Well, I finally got my .22 range gun. I went with a Beretta U22 NEOS, instead of the Ruger Mark II and so far I like it. I like it a LOT.

My question is this: The book says:

NOTICE: TO INCREASE THE SERVICE LIFE OF THE FIRING PIN SPRING, IT IS ADVISABLE NOT TO STORE THE PISTOL WITH THE FIRING PIN COCKING INDICATOR IN THE COCKED POSITION.

On my Ruger P95DC, I've always been able to decock it by using the decocking lever or just easing the hammer down. But this model has no exposed hammer, so...how do I properly decock it? I understand that one should *NEVER* dry-fire a gun, even a semi-auto. How do you guys decock your guns?

And also--is this something I should be worried about on my bolt-action rifles? I close the bolts to store them usually..and at that point they are cocked. So what should I do with those?

Thanks for any help!

/Wade

I don't know the details of your Neos, but we just dropped the hammer on a fired case on the old High Standards.

Holding the trigger back as you close the bolt works on most bolt guns.

Bye
Jack

"Never dryfire a rimfire" is a partial myth. If a firing pin is designed to travel no farther than the length of the bolt, it will not contact the face of the barrel breech and therefore can't deform itself by dryfiring. Disassemble the weapon and depress the firing pin as far as it goes. If it won't extend past the bolt lip, then it shouldn't contact the barrel, and you can confidently dryfire that particular rimfire without damaging. Some rimfires (like the Ruger Mk II) actually state that you can safely dryfire them (another reason why you should have bought a Ruger Mk).

As for bolt-action rifles, most can have their striker springs safely released by 1. Pull the bolt to the rear 2. Close the bolt and pull the trigger as you push the bolt handle down. This will softly release the spring. This works on most bolt-action rifles.

You can always get dryfire dummy cartridges to let you decock those weapons that shouldn't be dryfired empty. Hope this helps.

Pull the mag out, cycle the slide to empty any bullets in the barrel. Put in an empty fired case, close the slide. Point the pistol in a safe direction and pull the trigger do drop the internal hammer on the empty case. Leave it that way til your ready to shoot it again.

As Mike said you can also do this on an empty chamber, but I like an empty case better. It's dry firing that can damage the firing pin, chamber edge on some guns. Some 22's and most center fires allow dry firing. There should be something in your manual that tells you so.

Thanks for all the replies.

I finally started putting empty casings into my bolts and dry-firing them.

Genius me: I normally shoot bulk ammo, and in every box of Remingtons, I normally find one or two empty casings. I put one of those in the first time I decided to fire it before storage and I never thought that the casing might STILL HAVE A PRIMER IN IT. Nearly soiled a pair of boxers when I got a good "pop" when I pulled the trigger.

Anyway, I now dry-fire on truly spent casings I pick up when I'm done at the range...

If you want the official, ultimate way to release your firing pin spring, you can purchase snap-caps. These are aluminum or plastic “cartridges”, made to cushion the blow of a firing pin. MidwayUSA sells them.

Darrel

My suggestion -- actually read the manual, where it clearly says to remove the magazine, check to be sure the chamber is empty, point the gun in a safe direction, and pull the trigger.