dry fire

[Guest Brent1973]

I just got a 17hmr and am a little worried.. I was looking at the gun as the salesman came to me and i told him that i wanted this gun. I noticed that he took the gun to the back and boxed it up. Well, this gun has been sitting on the shelf for some time now where many of people has handled it, looking and dry firing it i'm sure a lot. Would this be something to worry about? what am i to look at to make sure everything is ok?

its a

marlin 917VS 17HMR

[Mike]

Look at the firing pin and the face of the chamber. If either is deformed, get another rifle.

Mike

[Jonnin]

when you do the pin, take it OUT of the gun. It could be peened up inside from the fat part of the pin hitting the narrow part of the sleeve. It could also (this is much worse!) be hitting inside the chamber --- the pin face (the business part of the pin) and the chamber will both be peened in that case (this is bad, get it replaced as was stated).

While all but the worst of that can be fixed by anyone with a little polishing, if you paid new gun price, take it back. If you got a floor model discount, you may have to bust out polishing compound.

[Guest Brent1973]

no it was new gun, nothing said about it being a floor model. kind upset about this, this gun store always did good by me... will go by today, thanks

[Magiccarpetrides]

i dont think because it was in the case its exactly a floor model...this isnt like a best buy TV thats been on 24 hours a day. Honestly being a 17hmr i doubt many people dry fired it either. I would consider anything not marked used thats in the case as new.

[Mike.357]

why would you think the gun has been dry fired?

would the employees at the place have better stuff to do?

[Garufa]

OP, have you even shot the rifle yet?

[TnShooter83]

Honestly, the best way to "look" for a problem would be to shoot it.

If it doesn't fire look at rim of the case and see if the firing pin has hit it?

If there is NO indention on the rim then the firing pin could be broken, peened, or blocked by some debris in the firing pin channel.

If there IS an indention but it is light or shallow, then it is ether a peened firing pin or a weak striker spring.

My guess is that most likely nothing will be wrong and it will fire.

Go and shoot it and let your worries be gone.

[Oh Shoot]

Marlin manual does not admonish against dry firing it.

Most modern semi and bolt .22's have firing pin travel limit of some sort designed in.

I'd wager it's just fine. Shoot it.

- OS

[Guest Brent1973]

Brought it in and there gunsmith checked it out. Said that they sell a LOT of guns and that the guns don't sit on display for long. BUT if there was a problem they would make good on it not to worry. Shoots great!!!

thanks for all the help on this...