doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Snap Cap Question

Hi all, just curious to know what brand/type of snap caps do you use/prefer?

Best,

Greg

Greg, the ones I have are all chromed metal with what looks like plastic 'primers'. I don't really know what the brands are, but one set is marked Holland and Holland and was brought back to me as a gift from someone who visited there...Geo

I prefer the vintage heavy snap caps made from the solid Brass. They weigh about the same as an unfired cartridge, ideal for setting ejector throw and timing amongst other things.

With all due respect to Damascus, I do occasionally use the solid brass ones but don't like them. I prefer the soft, opaque plastic ones (not the clear ones that come from Italy, but the ones made of something like nylon or Delrin) as they are about the same weight as a fired case, have soft plastic 'primers' which don't deform as quickly as the brass ones and don't dent newly finished stocks et al when they land on them!
Sadly I haven't seen them in the shops or catalogues in ages and mine are rapidly getting beyond their sell-by date!
They are light but after all, if your gun is ejecting correctly, it should be throwing an empty case, not a charged one.
The one good thing about the brass ones (pressed steel and aluminium ones are often the same) they have replaceable 'primers' so when the dent gets so bad it is doing nothing useful, you can drop in a new one.
If you know where to go, you can even buy bags of the 'primers' from some suppliers.
My particular bug-bear is the animal who can't be bothered to put him lovely 'Maker's plated snapcap in the barrel and instead uses the named head to take the strike! I have bags of ruined named snapcaps.
OT but I also hate people who use their vintage E&B cleaning rod as a snapcap! Grrr!

Dewey Vicknair believes snap caps are a true exercise in futility, as a spring has X amount of life cycles in it, and a snap cap doesn�t change that.

I�m inclined to agree with him. I have a set, given to me by a friend, that are really nicely made (Galazon?) brass heads with a fuzzy mop in front. I dutifully hosed them down with silicone spray, allowed the solvents to dry off, and stuck them in a Browning BSS sidelock, snapping the triggers, and putting the gun in the safe.

I felt a little silly, thinking of Dewey�s advice, but, hey, it was silly that didn�t cost me anything, anyway.

Best kind of silly.

Best,
Ted

I don�t have a BSS sidelock, but the chambers in my Citoris and BSS boxlocks are prone to rust, so I bought some woolly mop caps just for those guns.

I've been down that road too, Replacement. I own some (wooly chamber mops) but, chambers can be kept from rusting without the use of wooly snap caps.

Personally, I have not much use for snap caps. JMHO.

SRH

My Parker Repos came cased and fully equipped with accessories, including chrome plated adjustable snap caps. Since they are only snapped once when for each use of the gun, they should last a few lifetimes for me and my descendants.

I don't agree with Dewey on everything but I do in this case.
I use them for testing function during regulation. I am protecting the various lumps of hardened (and tempered) steel from the shock of an empty chamber, not just the spring. All the component parts of a gun are spec'ed to take the shocks of firing but I simply don't see the point of subjecting them to any extra shocks without a little bit of help!
What I don't do is let my springs down for storage which I think is the common usage of s'caps. It's a poor analogy but you wouldn't lift the head on your car to relieve the valve springs!