many dry fires (several hundred). This burr is easily removed, and function restored, with a quick twist of a chambering reamer, or the beveled tool described above.

On the bolt-action target rifles in our Juniors program that were prone to this problem, we just had the kids load empty .22 cases into the chambers for their dry-firing practice, and there were no more problems.

Many of the quality-made .22s these days (and that includes the Marlin 39A) have a positive firing pin stop machined in to the firing pin to prevent this contact with the breech-face. It is perfectly safe to dry-fire a Marlin 39A, you will not damage the gun. To verify this, I just took down a 1954 vintage 39A to be sure that it had the firing pin stop. It did. Just make sure that the gun is unloaded and the muzzle is pointed in a safe direction.

[jkingrph]

Marlin 39 a is safe to dry fire, with just a couple of minutes work. Simply break gun down remove firing pin, reinstall bolt without firing pin and dry fire.

[ra_balke]

Yes shure .
Dry fire it all you want.

I have dry fired my marlin 39 , 1000 s of times.

I also have a nice collection of broken firing pins. I keep them in a jar beside my loading bench.

I buy them in bulk from Numrich arms,, they cost about 20 bucks each.



Slowly slowly slowly,, I learn my lessons in life.

[wmitty]

I MET A YOUNG MAN ABOUT 25 YEARS AGO WHO WAS PROUD OF HIS .22 RIFLE AND WANTED TO SHOW IT TO ME. TURNED OUT IT WAS A M39 MOUNTIE AND WAS A REALLY NICE RIFLE EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT HE HAD DRY FIRED IT TO THE POINT THAT THE CHAMBER WAS TOTALLY RUINED AND i EXPLAINED THIS TO HIM.
HE HADN'T FIRED THE RIFLE AS HE LIVED AT A CHILDREN'S HOME AND HAD NO OPPORTUNITY. HE SEEMED UNCONCERNED ABOUT THE DAMAGE AND CONTINUED TO DRY FIRE THE RIFLE WHILE I SIMPLY DECIDED TO KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT.

[Mumblypeg]

I did. Broke the firing pin. I don't do that any more.