when Ruger states in their manual that you need to "dry fire", this is their terminology for "lowering the hammer on an empty gun" ergo to relieve the pressure of a" cocked hammer " ( compressed mainspring)'yes, the occasional lowering this way does not harm anything...........lately we've seen some broken 'pins' in the bolts guess they cheapened them up and put in roll pins??? also have seen some of the older ones when the owner, dead set on completely tearing their guns down after every handling have "forgotten" to put the pin back in the bolt....yes, "$#it happens...."' don't see as many dimpled chamber rims on todays 'rimfires' like we used to see ALL the time in the old days..................but I still do NOT recommend "dry firing rimfires" it's your gun ,YOU do what you want, we just fix them for folks.........