Dry fire reloads

[seabiscuit]

If you know anyone who reloads, having them make a few dummy rounds would be the way to go. They hold up a lot better, plus a mag loaded with them puts your gun at a realistic weight.

Thanks for the tip but I don't know anyone who reloads... I'll just order some snap caps.

[Slavex]

I used to use homemade dummy rounds identical to my normal shooting ammo, but without powder or primers. Until one day, doing dry fire and mag changes and clearance drills in my living room, I found a live round on the floor with the homemade dummies I'd just ejected. I've got cats that love to get into stuff, so it's not uncommon for them to use ammo as play toy, and as such, they can be anywhere in my house. From that day on I only use one of two snap caps, the solid plastic bright orange ones, or the chrome ones with bright orange plastic tips. I will never ever use my own dummy rounds again, and can't recommend anyone else use their own either. Unless they have made them impossible to confuse with a live round. Pretty much everyone I know who shoots has a cup in the laundry room filled with random live rounds. Far too easy for those to get knocked on the floor, kicked across the house and end up under a table where that homemade round you just ejected ends up too.

[jetfire]

Visit STActionPro.com and buy some dummy rounds. Even though I don't necessarily need them, it does provide a more realistic practice with some type of cartridge in the magazine.

I know it's way old, but thanks for the link to that. I've been looking for some dummy rounds that were a bit better than my A-zoom snap caps. The downside to these is that they're nickel plated, just like my carry ammo.

[JAD]

Question about practicing reloads - is it OK to let the slide forward full-force on an empty mag/chamber?

I practice using the slide stop lever, but I've heard it will damage the pistol if you slam the slide forward on an empty mag/chamber.

Sorry to pick up an old thread, but I hadn't seen this said otherwise. Dropping the slide on an empty chamber will damage the sear of a 1911; I am not aware of it doing harm to other designs. This isn't due to soft metal, but rather the design of the pistol. Y'all can think that's a design flaw if you like; more for the rest of us.

[HeadHunter]

I've done an awful lot of dryfire reloads with Glocks and none of them were the worse for wear. I use the CRTC Safety Mags and no snap caps.