Drying firing is the act of shooting a gun without ammo. And in airsoft, this practice is adopted by some players as a way to empty out their gun chambers and is criticized by others as something that can break down an expensive gun. If your gun is even a mid-tier purchase, you probably want to know if it is a good idea to dry-fire it.
It is not OK to dry fire an airsoft gun consistently, though you can occasionally dry fire the electronic and spring ones. Gas guns shouldn’t be deliberately dry-fired because they can break down more easily.
In this article, you will learn more about the level of vulnerability of different types of airsoft guns when it comes to dry firing. You’ll also find out the uses of dry firing and possible alternatives that you can use to avoid having to put your gun at risk with dry fire. But first, let’s look at the two different firing mechanisms, only one of which is vulnerable to dry fire.
Rimfire Ammo Vs. Centerfire Ammo Vs. No Ammo
In real guns, Rimfire airsoft ammo is sparked from behind on impact. That means the firing mechanism is hammered from the back where the primer is located and is close to the rest of the moving parts. When the rimfire gun is dry-fired, its lack of impact harms the components in the rear of the gun.
Centrefire guns are ones that fire the ammunition from the center, as the bullet rim doesn’t contain the primer. Centerfire rounds can be dry-fired because the movement of the round doesn’t affect the gun’s firing mechanism.
Airsoft pellets don’t get lit up from the back or the center. So the dry fire problem in airsoft is different. It isn’t that the blank sheds particles on the firing mechanism but that the lack of the pellet can make some moving parts extend too much. The pellet creates pushback that keeps the moving parts moving within their boundaries.
In Airsoft guns, the model with the highest number of moving parts is the most vulnerable to dry fire.
Is It OK To Dry Fire Electronic Airsoft Gun?
It is perfectly fine to dry-fire electronic airsoft guns because they don’t feature as many moving parts that are adversely affected when shooting without a BB.
For most automatic electronic guns, shooting with and without a BB is virtually the same thing. Since a majority of modern airsoft guns are electronic, most people who dry fire their airsoft guns after a game don’t have any problems in the subsequent games.
Is It OK To Dry Fire Airsoft Gas Gun?
It is definitely not OK to dry fire an airsoft gas gun because the Gas gun’s blowback mechanism relies on the forward movement of a BB to maintain its own safe movement. In the absence of a BB, the mechanism moves too much and gets loose in the less problematic instances and dislodges in the more troublesome ones.
Is It OK To Dry Fire Airsoft Spring Pistol?
It is not OK to Dry Fire an airsoft spring pistol, but occasional misfires and test shots don’t break down the pistol. The spring propeller mechanism relies on the presence of BBs to work properly.
When dry-fired, an airsoft spring gun can come loose or might become immobile, depending on the design of the gun. Dry fire doesn’t affect spring guns as much as gas guns, but it does have a negative effect over the long term.
Dry Fire Uses, Drawbacks, And Potential Alternatives
In this section, we will look at why dry firing is even a thing in airsoft. The uses are relevant and valid even though dry fire isn’t a good thing. Let’s assess these uses in order to establish possible alternatives.
The uses of Dry Firing in Airsoft are:
Trigger-speed training – Dry firing can be used to get good at pulling the trigger repeatedly. In airsoft, the player who is the quickest with the trigger wins.
Aim-and-shoot training – Aiming and shooting without having to spend too much time zeroing in on the target is a valuable skill. Read my post on aiming in airsoft to learn more about that. Dry firing is used to train to aim and shoot in shorter timespans without wasting ammunition.
Safety in practice – To practice airsoft shooting without putting one’s surrounding at risk, one might choose to fire without actual airsoft pellets. However, this isn’t ideal as it can damage the gun.
Cheaper practice sessions – Finally, people might opt for dry fire as a way to save ammunition when practicing. This ends up costing them more as they are forced to buy a new gun when dry firing harms their airsoft gun, making it inaccurate, low-speed, or downright unusable.
Checking if a magazine is empty – This is the most valid use of dry firing. When players suspect that their airsoft magazine is empty, they fire the gun to hear the difference. If the gun sounds empty, they know that the gun can be stored safely.
The drawbacks of dry firing an airsoft gun are:
- It can make your gun inaccurate – If the shooting mechanism is adversely affected by dry firing, the gun can become inaccurate as the pellets are pushed with less pressure.
- It can reduce the shooting speed of your gun – When dry firing impacts the blowback mechanism of an airsoft gun, the gun can be lost 100 to 200 FPS in its firepower, which can lower a player’s performance significantly.
- It can completely break your gun – In most cases, repeated dry firing can render an airsoft gun completely incapable of firing airsoft BBs.
Alternatives to dry firing in airsoft:
- Buy airsoft BBs in bulk – If you use dry fire as a way to reduce the cost of practice, buying airsoft BBs in bulk via packages like Valken Accelerate Airsoft BBS is your best bet at saving money without dry firing.
- Practice airsoft at a range or in an empty space – If dry firing is your way to keep people safe while you practice airsoft, you can do them a favor and practice in an empty space. This way, the people around you are spared of the sound, and you don’t have to risk your gun’s longevity by dry firing.
- Saturate the magazine and store it safely – Finally, you can resort to loading BBs whenever your magazine is half-empty and can assume that your gun is always full of BBs. That way, you don’t have to dry fire to find out that the gun needs more BBs. The flip side of this strategy is that you need to store your airsoft gun out of the reach of children and pre-teens, as they can hurt themselves with a BB-sporting airsoft gun.
Final Thoughts
Dry fire in airsoft guns is different from dry fire in real guns. In airsoft, dry fire is almost always a bad thing. Gas guns are the most vulnerable to dry fire, followed by spring guns. Electronic ones are the least vulnerable, but they still wear out quicker with constant dry fire. It is best not to dry fire your airsoft gun and stop whenever you accidentally dry fire your gun after running out of ammo.