Don't want to screw up my 617. heard the polymer ones dry out and get brittle/crack over time. IYHO who makes a superior product. thanks Joe

Haven't found any rimfire caps that last; just buy a bunch if you must dryfire the rimfire.

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Science plus Art

Who makes the best? you do.

Shoot a bunch of .22 and save the once-fired brass. Put them in the chambers when you want to dry-fire. If you dryfire them a lot and feel the rims are too chewed up to provide any more benefit, discard them and put in some 'fresh' spent casings, and you're good to go again. You can even go so far as to mark the head stamps with permanent marker to make them look different from live rounds.

That's what I do. Ever since I've been using spent .22 brass as .22 snap caps, I haven't damaged a single firing pin or chamber mouth, revolver or auto.

Hello Joe,

The best .22 snap caps are dirt cheap in hardware stores. Dry wall anchors are made so close to the shape of a .22 LR cartridge that they'll feed through most autos if you work the slide by hand and the plastic they're made out of is more elastic than my major brand red snap caps so they are lasting longer.

After you're back from the hardware store, try dry firing with an older penny's Lincon Memorial laying on top of your 617's patridge sight. If you're a DA kind'a guy, when you can get the cylinder to go around without the penny falling off your ready for bullseye!

Best Regards,
Gil

Nails it.

Permanent, free supply. What more could anyone ask?

One could ask for a better cushion than you get with empty brass that is not rotated to keep flattening different spots. Although I use my empties if nothing else is handy, I can afford a few cents for dry wall anchors.

Best Regards,
Gil

Uh.....yes, do please rotate as needed. Forgot that part.

Ditto on the drywall anchors, I have a bunch of them in the garage left over from various projects and the first time I tried them as snap caps I thought to myself "why didn't I think of that" hats off to who ever posted the idea here originally.

A little late on this one, but I wanted to add my experience. I tried using fired brass in my Model 63, but the hammer would not cock & the cylinder would not rotate. The brass was slightly deformed from the firing pin strike and would not fit perfectly in the star. It took a lot of pressure on the ejector rod to get them back out of the cylinder after my experiment.

I looked at several local sporting goods stores, but none carried the .22 lr snap caps. Looked on line and found some for around $12.00 per 24 plus shipping. Then I tried the #4 wall anchors & they fit perfectly for about $0.10 each. They can be used over & over again.

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Inconsistently consistent

Thanks for listing the proper size wall anchor.

I use fired brass all the time in my 617

They rotate or at least mine does

Not hard to replace either

Hi Joe,

Thanks for asking this question. I have some orange ones and they are getting really chewed.

Thanks to K22fan for that drywall anchor tip. Tomorrow I am off to Lowe’s.

Bill

I just bought a S&W model 63 22LR 3inch and a S&W model 60 357 Pro 3inch as a pair of revolvers for training.

I took k22fan's advice and purchased some #4 x 7/8 plastic dry way anchors at Lowes to use as SNAP CAPS in the 63. THEY WORK GREAT !!!!

Thanks k22fan.

What your looking to buy is #4-6 X 7/8" Ribbed plastic anchors (drywall). They do the job!

Wow!! This was started 5 yrs ago and the last post was over 4 yrs ago.
Joe...What made you want to update this thread all of a sudden ?

Sometimes when you are bumping around you find a post that makes you want to reply and not really think about the age of the OP. I have done it. Revived an old post on a issue that came up again several years later.

I'm glad he did revive it. I knew about the drywall anchor method from old posts but I don't recall seeing one that included the size that they found that worked best. Yea, I could have experimented for myself but since I have to go to the hardware store for something else, it is time to pick some up.

Actually I don't tend to dry fire much but I worry when I hand off my 22 revolver to someone to admire. Having bright colored anchors in it makes it easy to see it is not loaded and they can pull the trigger taboot. Most who have not handled a S&W revolver are quick to compliment how nice the trigger pull is when I let them fire my revolver. S&W does get that right more often than not.

Yeah... It's a good relevant thread, as it does still get asked periodically.

I just wonder sometimes, how other people (besides an original poster), especially some of the new members actually FIND some of these old (4yrs+) posts...
Through Google Searches?

Sorry for the sidetrack.

Brownell sells what they call "safety trainers" that I use for 22 snap caps.
They are international orange colored plastic dummies and come 50 to the bag for around $12. I use them until they get beat up and exchange them out for new ones. They work and are inexpensive.
Bob

I have stumbled onto a couple via a Google search but sometimes I just bump around using the search function at the top right of the page. About any topic has been covered a couple of times over. It is interesting to see what is out there. And when tags are in the thread like at the bottom of this one I will click on one such as 617 (because I own one) and off to the past races I go. Yea, I am thread drifting too.

I did get some anchors today and the ones I have need a little shaving off the sides but they will work great after that from the looks of it.

Well, the particular brand of anchor I picked up needed a bit of a shave from the sides but the depth of the anchor end is just ever so much too thick. A bit harder to shave off evenly but I will try. But they are just thick enough to not let the cylinder turn. Oh well, cheap experiment if it doesn't work. Used brass casings is an alternative but I kind of liked the idea of plastic with color so there is no chance of error.

And a last edit. Did not work for me. Shaved just a bit off of the top so the cylinder locked up tight and turned. What the heck, pulled the trigger for a dry fire and the cap end that was left broke off. It did protect the metal which is good but a very inexpensive experiment was not a success for me. Once again, brand here may make a difference. Grip Fast from Menards in case it matters.

"Results may vary."

Older user here...newer forum member.
I just picked up my third S&W wheel gun and find most threads have kernels of knowledge and experience that I can use.
My thanks to all the members' contributions.

Old threads are sometimes helpful.
Odds are someone learned about the yellow drywall anchors for the first time today.