Snap Caps for dry fire practice? Help-Pistol/Revolvers use

[gearchecker]

Still a newbie at this, and I have some more silly questions.

My wife & I shoot numerous types of handguns.
Mostly because we just plain enjoy shooting.
Our revolvers are .38, .357, .44. Our pistols are 9mm & .45 ACP.
We want to keep in practice over the cold snowy and nasty winters up here.
So we figure it will be a good time to learn good dry firing techniques, and get in some practice.
I've never used a snap cap and have a couple questions about them.
Can they be used in the Pistols? How do they function? Do they get ejected, or stay in the pistol after dry firing? I can't imagine them ejecting unless we do it by hand. Do I fill my magazine with them and hand eject them to recock the pistols after every dry fire shot?

Will any of my older revolvers be damaged by using them?
I have a Model 14-2, 19-4 and a Model 66-3. Since they all have hammer pins I just want to be sure I'm not going to mess them up using the snap caps.

Can I get them for my 30-30 & 30-06 too?

Can anybody offer short answers for all these questions?

[Sebago Son]

Gary,

I just use spent cartridge cases with the dead primers still in place as a little visual reassurance....

For striker fired guns like a Glock, you can grind the extractor rim off the case so you can re-cock by partially drawing back the slide and not have to chase, catch, find and reinsert the spent case before the next shot.

Drew

[WGlide90]

"Good dry firing techniques" ?? Not really sure that those are.

I don't know GQ...can't really support that. I see no value in doing what you mention. You could learn bad habits and not know it, because you're not shooting bullets to see the effects of what you are doing as you pull the trigger.

If you were worried about loosing your touch over the winter just dress warmly and go out or find an indoor range and shoot real bullets.

But I'm no expert so....JMO.

Dave

[daytime dave]

Snap caps are fine. Having said that, I don't use them in any of my revolvers. I use spent .22 casings in all my rimfire revolvers. I do use snap caps in all my shotguns for dry firing. I'm not sure I need to, but I do. For auto's, I only use them for malfunction drills. They are invaluable for that.

They can be put in a speed loader for practice in loading. They are great for malfunction drills and for keeping a firing pin intact. (never had a problem without snap caps)

[WGlide90]

Daytime!

I agree with you on the practicing loading, functioning and handling, etc, the gun using them. That would be a good idea.

Dave

[DaveWW]

I was once told by no less than Roy Jinks himself that dry-firing S&Ws with hammer-pins was perfectly safe. I can also attest to it. I used to break in my Smiths like that. I'd clear the gun, sit down in front of the television, hang my left hand with the gun over the side of the armrest, watch TV and pull the trigger, hundreds of times a night, alternating between SA and DA. A couple of weeks and the trigger would be smooth, lighter and, break like glass. Never damaged a single Smith doing that. Thought sometimes my wife was gonna damage me though, drove her nuts(Not actually a drive, more like a short-putt).

Now, they say it's okay but, I would never do that with a frame-mounted firing-pin without snapcaps. You'll swage the firing-pin hole and create jams. With nothing to stop the forward movement of the pin, it'll keep driving deeper and deeper into the hole and bell it out from the inside. That's swaging and it causes all kinds of wonderful problems, pierced primers, primers pulled out and stuck to the pin and firing-pins stuck into the case.

[doryman]

inexpensive snap caps. take your spent cases and pop out the spent primer. now take a pencil eraser and fit it into the primer pocket. dry fire all you want.

[albert]

A cigarette filter works excellently in autos with a hammer. Cut it off as necessary to see rear sight. It will jamb in and stay put. Don't smoke though.

[DT84]

I use snap caps in my .38 and .357 revolvers for dry firing. I also like to 'practice' when I don't have the time to make it to the range as often as I'd like. Dry firing helps ensure that my trigger pull stays solid and I don't develop any bad habits - such as jerking - when I am laxing on live fire practice.

But the spent casing + pencil eraser method works well also.

[everReady Rob]

I can't speak about pistols.
I use snap caps in my revolvers for practice in loading w/speed loaders and aiming. I have laser grips for aiming dry fire, I don't think snaps would be much good for aiming w/out laser grips. It was a day of awaking for me when I put the grips on. My self defense shooting has improved greatly since I started this routine.