Anyone got a nifty way to make DIY snap caps?

[Canuck Bob]

Looking for ideas to make simple snap caps for dry firing my guns to test trigger and safety function?

[gamekeeper]

Small wall anchors or rawl plugs as we call 'em work well for .22 rim fires.

[horsesoldier03]

RTV or chalking in the primer hole.

[Buck Elliott]

A dab of glue from a glue gun... Easily replacable..

[C. Cash]

Resist all attempts at soaking cut down shotshells in oil to "deaden" the primer. It does not work and the cleanup can last hours.

[Sixgun]

RTV or chalking in the primer hole.

Yep, works great. Just pop out the primer and fill it with a quality silicone, letting it protrude out a bit.

Another one I did, for an old Sharps, was to drill out the primer pocket to the correct diameter so a 3/16" piece of brass rod could fit in with a spring on the other end. (Inside the case) that butts up to the bullet.....attach the spring, brass rod and bullet in some way or another.

It's been a long time and I can't remember exactly how I did it but you get the idea.----6

[AJMD429]

I know that several of the 'commercial' ones I've bought with fancy innards and springs and so on, have brass or plastic in the 'primer' spot that DENTS after the first two or three firings, enough that I doubt it cushions anything at all...

So, I think making one's own may be better, AND save some money.

It seems like it would be nice to have something firmer than ordinary caulk though.

[Canuck Bob]

I know that several of the 'commercial' ones I've bought with fancy innards and springs and so on, have brass or plastic in the 'primer' spot that DENTS after the first two or three firings, enough that I doubt it cushions anything at all...

So, I think making one's own may be better, AND save some money.

It seems like it would be nice to have something firmer than ordinary caulk though.

Now that is news, anyone else had trouble with store bought snap caps?

[Indigo22]

I used to use the foam ear plugs... Roll em up and stuff them into the cylinder.

[765x53]

Never tried it but, it sounds like it would work.
Drill out the primer hole, turn in a nylon license plate screw and cut it off flush.
Remembered from an old Field & Stream "Tapp's Tips" page.

If you can turn it in from the inside, it can be renewed as it wears.

[JReed]

Fill the primer pocket with a pencil eraser trimmed to fit. Lasts a long time and is easy and cheap to replace when it does wear out.

[AJMD429]

I know that several of the 'commercial' ones I've bought with fancy innards and springs and so on, have brass or plastic in the 'primer' spot that DENTS after the first two or three firings, enough that I doubt it cushions anything at all...

So, I think making one's own may be better, AND save some money.

It seems like it would be nice to have something firmer than ordinary caulk though.

Now that is news, anyone else had trouble with store bought snap caps?

tonsofsnapcaps
Here's photos of some I have. The A-Zoom (on the left) is designed like you guys home-made ones - some kind of clear, rubbery 'caulk' in the primer pocket. Looks like put in to excess, then cut with a razor to near-flush. None of the others have had more than a dozen firing-pin hits, and the Pachmayr and Tipton ones specifically only had ONE strike...
Interesting the 45 ACP one shows a gun (or several) with off-center firing pin strikes.


A-Zoom, Pachmayr, Armsport, Tipton


TriStar


A-Zoom, Pachmayr, Armsport, Tipton, TriStar

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

Dry firing is not a good idea on any of these guns, even the Ruger. The hammers hitting steel to steel is hard on parts. Colts and most SXS's tend to flare the pin holes or the pins, Rugers tend to break transfer bars. Rifles tend to break the FP. You need a soft metal like a primer to dampen this. But continuously dry fire into a spent primer isn’t a good idea either.
I have seen snap caps made with silicon in the primer pockets. I don’t think that is a good setup for long term use. Silicone is too soft. If you want to make snap caps that fit your gun, drill the primer pockets out to the OD of the primer, cut a piece of brass rod the same OD as the primer and long enough to extend about 2/3's into the case, then fill the case with silicon to glue the rod in. Grind the rod flush with the case head and seat and crimp a bullet. Now you have snap caps that work in your gun and will last. For the rifle just grind a portion of the rim off so the extractor doesn’t pull it out every time you lever the gun. This will work with shotguns as well.
Next best setup is to de-prime then super-glue a piece of a hard rubber “O” ring in the primer pocket then trim it flush.


I like this too.

Never tried it but, it sounds like it would work.
Drill out the primer hole, turn in a nylon license plate screw and cut it off flush.
Remembered from an old Field & Stream "Tapp's Tips" page.

If you can turn it in from the inside, it can be renewed as it wears.

[AJMD429]

I have seen snap caps made with silicon in the primer pockets. I don’t think that is a good setup for long term use. Silicone is too soft. If you want to make snap caps that fit your gun, drill the primer pockets out to the OD of the primer, cut a piece of brass rod the same OD as the primer and long enough to extend about 2/3's into the case, then fill the case with silicon to glue the rod in. Grind the rod flush with the case head and seat and crimp a bullet. Now you have snap caps that work in your gun and will last.

That seems to be the best thing I've seen yet. The brass plugs I've seen (photos above) quickly peened so they wouldn't offer any cushioning because the firing pin wouldn't really hit them any more, but they were supported either with the rigid primer-pocket, or a cool-looking, but probably too-stiff spring. The silicone does seem like it would just be too soft, and while something like nylon would be firmer, I'm betting it would soon 'peen' like the immobile brass does.

Your method would use the inertia of the brass rod, combined with a bit of cushion from silicone, to resist the firing pin. I like that.

I will say that whatever is in the A-Zoom ones IS definitely harder than silicone caulk; I was poking it with a pencil-tip and the pencil-tip broke off.