Does anyone know what brand or style of snap cap is the best for protecting firing pins? I have some that are spring loaded with a brass striking spot and some that have a plastic striking spot (which dented shortly after they were put into service).

My guess is that the spring loaded variety offers the best protection- I need to buy a few pair and would appreciate your: Opinions? Brand preferences?

Thanks, Jim

All I know is that my double gunsmith is adamant I do not use the heavy brass nickel plated snap caps because they put too much strain on the ejectors due to their weight.

De-prime some old hulls, Purchase some red gasket silicone. Fill in the primer pockets and let dry. The silicone is flexible enough not to leave any impressions yet resilient enough so the pins are not damaged. I like the red colour. When I open the gun I immediately know I have snap caps in it and not a loaded shell.

No, they are not.
The clear plastic two color ones are prone to having the rim snap off with ejectors.
The brass spring loaded primer on some of the short red aluminum ones is too soft and dents too deeply too fast.
The A-Zoom aluminum ones with the elastomeric primers seem to work well.
The chrome plated hollow brass ones are next to the best in my opinion. I don't see how the weight is straining the ejectors too much as I have never had a hint of an issue in 25 years or so.
The best I have ever had were some older solid red plastic ones with an elastomeric "primer". I don't remember who made them or where I got them. I also have some old solid black plastic ones with no separate primer that sill work but the rim "looks" weak. They looked weak when I got them 25 years ago.

Joe, I agree with your gunsmith, at least in theory. I've not had a bad experience with heavy snap caps simply because I won't use them. Any mechanical "train" anticipates some movement/flex/give unless it is specifically designed for a solid, no give blow. I doubt that the ejectors were designed with no such a heavy load on the business end.

Just my opinion.

DDA

I use nothing but A-Zooms in all my shotguns, from SxS's to O/U's and even on my autos. Never had a problem with them.

Jack Rowe liked my A-Zoom snap caps.

I've made some dandy snap caps for my rifles by drilling and tapping them to 1/4" NC and threading in nylon screws from the hardware store from the inside . As they wear they can be screwed out further and trimmed off. With your 209 primers you might need a bigger size hole/screw?
I'd think that shotty gun shells would work this way as well.

A-Zoom- hands down!! Keep them in all my LC Smith guns when they are not being used on a daily basis.

I've had rims break on clear plastic snap caps. Haven't had a problem with the nickel plated, but I like these better.

http://www.midiowamachine.com/products.htm

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.

For storage, you can lower the strikers,w/o dry firing.Open the gun,take the safety off,pull both triggers,then slowly close the gun.
Mike

I have heard that the bare brass caps can react with the steel causing corrosion, and also that the wool mops can cause moisture problems. A-Zooms for me.

Der Ami: I'm not sure that will work with every gun. Depending on the action, that could cause more problems than solving them. On the horn-block thing as well, letting the hammers down is a mixed blessing at best. Depending on the ejectors used (if present), this can really get things "out of whack". Assembling an LC Smith with it's hammers down can be quite the challenge for the unsuspecting owner.

When I want to let the hammers down for storage (and not taking the gun apart) I drop a 2" section of solid bronze rod down the bores, point the gun straight up and snap it. The bronze rod works great absorbing the impact of the hammers. Low tech but it works.

Mike,

Many hammerless double guns will drag the extractors and/or ejectors over the exposed firing pins on closing if the hammers are not cocked...and some you can't release the safety with the lever to the right...............

If you use EEZOX that will never happen..........and using EEZOX may save you lot's of other unpleasant things as well.......

The wool mop is intended for lubricant/protectorant application that will prevent corrosion.

Not with an LC Smith however-

Works fine with my LC SLNE.

A Parker equipped with an automatic safety would be difficult to lower the hammers. When the toplever is locked to the right, it is also bearing against a small pushrod that forces the safety into the 'ON' position, thus preventing the safety from being moved to the 'OFF' position until the toplever is returned to its center position.

Correct. When you open a Lefever and pull the triggers, the barrels lift up and they were intended to decock that way........ So, I was wondering one day if it would work with a L C. It does, but you have to push down the lever release to pull the triggers unless the auto reset bar has been taken out. Haven't tried it on a boxlock yet; don't know if it would work or not.

But, sometimes I decock by placing a piece of wood on the breech face. Some guns with ejectors you may have to push down some so the forearm seats on the knuckle before closing.

LC Smith lovers,
I stand corrected.There may be others that my suggestion won't work on.With regard to assembling a gun with the hammers down, the hammers can be manually cocked(maybe not a Smith). Sorry for the confusion, I try to avoid ejectors and single triggers (I save my cases).
Mike

An LC can be easily cocked with either a dedicated tool or a Crescent wrench, prior to installing a forend, regardless of extractor/ejector configuration.

If you're in the habit of decocking your LC disassembled or want to be in that habit, having a cocking tool in your kit would make it easy to assemble.

Hi:

I may be a bit provincial, but I have been using a pencil eraser in a decapped shotgun shell for my snap caps for years.

Just decap the shell, push a pencil eraser into the primer hole and sand the eraser until it is flush with the head of the shell.

These appear to work well for me and the price is right!

I always lube the chamber and snap cap to prevent galvanic action!

Stay well my friends,

Franchi

So if I boil this down...

there is no need to de-cock guns with coil springs

de-cock leaf spring double guns by disassembling and using a horn block to cushion the pins on release- unless some de-cocking provision has been made during the design of the gun

Do I have it right? Snap caps have always made me nervous anyway- I always took the gun out on to the back stoop to use them! Safe not sorry.