Dummy Ammo for Practice

[KMaurer]

I've been bitching about the dummy ammo that's available in most places around here for years. It's either the spring-loaded snap caps at ~$5 a round. or the cheap plastic at ~$1 a round. If you dry fire with the plastic stuff, the rims break off, and if you use the snap caps for more than one or two clearing drills, they tend to crack and jam your gun. (Same if they regularly get ejecting onto the floor of your classroom a few dozen times, as mine do in short order.)

When we did John Peterson's class last spring he had some practice rounds I hadn't seen previously. They were regular cartridge cases, with a bright plastic bullet and no primer. I finally got around to ordering some, and am very happy with what I got. Even with the shipping, they're significantly cheaper than anything else I've seen in the shops, and they look like they'll last longer.

They're available from S.T. Action Pro. I ordered 15 rounds each of .38SPL, 9mm, .40S&W and .45ACP for under $40, including regular shipping, from their web site and got the package from UPS 3 days later. If I need more, I'll be going back to them.

Ken

 

[DR]

+1 for the S.T. Action Pro.

I bought some last year after taking Michael De Bethencourt's class and they're holding up fine. The 9mm feeds with no problem for ball and dummy drills, too.

The only potential downside I saw is that they're not snap caps: they don't cushion the firing pin at all. Everything I'm using them is safe to dry-fire empty so it's not a concern for me.

 

[tele_mark]

I bought two out of Jim Conway's private stock during the course I took. I used them for the first time for tap-rack-bang drills down at the range today -- I had a stranger load up my magazine randomly with them and did a double tap drill at 7 yards. Fun stuff!!!

 

[adweisbe]

A-Zoom is another good brand of snap cap. Much better than the cruddy plastic pachmayr snap caps.

 

[FPrice]

A-Zoom is another good brand of snap cap. Much better than the cruddy plastic pachmayr snap caps.

I finally bought some A-Zoom snap caps in desperation and was amazed at how much better they were than the plastic variety.

 

[Jose]

Careful with A-Zooms. They are aluminum and constant chambering and ejecting from your firearm will chew up the cartridge rim something fierce. Eventually you will get plenty of practice transitioning to a secondary weapon when you find that the only way to remove the dummy is with a rod in from the muzzle end.

I ended making my own dummies out of deprimed brass cases and real bullets, and I am much happier now.

 

[Adam_MA]

Careful with A-Zooms. They are aluminum and constant chambering and ejecting from your firearm will chew up the cartridge rim something fierce. Eventually you will get plenty of practice transitioning to a secondary weapon when you find that the only way to remove the dummy is with a rod in from the muzzle end.

+1
I had to stop using mine all together for this reason. I think I went through 2 packages before I finally just gave up.

I ended making my own dummies out of deprimed brass cases and real bullets, and I am much happier now

Same here. I did them the same way I did my dummy rounds I made for setting up my seating die. Just a deprimed case with a bullet seated to the correct depth. Then to avoid any confusion, I colored mine green with a Sharpie marker.

 

[calsdad]

Does anybody know of somebody who makes dummy rounds in .22LR that are similar to the ones made by St action pro? ST has all of the major calibres listed but they don't have .22LR - I have a couple of newbies I want to want to introduce to shooting and want to use dummies in the same .22 pistol I will using to show them the ropes.

 

[drgrant]

I find that most snap caps/dummies are deficient in some way or
another.

A-zoom has had the best ones, but as others mentioned, their casings
eventually get chewed up. (depends on the gun, of course... if you're
using them in a wheelie, they're obviously not going to get abused as
much.

I've seen plenty of others that use real brass w/fake bullet (or even with real
bullet but deprimed and decharged. While this is a great idea in theory,
in practice these don't end up protecting the firing pin very well at all.. they're a
little better if one leaves the dead primer there, but that isn't saying much, given
that the dead primer will quickly get cratered through dry firing. This "issue"
of course may or may not mean much of anything depending on the gun being used
and the user/owner's opinion about firing pin damage.


-Mike

 

[Jose]

Mike, none of the centerfire firearms I dry fire with will hurt the firing pin.

In fact, the only ones that do are rimfire rifles. For them, I use a plastic dummy cartridge to take the hit of the pin.

I have lost track of how many thousands of times I've snapped in with my AR15 without any dummies at all. I replaced the firing pin once only because the tip got a little scarred from some hot loads I tried (pierced primers). I have never broken an AR fring pin.

The only reason I make dummies for my bolt actions is because dry firing the rapid fire stages is not realistic enough without them as the bolt closes far too easily without the resistance of stripping a cartridge from the magazine. I also need a dummy to load in the action when practicing slow fire prone as I want to adjust the stock and sling so I can dump a cartridge in the action without unshouldering the rifle.

 

[Big Daddy 45acp]

I've seen plenty of others that use real brass w/fake bullet (or even with real
bullet but deprimed and decharged. While this is a great idea in theory,
in practice these don't end up protecting the firing pin very well at all.. they're a
little better if one leaves the dead primer there, but that isn't saying much, given
that the dead primer will quickly get cratered through dry firing. This "issue"
of course may or may not mean much of anything depending on the gun being used
and the user/owner's opinion about firing pin damage.


-Mike

After you deprime the brass and make the dummy cartridge, fill the primer hole up with RTV silicone. After the silicone cures, trim it flush with the case. If the silicone wears out after a time, just dig it out and refill it.

 

[1776]

Dummy Ammo

It sounds like a deprimed case with a FMJ and a plastic primer like the plastic used in the A-Zooms's would be the best combination. AIN plastics in Norwood has a wide selection of plastic rods. Does anyone have any idea of what type of plastic the A-Zoom uses?

 

[vicpinto]

Ordered some 223 dummy rounds from S.T. Action Pro. They will not last long as the constant chambering is chewing up the plastic bullet end. They bullet end is also too round and I have a hard time feeding them. I won't be buying anymore.

 

[ARV]

I know someone that takes old empty cases, seats a bullet, and then takes those hard rubber push-up pencil erasers and glues it in the end and cuts it off flush. They seem to last a fair amount of time. Ive done it in the past sans bullet as the .38 doesnt really need it.

 

[FlatOC]

I also don't like the A-Zoom very much. The primers are nice but after only a few uses they get all dinged up with jagged edges and the paint chips off into your gun.

 

[30Mauser]

I like Big Daddy's idea with the silicone best, but I don't reload and so just make-do with the A-Zooms. Currently only have them for storing the break-action shotgun so I don't store it with the hammer spring compressed, but would like to get some in 45 ACP for tap-rack drills. I've also noted that they ding up quickly... any new developments since this thread was last active? (5 years!!)

 

[TBalls]

Despite the comments from 3+ years ago, I've found stactionpro dummy rounds to be extremely robust in 9mm, 40sw, 45ACP & 223 (haven't tried the 12ga shells).