TargetTalk

To those more in the know:

I was always under the impression that one could safely dry fire the 150 by simply setting the trigger and releasing it. Is there something I've missed in its care and feeding? Or perhaps this chap was simply talking about having a snap or spent case in the chamber for the INITIAL release of a series of dry fires, which would make sense. Hmmmmmm ...

Danke!

You can clearly dry fire safely with a "snap cap" in the chamber. At the end of a match, you typically have to have the chamber open, and the action is fully cocked, so that's the best way to uncock it. After that, you can dry fire with the action closed by just arming the trigger.

Others should verify this, (I'm pretty sure this is right, but without one handy, I'm not certain): The other approach is to dry fire with the action FULLY open. The firing pin will be set, but the trigger action shouldn't trip it.

The one thing you DO NOT want to do is to dry fire withe the firing pin cocked and the main action lever part way down. The trigger will release the firing pin, but when it goes forward, it will hit the cocking arm on the main cocking lever and very likely break the cocking ear off the firing pin. $90 down the drain...

Yeah, it was/is my understanding that the action lever opens the breech and sets the firing pin, whereas the trigger set lever operates independently of the firing pin. But, maybe I've been wrong about that all these years ...

That's the way it works. I've mostly worked on 160's, but the mechanism is very similar.

There is a small piece ("Retention Catch") that sticks out of the back of the action block that holds the "Discharge Latch" from releasing the firing pin. The trigger mechanism has it's own sear that holds a hammer (of sorts) down when the trigger is cocked. (I can't find an exploded diagram or parts list that has the exact terminology...) When you pull the trigger, the "hammer" pops up, hitting the back end of the Retention Catch, which releases the Discharge Latch, which releases the firing pin... It's amazingly complex, but it works.

When I used to use a Hämmerli 152 (electronic version of 150), upon the last shot I would open the action just enough to lower the breech, then give it a little nudge to slightly back out the fired case so I could pluck it out by the rim.
The important thing is the action wasn't opened enough to recock the striker mechanism within the breech block. This did a couple things for you. There was no need to store the pistol with a cocked striker, and, you didn't have to worry about dropping the striker later on, be it with a snap cap or whatever.
I'd just close the action and I was done. For dry firing with the 152, I'd just turn on the circuit (double check that it was empty) and just "shoot".
With the 150, I suspect it would be similar except you'd operate the set trigger lever only for each dry shot.

Jim

Yess'r, that is indeed the case. I had always saved some fired cases from previous range trips, and have put one in the chamber for the initial pin strike. After that it is just setting the trigger, and dry firing away.

Speaking of which ~ I did a little math to come up with a scale target to set up my dry firing "50m range" in my basement. I actually have a nice 10m range down there, and thought, "I wonder how close the scale 50m target is at 1/5 the distance as compared to the AP target?" The math shows that the AP target is almost to scale at 50' ... handy at the actual range, but not in the basement. On my home 10m range, that little Free Pistol target is just a skoche over an inch and a half (1.57476 ... give or take a thousandth).

All of which helps (in part) explain why the AP world record has been steadily creeping up over the years to near-perfection (594/600) ... while the FP record stood for decades, and even then was only bested by 2 points ... That is one tiny target out there!