Is it bad to dry fire your pistol ?

most new modern handguns it is ok but colt troopers pythons anything with a floating firing pin use a snap cap and rimfires is also bad

I agree with most here, for the most part no worries. With a rimfire I usually limit dry firing, may not be an issue with most but some have the 'potential' to hit the edge of the chamber.

You can always use a fired case or a snap cap with the rimfire for dry firing.

In the Marine Corps we dry fired for hours. It is a habit I have continued through out life. I have had no issues with any guns and if I did, I would rather have a failure at home than when it counted. I also dry fire all weapons for storage, so the firing spring tension is released. I feel storing it with the firing pin spring under tension will weaken it over time.

Hammer away my friend. Dry firing dont hurt a thing!

Some rimfires, like the Ruger Mk II and 22/45 require you to dryfire the pistol before you can field strip them. Ruger says it is alright in thier pistols but I would check with the manufacturer of your gun to be sure.

i have always dry fired my pistols it makes for excellent trigger control practice

I thnk you can get snap caps for revolvers. Would not work in a semi auto of course.

The Ruger Mk series can be dry-fired. Otherwise, consult your gunsmith. Would hate to see you ruin the potential accuracy of a Pardini, Walther, etc by putting the dreaded dimple on the mouth of the chamber.

It depends on the make and model of the gun but in general no it will not harm anything. The myth is that the firing pin on a rimfire will hit the side of the chamber and either damage the pin or the chamber but most all rimfire pins do not extend far enough to hit the chamber.

Target shooter dry fire their guns 100's of times for every live fire and they dont have problems.