I'd like to clear up the confusion on this because I hear all the time, go to a store to purchase a weapon and you dry fire it, "please don't dry fire our shit sir" --how the fuck am I supposed to tell if I like it? Buy it, THEN dry fire and ask for a return if it's not up to par? Come the fuck on.
So here's the deal. Dry fire on centerfire shit is fine. There may be some exceptions I'm not aware of but in general, dry firing centerfire weapons is fine. What I've noticed is that generally the hammer will wear a dimple or groove where it strikes the pin before the pin breaks (for an AR for example). So I've had to swap out a hammer once, but not the pin. So far as I know, it still has that same pin in it. It was a duty rifle in the 80's before I bought it in the 90's and already very well used.
The problem arose with dry firing .22's. They use much more force to drive the pin or striker into the rim. Compare a j frame .22 to a .357 and you'll immediately feel the difference, spring weight is around double. Now that much force impacting a small, hardened part that never strikes the soft brass and transferring the energy can cause stresses not seen in centerfires. This makes total sense.
This is how it was explained to me by an old gunsmith that's forgotten more shit than most of us will ever know.
However, modern methods may have rectified this so a call to the mfg. would be ideal. Not many one size fits all mantras left regarding firearms construction anymore.
