[ChrisLCR]

I use snap caps for dry fire practice in my LCR, but don't quite understand their use in a semi-auto.

If the gasses and pressure of a real cartridge being fired is what operates the action, then you would have to manually rack the slide spitting out the snap cap every time you wanted to dry fire. This seems absurd, considering this is not the way you would be using such a gun during real shooting, not to mention being a sure fire way to have some really sore hands next morning!

Is there something I'm not getting here?

 

[AK107]

Snap Caps such as the Tiptons allow you to see if primer strikes are correct and checks that your ejector is properly operating.

 

[gwnorth]

Your not missing anything. In the absence of a live round to cycle the weapon, you have to manually cycle it. No way around that. On a hammer fired gun, you can just re-cock the hammer if using the snap cap to practice trigger pull and control.

The purpose of the snap cap is to provide resistance to the firing pin when dry firing to avoid damage. Of course, most center fire guns can be dry fired just fine without them, but if you worry about damaging firing pin shoulders or such things then use them.

But no matter how you slice it, if you want to dry fire a gun, you are going to have to manually cycle the action between each trigger pull, snap caps or not.

P.S. I and many of my friends used to dry fire practice with weapons long before I ever even knew such a thing as a snap cap existed. In the Canadian forces in the 1980's, they had us dry firing FN/FALs all the time to practice trigger pull and sight picture control - never heard of it damaging anything. Snap caps are a relatively new fangled thing. As far as I can tell - someone saw a way to scare gun owners into buying a needless piece of kit to avoid "damaging" their expensive firearms, and people bought into the idea. Just like bore guides - people cleaned firearms from the muzzel end for centuries without them, but suddenly I guess steel has gotten a lot more delicate and everyone needs to protect their muzzels from those dastardly cleaning rods.

 

[gasbag]

I have used snap caps in two of our semi-autos to help my wife get over an anticipation jerk.
After about 15 minutes of having one or two snap caps in a full magazine she realized what she was doing and we worked out the problem.

Snap caps are great for getting rid of flinches, jerks, anticipation and a boat load of whatever anyone else develops while learning to shoot.
Cycling the slide to eject the snap cap didn't really seem to be a problem considering the value of what we were learning.
She was learning to correct a problem and I was enjoying helping her. The snap cap made it relatively easy.
I will use a snap cap on anything I have if it helps.

 

[Sturm]

Training someone new. Put one half way down the mag. Clear misfire and continue.

 

[ChrisLCR]

Training someone new. Put one half way down the mag. Clear misfire and continue.

OK! I didn't think of this.

Thanks for all you guys' input. Not trying to start an argument here about snap caps, just trying to learn something!

 

[K57]

Plus, you only need to retract the slide far enough to reset the trigger. Another thing the snap cap does is eliminate overtravel of the firing pin giving a better representation of actual fire.

 

[moakes58]

I have used snap caps in two of our semi-autos to help my wife get over an anticipation jerk.
After about 15 minutes of having one or two snap caps in a full magazine she realized what she was doing and we worked out the problem.

Snap caps are great for getting rid of flinches, jerks, anticipation and a boat load of whatever anyone else develops while learning to shoot.
Cycling the slide to eject the snap cap didn't really seem to be a problem considering the value of what we were learning.
She was learning to correct a problem and I was enjoying helping her. The snap cap made it relatively easy.
I will use a snap cap on anything I have if it helps.

+1 to that. I have a son that used them for the flinching problem & to practice clearing misfires with a "tap & rack".

 

[haney]

I just started using snap caps to get myself used to the long pull on my LC9. Helped me tremendously being able to analyze my grip and trigger pull. I was able to remedy my squeezing/clenching drawing that trigger back to the frame. I know Ruger says it's ok to dry fire any of their center fire pistols but I'm old school and I can't shake the idea that I'm going to ruin the pin or something else by repeated dry fires.

 

[jaxrider14]

On my Springfield XD40 the striker stops against a roll pin if there is no round in the chamber.
A lot of dry firing can cause the roll pin to wear and eventually break, although it is easily replaced.
I use snap caps when I dry fire to ease the impact of the striker.

As others have mentioned, it is also good for practice to slip a snap cap into the magazine somewhere.

 

[jimb1972]

Nice thing about Ruger is if the firing pin ever does fail, they will drop a new one in the mail to you. I have never used snap caps and I dry fire all my center fire guns, never had any problem.

 

[303lithgow]

Some semi-autos like the Taurus 24/7 can be shot again without racking the slide. Or am I missing something?

Trigger actions

While the earlier standard versions of the 24/7 pistol came equipped with double action only triggers, the later Pro models and some of the OSS pistols sport single action/double action triggers. This system differs from most dual action triggers in that the initial pull is single action with the double action coming into play only on a misfire. Most dual action triggers are double action on the initial shot with subsequent shots being single action. This system allows for two major advantages, one being that the initial trigger pull is light and crisp, therefore more controllable, and the second being that if a round misfires, the trigger can be quickly pulled again in double action mode, repeating the attempt to fire the recalcitrant round. This type of SA/DA system, pioneered on Taurus pistols, is much faster and simpler than the standard tap, rack, bang method of clearing a dud cartridge.[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurus_24/7

 

[GunLover]

Nice thing about Ruger is if the firing pin ever does fail, they will drop a new one in the mail to you. I have never used snap caps and I dry fire all my center fire guns, never had any problem.

Not from what I've read. Ruger wants the whole gun so they can test fire it afterwards. Maybe that only applies to certain guns.