Do I have to dry-fire my AEG during motor height adjustment?

[ThunderCactus]

Just stick your finger in the end of the barrel to provide resistance. Just don't plug it or you'll be simulating a jam.
And dry firing is only a problem with weak TM, guarder, etc mechbox shells. Not a problem if you have a G&P shell or sorbo pad

[Danke]

Or you could use a muzzle cap if you're worried.

[JLiang]

Originally Posted by ThunderCactus

Just stick your finger in the end of the barrel to provide resistance.

How have I never thought of this...?! Genius!

[MaciekA]

Originally Posted by NS-Airsoft-Noob

I ordered a new pistol grip (a black Magpul PTS MOE grip) to replace the original pistol grip on my CA M15A4 Sportline Rifle. Now my question is, after I install my new pistol grip, do I have to dry-fire the gun while I'm adjusting the motor height?

All the videos I've watched on YouTube in regards to motor height adjustment have the AEG unloaded and dry-fired during the adjustment of the motor, which I totally understand why. However, I'm concerned that the number of times I'd have to dry-fire my gun like that would be bad for my mechbox.

Is it okay to dry-fire the AEG for motor height adjustment, or can I have it loaded with BBs and adjust the motor height in my basement airsoft range, with the muzzle pointed towards a target downrange and away from me?

Dry firing is not bad for your gearbox. For the record, if you have a gearbox that would get damaged from dry firing, then that gearbox is questionable and would have likely eventually failed from normal fire anyway.

By the way, one truly reliable way to do pinion-to-bevel alignment, shimming and motor height adjustment is to remove the cylinder/spring/spring guide from your gearbox, assemble the gearbox with the pistol grip attached and test the sound of each gear as you put it in. You can run your gears continuously as you adjust the height, and you can quickly go in and out of your gearbox to test shim levels until it's perfect. This saves you a ton of time and often yields near-perfect results.