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Posted: 7/19/2011 4:26:22 PM EDT
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I was sitting here looking and learning about one of my pistols ( recently got the Jerry Kuhnhausen books) and I was using a dummy round I made a few weeks ago
when I was adjusting the seating depth on the die. It got me thinking is there any reason why I couldn't just use a re sized cased and put a spent primer back in it then mark it and seat a bullet for use as a snap cap. |
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Quoted:
I was sitting here looking and learning about one of my pistols ( recently got the Jerry Kuhnhausen books) and I was using a dummy round I made a few weeks ago when I was adjusting the seating depth on the die. It got me thinking is there any reason why I couldn't just use a re sized cased and put a spent primer back in it then mark it and seat a bullet for use as a snap cap. I'm not 100% sure but I was always under the impression a snap cap was used so that you didn't drop your firing pin on an empty chamber. Thus letting your firing pin take a pretty good jolt because nothing is there to stop it. That would make me think a spent primer would already have a indentation in it where the firing pin hit it and would not serve the true purpose of a snap cap. |
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To provide cushion for the firing pin you could just fill the primer pocket with hot glue or something like that. I've thought about making snap caps, but I wouldn't feel safe using them unless I could make them stand out from real rounds. My current snap caps are red colored, and have a completly different feel to them. |
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One reason is that it looks too much like a live round and so you stand a chance of loading a real live round by mistake. One way you could get around that would be to color the complete round red with say a sharpie, that would get around the above problem. Still, since the primer has already been dented, you are not really going to get as much of a softening of the firing pin forward action than say a snap cap with a rubber primer in it. The bullet could also move significantly from multiple loading and reloading and that would potentially change OAL. My own take on that is to just practice without the snap caps and replace the roll pin that is damaged in my XDM. The original SA roll pin is a bit fragile and goes after about 2-3K rounds of firing. The replacment third party roll pin is much more robust and shows little damage after 5K. The stuff is so cheap that I replace it after 5K regardless. |
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From everything I've ever heard, shotguns can be damaged by dry firing, you should never just pull the trigger and dry fire a shotgun, it could be damaged without the use of snap caps. The vast majority of firearms aren't damaged by dry firing, and snap caps just aren't needed. |
| I have made my own dummy rounds first as stated you should be sure to mark your dummy very well and I choose anything brite second to give the fireing pin cushion I drill out the primer pocket and then go and and get vacum plugs they are decently tough rubber and are cone shapped in many different sizes to accomadate many calibers I grease it then jam it into the base this takes some force to insure it is pressed to the point of compressing then take a very sharp razor and cut it flush with the bottom there you have a very cheap snap cap that last a long time I have some I made for my 12 gauge that are 6 years old and still GTG |
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Quoted: From everything I've ever heard, shotguns can be damaged by dry firing, you should never just pull the trigger and dry fire a shotgun, it could be damaged without the use of snap caps. The vast majority of firearms aren't damaged by dry firing, and snap caps just aren't needed. The Springfield XD/XDM are well known to have striker retaining roll pins that are damaged by dry firing. My first roll pin did not break but it had two cracks in it and was on its way out when I replaced it – you can see it in this photo of the pin.  What basically happen is that the striker hits it when the trigger is pulled – it is basically a sacrificial piece i.e. the weak part that is meant to be replaced which is not a difficult job and is not expensive. |
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I used to use the method OP talked about Until One day. I was checking some mags for feeding on my Mac (Open Bolt Gun), I picked up what I thought was a Dumby round and loaded it in the mag with some more. What I did not know was I loaded a 9mm round from my last range trip the did not fire but did dent the hell out of the primer. Well the bullet looking like every other one of my reloads and having a dented primer looking like every one of my dummy rounds, had powder in it and the 2nd time I pulled the trigger and let the bolt foreword. I found out the dented primer was still LIVE and it did have powder in it. I was LUCKY I sent a 124gr Montana Gold bullet though my garage, though a wooden cabinet, through a doll house, through some peg board, and flattened against a cinder block wall. Just tell your self it will never happen to you. I did and look where is got me  |
| What kind of pistol do you have? Almost all modern firearms can be dry fired w/o damage to the firing pin. You may not even need to put a primer in. I load about 10% of my 9mm and .223 as dummy rounds w/o powder or primer. These rounds get mixed in with my training ammo so I can practice malfunction drills. |
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For dummy round... soak my spent case in Lemishine until it turns pink. This distinguishes it (to me) from live ammo.
For the primer pocket I use High Temp RTV sealant. Haven't found something has hard as whatever A-Zoom uses for their snap caps... the RTV is still soft by comparison... but seems to work well enough. Pencil eraser would be good too... but damned if I find myself lacking a pencil-eraser lathe to shave it down. 
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