Oh, snap!
“So, I just bought this gun, and I kind of want to handle it and make sure it feeds right and everything… and I have this box of bullets, so…”
Okay, stop. Put the bullets down, lock up the gun, and get in the car. We’re going shopping.
I’ve been where you are. You just bought a $500 gun, you can’t get to the range for awhile, and you want to learn how it works. How it cycles ammo. How to load it, etc. The problem is with most automatic pistols and rifles, the weapon behaves differently when it’s unloaded, and with some it’s actually harmful to dry fire it. So what do you do?
Well, fortunately, you don’t have to put rounds in your firearm to get some familiarity training with it. The answer to your problem lies with two unassuming products: Snap-caps and dummy rounds.
Snap-caps
Snap-caps are fake bullets used for dry-fire practice. You see, for some firearms, pulling the trigger when there’s no round in the chamber can actually hurt the weapon. Snap-caps solve this problem by giving the firing pin something to hit, in this case a capped spring where the primer should be. You load the snap-caps into the weapon just like you would bullets and pull the trigger. This lets a shooter practice proper grips, de-cocking and pulling the trigger without having to go to a range. Snap-caps are sold in a lot of the big hunting or gun stores like Outdoor Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop and come in just about every caliber you can think of. Most are made to look nothing like live rounds so that you don’t confuse the two. I’ve seen snap-caps painted a uniform red and some are made of translucent plastic so that you can see the spring inside. The downside is that they can be a little pricey. Two .308 snap-caps cost me about as much as half-a box of ammo.
Dummy rounds
Dummy rounds are not the same as snap-caps. A snap-cap is so you can safely dry-fire, but a dummy round is made to test feeding. All a dummy round is is a round with the primer and powder removed. This is so the dummy will have the same weight and characteristics as real ammunition so you can get an accurate view of how your weapon will feed and cycle. Dummy rounds can be bought but they can also be home-made, and this is where you have to be careful. If you’re using a home-made dummy, you need to be very careful not to put it near actual rounds because it would be easy to mistake one for the other. Usually, home-made dummy rounds have holes drilled into the case to show there’s no powder. Dummy rounds are a little cheaper than snap-caps.
So if you want to get familiar with your weapon before going to the range DON’T USE ACTUAL AMMUNITION. Spend a few extra dollars and get some snap-caps and dummy rounds.
TJ
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