Homemade snap cap question

[gatorhugger]

I know snap caps are cheap but I want to know if this is even cheaper.
No it's not filling a case with silicon, rubber, or pencil lead.

For my P95 I just want to dry fire the trigger a thousand times to try to resolve some light grittiness. Cock hammer, fire, cock hammer, fire.
What is wrong with cutting a thick peice of leather about .25 long by .25 wide and basically stuffing it between the exposed hammer and firing pin?
There is a gap there for the hammer to fall into, so the leather will stay stuffed in there, never move, never wear out, and the hammer falls with a soft thud onto the leather.

It works the trigger action completely but the firing pin assembly never actually gets hit.
I did this and it seems to work perfectly, no more snap caps needed.
Is there any harm in this Y'all think? I can't imagine there would be.

 

[JAREDSHS]

sounds good to me.

 

[dacaur]

While some will say its a bad idea, I have dry fired my P95 thousands of times sitting in front of the TV, never a snap cap, empty chamber, without a problem. The trigger is now unbelievably nice... According to ruger, you know, the guys who make the gun, this is fine. Ill go with what ruger says over some internet "expert" every day of the week.... The leather will absob some of the impact, but the FP is still going to take a hit... but it wont cause any problems either way...

 

[Yawn]

I have asked this once before, but I am now not super satisfied with the answer I recall... wha is the point of snap caps...

+1 dacaur on what Ruger says is ok... do some manufacturers recommend snap caps?

 

[Mike J]

Gator I agree with dacaur. I have no idea how many thousands of times I have dry fired my P944 without a snap cap & it is still fine. I think the leather might save some impact on the firing pin. If it makes you feel better why not?

Yawn there are some pistols that you can damage by dry firing them without a cartridge or snap cap in place. I know Kel Tecs can be damaged this way as I believe can be the LCP. It is always a good idea to read the owners manual before starting tinkering around with a new gun.

 

[gatorhugger]

I didn't think it would hurt anything stuffiing some leather in there to absorb the hammer smack.
I reckon I will leave it in, doesn't seem to hurt nothing and might make the firing pin last longer.
Or not.
But it should do the same thing as a snap cap I guess for anyone wanting to make one.

 

[dacaur]

I have asked this once before, but I am now not super satisfied with the answer I recall... wha is the point of snap caps...

+1 dacaur on what Ruger says is ok... do some manufacturers recommend snap caps?

yea, the manual for my Kel-tec PF9 says "Do not dry fire your pistol, doing so can damage the firing pin and extractor spring screw."

The pistol is designed such that the screw that holds the extractor spring is ALSO the firing pin stop, added to that, the firing pin and hammer are purposefully light, so there is less mass to possibly cause a discharge in case the gun is dropped, because they are so light, they travel at higher speed, so repeated dry firing can bugger up the end of the screw, which is not hardened. In normal firing with a cartridge inserted, the primer stops the firing pin from hitting the extractor screw/FP stop, but without that, the firing pin is free to move all the way forward and hit the screw...

The manual doesn't specifically recommended snap caps, but if you cant dry fire it, obviously snap caps are the way to go for checking function or getting trigger practice.... So with my PF9, I use snap caps, with my P95, I dont.

 

[ranger1]

I have asked this once before, but I am now not super satisfied with the answer I recall... wha is the point of snap caps...

+1 dacaur on what Ruger says is ok... do some manufacturers recommend snap caps?

I haven't heard of any manufacturers recommendations, but it's probably a good idea to use them IMO. Opinions vary off course.

Besides protecting your firearm while dry firing, they are also used as tactical training aids....loading in the dark, loading one handed and clearing jams, etc.

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

 

[berettapistols]

I have dozens of those 9mm plastic snap caps & have broken many of them dry firing..
They don't hold up very well..
A-Zoom makes snap caps from aluminum that are anodized purple & have the primer pocket filled with a rubber that seems to last forever.. I have some of these in 9mm & 38spl
Here's the Link.. http://www.azoomsnapcaps.com/

Can't really comment on the leather under the hammer..
Good Luck!!

 

[ranger1]

I have dozens of those 9mm plastic snap caps & have broken many of them dry firing..
They don't hold up very well..
A-Zoom makes snap caps from aluminum that are anodized purple & have the primer pocket filled with a rubber that seems to last forever.. I have some of these in 9mm & 38spl
Here's the Link.. http://www.azoomsnapcaps.com/

Can't really comment on the leather under the hammer..
Good Luck!!

+1 on the A-Zoom!

The only kind I use!

 

[ArmedinAZ]

I have asked this once before, but I am now not super satisfied with the answer I recall... wha is the point of snap caps...

+1 dacaur on what Ruger says is ok... do some manufacturers recommend snap caps?

My CZ75B came with 2 snap caps with replaceable "primers".

Maybe the question is why not use them if you want? Can't hurt. No doubt the primer in a live round is absorbing energy out of the firing pin, it might even stop the firing pin before it contacts the inner breech face. One would think that lots of dry firing could enlarge the firing pin hole and/or reduce the diameter of the firing pin. Obviously lots of pistols get lots of dry firing without failure but a good snap cap can't really hurt. I've gotten some cheapies stuck but a few taps got it back out.

Nothing wrong with the patch of leather idea.

 

[19&41]

One thing that has helped me when working in an action was to take a little bit of the dried residue from my can of brasso or a little bit of fine rottenstone and mix it with some gun oil and disassemble the action and reassemble it using the mixture to lubricate the action. After working the action for a few hundred cycles, disassemble and clean thoroughly and lube with clean oil. I've even gotten S&W autos free and easy doing this. Do not use this on slides, though. One more + on the a zooms!

 

[JimEG]

I learned another cheap replacement for snap caps on the FNforum a couple of years ago that works good for hammer fired guns...a foam disposable ear plug. Just pull the hammer back and stuff it in back where the hammer falls on the firing pin. It will absorb the shock of the hammer falling, allowing you to break-in your trigger w/o putting wear or stress on your firing pin. I broke-in the trigger that way on my FNP9 before firing any live ammo through it and was very happy with the results. But for striker fired pistols I guess the only way for break-in is with snap caps. I hope this helps.
Jim

 

[Yawn]

or dry fire