I guess I'm stuck in my ways 10/22

[Big Nasty]

Daddy always told me to never dry fire a .22 or a shotgun. Yesterday I bought my first 10/22 took it to the field ran a magazine through it and click. Scared me to death, after going a little more indepth on the manual Ruger states all their firearms can be dry fired. I looked real close and the only thing I found that may save the firing pins life is the small recess in the bolt for the shell case's head (rim). Is that what saves it I am just very curious and it will take some time to get used to the dry fire thing on a .22. The manual also states that you should never store one cocked so you should dry fire it before storage ? Talk about repaveing a line of thought for me. Oh do the recoil buffers really help I mean it's a 22 how much recoil can one have were a buffer is needed.

THanks Guy's and Gal's   

[BlkHawk73]

  The bolt buffers...well I have 'em in all of mine but I don't see them as a necessity.  The gun has worked for many years and millions sold and I've yet to hear about an issue because of the steel pin taking enough recoil  to damage the aluminum receiver.  These poly pins do seem to reduce the noise of the bolt a bit and in theory would make for a beter recoil absorbing choice compared to the steel counterpart.

[GRIMJIM]

I put the bolt buffers in mine just to make it less "clanky". Not a necessity but............

I don't like the dry firing thing either and I'll keep a spent case to use as a snap cap when I'm done at the range. Kept in a safe direction of course.

[torpedoman]

 I've got an old one or rather the grand daughter has it now many thousand rounds and when it got so dirty it no longer functioned i stripped it down and cleaned it out.  the bolt buffer shows absolutely zero wear.

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

Dry fire away with the Rugers---done it for years with no problems.

That doesn't go for lesser .22's---only Ruger.

[BlkHawk73]

I've got an old one or rather the grand daughter has it now many thousand rounds and when it got so dirty it no longer functioned i stripped it down and cleaned it out.  the bolt buffer shows absolutely zero wear.

  It's not the buffer that would supposedly show ear but rather the hole it's in.  The steel rod in the softer aluminum would over time and repeated impacts oblong or out-of-round the hole.

[Big Nasty]

ok so then if it will make the hole out of round than a three dollar bolt buffer would be a very inexpensive peace of mind.