Firearm ownership 101: Decock the firing pin, it saves the spring. There are a few members on here that learned the hard way.
That's what my grandpa and dad taught me. Been doing it since I was 12. You can do it like Wade Brown describes and you don't have to "dry fire" like the op was suggesting. Unless the op was asking about semi auto's? Unclear on what action type he's inquiring about. As for "dry firing". I've never done it for practice. No need to, but I do pull the trigger on live ammo a lot at the range. Guys living in the city, I guess you do what you have to do??
