doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Are All Snap Caps Equal?

I use these in all my shotguns, they are well made, don't fall out and have the super nice spring loaded 'metal' primers which do what snap caps are supposed to do without wearing out, see link below.......

1.)..Don't like A-Zoom, they fall out and dent stock finishes etc., way too heavy, and the primer pockets are silicon and useless wearing out fast IMO.....(with a crater in them they are not doing any good).....

2.)..The clear plastic spring loaded are the worst, the rims snap off on a regular basis, junk.......

3.)..M&M black plastic are o.k., but the plastic primers wear out and crater rapidly IMO.........


If you want something that lasts year in and year out with a spring loaded primer that is metal:

https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/12816

How would you ever know which ones protect from breakage better than another? Most of these guns have been stored with the hammers cocked for more than 50 yrs and some over a hundred years. In the last 10-20 of that, maybe, they have been stored with the hammers fired. Most of them have been dry fired more times than we would care to admit as well.

Chuck Jack Rowe gave an explanation of the physics that I didn't understand. He didn't like the spring loaded ones with the brass "primer" in particular and talked about them causing eventual hammer breakage. But Beretta puts plastic snap caps with spring loaded brass primers in with their high end guns.

I think it was Gunter P that was making horn replacements for the brass inserts in the fancy Galazan snapcaps. Most plastics are so soft they get dented pretty quick. He liked horn.

The brass snap cap bodies will have a galvanic potential. The missing ingredient is just the electrolyte. Bare steel bodies would be neutral and interesting conversation pieces.

I agree to what Joe's gunsmith said about the heavy aluminum ones used in ejector guns. I believe it puts undue strain on for-end ejectors that do not use coil springs like the early pre-1901 L.C. Smiths that use the mainsprings for powering the ejectors.

The majority of my doubles are Foxes. Snap caps are wasted money for them. Fox themselves wrote in their literature that their guns can be dry fired an unlimited amount with no damage whatsoever to any component, because of the one piece hammer/firing pin that is was/is built with a large boss that takes the blow of the fall. The striker hole can never be pushed out around it, and the striker itself will not break from it.

As for most other makes, I don't believe that the life of any of them that have strikers powered by coil springs will be extended by the use of snap caps. I do not dry fire them because of potential damage to striker holes in the standing breech, but just leave them cocked. I have my doubts about the leaf springs as well. All leaf springs are under a degree of flex, even with the hammers down, or they couldn't stay in place. I have removed too many of them to be told otherwise. The only issue is, how much flex causes their life to be shortened.

Not trying to talk anyone out of using snap caps. Just my reasons for not doing so.

SRH

My shooting student and double gun mentor Joe Wood taught me that snap caps were needed when dry firing Parker ejector guns in order to load up the ejectors. Otherwise I would be dry firing the ejectors. He also taught me I can load up the ejectors with a thumb as I am opening the Parker if no snap caps are available. Slightly painful though.

I agree with Stan's statement about storing guns with coil mainsprings - not necessary to store them in the fired position in my estimation.

I use a piece of horn, purchased from Jeff' Outfitters, shaped and made expressly for holding firm against the standing breach while simultaneously pulling both triggers.

The more I read about snap caps the more confused I got so I settled on this method. I keep a piece of horn in every gun case.

For function testing a gun (triggers, ejectors, etc.) they are indespensable. I guess I could see where excessively heavy versions may (over time) unduely strain ejectors, but IMHO, that would take some fairly excessive use. A problem I have encountered with snap caps is where the primer pocket isn't beveled adequately. On some guns, (the two that come to mind were an LC Smith 3E and a Stephen Grant toplever sidelock) this can cause the firing pins to hang up or stick in the cap, effectively rendering the gun un-openable and necessatating a trip to the gunsmith to have the lockplates removed in order to unstick the strikers. Needless to say, that particular pair of caps was disposed of, forthwith. These weren't inexpensive versions either, they were chrome plated and otherwise well-made.