Home made snap-caps?

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Hey Guys,

I have some brass that I have deemed unfit to reload and some aluminum casings that somehow made it into my mix. I am thinking I will use these to make my own snap-caps since the ones I have are getting pretty beaten up now. I'll seat a bullet like normal but I plan to fill it with silicone along with the primer pocket so there is something for the firing pin to strike against.

For safety reasons, I think I'll mark the casing with a sharpie so I know (along with visual inspection for a primer).

Has anyone done this before? Thoughts?
 
Here's how I make mine. Seat a bullet with a good crimp but not overly strong crimp. Drill a small hole on the side of the case wall near the base and debur it. Squeeze in silicone from the primer pocket until it starts oozing out from the hole on the side of the case wall. Wipe off excess silicone, leaving the silicone that is in the primer pocket intact and allow to dry. Good to go in 24hrs.

If you have a case with a small flash hole, open it up a little more with an appropriate size drill bit. Might want to do that before seating the bullet. :)

You can use white caulking so you can easily tell it from live ammo via the primer pocket and the hole on the case wall.
 
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TargetAcquired said:
I did the same as Trinimon, only I used hot glue instead of silicone. Set quicker and didn't smell. Either should be more than fine.
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Hot glue eh? Not a bad idea. I might have to try that next time. The new silicone these days don't have that strong vinegar smell, at least the ones I've bought.
 
Trinimon said:
Hot glue eh? Not a bad idea. I might have to try that next time. The new silicone these days don't have that strong vinegar smell, at least the ones I've bought.
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I use hot glue as well, it works great and you can remelting the primer pocket part if you wear it out.

I drill a small hole just under where the bullet seats then inject the hot glue from the primer pocket. That way the bullet won't seat any deeper after multiple uses.

IMG_0819.jpg
 
You don't need snap caps for any cf firearm. Loading a case without powder or primer is making a DP round. Not a useless idea though. Handy thing DP rounds are. Forget the Al cases. They don't resize.
 
sunray said:
You don't need snap caps for any cf firearm. Loading a case without powder or primer is making a DP round. Not a useless idea though. Handy thing DP rounds are. Forget the Al cases. They don't resize.
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There is many a rimfire with a peened chamber out there that would disagree with you. A good number of older firearms as well that can't take repeated dry firing.
 
sunray said:
You don't need snap caps for any cf firearm. Loading a case without powder or primer is making a DP round. Not a useless idea though. Handy thing DP rounds are. Forget the Al cases. They don't resize.
Click to expand...

For normal use, I would agree but for repeated dry firing (as some may do for training) and if you're playing around at home, dummy rounds are recommended by many manufacturers and are far safer than using the real thing.
 
Instead of a sharpie, which will inevitably wear off, I would suggest that to make them 100% recognizable by drilling, say, three holes in the sides of the case. A quick deburr and you're good to go. Just small ones will do - can't mistake drill rounds with them, meaning you can't mistake real ones for drill.
 
sunray said:
You don't need snap caps for any cf firearm. Loading a case without powder or primer is making a DP round. Not a useless idea though. Handy thing DP rounds are. Forget the Al cases. They don't resize.
Click to expand...

Savage 219's are good for about "ONE" dry fire

H&R Handi's are also notorious for losing a firing pin with dry firing.
 
I did the same as mentioned with hot glue and some aluminum cases from the range.
I don't have any live Blazer (alum.) ammo at all and they are stored separately, so getting them mixed up is a non-issue.
Filled half way with glue and seated a bullet as per usual. Cases resized just fine.
 
I recently made some for my S&W 625. I wasn't sure if silicone would be durable enough so was thinking of using it to "pot" in a small nail. (Yes, steel, but cushioned by the silicone.) However, I ended up using a steel hole punch and a hammer to punch out a piece of plastic from a 30 gall (?) commercial white plastic tub that's been languishing outside. I think the commercial Snap Caps use a nylon insert; if you have access to sheet nylon that might be best. (Sheet neoprene might also work if it was hard enough.) This tub isn't nylon but the plastic seems pretty tough, if cutting a piece out of it with a drywall saw is any indication. Fortunately I had a hole punch about the right size for a large pistol primer. Once I had seated the plug, I used a very fine flexible saw to cut off the excess, then finished by wet sanding it flush with the base of the cartridge. I drilled a 1/8" hole through the sides of the cases to identify them, then put them in a RIMZ moon clip. It was a bit of work but they seem to be holding up OK.
 
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