Snap Caps

[Hyoslvr67]

Hi folks...I'm a real green newbie, and need some advice.  I just bought my first CAS gun (Uberti 1873 Cattleman NM, .45 LC), and want to practice quickdraw without tearing up my beautiful new gun.  I know I need some snap caps, but there are different ones to choose from.
I've seen A-Zoom, and Triple K...are there any others out there?  Which one's do y'all use, and why?
Please help me out...I went to another shooter forum and basically got IGNORED altogether.   

[Pettifogger]

The A-Zoom's are good.  Not familiar with Triple K.  What you want for maximum resiliency is the kind with an aluminum body with a polymer insert in the primer pocket.  The plastic ones with the brass insert are far less durable.

[Hyoslvr67]

Thank you for your reply!  From the pics I've seen online, the Triple K's are plastic, have a brass base, and a spring through the body from the primer.  A-zooms I can get from my local Bass Pro Shops, but that's it.  They're $19.99 for 6.

[Angel_Eyes]

You could always use empty cases with home made plastic inserts instead of primers!

AE

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

I very seldom actually practice, much less dry fire very much, but I usually throw some A Zoom snap caps in if I do.

I have actually read where one of our esteemed gunsmiths believes that the spring loaded type snap caps are better than the A Zooms. With the A Zooms there is a resilient piece of plastic or rubber that takes the blow of the firing pin. Dry fire them enough and that piece starts taking on a permanent dent. However with the spring loaded type even though the brass part that is struck by the firing pin will eventually take on a dent, the spring will continue to cushion the blow of the firing pin.

I do believe he has a point. The whole purpose of snap caps are to cushion the blow of the firing pin, preventing it from coming to a sudden stop as the hammer slams into the frame. It is like that old joke, it ain't the fall, it is the short stop at the end that will kill you. With a firing pin, when the hammer slams into the frame, the firing pin wants to keep right on going. The slender tip of the firing pin on a Uberti Cattleman is particularly susceptible to keeping right on going when the hammer comes to a violent stop against the frame. I ain't saying it is going to happen the first few times, but eventually, it is the short stop of the hammer against the frame that may allow the tip of the firing pin to fracture and keep right on going. So your best insurance is the snap cap that will cushion the blow of the firing pin best and completely support it as the hammer slams to a stop. It would certainly pay to inspect the cushioning material in the snap cap and replace them if the dent appears to have grown a great deal.

Incidentally, unfired primers are very good at protecting firing pins just once. Fired ones are not. After a few blows, the dent in a primer takes the shape of the firing pin tip and no longer supports it when the hammer stops. If the cushioning material in a A Zoom snap cap starts to look like the dent in a spent primer, it is probably time to replace it.

Regarding putting resilient material in the primer pocket of a spent case, again, it has to be stiff enough to not deform over hundreds of hits. Garden variety silicone is too soft. Some shooters have reported success using the hard eraser material from the back of an ink pen.



One other thing. You do understand that 'quick draw' is not part of Cowboy Action Shooting I hope? Nothing wrong with getting used to getting the gun out in a hurry, but we don't do 'quick draw' as practiced by those in the quick draw shooting disciplines.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

I've used A-ZOOM for years, they're built well, and do the job, I've never had to replace any of them, I have them for almost all calibers of the guns I own,

I don't like and won't use empty cases that have been fixed to use as a cheap fix snap caps, it is too easy to  give your gun a glance and think it is loaded only with those empty cases, and find out different, I have a LEO friend that found this out the hard way, fortunately for him and others no one was hurt when his gun went off, the worst part of this story, is he did it two times before switching A-Zoom,  I like a difference in color, and the maroon color of the A-Zoom snap caps can't be mistaken , they aren't cheap, but they last a whole lot longer than the plastic made ones that are offered. IMHO !!!


                                             tEN wOLVES

[Dr. Bob]

I use A Zoom and am happy with them.

   http://www.azoomsnapcaps.com/

Price is the same ordering directly but shipping would be added, so buy from yer local dealer! 

[Pettifogger]

Driftwood has a couple of good points about firing pin damage.  However, on most Colt type actions I am not worried about the firing pin breaking.  The damage you tend to see more often is the firing pin pounding out the recoil shield and raising a lip on the inside of the cylinder window.  Then the shells start dragging and make the cylinder difficult to turn and eventually impossible to turn. You can stone such a lip once or maybe twice.  After that the firing pin hole enlarges and you start getting primer flow into the hole and cylinder jams.  Then you have to replace the recoil shield on guns that have them or machine the frame and install recoil shields on guns that don't.  I never use snap caps on Rugers, but always use them on Colts/Colt clones.  I have had several of the plastic snap caps with the brass insert fail.  I have never had an A-Zoom fail.  Anyone that's hoping to win a major event dry fires a LOT.

[Hyoslvr67]

Excellent information!!  Much more than I anticipated, in fact.  It sounds to me like A-Zoom's are the way to go, and convienient since I can get em right down the road at Bass Pro. 
I know quickdraw isn't CAS...I just wanna learn how to do it...my childhood hero was The Lone Ranger himself, and well...I guess I still wanna be like him!
Thanks so much folks!!