Snap Caps?

[Spawn-Inc]

if your stupid enough to have live ammo near your dummy rounds or not check EVERY round your going to practice with, then you deserve anything that happens....

i make dummy rounds that look like live ammo accept the primer is hot glue, i triple check them (most of the time) before actually pulling the trigger.

 

[jackpine]

Just paid $15.99 + tx for a 5 pack of A-Zoom .45 acp @ General Gun & Supply Windsor.
A-Zooms DO have a somewhat short lifespan when used in semi-auto's if they are ejected frequently thus weakening the rims eventually shearing the rim off. Same situation happens in revolvers after much use where rims eventually separate from over travel in chambers when being impacted by firing pin.
They are affordable but can be made for far cheaper if you have a local plastics supply outlet by purchasing 5 MM round medium hard plastic stock in red or white or any colour for that matter. Epoxy them into the primer pocket, cut them with a sharp utility knife a bit proud of flush and file them flush when epoxy cures.
Customize the case in a way that clearly identifies them as a practice case either by colour coding the bullet and/or the case head.

 

[HIGHRPM]

Here is what I bought, they are great ! Way better than cycling plastic. And way cheaper.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321231523004?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

 

[Clobbersauras]

^^^Wow.

There's no way in hell I would use those. Zero visual indicator of exactly what you have in the gun.

I don't store my snap cap and ammo together either, but ####, that's asking for trouble. There is a reason commercial snap caps are made specifically to be high vis. I'm sure all you guys are responsible etc, but accidents, mistakes, Murphy's law, tiredness, inattention, whatever you want to call it, can happen.

I just don't see the point to taking the risk just to save a few bucks.

This is what I look for every time I reset my Glock. It's reliable visual indication that the gun is indeed unloaded.

 

[FreedomIsn'tFree]

if your stupid enough to have live ammo near your dummy rounds or not check EVERY round your going to practice with, then you deserve anything that happens....

i make dummy rounds that look like live ammo accept the primer is hot glue, i triple check them (most of the time) before actually pulling the trigger.

I had some made that had the spent primer left in. Is there any reason to use the glue instead of a spent primer.

 

[DrSpaceJam]

I just don't see the point to taking the risk just to save a few bucks.

It's about the same risk as a gun 'going off' by itself. If you properly handle the gun and ammunition, there's essentially no risk. I don't know how it would be possible for me to accidentally load a live cartridge when they're stored in another room and all my dummies have a hole through them. You would have to put in effort to mess it up at that point. Then again as you say, people manage to shoot themselves or have NDs all the time so it's up to the individual to decide what level of 'risk' they can accept.

Otherwise, there's a substantial benefit to making your own. A snap cap doesn't accurately mirror the ammunition I handload. The weight isn't the same and neither is the bullet profile. I principally shoot revolvers so all this stuff is incredibly important in the reloading process, since the typical round-nosed profile, all-metal snap caps not only don't weigh or slide into a cylinder the same way as the rounds I use in competition, but the different shape means they don't match with the cylinders the same way as wadcutters or hollowpoints. Maybe if you shoot autoloaders this is less of a concern.

 

[K-Roc]

I ended up going with some off ebay, seems to be the best deal and had all the types of ammo I needed. I was at Sail on the wkend and they were also out of .22, 12 Gauge, and SKS snap caps... they had pretty much everything else tho.

I tend to agree, snap caps are fairly cheap, I would feel a little paranoid making my own haha.

 

[ted_dent]

I had some made that had the spent primer left in. Is there any reason to use the glue instead of a spent primer.

After a few strikes the primer will be compressed enough that it will not be absorbing the firing pin impact. The hot glue or silicone has a certain amount of resilience to it so there is some 'rebound' to absorb firing pin impact.

 

[ted_dent]

I would only recommend this if your dummies were easily identifiable. You would have to paint the brass a high vis color or something.

I press check like crazy when I dry fire. A visual indicator of an inert round is what I'm looking for.

Seems like a red or green permanent marker on dummy cases would do the trick at a lot less cost.

 

[Slavex]

I was waiting for the "snap caps don't weigh the same" comment, the small amount of difference in weight means absolutely nothing, nothing. We are talking ounces not pounds. With a revolver I can understand the need for a specific bullet shape for speedloaders, and possibly weight, but semis, no, it's meaningless. Most snap caps can easily have weight added to them, and as others have noted, are specifically made to be high viz. Having been an instructor for over 15 years and having seen some of the best shooters in the country, be they cops, military or competition, get complacent with their gear, my level of trust with the average shooter is about zero. Purposely exposing yourself to the risk of mistake with homemade dummy rounds vs properly made snap caps is just ludicrous.

 

[Spawn-Inc]

I had some made that had the spent primer left in. Is there any reason to use the glue instead of a spent primer.

As said by ted_dent the hot glue will absorb the impact and for the most part return to the flat shape. The good thing about hot glue is you can remedy it then cut it flush again.


With regards to the safety aspect, obviously companies who make snap caps are going to do everything in their power to make them look different. You seem to forget that it's never the fault of the person pulling the trigger, it's always someone else's fault.


My problem is not the cost with snap caps but the fact that they wear out so quick. Plus I'm responsible enough to keep live ammo away from dummy ammo. I don't drink and handle firearms or smoke weed and handle firearms so there is no reason for mistakes to happen.

If I'm in a room, I will ensure all rounds are dummy rounds everytime I load the mags. I will ensure there is no live ammo in the room as well. If you can explain how anything can go wrong in the above situation, please do.

 

[BadRonald]

I'm sure all you guys are responsible etc, but accidents, mistakes, Murphy's law, tiredness, inattention, whatever you want to call it, can happen.

I'm inclined to agree with this. Accidents occur due to unforeseen failures in our normal safety measures, in spite of "being careful". Additional safety redundancies are useful for preventing such failures. If your brain gets used to being ok with chambering something indoors that is visually identical to a live round, one layer of potential prevention is removed and an additional path is opened for an accident to occur (compared to a situation in which someone is conditioned to never chamber a live-looking round indoors).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_cheese_model

 

[Slavex]

how things can go wrong, lets see, cats, dogs, ferrets, kids, friends, spouses etc. I have yet to be at a house of serious shooter who doesn't have live ammo, duds or buggered up reloads all over the house. Sitting in cups, trays or other things in places like the kitchen, garage, bedroom, bathroom and laundry room. Those rounds then end up on the floor, in hands, shoes or boots, socks, etc and then end up in rooms where they shouldn't, under shelves, furniture and boxes. Then when you are practicing reloads, IAs etc, and you've been doing it for hours, you pick one up not realizing it's a live round because it looks exactly the same as the ones you made, hell it even weighs the same, and in the gun it goes. Obviously different in color and weight are going to be a lot easier to tell apart from ones that have epoxied primers, or holes drilled in them. Buy hey, go nuts, save $20 and make you own.
For those worried about cost, visit sight sponsor DS Tactical, if you can't afford $1 a piece for dummy rounds, well that's your problem.

 

[Spawn-Inc]

how things can go wrong, lets see, cats, dogs, ferrets, kids, friends, spouses etc. I have yet to be at a house of serious shooter who doesn't have live ammo, duds or buggered up reloads all over the house. Sitting in cups, trays or other things in places like the kitchen, garage, bedroom, bathroom and laundry room. Those rounds then end up on the floor, in hands, shoes or boots, socks, etc and then end up in rooms where they shouldn't, under shelves, furniture and boxes. Then when you are practicing reloads, IAs etc, and you've been doing it for hours, you pick one up not realizing it's a live round because it looks exactly the same as the ones you made, hell it even weighs the same, and in the gun it goes. Obviously different in color and weight are going to be a lot easier to tell apart from ones that have epoxied primers, or holes drilled in them. Buy hey, go nuts, save $20 and make you own.
For those worried about cost, visit sight sponsor DS Tactical, if you can't afford $1 a piece for dummy rounds, well that's your problem.

So you checked your rounds once, and not every time you reloaded your mags. That's your fault...

Obviously having different coloured rounds will add an extra layer of safety, but it's not needed when your careful. Simple.

 

[Slavex]

No I checked my rounds every single time I picked them up, that's why I caught it. But it is really really easy to miss something like a primer not having an indent, especially when people have busy lives, or get complacent of someone comes in and talks to them, or the phone rings, or the lights brown out. Missing something like a live primer vs a struck primer is simple. Even better is when the primer does have an indent, but isn't a fired round, got those in my cup of rounds as well. Some of them will go off if struck again, some won't. An obvious color is the single easiest way to tell the difference between live and dummy, why anyone would risk otherwise makes me question their ability to understand the risks involved in the whole thing.