I was told, in relation to my Merkel, by the dealer who is also Australia's Merkel service rep and who did his training at Merkel, that it is okay to dry fire the rifle at the end of the day or hunt to put it back into storage. He also recommends storing it barrels-down in the safe, to avoid oil soaking into the stock where it meets the metal over time. As for grease, extreme pressure synthetic can be used - it must be synthetic.