Any reloaders make their own practice rounds (dummy ammo)?

[gunshinestate]

I saw in another thread that someone mentioned that they make their own dummy rounds while reloading.

Wanted to see if anyone here would be willing to make/send/sell me 5 or so.
I've got a 700 AAC in .308. Just looking for something that I can use while at home to practice the basics.


I apologize if this doesnt belong here.

Thanks in advance.

 

[rjacobs]

dummy round? Like a snap cap?

 

[gunshinestate]

Yes. I've heard that most of the ones that are available on the market break pretty quickly. Read a post about reloaders loading up a few rounds with sand or something, painting the bullet red, etc.
But it would be roughly the same weight and same size as a real round. Something I can practice the mechanics of shooting, ejecting rounds, etc, and not just drive fire the heck out of my rifle.

 

[nuclear_shooter]

Yes. I've heard that most of the ones that are available on the market break pretty quickly. Read a post about reloaders loading up a few rounds with sand or something, painting the bullet red, etc.
But it would be roughly the same weight and same size as a real round. Something I can practice the mechanics of shooting, ejecting rounds, etc, and not just drive fire the heck out of my rifle.

Sounds like a good way to get sand in your action!

 

[broylz]

I have done them in the past. just seat a bullet and fill the primer pocket with hot glue. not difficult but I don't have any bullets at the moment

 

[Temp9]

I've done this as well. Seal off the flash hole with glue or epoxy and fill the case with the appropriate weight of whatever you have lying around. Unfortunately, I don't have all my .308 reloading stuff, yet. The most important thing is to mark the bullets clearly so they could never get mixed up with live ammo.

 

[gunsnjeeps]

Dry firing shouldn't hurt your gun, with the exception of some rimfires. Dummy rounds are good to have though. I make mine with a spent primer (sized not deprimed), drill a hole through the case from side to side, then seat a bullet. The small weight difference doesn't matter and the drilled hole lets you know it's a dummy not a dud.

 

[nuclear_shooter]

I personally am not comfortable putting something that remotely looks like a real bullet into my gun. Snap caps are pretty cheap compared to a lawyer, and like the man said you generally can get away without them. Just my 2¢.

 

[velillen]

I haven't made one to dry fire with. But pretty much any new bullet I use gets a dummy round made. Just take a non primered case and size it then set a bullet to correct depth. Then I can use it to function check. I do have to actual azoom snapcaps I use if I feel the need. Also use them when teaching new people. They work well for showing how to chamber a round, checking for a round, ejecting, ect. Definitely don't look like real rounds so nice to have for teaching purposes

 

[kraigWY]

Dummy rounds are good to have though. I make mine with a spent primer (sized not deprimed), drill a hole through the case from side to side, then seat a bullet. The small weight difference doesn't matter and the drilled hole lets you know it's a dummy not a dud.

^^^^^^^this^^^^^^

I conduct CMP GSM Clinics as a CMP MI. There is an indoor classroom session where I demonstrate loading different vintage military rifles. An example, CMP Garand Matches require loading two rounds w/clip in the rifle that takes 8 rounds. I show how to do it without getting the "Garand Thumb" and have the class practice this.

Don't want to use live rounds and that many dummy rounds would be expensive (especially since I end up giving most of them away) plus they don't hold up. Sized unprimed cases with holes drilled in the case work, its also easy to see they are dummy cases. I don't allow live rounds in the classroom.

 

[Pat M]

The plastic red base/clear body w/spring inside are crap - they crack and break , the solid dark red one peice aluminum ones i like

 

[wilecoyote]

save the spring and the inner brass pin coming from some broke 12gauge transparent plastic snap cap (the "crap kind" of above, quoting Pat M)_
use them to be adapted inside the brass of your choice,with one of the pin ends exiting from the full drilled pocket hole_
cut the pin part(s) in excess,if needed_ place and crimp heavily the bullet, so that the inner spring will be compressed_
better than aluminium a-zooms, and the brass is more forgiving about your rifle's chamber than alu,if you're practicing_

 

[Unknown]

I have made some, but doing them "right" requires more work than simply stuffing a bullet into an empty case.

1. Drill 2 holes (1/16 inch) through the case walls at 180 degrees, then about 1/5 inch lower, drill another set, 90 degrees from
the previous set. This makes it really easy to see at a glance that they are dummy rounds.
2. Fill the primer pocket with some kind of really tough plastic like delrin to absorb the firing pin impact
3. Fill the case with either Marine Tex epoxy, or lead shot. Either one's purpose is to prevent bullet set back as the dummy gets
repeatedly run through actions.
4. Seat bullet.

Dummy rounds are commercially available, and are different than snap caps. Plastic snap caps don't last all that long when they get run through actions with lots of drills.

 

[wakajawaka]

As part of assembling dummy rounds, I solder the bullets into the cases.
They stay put.

 

[leadbullet]

never had the need to play with dummies.

 

[squin]

Try Harbour Arms. These are milled from solid aluminum with brass spring loaded plunger for the primer.

http://www.harbourarms.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1&zenid=t7djbroqf56d4ptpn51iceams3