Dry firing your Spencer?

[Oregon Bill]

Being on the wrong end of the coordination spectrum, I find myself wanting practice working the action and cocking the hammer on my Spencer, especially if I am going to try to shoot CAS with it. Anyone know what Taylor's or Armi/Sport think about dry firing the reproduction rifles?

[French Jack]

I don/t believe that I would do much of it without some snap caps/dummy rounds to cycle through the action and take up some of the energy from that hammer.  With that strong a hammer spring, it will eventually batter the breech or the hammer face without some way of absorbing the energy.

[Ed Clintwood]

One tid bit that I've found cycling the action is that you might want to consider having the hammer at half-cock if'n you're using live ammo.  I've found very slight indentations on primers of live ammo cycled with the hammer down, at half-cock there are no marks on the primers.

[geo]

the original spencers were to be put on full cock before cycling the action to prevent slam fires on the rimfire cartridges. this is a good practice for the repros also. half cock is just that; it is not a safety. do not dry fire the spencer. the hammer will batter and flatten the receiver. i have an original that shows that damage. it must have been dry fired by a prior owner. good luck, geo.

[Backstrap Bill]

Bill, geo is right on the money.  Full cock, then chamber a round.  Dry fire only with a properly built snap cap.