Do Snap Caps help "break-in" a Pistol. please? - The Firearms Forum

GConn · 02-25-2011, 10:10 PM

The title pretty much covers it..."Do Snap Caps help "break-in" a Firearm, please?"

I mean, I read all the time that it takes, you know, "a couple hundred", or "500" - or whatever number or rounds having been shot through a firearm - to have it performing accurately/properly.

Do Snap Caps help in this way also, or are they simply to practice "form" (technique) with?

Thanks in advance,
g...

Alpo · 02-26-2011, 07:25 AM

The rounds being shot is to have the mechanism of the gun work. The moving parts to rub against each other and "mate" together. You can do much of it without firing. When I got my first Rossi 92, I just sat there and cycled the lever a few hundred times. Bolt action rifles, I usually run the bolt a few hundred times before it ever goes to the range. With an automatic pistol, I work the slide, then pull the trigger. Repeat. Over and over.

With a magazine-fed firearm, snap-caps are helpful in making sure the gun feeds correctly. The feed lips are right, the ramp is right, the lifter is right. You can't tell that just by cycling the action. You need to have a cartridge being loaded.

With a revolver, the best way to "shoot-in" the gun without expending ammo is dry firing. If you are one of the people that worries that dry firing will damage your gun, then having a set of snap-caps in the cylinder, as you click it a couple of hundred times every day, is probably a good idea.

They certainly don't hurt.

GConn · 02-26-2011, 10:49 AM

"Alpo" - thank you much...Good info.

I'm sort of on the fence as far as dry-firing goes, but greatly tend to err on the side of caution (and it's simply an old habit - to not dry-fire) so I am going the Snap Cap route.

As you said; "they certainly don't hurt".

Thanks again.

woolleyworm · 02-26-2011, 10:23 PM

Same here as to what Alpo stated.

I own snapcaps for every caliber I own. They are great to have when you're teaching a 10yr old how different guns function and my son went through the first 40-50 "firings" of his Henry rifle with .22lr snapcaps. The rimfire snapcaps need replaced after a 8-10 strikes, but they are well worth it.

JLA · 02-27-2011, 03:03 PM

they are also wonderful tools to train yourself against flinch and quickly clearing jams/dead rounds on the range. I just mix them in randomly in the magazine when I shoot. then when i get a click instead of a boom its an automatic response for me to slap the bottom of the mag and rack the slide. I usually am back on target and shooting again before most figure out why the gun didnt fire...

02-25-2011, 10:10 PM	#1
GConn V.I.P. Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: VA~USA Posts: 127	Do Snap Caps help "break-in" a Firearm, please? The title pretty much covers it..."Do Snap Caps help "break-in" a Firearm, please?" I mean, I read all the time that it takes, you know, "a couple hundred", or "500" - or whatever number or rounds having been shot through a firearm - to have it performing accurately/properly. Do Snap Caps help in this way also, or are they simply to practice "form" (technique) with? Thanks in advance, g... --> Last edited by GConn; 02-26-2011 at 10:41 AM..

02-26-2011, 07:25 AM	#2
Alpo Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: NW Florida Posts: 8,662	Re: Do Snap Caps help "break-in" a Pistol. please? The rounds being shot is to have the mechanism of the gun work. The moving parts to rub against each other and "mate" together. You can do much of it without firing. When I got my first Rossi 92, I just sat there and cycled the lever a few hundred times. Bolt action rifles, I usually run the bolt a few hundred times before it ever goes to the range. With an automatic pistol, I work the slide, then pull the trigger. Repeat. Over and over. With a magazine-fed firearm, snap-caps are helpful in making sure the gun feeds correctly. The feed lips are right, the ramp is right, the lifter is right. You can't tell that just by cycling the action. You need to have a cartridge being loaded. With a revolver, the best way to "shoot-in" the gun without expending ammo is dry firing. If you are one of the people that worries that dry firing will damage your gun, then having a set of snap-caps in the cylinder, as you click it a couple of hundred times every day, is probably a good idea. They certainly don't hurt. __________________ Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy, and taste good with catsup - George of Lod, Year of Our Lord 297 I always take precautions. Beware the Evil Bullet Fairies.

02-26-2011, 10:49 AM	#3
GConn V.I.P. Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: VA~USA Posts: 127	Re: Do Snap Caps help "break-in" a Pistol. please? "Alpo" - thank you much...Good info. I'm sort of on the fence as far as dry-firing goes, but greatly tend to err on the side of caution (and it's simply an old habit - to not dry-fire) so I am going the Snap Cap route. As you said; "they certainly don't hurt". Thanks again.

02-26-2011, 10:23 PM	#4
woolleyworm TFF Moderator/Host Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: SW Fort Worth Contributor Posts: 4,883	Re: Do Snap Caps help "break-in" a Pistol. please? Same here as to what Alpo stated. I own snapcaps for every caliber I own. They are great to have when you're teaching a 10yr old how different guns function and my son went through the first 40-50 "firings" of his Henry rifle with .22lr snapcaps. The rimfire snapcaps need replaced after a 8-10 strikes, but they are well worth it. __________________ . What are you gonna do, talk the alien to death? -- (on Sigourney Weaver's worry about Guns in Aliens) "Safety is something that happens between your ears, not something you hold in your hands." "I carry a small gun to compensate for my huge Blue press." .

02-27-2011, 03:03 PM	#5
JLA TFF Moderator/Host Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Heart Of Texas Contributor Posts: 17,320	Re: Do Snap Caps help "break-in" a Pistol. please? they are also wonderful tools to train yourself against flinch and quickly clearing jams/dead rounds on the range. I just mix them in randomly in the magazine when I shoot. then when i get a click instead of a boom its an automatic response for me to slap the bottom of the mag and rack the slide. I usually am back on target and shooting again before most figure out why the gun didnt fire... __________________ It takes 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, and 3 for proper trigger squeeze. The latest caliber or gear is no substitute for experience and skill. Rifles and cartridges don't make hits -- shooters do. Fact of life: After Monday and Tuesday, even the calendar says WTF!