Ready to kick your marksmanship skills up a few levels?
Let me introduce you to one of the most versatile training tools that can be used from the comfort of your home; snap caps.
Snap caps are not to be confused with blanks or other types of live ammunition.
Snap caps or as some call dummy rounds are perfect for practicing malfunction drills, drawing from concealment, and dry fire exercises.
Today, we’re going to talk about snap caps, how they work, and why we recommend you incorporate them into your training.
What Are Snap Caps?
Whatever you choose to call them; dummy rounds or snap caps, these cartridges are great tools that can take your firearms training to the next level.
The big difference between snap caps and blanks or actual rounds is that snap caps have inert primers to protect your firing pin, making them ideal for dry fire drills.
Snap caps and dummy rounds mimic the weight and feel of live rounds in order to give you the most realistic training experience but are completely safe.
Snap caps are available in most calibers, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding them chambered in pistol calibers, rifle calibers, and even shotgun shell gauges.
Many snap caps have brightly colored bodies such as red and blue. These eye-catching colors make it easy to quickly identify these dummy rounds from training ammunition and other live ammunition.
With a single glance, you’ll know exactly what type of rounds you’re loading into the magazine. Some shooters even keep dedicated magazines with their snap caps in a separate pouch or zip lock bag to ensure there is no live ammunition around.
If you’re running malfunction drills as part of your training drills, at some point you’re going to eject your brightly colored snap cap onto the ground somewhere. You shouldn’t have any trouble locating these in the dirt, grass, or rocks.
Why We Recommend Using Snap Caps
Firearms are a critical component of home defense and personal defense. Consistent training and practice, yes they are different, is the only way to effectively prepare yourself for a worst-case scenario.
Because snap caps mimic the true shape and weight of real ammunition, you can safely practice drawing from concealment, reloads, and malfunction drills, which are just as important as honing the shooting fundamentals out of the range.
You could be the next John Wick, but it’s not going to matter if your firearm jams and you can’t clear it quickly enough to engage the threat. Practice. Practice. Practice.
For a little fun at the range, have whomever you came to the range with load your magazine with live ammo plus one snap cap somewhere in the mix.
I actually had an instructor do this to me during a 2-day pistol shooting course. He asked to take a look at my handgun, wondering if my rear site needed drifted, and put a few rounds downrange. He then looked at the gun and gave a slight ‘huh’ as he turned his body away from me. I knew he racked the slide but didn’t think anything of it. He handed me my Glock 17 back and said to try it again.
Wouldn’t you know the 2nd round into the next shooting drill was a snap cap. He went on to do this several times to other shooters throughout the 2-day course. This is the best way to both stimulate an unexpected stoppage and practice how to clear one.
While most modern centerfire firearms can handle thousands of dry fire trigger pulls without damage, having something for the firing pin to strike against can help extend the lifespan of the firing pin.
This is especially true for rimfire. You should avoid dry firing a rimfire weapon. .22LR snap caps are essential for serious .22LR training, especially if you’re involved in competition shooting.
Choosing The Best Snaps Caps | Tipton Snap Caps
Tipton is one of the biggest names in the firearms industry, so it’s no surprise that they started manufacturing their own Snap Caps.
Why would a company that specializes in tools for cleaning and maintenance make snap caps? Because snap caps are part of firearms maintenance. As mentioned above, using these snap caps will reduce the wear on internal components of your firearms.
While these snap caps aren’t weighted exactly like a standard live round, they do have other great features that put them above other brands of snap caps. Namely, that they’re spring-loaded.
The primers of the Tipton Snap Caps have tiny shock absorbers that completely absorb the impact of the firing pin. This makes both your firing pin and the snap cap last much longer.
While these snap caps don’t feel like live rounds, they’re great for double-action firearms or firearms with a reset trigger kit installed.
Tipton offers its snap caps for pistols, rifles, revolvers, AND shotguns!
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