Benelli m2
Well-Known Member
o any of you use snap caps in your o/u when not in use to release the tension on the springs
Snap caps
- Thread starter Benelli m2
- Start date
I would have thought using snap caps in order to release the pressure on the rest of the action components may possibly be an advantage.
If the springs are properly designed, made and heat treated they should be well within their plastic limits when cocked. The fact that many people, including me, do not use snap caps pre storage and we do not hear that they are having to replace their springs every few weeks would indicate that most are okay left cocked. A gunsmith may have a different view for specific guns?
My snap caps are made from brass and aluminium so I would be more concerned with the risk of galvanic corrosion between the dissimilar metals if I stored them in the chambers. Springs are easy to replace...relative to corrosion around the breech/chamber.
Alan
If the springs are properly designed, made and heat treated they should be well within their plastic limits when cocked. The fact that many people, including me, do not use snap caps pre storage and we do not hear that they are having to replace their springs every few weeks would indicate that most are okay left cocked. A gunsmith may have a different view for specific guns?
My snap caps are made from brass and aluminium so I would be more concerned with the risk of galvanic corrosion between the dissimilar metals if I stored them in the chambers. Springs are easy to replace...relative to corrosion around the breech/chamber.
Alan
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Yes, always, cheapo see-through plastic ones with the red ends...
enfieldspares
Well-Known Member
To the OP, no, it's a pointless fetish.
And even if you did the ejector springs are still in compression anyway. I have used and owned shot guns that are near a hundred years old and a broken mainspring isn't usually the issue. It's a broken top lever spring. No snap cap will affect that.
The only time I use snap caps is to practice swinging an pulling or, on a new to me gun, to check ejector timing. I don't not know of anyone in the bespoke trade that leaves guns on display with snap caps inside....you want a gun that when you take it from the rack and break it, to prove safe, that has empty chambers!
There's another reason. It isn't a safe practice. You get accustomed to the gun being put away with a cartridge in the chamber. It risks inattention leading to "easing springs" on a live cartridge inserted instead of a snap cap. The military stopped using aiming discs with drill rounds (aka snap caps) years ago for that reason.
Don't do it. It doesn't "save" your mainsprings and is a potential safety issue.
And even if you did the ejector springs are still in compression anyway. I have used and owned shot guns that are near a hundred years old and a broken mainspring isn't usually the issue. It's a broken top lever spring. No snap cap will affect that.
The only time I use snap caps is to practice swinging an pulling or, on a new to me gun, to check ejector timing. I don't not know of anyone in the bespoke trade that leaves guns on display with snap caps inside....you want a gun that when you take it from the rack and break it, to prove safe, that has empty chambers!
There's another reason. It isn't a safe practice. You get accustomed to the gun being put away with a cartridge in the chamber. It risks inattention leading to "easing springs" on a live cartridge inserted instead of a snap cap. The military stopped using aiming discs with drill rounds (aka snap caps) years ago for that reason.
Don't do it. It doesn't "save" your mainsprings and is a potential safety issue.
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FrenchieBoy
Well-Known Member
I think the us of snap caps is a "marmite" thing, you either love them or hate them. I personally don't bother with them but as has been said "everyone to their own!
Vulpesvulpes
Well-Known Member
I don't use snap caps for storage. I think it's pointless and, as has been pointed out above, potentially dangerous.
However, if I'm away from home and have to leave a shotgun in an unattended vehicle I insert snap caps, pull the triggers and remove the forend (which I then carry with me). The firing pins are now out, and will not go back in until the gun is reunited with its forend. Effectively disabled.
However, if I'm away from home and have to leave a shotgun in an unattended vehicle I insert snap caps, pull the triggers and remove the forend (which I then carry with me). The firing pins are now out, and will not go back in until the gun is reunited with its forend. Effectively disabled.
Frank Homes
Well-Known Member
VSS,
Isn't it still possible to cock it manually without the fore end?
F
Isn't it still possible to cock it manually without the fore end?
F
If it is I don't know how, and I guess the average smash-and-grab chancer wouldn't know how either. It's definitely a lot safer than simply removing the forend (as is usually recommended). With just forend removed a double barrelled shotgun can still fire 2 shots. With my method it can't be fired at all (subject, of course, to the possibility that someone would know how to re-cock it manually).
I know someone who used fired cartridges as snap caps. Completely ruined the chambers of a Winchester Model 23.
Stress is proportional to Strain within the 'elastic' limit...Hooke's Law.
enfieldspares
Well-Known Member
Yes. I've a door jamb in my gunroom that is testament to that. You press the cocking dogs back down by pressing them against a hard surface...door jamb is ideal.
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