Do snap caps actually prevent damage?

[rocky]

If anyone dry fires a gun w/out snapcaps then they fully deserve any damage that the gun will surely experience.  If someone can't figure out why that is they should find a new hobby.  Snapcaps def cushion the firing pins.

I was told by a factory trained gunmaker that letting the hammers down on anything is a good thing.  Daniele Perazzi let the hammers down on his guns.  That's good enough for me.

..but surely asking on a clay forum would be easier than choosing a new hobby?

If the reason for not dry firing is so patently obvious that only a fool can’t understand it, why not just tell us? 

Also, if it turns out there is no tangible evidence that modern shotguns aren’t affected, then wouldn’t that be good news rather than something to get your panties in a bunch over?

 

[Charliedog]

Why not just use them if you believe it helps and dont if you dont (i do)

 

[westley]

If anyone dry fires a gun w/out snapcaps then they fully deserve any damage that the gun will surely experience.  If someone can't figure out why that is they should find a new hobby.  Snapcaps def cushion the firing pins.

I was told by a factory trained gunmaker that letting the hammers down on anything is a good thing.  Daniele Perazzi let the hammers down on his guns.  That's good enough for me.

Could that be why most Perazzi users carry a spare trigger group then   ?      

 

[donna]

completely agree with all above, as MartynB and others said the pin hole gets gunged up...I recently stripped down my very secondhand mk3800, how the bottom pin worked every time I dont know, hole was black with congealed residue and the so called return spring was rusted onto the firing pin,had to prise it off, a thorough clean and polish,found a similar spring and has again been returned to service.

I shot at a comp on Sunday and had to use fibres.  Had quite a few not going off and the pin had struck the cartridges very lightly.  I have an MK38 and Phil said we’d get it sent off etc to get fixed.  At the Essex Masters yesterday and the Browning Guy was there so we asked him and he took it straight off me, done the pins before I even shot at 9.00 then asked to have it back in the break to do my ejectors as one was sticking. He cleaned it, gave it back to me and it’s like I’ve a brand new gun.  Actually struggled to get it open a few times!!  Brilliant service. 

 

[Guest]

Donna, that was a victory ! must enter a reg shoot as that way the entry fee would be less than the cost of a service ! ha.   joking aside thats great service eh.well done the browning team,and pleased you got it sorted. Jason

 

[donna]

Donna, that was a victory ! must enter a reg shoot as that way the entry fee would be less than the cost of a service ! ha.   joking aside thats great service eh.well done the browning team,and pleased you got it sorted. Jason

You will normally find them at the "bigger events" rather than smaller comps. He charged me (Phil .) £30 which as you say was a bargain. 

 

[Wonko the Sane]

As I have mentioned many times in the course of many discussions the manner in which you treat your personal possessions is of no consequence to me.  

The information that I gathered from Giacomo Arrighini and Lucio Sosta (both Perazzi factory trained gunmakers, both close associates of Daniele Perazzi, and both former presidents of Perazzi USA) lead me to believe that the care taken in maintaining a gun has a significant effect on it's longevity.  Strangely, that was not contrary to what I had learned over the years regarding any machine.  Go figure.

have another day

 

[rocky]

As I have mentioned many times in the course of many discussions the manner in which you treat your personal possessions is of no consequence to me.  

The information that I gathered from Giacomo Arrighini and Lucio Sosta (both Perazzi factory trained gunmakers, both close associates of Daniele Perazzi, and both former presidents of Perazzi USA) lead me to believe that the care taken in maintaining a gun has a significant effect on it's longevity.  Strangely, that was not contrary to what I had learned over the years regarding any machine.  Go figure.

have another day

Go figure?

Listen princess.. I don’t care if your dad was John Browning, I asked a question which you don’t know the answer to but instead of suggesting a possible explanation or offering any supporting evidence you get all pissy about the newb daring to challenge a long standing ‘rule’ which seems so far to be based on ‘if two pieces of metal don’t touch each other they will last longer’ which, when put in the context of a modern machine designed to go bang and shake about a lot is, I am suggesting, perhaps merely an extension of ‘if you leave it in the box and don’t use it nothing will happen to it’, and in reality, dry firing when you need to for whatever reason makes no difference to the condition of your gun. However I imagine if you set up a device to repeatedly dry fire the weapon for a few days and compared the surface that the shoulder of the firing pin impacted with that of a new gun using a comparison microscope there will be a difference, this has nothing to do with gun maintenance or being a good gun owner, it’s engineering BUT.. unlike you... I would be pleased if someone changed my mind with some tangible evidence or reasoning because I don’t want to damage my new gun. Ok?

Take your head out of your arse and be nice  

 

[Hamster]

I do sympathise with Rocky's position but not his response. Wonko happens to be a solid contributor to threads and is usually on the right tracks on most subjects, I think we should all be nice lest we wear out the hospitable screws of the forum. 

 

[rocky]

I do sympathise with Rocky's position but not his response. Wonko happens to be a solid contributor to threads and is usually on the right tracks on most subjects, I think we should all be nice lest we wear out the hospitable screws of the forum. 

I can only speak about my interaction with Wonko and found him rude & patronising I’m afraid. I’m not not going to respond simply because I’m new on here, I’m new to shooting not newborn. 

I asked a perfectly reasonable technical question, I’m not on a crusade or bothered either way how it turns out I’ll just operate my gun accordingly but I f someone in a shop spoke to me like Wonko did or in the street they would get an equally sarcastic reply  

Unless admin deem otherwise I think my response was in line with his attitude to me. Personally I don’t think it’s a big deal we just rubbed each other up the wrong way. 

 

[jwpzx9r]

Go figure?

Listen princess.. I don’t care if your dad was John Browning, I asked a question which you don’t know the answer to but instead of suggesting a possible explanation or offering any supporting evidence you get all pissy about the newb daring to challenge a long standing ‘rule’ which seems so far to be based on ‘if two pieces of metal don’t touch each other they will last longer’ which, when put in the context of a modern machine designed to go bang and shake about a lot is, I am suggesting, perhaps merely an extension of ‘if you leave it in the box and don’t use it nothing will happen to it’, and in reality, dry firing when you need to for whatever reason makes no difference to the condition of your gun. However I imagine if you set up a device to repeatedly dry fire the weapon for a few days and compared the surface that the shoulder of the firing pin impacted with that of a new gun using a comparison microscope there will be a difference, this has nothing to do with gun maintenance or being a good gun owner, it’s engineering BUT.. unlike you... I would be pleased if someone changed my mind with some tangible evidence or reasoning because I don’t want to damage my new gun. Ok?

Take your head out of your arse and be nice  

Nae need for that sh*te bud if you dinnae like the answer ignore it... or should I say who gives a flying F what you do with your gun? I think the message is that for some the act of releasing the hammer springs without something in place to absorb the resultant shock through the other components of the mechanism is something that should be avoided . I would not worry about it though you will be shot of that gun pronto anyway.

 

[wynno]

Oh er Mrs handbags at dawn...

quite honestly do I give a flying f**c  NO

 

[Hamster]

I can only speak about my interaction with Wonko and found him rude & patronising I’m afraid. I’m not not going to respond simply because I’m new on here, I’m new to shooting not newborn. 

I asked a perfectly reasonable technical question, I’m not on a crusade or bothered either way how it turns out I’ll just operate my gun accordingly but I f someone in a shop spoke to me like Wonko did or in the street they would get an equally sarcastic reply  

Unless admin deem otherwise I think my response was in line with his attitude to me. Personally I don’t think it’s a big deal we just rubbed each other up the wrong way. 

Admin don't interfere with much here but as a rule we try and confront one another's misbeliefs in more friendly tones. I actually happen to be interested in your query asking for evidence, it does seem odd to design something that can self harm itself if dry fired but then that's not restricted to shotguns as spring air guns too can be badly damaged if fired without pellets. 

 

[Will Hewland]

Admin don't interfere with much here but as a rule we try and confront one another's misbeliefs in more friendly tones. I actually happen to be interested in your query asking for evidence, it does seem odd to design something that can self harm itself if dry fired but then that's not restricted to shotguns as spring air guns too can be badly damaged if fired without pellets. 

Gearboxes with no oil in are rubbish too.. 

Actually that reminds me of a great story my dad told me from many years ago. A bloke brought in a completely ruined and seized gearbox back to our factory, which had clearly been run bone dry. When confronted with this he said that as it had been delivered with a  tag on it saying “No Oil” in red print so he followed that instruction.  

 

[chippy]

Every new shooter starts off with snap caps ,uses them for roughly a month ,gets fed up with them and puts them in a drawer. 

 

[Midlife]

Every new shooter starts off with snap caps ,uses them for roughly a month ,gets fed up with them and puts them in a drawer. 

Also.... never forget to remove them before opening your gun in public as many folk will assume you have arrived with a loaded gun, unaware they are snap caps. Ask me how I know....

 

[Will Hewland]

Also.... never forget to remove them before opening your gun in public as many folk will assume you have arrived with a loaded gun, unaware they are snap caps. Ask me how I know....

And they really have no purpose in that sense. If you want to release the springs, while the barrels are off, just hold a penny over the firing pin, pull the trigger. Assemble gun. Job done. 

 

[chippy]

Also.... never forget to remove them before opening your gun in public as many folk will assume you have arrived with a loaded gun, unaware they are snap caps. Ask me how I know....

Been there, open slip slide out gun open gun and with a loud click both snap caps go shooting out and hit somebody.

 

[rocky]

Nae need for that sh*te bud if you dinnae like the answer ignore it... or should I say who gives a flying F what you do with your gun? I think the message is that for some the act of releasing the hammer springs without something in place to absorb the resultant shock through the other components of the mechanism is something that should be avoided . I would not worry about it though you will be shot of that gun pronto anyway.

It was just a question because the logic sounded skewed I didn’t expect anyone to care about my gun but nor was I expecting someone  to get all pissy and suggest I take up different hobby because duh I didn’t know the simple answer...  

So you reckon I won’t have that gun long, was that just a throwaway line or is there something I should know? I’m possibly days away from handing a bloke in a shop £2000+....

Admin don't interfere with much here but as a rule we try and confront one another's misbeliefs in more friendly tones. I actually happen to be interested in your query asking for evidence, it does seem odd to design something that can self harm itself if dry fired but then that's not restricted to shotguns as spring air guns too can be badly damaged if fired without pellets. 

Well I give as good as I get basically.

Yes I always assumed with airguns though it the piston moving too fast and melting the seals due to the reduced pressure in the cylinder? That’s just reminded me of putting 3in1 oil instead of pellets in my ASI Paratrooper so it smoked like a real gun.. then me dad harping on about it like Wonko

 

[MartynB]

The thing is if you shoot the gun there is no need to worry about any springs . With modern coil springs compression set would take years.  So that removes the reason on most guns to drop the hammer on an empty chamber

With true mechanical triggers being a rarity on the majority of “ consumer guns “ , dry firing a shotgun  for practice as “ click-click “ to simulate bang -bang “   Isn’t possible  . So it’s a non situation