To dry fire the Encore or not, that is the question!

[mikemayberry]

Now I don't dry fire my Encores very often but I did the other night a few times.  After about 3 time I tried to open the action and it hung up.  Upon closer inspection, I could break the action just a bit and in good light peek in enough to see the firing pin extended.  

Got a slim knife blade and feathered it back into the hole from which it came.  Thought it was "all good" but it made me wonder why it had happened.  Proceeded to take the firing pin assembly apart for the first time and realized my firing pin was in two pieces.  Having never seen one apart, I reassembled and everything seemed to work, including shooting my new .223 12" barrel and even my black powder rifle barrel.

Got home, began to clean everything and decided to disassemble the firing pin in my other frame.  That's when I realized my first frame actually has a broken firing pin and it should only be one piece, not two.

Will order a replacement or go and see if Ed has one since he is local.  Wonder if it broke from the dry firing or from it hanging in the forward position and me then trying to open the action.  

I did notice the allen screw that holds the assembly in place was a bit loose and wondered if that added to the malfunction.

Nonetheless, should be a simple fix and not expensive either.  

Lessons learned:    

Don't dry fire without a snap cap in place.

Disassemble and clean this area of the Encore more often.  It really is easy to take it apart for inspection and cleaning and it was pretty dirty in there in both frames.  Check the allen bolt that holds the firing pin occasionally--mine had become slightly loose.

Keep an extra firing pin and spring around "just in case".  Would have hated to be out hunting or on a long trip and find out this simple field fix would not be possible without a backup firing pin.

Finally, it verifies that Encore and TC have a well built product that is simple in design and very servicable at home.

Thanks for listening.

Mike

P.S.  Called TC Arms this morning and they couldn't have been nicer!  Customer Service agreed to send me a replacement firing pin.  They were great and most helpful.

[Redhawk1]

I dry fire mine. I don't just sit there and do it a lot. I just every once in a great while do it. I try not to make a habit of it.  

[mikemayberry]

Redhawk1,

That's what I usually did, just a few time occasionally dry fired for "feel".

I haven't had time yet to pull out the manual and see what it says about dry firing.  Maybe someone has one handy and can report what it says.

What amazed me most is that it worked fine even though broken.  Had I fully understood at the time it was broken, I would not have shot it.  But since it had sheered right where the pin part meets the wide part and was smooth, I just presumed it should be two pieces and put it back together and went on.  I must say it is quite a bit easier to reassemble as a one piece rather than a two-piece.

Mike

[daveb]

I'm probably doing something stupid - you guys can tell me if
I am.  I dry fire quite a bit as it really helps my performance
while sitting and standing (using a polecat).  I feel like I really
need to practice this way in order to shoot effectively at field
positions.  

What I do is to use a fired case, limiting the dryfireing to 5
"shots" per fired case.  The primers definitely take a pounding,
and I don't reload (it's cheap 223 ammo cases).  What do you
think? :?

[mikemayberry]

Daveb,

Just take one or two of your caliber cases and punch the FIRED primer out.  If you don't reload, use a long nail or an ice pick or something like that.  Substitute a pencil eraser of the appropriate size into the primer pocket and you should be good to go.  

You might want to paint the head stamp with nail polish or something to denote it's a dummy round.  I would do this except that I know it would make me safety crazy so I just spend a few bucks and buy the snap caps that I can readily tell are not going to fire.  They purposely make them look different for safety reasons.

I read about the eraser trick and thought it would be a simple and inexpensive solution and it should work.

Mike

[Redhawk1]

If you are going to dry fire a lot, consider a snap cap.  

[rickyp]

snap caps are the way to go,
 for most rifle  and shotgun rounds you can get a set of 2 for less then $10 and a set of 5 or 6 for handgun rounds for bout $15. get what you need then put the extra one (s) up for sale or trade for some other round you need.

 I have a trade for one 243 winchester snap cap for a 45-70 snap cap :grin:

[Paladin]

the manual that came with my encore claimed dry firing would damage the firing pin return spring. well, that's what it said, personally if I'm going to dryfire I use a contender and don't cock the hammer

[tcshooter52]

The manual is correct, dry firing will distort the fining pin spring. If you want and must dry fire put a piece of cloth or leather in front of the hammer before squeezing the trigger. I sure would hate to be hunting and have sights on the shot of your life squeeze the  trigger and nothing happens.

John

[Lucky Joe]

I punch out the primers and fill the primer pocket with hot glue. Trim the glue when it has cooled. This is what I have used for years with no problems. Or perhaps I'm just lucky.