Board Thread:General Nerf discussion/@comment-35070608-20190103102424/@comment-27306930-20190105002008

My answer would change depending on the blaster, so I'm going to answer your question with respect to just the Elite Alpha Trooper alone. The stock spring won't damage the plunger tube, with or without its AR, with or without darts.

But look, don't go nuts. Dry firing without the AR certainly doesn't do anything good to your blaster. You'll hear that distinctive loud *Crack* when you dry fire it. It'll be fine, just don't punish your blaster for no good reason.

However, if you upgrade the spring, it's not safe to dry fire without sufficient padding on the plunger. As PedroH said, without padding you'll blow the end off the tube. And you only do that once, trust me.