Best snap caps to use a lot ?

[Shotkam]

I am hoping to find a used pair of 20 guage snap caps through Pigeon Watch to actually use for dry firing on clays. I am not sure which brand will stand up to this sort of use, so perhaps someone is able to advise me.

I have already had a few offers of used snap caps, which I will reply to shortly.

We have our own setup, so dry firing is a benefit to me, others opinion may differ of course.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Dry firing on clays?

Are you paying for clays to be launched and not shooting at them?

[enfieldspares]

Best snap caps are those the very very least likely to ever be confused with the make/brand of live cartridges that you use. Usually the all metal nickel plated ones with a black rubber "primer" serve that purpose best. They are also the most robust. The plastic type will if the ejectors are strong eventually shed their rims and are also the hardest to see and find in grass or if they roll under a chest of drawers in a gunroom.

[Shotkam]

17 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Dry firing on clays?

Are you paying for clays to be launched and not shooting at them?

 

18 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Dry firing on clays?

Are you paying for clays to be launched and not shooting at them?

We have our own family setup, so ample opportunity to build that muscle memory and all important dry practice.

A lot of shots dry practice at home, but fortunately I can work with the real thing. All clays someone else may miss here we can pickup.

[enfieldspares]

In that case I'd actually advise maybe to shoot indoors (without clays of course) using one of those laser projector cartridges?

[Shotkam]

25 minutes ago, enfieldspares said:

In that case I'd actually advise maybe to shoot indoors (without clays of course) using one of those laser projector cartridges?

I think most of us would like to improve our shooting and how we do that is subjective. To be able to practice dry firing on clays to build your muscle memory and hone your techniques can only be a good thing.

To be offset away from a family member while they shoot and dry firing yourself at the same birds they are shooting is an innovative way of working on improving your shooting at no cost. Others may disagree but it can only be a benefit in my view.

53 minutes ago, enfieldspares said:

Best snap caps are those the very very least likely to ever be confused with the make/brand of live cartridges that you use. Usually the all metal nickel plated ones with a black rubber "primer" serve that purpose best. They are also the most robust. The plastic type will if the ejectors are strong eventually shed their rims and are also the hardest to see and find in grass or if they roll under a chest of drawers in a gunroom.

 

53 minutes ago, enfieldspares said:

Best snap caps are those the very very least likely to ever be confused with the make/brand of live cartridges that you use. Usually the all metal nickel plated ones with a black rubber "primer" serve that purpose best. They are also the most robust. The plastic type will if the ejectors are strong eventually shed their rims and are also the hardest to see and find in grass or if they roll under a chest of drawers in a gunroom.

My Brother has had a set of these for probably 45 years, exactly as you describe. They are great.

If I can find a used set of those in 20 guage I will be very happy. Thanks.

[Gordon R]

The only problem with the dry firing, that you describe, is that you have no idea whether you hit the clay or not. If you cannot say you hit any clay, I really don't see how you can say it can only be a good thing.

[Shotkam]

46 minutes ago, Gordon R said:

The only problem with the dry firing, that you describe, is that you have no idea whether you hit the clay or not. If you cannot say you hit any clay, I really don't see how you can say it can only be a good thing.

Agreed, however this is not about hitting the target rather developing and refining the processes that result in a kill.

For me this is all about training  i.e. gun familiarity, pickup points, hold points, kill points, hand /eye co-ordination, target acquisition, timing, tempo, practicing gun mount, follow through etc. etc. and discipline.

Some who do a lot of clay shooting / shooting I suggest will see there is a value in this approach to training. Things move on in shooting and it is innovation that often progresses the way we improve accuracy and consequently the level at which we are able to shoot.

It wasn't so long ago that we were using hammer guns and the only shooting method adopted was swing through.

Some people say they don't think about the way they shoot, but that is only ever going to get you to a certain level.

Each to their own of course, as there are no hard and fast rules.

[Gordon R]

Quote

Agreed, however this is not about hitting the target rather developing and refining the processes that result in a kill

I'm a bit confused. You could practice forever - gun familiarity, pickup points, hold points, kill points, hand /eye co-ordination, target acquisition, timing, tempo, practicing gun mount, follow through etc. etc. and discipline, but merely learn to miss consistently.

What you need is to use your method, followed up by shooting at clays, to ensure what you were committing to memory was actually of value.

[Shotkam]

1 minute ago, Gordon R said:

I'm a bit confused. You could practice forever - gun familiarity, pickup points, hold points, kill points, hand /eye co-ordination, target acquisition, timing, tempo, practicing gun mount, follow through etc. etc. and discipline, but merely learn to miss consistently.

What you need is to use your method, followed up by shooting at clays, to ensure what you were committing to memory was actually of value.

I agree practice at actually breaking clays is large part of being consistent, however the you don't need to be breaking clays to practice a lot of the other elements that contribute to making you a consistent shot.

Just getting a good connection and perfecting line with those long 50 yard crossers takes a lot of practice shooting pull away, let alone breaking the clay. Dry practicing this is a huge benefit for developing the process of getting kills on those technical shots be it clays or live quarry.

Financial constraints limit the amount of breaking clay practice you can do, so if I can get 50% more practice for free, even if not breaking clays then that will make me happy and a more consistent shot.

The leading coaches advocate whatever practice you can do 'dry shooting' will benefit your shooting and I am not going to argue with that.

[Jim Neal]

Why bother with snap caps?  Why do you actually need to pull the trigger?  Just keep the safety on and go through the motions, you'll still be using your trigger finger muscle.

I think your theory is interesting, but flawed, you could end up training yourself to be shot-shy.

[Shotkam]

You could have a point, however I have the snap caps and I am still interested to explore my idea.

If it's a disaster I will let you know.

[Scully]

I practice my mount regularly ( and indeed swing the gun around in the process ) to instil muscle memory, but confess I’m also bemused and a tad confused by this theory.

Each to their own of course, but I haven’t heard of anyone anywhere advocating this as worthwhile practice, and am struggling somewhat to fathom what is being gained. 
A laser set up, complete with screen etc I could understand, but I don’t get this at all. 
I can’t see it being a ‘disaster’, I’m just confused. 

[old'un]

37 minutes ago, chilly1981 said:

If your hun is less than 20 year old you really don’t need snap caps dry firing won’t damage modern guns 

My hun (the wife) is 67 years old and I would not dream of dry firing her.

[Shotkam]

2 hours ago, Scully said:

I practice my mount regularly ( and indeed swing the gun around in the process ) to instil muscle memory, but confess I’m also bemused and a tad confused by this theory.

Each to their own of course, but I haven’t heard of anyone anywhere advocating this as worthwhile practice, and am struggling somewhat to fathom what is being gained. 
A laser set up, complete with screen etc I could understand, but I don’t get this at all. 
I can’t see it being a ‘disaster’, I’m just confused. 

Your view is interesting and I think you are one of the few who put the effort into dry practice mounting / swing.

I have always practiced swinging on things I don't intend to fire at if I don't have too much of an audience. When doing this I am thinking through the process and practice all through methods of shooting.

I find that this practice commits to memory over time and has helped improve my shooting and refining getting a good line on birds, as we all know at least 50 % of misses are due to being off line.

I could have spent my time just firing a what I intend to hit and could continue, but I am interested in progressing and this method of training has helped me.

Good or bad I shoot a fair amount of maintained lead for certain shots and as you have no connection with the bird it takes a lot of practice to get the measure of this method. Dry practicing has helped a lot in this respect.

[Scully]

2 hours ago, old'un said:

My hun (the wife) is 67 years old and I would not dream of dry firing her.

😂

[Scully]

5 minutes ago, Shotkam said:

Your view is interesting and I think you are one of the few who put the effort into dry practice mounting / swing.

I have always practiced swinging on things I don't intend to fire at if I don't have too much of an audience. When doing this I am thinking through the process and practice all through methods of shooting.

I find that this practice commits to memory over time and has helped improve my shooting and refining getting a good line on birds, as we all know at least 50 % of misses are due to being off line.

I could have spent my time just firing a what I intend to hit and could continue, but I am interested in progressing and this method of training has helped me.

Good or bad I shoot a fair amount of maintained lead for certain shots and as you have no connection with the bird it takes a lot of practice to get the measure of this method. Dry practicing has helped a lot in this respect.

Fair enough. I don’t shoot maintained lead at all, so can’t offer any advice at all in that respect, but I don’t understand how you know you’ve got it right unless you actually hit something. 
I’m not deliberately being awkward, I’m simply struggling to understand how you know when you’ve got it right.
As I said, each to their own, and if it works then all power to your elbow. 👍

[enfieldspares]

I sometimes agree with our member SCULLY and sometimes don't. But I have to agree with what's above. If only because when I line onto a bird but never actually pull the trigger to send a charge of shot on its way I also rarely miss. My fear would be that if you want to practice "dry shooting" better to do it indoors with a laser or light in the barrel along a picture rail or cornice.

[Shotkam]

57 minutes ago, Scully said:

Fair enough. I don’t shoot maintained lead at all, so can’t offer any advice at all in that respect, but I don’t understand how you know you’ve got it right unless you actually hit something. 
I’m not deliberately being awkward, I’m simply struggling to understand how you know when you’ve got it right.
As I said, each to their own, and if it works then all power to your elbow. 👍

I am mainly training to read the line and speed of the bird and fine tune mount and gun insertion, while reacting to changes that the bird/target makes in flight. 100% the practicing I do helps a lot with the process of building the shot successfully.

Many people I speak to have no perception of lead they say, swing through and pull the trigger. That may work up to a point on close targets but knowone will become a consistent at longer ranges I would suggest.

As in most sports training and practice is everything, but understandably it is not for everyone, but I live and breath shooting so it suits me.

[Scully]

12 minutes ago, Shotkam said:

I am mainly training to read the line and speed of the bird and fine tune mount and gun insertion, while reacting to changes that the bird/target makes in flight. 100% the practicing I do helps a lot with the process of building the shot successfully.

Many people I speak to have no perception of lead they say, swing through and pull the trigger. That may work up to a point on close targets but knowone will become a consistent at longer ranges I would suggest.

As in most sports training and practice is everything, but understandably it is not for everyone, but I live and breath shooting so it suits me.

I would have to disagree on the point regarding longer ranges I’m afraid.
The swing through method works fine for me on everything from game, bolting bunnies ( real ones ) pigeons and clays. It’s not about lead, it’s all about gun speed in my experience, whether that target is close in or far out. 

[Shotkam]

30 minutes ago, Scully said:

I would have to disagree on the point regarding longer ranges I’m afraid.
The swing through method works fine for me on everything from game, bolting bunnies ( real ones ) pigeons and clays. It’s not about lead, it’s all about gun speed in my experience, whether that target is close in or far out. 

Well, you have some serious experience of course - nothing to beat it ! 😃

[London Best]

52 minutes ago, Scully said:

It’s not about lead, it’s all about gun speed in my experience, whether that target is close in or far out. 

100%, every time.

[Scully]

26 minutes ago, Shotkam said:

Well, you have some serious experience of course - nothing to beat it ! 😃

I’m no expert, but try it, I think you’ll be surprised. 👍

[button]

11 minutes ago, London Best said:

100%, every time.

Not sure Dave Carrie would back you on that one

[London Best]

Just now, button said:

Not sure Dave Carrie would back you on that one

Don’t care, I agree with Scully.