Dry Fire With or Without a Snap Cap

I did miss the part RIMFIRE in my last post… :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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YOU need them. The gun probably doesn’t.

Or use a laser cartridge in the chamber so you can tell whether you know how to use the sights, and fill the magazine with dummies so the balance is more or less realistic in your dry fire practice. Then you’re ready to also practice malfunctions and reloads.

And don’t need to worry about whether you can or can’t pull the trigger on an empty chamber a few thousand times — because you never will. :wink:

If you do want something in the chamber of an auto, you will want a cartridge with no rim. If you eject your dummy with every reset, you’ll never get enough dry practice to matter. I don’t know how hard it is to find a snap cap with no rim, but pretty standard with the laser cartridges.

https://www.smith-wesson.com/article/snap-caps-all-skill-levels

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I agree with this. I use snap caps a lot. When your at the range you can simulate malfunctions. You can use them to function check your Gun at home without farting around with live rounds as well. I also practice reloads sometimes and with a dummy round in the chamber I can drop a mag, put the dummy loaded mag in the gun and drop the slide release.

You may as well pick them up, because even if you decide not to use them for dry fire (which at least they wouldn’t hurt) they are good to have.

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I do both. I use snap caps when I am going to be doing some repetitive actions for muscle memory & other times, I just dry fire if I am just keeping sharp every day or so. When providing training with a family member or friend, I will throw a few in the mag & see if they anticipate recoil etc… they are especially good for that. Although I can look at the grip, trigger pull & movement of the pistol prior to them firing, it’s always an eye opener for them to see it themselves when they fire on a snap cap

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100% agree, that’s why I stated where I got my information. It would be a lot more believable if it was in writing directly from Glock.

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I read the entire Glock 44’s manual. There is no single word that tells if dry fire process can be safely done.
There is only one moment described, when user can press the trigger on empty chamber:

With the muzzle of your GLOCK pistol pointed in
a safe direction (a safe direction is one in which
no one can possibly be injured in the event of an
unintentional discharge), pull the trigger. (Note:
The trigger must be in the rearmost position to
remove the slide)
(IX. Field stripping)

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You don’t need to rack the slide 100% to the rear and eject the snap cap to re-cock the striker. Depending on the gun, an inch more or less will do it.

If it’s hammer fired, just cock the hammer.

Or if you want, you can just press a squishy trigger all day, right @Jerzees?

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I think the Mantis X3 looks for the impact of the hammer/striker as a data point in the software’s analysis. So for this application I think I’ll have to fully cock the firearm.

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Yes, I agree. The squishy trigger comment was to trigger my pal @Jerzees from an earlier conversation.

Still, you don’t have to fully rack the slide to cock the striker. Just +/- an inch or so will do it.

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That’s what I do. I like everything easy…

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I don’t know how the MantisX algorithm analysis the strike…but if you really think you need something inside the chamber during this practice, use laser cartridge. It’s has no rim so won’t be extracted whenever you rack the slide.

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This almost exact wording is also used in VIII. Unloading procedure and safety check Step 6.

With the muzzle of your GLOCK pistol pointed in
a safe direction (a safe direction is one in which
no one can possibly be injured in the event of an
unintentional discharge), pull the trigger (Picture
15).

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I will consider it as a safety check, not dry fire practice then.

So, here’s the deal with the Glock 44. There are cutouts and a ramp on the chamber face that allows the firing pin to avoid contact with the chamber face when fired.

I’ve dry fired my G44 countless time and I don’t see any spot on the chamber face.

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:ok_hand:
And that is the answer we were waiting for !

I suppose that’s true. But pulling the dummy in and out probably does nothing to reduce wear on the round, chamber, and extractor. And it will inevitably produce more unreal-type malfs to resolve than a practice round which just sits tight while providing feedback on your target acquisition.

Yeah, depending on the gun. Better make it less rather than more. A 9mm case is only 3/4" long, and OAL is not going to be much more than 1.1" — plenty of room on .30-30 to pull more than an inch. :cowboy_hat_face:

My M&P only takes about 1/4" to reset, and the motion is well-ingrained — but I will still occasionally go far enough to pick a cartridge off the magazine. Then a non-clearable Type 3.

I’ve thought about removing the “rim” off a snap cap so the extractor does not engage it but never got around to it … maybe one day :smiley:

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Chuck it in a drill and hold it against a file — shouldn’t take long.

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I stand corrected. I didn’t measure and I’m sure one inch is too much. My point was only that you don’t need to completely rack the slide to cock the striker.

I bet removing and replacing dummy rounds for dry fire doesn’t wear the chamber and extractor any more than actually firing the gun.

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Probably it wouldn’t.

But depending upon your program, I’m pretty sure it will happen 100x to 1000x more frequently. It might introduce more bits and grits per round than single use or refurb ammo. Aluminum and plastic dummies will also give up a lot sooner than brass.

I had a guy tell me that his pistol wouldn’t reset with a short stroke — dunno what gun that would be, or if he actually knew what he was talking about. I was kind of new to striker guns at the time, and still don’t know details about the varieties.