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Using spent shells for dry firing?

bushwacker

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2011
Messages
203
Location
pottsboro,texas
Buy some snap caps, last time I bought some they were like $10 or so for 5. It's safer and better designed for the purpose. If the money is the issue, skip a couple meals at mcdonald's, or skip 1 movie. There is your money for them. Safety is the number one reason, then it's functionality.

$10 for 5:eek: wouldn't it be cheeper to just use live ammo?
 

bushwacker

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2011
Messages
203
Location
pottsboro,texas
maybe the cost of all the caps will in the long run be more expense than just replacing the pin when you are thru training ...just stay concious of the pin seat..
 

Grapeshot

Legendary Warrior
Joined
May 21, 2006
Messages
35,317
Location
Valhalla
$10 for 5:eek: wouldn't it be cheeper to just use live ammo?

That's just plain wrong on so many levels- even if said in jest.

How can you "dry fire" with live ammo and why would any responsible person consider actively handling a loaded/hot weapon for training other than in intended "live fire" situations?
 

Citizen

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2006
Messages
18,269
Location
Fairfax Co., VA
Dry Firing For Dummies

Newly annotated edition includes chapters on failure drills and reloading options for self-defense situations. Self-help quizzes and the end of each chapter.

OK. That was good. Took me a second, but then I had to laff.

Plus, you've inspired me to come up with a new handload. For dummies.

"Hey, dummy (robber)! Here comes 125 "hollow" "points" of additional "IQ" at 1400 fps!" :D
 

bushwacker

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2011
Messages
203
Location
pottsboro,texas
well is it true? live ammo would be cheeper than $10 for five after all you gotta start training with live sometime to get the real feel of it ...save yourself some money and start today
 

Felid`Maximus

Activist Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2007
Messages
1,711
Location
Reno, Nevada, USA
It is true that a live round is cheaper than a snap cap but you can reuse a snap cap multiple times.

I've got a 9mm snap cap that I've used a lot. It is an A-zoom with a spring. The depression in the base of it is so large that I'm not sure it does anything any more. I've also dry fired a revolver using spent casings quite a bit.

So far I haven't broke a firing pin, but it wouldn't surprise me if it wears out a bit sooner than if I used a snap cap.
 
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Dreamer

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
5,360
Location
Grennsboro NC
To the OP--just buy some SnapCaps.

I have SnapCaps in .38 and.45acp that are more than 10 years old and still work fine.

Dry-firing exercises and ANY sort of brass and lead round (even a "dummy round) is just a recipe for disaster.

Unless you want to end up as a Darwin Awards candidate, I'd STRONGLY suggest just go buy some SnapCaps or Azooms...
 

REALteach4u

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2010
Messages
428
Location
Spfld, Mo.
Please do NOT use an empty/spent case w/ projectile seated as a training/practice round.

IMO this is just an accident waiting to happen - might be lighter in weight, but will look the same. No, no, no! To me that is like taking the firing pin out of one of two identical guns with the intent of using the pinless gun for training.

Did I say don't do it?

Many guns are said to be safe to dry fire - I don't however. Think that a struck primer would offer little to no resistance to the firing pin in any event.



I agree. I was able to see some like that, no primers inserted, but they sure looked real in the magazine. It could aid in a live-ammo issue when training or a dummy-ammo incident when trying to fight for survival.

I've spent the money on Snap-Caps and A-Zoom's for a reason, even though I know that on a center fire it shouldn't be an issue to dry fire. If you need .22lr, I can pm you an address for a company in the Missouri/Kansas area that makes bright orange polymer .22 safety rounds.
 

Dreamer

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
5,360
Location
Grennsboro NC
The spent brass that I don't reload, I de-prime and clean anyway, and I donate it to my University's metal-works/jewelry department. It is high-quality brass, and apparently, they REALLY love it.

Just a thought, for a good way to get rid of spent brass that you don't want to (or can't) reload...
 

Fabricator

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2011
Messages
65
Location
Hall County
Just a few things to add:

1) Some wheel guns (per manufacturer) are just fine to dry fire... Ruger revolvers come to mind. Since I am a Ruger fan, I contacted them for verification of this. They said: "Its not only fine, it will improve the trigger".

2) Using spent brass with a speed-loader sucks, as it needs re-sized to fit quickly, and STILL does not have a nice round/conical nose to guide the round into the cylinder (like the faux bullet note of a snap cap). IF you put bullets in these "empty" cases, they would look too real to be safe, and would still need something to absorb the firing pin energy of your "flimsy S&W" :lol: Unless you have one of those "brick outhouse" Bill Ruger products!!! (Easy folks I'm just kidding.. I have a S&W that I'll not be getting rid of any time soon).

3) By the time you make 10-12 "faux" cartridges, you will wish you had spent the $10-20, as the inserts I made back then were a PITA!

On a personal note: I made some "dummies" as a youngster (I was 11) for an old 1894 Winchester "30 WCF" lever-gun, as I was told not to "dry-fire" it, and was too cheap to buy them... In disobedience of the household gun rules, I did it anyway, and while breaking numerous other family and boy-scout gun rules, proceeded to confuse the dummies with live ammo (yes part of why these were truly "dummy" rounds was that I stored them with live ammo :eek:). Standing in the living room, I was aiming at a bird feeder in the yard (we had 25 acres bordering PA game land), and blew a 5' x 6' picture window out of the frame, and ruined a handmade bird feeder. My parents were very strict, and I deserved all the punishmint/restrictions/labour/restitution etc that was due such a grossly irresponsible act. I am; as a result of that one event, a safety nut that winces visably at the suggestion of "home made" dummy rounds. Snap caps are not cheap, but that was a $800 window in 1989! I delivered 3200 phone books on foot/bicycle to pay for that window!

Fabricator
 

Citizen

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2006
Messages
18,269
Location
Fairfax Co., VA
SNIP Just a few things to add...

Brownells or Midway sells pre-made dummy rounds affordably. Empty primer pocket. Painted brown.

The revolver dummies have semi-wadcutter lead bullets. Not the greatest for speed-loader practice; the stepped shoulder of the semi-waddcutter tends to hang up on the edges of the charge holes.

But, I should think a reloader could make his own, or get a buddy reloader to make something. I would suggest painting the brass first. And then seating and crimping some full-metal-jacket bullets.

Heck, you could even paint them in Hello Kitty colors. :)
 

FTG-05

Regular Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2011
Messages
441
Location
TN
I'm a reloader and make my own snap caps:

- Resize and decap the case, tumble clean.
- Drill a small 1/32" or whatever smallest drill bit I have, sideways through the case about a 1/4" from the bottom.
- Seat a bullet, doesn't matter which one as long as it fits in the case and the gun.
- Instead of a used primer, I fill the primer pocket with blue RTV compound. Easy ID and it cushions the firing pin.

Simple, cheap and safe.
 

markand

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2006
Messages
512
Location
VA
Don't do it!

Use of an inert round can be useful for malfunction clearing training, particularly if somebody else has loaded a magazine for you and you don't know if or when you'll hit the inert round.

Unless you're doing malfunction drills, inert rounds aren't necessary as many guns won't be harmed by a moderate amount of dry firing.

A spent cartridge, however, looks FAR too much like a live round. When I must use an inert round in the chamber for dry firing, I want there to be absolutely NO possibility for confusion. I want to KNOW which round is live and which is inert. Its NOT good enough to take the round out and look at the rear end of the cartridge and see if there's a flat primer, a fired primer, no primer, pink eraser in place of a primer, etc.

If I do a check of the chamber by easing the slide back, I want to see red or yellow plastic or aluminum to indicate an inert round. ANYTHING else I have to assume is live. I never want to get into the practice of seeing a brass metal case in the chamber and saying to myself, "I checked that earlier and its not a live round."
 
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