Dry-firing a Rimfire: Yes or No?

An article from The Firearm Blog on the topic of dry-firing a rimfire, by which I assume dry fire practice. The most significant part of the article is the information they obtained from different manufacturers:

■ Anschutz does not recommend dry-firing its rimfires. It says frequent dry-firers should install its special firing pin. The company also notes that on most guns other parts, like springs, usually wear out before firing pins; the majority of its guns returned for damage from dry-firing come via Chinese and Japanese competitors, as these countries are known for dry-firing because places to actually fire a gun there are rare.

■ Ruger says dry-firing the company’s 10/22 rifle will not damage it. This makes sense as I mentioned above, without the last round bolt hold-open device you will inevitably dry fire on an empty chamber once you run out of ammo.

■ Henry Repeating Arms says shooters can dry-fire its guns all they want.

■ Smith & Wesson says dry-firing can damage rimfires.

■ Browning confirms dry-firing won’t damage firing pins or chambers of its newer guns.