Testing the trigger on a rimfire

[AussieTimmeh]

Hi all,

I own a couple of Savage rifles that are both fitted with the adjustable AccuTrigger. The triggers are fairly firm pulls and I plan to have a go at adjusting them myself using the Savage manuals for the rifles. I have a trigger pull gauge to test my adjustments. I want to lighten the triggers on both to 2lbs.

I have been told by my LGS where I bought my centrefire Model 10 that you can dry fire it without issue, but not the rimfire. My question is how do I test fire the rimfire .22LR? I'd like to do my adjustments at home so actually firing rounds is not preferred. Do I actually need to shoot rounds when I am testing my adjustments or can I buy something to fit inside that stops the bolt being damaged?

[Apollo]

Buy some .22LR Snap Caps or feed in a fired spent .22LR cartridge case and try and put it in a position that hasn't been struck by the firing pin. As long as the firing pin doesn't hit the hard material at the back of your barrel chamber, that is the issue and can snap / break or chip your firing pin.

[AussieTimmeh]

Great, will track down some snap caps. Thanks!

[Warrigul]

Great, will track down some snap caps. Thanks!

Just be aware that .22LR snap caps do wear out rather quickly, they are ideal for testing magazine functionm and extraction etc but often the old empty case does just as good a job if all you are doing is testing trigger function.

Nothing wrong with them if that is what you want to try.

[Boatman]

Great, will track down some snap caps. Thanks!

You can just do it with spent brass too btw.

Bit more of a pain in the ass but it works.

Feed the fired shell and rotate it so that a flat section of primer is in front of the pin, not the existing strike hole.

Rinse, repeat.

You'll get 4 'shots' out of each spent case.

[kritch]

Just be aware that .22LR snap caps do wear out rather quickly

You get about 20 shots per cap, right?

[Brute]

Yeah something like that.

Maybe a few more.

They're just a firm rubber/plastic dummy cartridge. They crush in after a few hits from the pin, same way brass does on the first shot.

[Warrigul]

Just be aware that .22LR snap caps do wear out rather quickly

You get about 20 shots per cap, right?

They start looking very seedy after about ten and become useless for testing feeding etc, my last one that I was keeping for feed testing was borrowed and wrecked by a mate, I will have to buy some more- used brass is cheap in comparison.

[Hercl]

Great, will track down some snap caps. Thanks!

If you can't get any spent brass really does work just as good.

More fiddly, boatman is right there, but it works and you'll obviously have tonnes of it...