I have dry fired my 1911s extensively and am wondering how much wear I can expect from dryfiring. I am using snap caps (red ones with the brass bases with the “primer”) and I always load a snap cap from the magazine, drop the slide, dry fire and then just thumb cock the hammer each time to dry fire. Is it bad to thumbcock the hammer?? Does anyone have a different method?? The reason I ask is because thumb cocking is not really the normal way a 1911 is cocked. Am I just replicating what the gun does during the normal course of fire?
Thanks for your replies.
Dryfire away without snap caps. Perfectly fine for a 1911.
While physically thumbing a 1911 hammer to full cock is fine, accidentally dropping the hammer on the half cock notch on the way to full cock is bad for the sear nose so I don’t recommend doing this.
I find it easiest to just dryfire without snapcaps and rack slide to cock hammer. This also allows you to release the trigger only to the sear reset point. And you don’t have to mess with magazines and ejecting/loading repeatedly to verify it is a snapcap/dummy round and not a live round.
You can dry fire a 1911 until your hearts content and it won’t harm or wear the gun at all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yz2rVfUKK8
Hopefully they’ll come out with one of these for the 1911.
See if you can find one of the old ISI dry firing kits. Replace the barrel with their air cylinder, the MSH housing gets replaced with the sensor/valve apparatus. When you drop the hammer, it triggers the cylinder to cycle the pistol. It is meant to be used with a soda fountain tank of CO2.
I have been surprised over the years that this product went out of production and that nobody ever brought it back or copied it.
All,
Thank you for the replies. I just wanted to make sure in my pursuit to become a better 1911 shooter that I was not doing damage. I never drop the hammer to halfcock (not intentionally anyway). All this dry firing makes me want to drag myself to the range! Oh the torture! 
When I dry fire I will cut a foam ear plug in half and stick over the firing pin in the back of the slide. It makes less noise and reduces the wear on the pistol. Although it is safe to dry fire a 1911 it is still a mechanical device and subject to wear. I have broken 3 firing pins in a M&P from dry firing and had a firing pin positioning pin in a sig break.
No need with a 1911. Letting the hammer drop fully and then engage the sear at all points is a good thing.
Dry fire at will! :big_boss:
It’s a gun, it won’t break. 
Agreed, this would be very welcome. For now, Dry firing with snap caps or without will have to do.
I like the idea of cushioning the hammer blow with half an earplug. I’d be more concerned about the firing pin stop than the firing pin. Never have seen a FP break, but have seen several FP stops break.
Ned, your basic Snap Cap type thing won’t solve it?
I dry fire to my little hearts content, never had a problem. Its Metal, It will outlast me.