Snap Cap / Dry Fire

[bagdrag]

So I recently communicated with the customer service department of a major manufacturer whose firing pin broke into two pieces in my less than month old pistol. I told the service rep that it broke during dry-firing and I got the reply from him that I shouldn't dry fire my pistol because the steel on steel contact of dry firing would break their firing pin. He said I should only practice with live ammo and I also got the lecture about not pulling the trigger unless I intend to shoot something I am willing to destroy.

Flabbergasted, I decided to go to you all for your opinion. I'm just venting frustration because the company and the pistol in question is highly regarded and on another forum I received the "You SHOULD ALWAYS use a snap cap when you dry fire" replies.

I haven't named the company or pistol yet because I don't want this to seem like I'm blasting both over this one incident but the service rep's reply felt a little off to me.

Am I in the wrong and just over-reacting? I feel spoiled because until this incident the firearms industry has given me response.

[Flatland Shooter]

I voted "no - snap cap not required" but my dry fire is 99.99% with a Para open gun. Thousands of dry fire rounds with no snap caps and over 70k live fire rounds with only one broken firing pin.

Though I don't dry fire them much, I do use snap caps on my Browning sporting clays guns.

And recently I asked the question on this forum if it was safe to dry-fire an AR-15. In response to the answers I received, I've ordered a dry-fire device from DPMS (not snap caps) to protect my rifle's firing pin, sear and hammer.

Bill

[Micah]

No snaps in my Glock...and ask around, I'm kinda known as the dryfire nut of the forum...as far as I know, with the exception of rimfire firearms, dryfiring is acceptable...although I place a tiny piece of paper between the locking block and the slide to force my gun slightly out of battery for dryfiring just to have full functionality of the trigger.

[bagdrag]

So far overwhelmingly, no snap cap. WOW, keep it coming. I think you guys will find it shocking when I finally tell you which company's rep told me not to dry fire especially considering their support of our sport.

Btw, I've got a Glock that I have abused at least 10-fold what I put the Brand X pistol through with no snap caps and no breakages. I've also got a Springfield TRP Op which I've abused to a similar extent and again no breakages.

[North]

Dry fire a ton. but i have stayed with 1911/2011 type pistols.

[spook]

I use a snap cap, though I'm not sure it still does what it needs to do. The solid brass primer has developed a big crater in the middle from approx. a bazillion hits from the striker.

[ChrisStock]

With my striker fired pistol, my M&P, no snap cap.With my CZ and 1911 , a traditional hammer/firing pin, definitely a snap cap. My caps have spring loaded priming areas, and it keeps the firing pin from coming to an abrupt halt. I think it helps, but that's just my $.02. I can't imagine CZ sent me one with my new pistol just for giggles.

[boz1911]

I'm with the majority on this one. Besides, I won't dryfire as much as the Bender in ten lifetimes and he says it's ok.

[CDRODA396]

I have a STI, try and emulate PB with a lot of dry fire and do not use a snap cap in the chamber, but I do put a snap cap in each magazine for two reasons.

-So I can pick up a mag and clearly see at a glance that the only thing in it is a cap, and...

-It may be strickly in my mind, but I prefer a round in the mag to minimize potential damage to the feed lips...again, I dont know if it helps, but I feel better every time I seat a mag during a mag change knowing that the cap is there.

[Radical Precision Designs]

There is no guarrantee that a firing pin or firing pin stop wont eventually break after considerable dry or live firing in a 19/2011 style pistol. It can and does happen. It goes with the territory. Especially firing pin stops that have been altered for fitting. You just have to keep an eye on these parts. Common sense.

That been said, I dry fire a lot of guns constantly, and am aware of the common causes of these breakages, or other related pitfalls. Where the firing pins are concerned, the biggest pitfall has been in the firing pin shoulder (if your firing pin has one) on the "small diameter" pins. There is also an internal shoulder in the firing pin tunnel that acts as a stop, and after a lot of dry firing the firing pin spring will wear down and allow a deeper insertion into this "step". After a while the firing pin can break or distort this inside tunnel step into grabbing the firing pin into its full in position. Change your firing pin springs more often to avoid this or use an extra strength spring. Many people have a dedicated cut-off firing pin for dry fire. As for the firing pin stop breakages, they can happen at any time. A sure help for eliminating both firing pin or firing pin stops breakages, even better than a snap cap is what I call a firing pin "blocker". This consists of a small thin strip of hard rubber or plastic that can be wedged in top of your firing pin stop. You can rack your slide and dry fire as normal, but it will absorb the hammer impact consistently and help you add "years" to your parts. Much better than a snap cap, IMHO. Oh, yeah, don't forget to "peel it"out before resuming live fire.

[FranDoc]

I'm really glad that you asked this. I've heard lots of rabble about 'gun damage', but most of that seems to be loud opinion rather than documented data.

I shoot an XD and generally dry fire without a snap cap. The cap flies out of the chamber every time I rack the slide, unless I do a 'half rack', just enough to reset the firing pin. I do use snap caps in the magazines for reload drills -- more realistic weight, less potential damage to the magazine if I 'miss' the insertion.

I usually pull the trigger on a dry chamber without racking the slide. That 'sort of' works on an XD; there's some trigger travel even when it's not cocked. Dry firing for me is more about honing the kinesthetic skills for efficient acquisition of good sight picture. The actual trigger press, recoil management, and seeing the sights lift is practiced in live fire (and, believe me, those are ALL 'works in progress').

DO the dry fire. Dozens of other shooters have sworn that it works, I'm just now discovering how well it works.

[gringop]

I dry fire with Azoom snap caps at home and use them for dummy drills at the range. I do a lot of malf clearance and slide lock reload drills and need some kind of snap cap for them. Since I have them out I use them for normal dry fire too.

I think that it probably reduces the wear and tear on the FP. I don't think that they are 100 % necessary, just good to have.

I do keep spare FPs/strikers for all my pistols. Murphy's always waiting...

Gringop

[Catfish]

I use a snap cap, though I'm not sure it still does what it needs to do. The solid brass primer has developed a big crater in the middle from approx. a bazillion hits from the striker.

+1

For me, big use of snap caps is for practicing slide lock reloads for a typical IDPA stage or an oh sh!t moment in a USPSA stage..... (shooting 1911s)

[bagdrag]

With my striker fired pistol, my M&P, no snap cap.With my CZ and 1911 , a traditional hammer/firing pin, definitely a snap cap. My caps have spring loaded priming areas, and it keeps the firing pin from coming to an abrupt halt. I think it helps, but that's just my $.02. I can't imagine CZ sent me one with my new pistol just for giggles.

Cool. Glad somebody finally mentioned the M&P because it was my less than month old M&P40 that broke. I have a glock and a 1911 that I have dry-fired tons of times without breakages yet. It's a new gun, so I was trying to get used to the trigger press and reset. I believe dry-fire to be one of the better ways to get used to a trigger especially if you don't have the time/ammo to go to the range very often.

I thought the S&W service reps comment to pull the trigger only at the range to be ludicrous and discourages use of a training technique to acquire proficiency with my pistol. It's funny to me that there is a stickied topic thread on the M&P Pistol forum about it shooting low/left and its obvious this is more related to improper trigger control and not the gun. When I do get to the range the M&P is very accurate but because of the newness of the trigger, fatigue will cause me to pull shots low/right (I'm a Lefty) later in the practice session.

The relatively early part breakage and the Service rep's response left a very bad taste in my mouth and now I'm hoping to sell this near new pistol (recently back form the factory) for a reasonable price.

Btw, thank you all for the responses.

[Wideload]

Not necessary for the intended purposes ... But they are good for practicing reloads with revo's.

[Gallow]

This could be a big problem at USPSA matches. "Unload and show clear!" OK, and then you have to dig out a snap cap and fiddle it into the chamber before you can aim in front of you and pull the trigger.

I've never used snap caps in handguns, except for 22s.

[ChuckS]

This could be a big problem at USPSA matches. "Unload and show clear!" OK, and then you have to dig out a snap cap and fiddle it into the chamber before you can aim in front of you and pull the trigger.

I've never used snap caps in handguns, except for 22s.

can't do that during unload! Here is the USPSA (2008 Rules page 56) definition of a "Loaded firearm"

Loaded Firearm . . . . . . . .A firearm having a live or dummy round in the chamber or cylinder, or having a live or dummy round in a

magazine inserted in the firearm.