The Best Snap Caps: Dummy Ammunition

Snap caps, or dummy ammo can be very useful if you want to practice clearing malfunctions in your handgun, rifle or shotgun. Another good reason to own a set of snap caps is to safely dry fire your guns if you’re practicing trigger control.

We really recommend buying a set of snap caps for each caliber of firearm that you own, especially for your carry gun or for your home defense gun. Malfunctions happen – it’s just part of owning a gun and shooting it. You need to be able to quickly clear a malfunction like a double feed or stovepipe if your life depends on your gun going bang.

best snap caps

Instead of reviewing snap caps for every caliber out there, we chose three manufactures of dummy ammo that make a quality product that will take a beating as you dry fire and practice clearing malfunctions.

Here’s our short list of the best snap caps.

Tipton Snap Caps for 22 LR

Whether it is a childhood favorite or just an inexpensive way to go out and do some shooting drills, your 22 LR pistol or rifle probably has a special place in your gun safe. Incredibly cheap to shoot and buy, these weapons have long been a favorite of target shooters, varmint hunters, and outdoorsmen alike. What aren’t the fans of 22 LR pistols and rifles a fan of? The damage that dry firing the rimfire weapons can do to the actions.

If you are interested in performing certain types of maintenance, working on effective trigger pulls, or want to set your trigger pull on your custom trigger assembly so that it is just perfect without seriously damaging the firing pin of the pistol or rifle, the Tipton Snap Cap package gives you 10 snap caps at an incredibly affordable and 22 LR friendly price. The plastic design is softer than the metal of rimfire cartridges and is specifically designed to keep your firing pin safe from the undue wear and tear that is unavoidable when dry firing or using inferior snap caps.

Why are these snap caps so incredibly popular? Because they work and they keep working for hundreds of trigger pulls. They are perfectly sized to replicate 22 LR cartridges, so they can be loaded in magazines and revolvers without any complications. These things will last as long as you’re likely to need them and with 10 coming in a single pack, it’s hard to go wrong with a pack of these.

A-Zoom .357 Magnum Precision Snap Caps

Shooting a .357 Magnum is an experience that is hard to forget. There is a reason you lug your heavy steel wheel gun to the range and it isn’t so you can be distracted by offset sights, a poorly configured laser sight, or an overly sensitive or tight trigger. You don’t want to endure unnecessary risk when storing the gun or teaching a new shooter how to handle a firearm and you don’t want to expose the firing pin to unnecessary and unrelenting punishment as you repeatedly dry fire the pistol at home.  What can you do?

A-Zoom’s .357 Magnum is a great option for anyone with a .357 Magnum. Whether you’re looking at working on your speed-loader or moon-clip reload time or want to set a custom trigger to respond in the perfect way, these snap caps are designed to take the punishment of the .357 Magnum firing mechanism without breaking. They are sized perfectly to match the .357 Magnum round and will fit all similarly rated speed loaders. While they’re a bit lighter than the wad cutters and self-defense rounds you may be used to firing through your favorite revolver, they offer a training opportunity that’s hard to replicate without going to the range and putting on ear protection.

KP Tactical 38 SPL Aluminum Snap Caps (10 Pack)

Have a 38 Special or .357 Magnum and are looking for snap caps?  If you are a seasoned revolver owner, you probably appreciate that the best way to wear in a revolver is to shoot it repeatedly. If you want more weight than the typical plastic snap caps can provide and don’t want to waste money at the range just to break in your pistol, you should take notice of these snap caps. The KP Tactical 38 Special snap caps are a highly competitive, American made option. What makes these rounds so great isn’t just that they are made to perfectly match the size of the 38 Special round so that they can work flawlessly in moon clips and other speed loaders, it’s that they are made of metal and replicate the feel and part of the weight of the rounds you’re used to shooting.

These snap caps are made to be extremely safe for your firing pins because they have durable silicone inserts placed directly where the firing cap would be found. Instead of smashing into metal or hard plastic, your firing pin rests gently on the silicone pad and is ready to be fired again without any wear for the worse.