doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com What type of Snap Cap for off-season storage?

Hi Guys,
What type of snap cap is recommended for off season storage?
There are 3 types I know of:
- Plastic
- Aluminum
- Brass w/ wool insert

What I'm looking for is what type of material will not interact with the barrel. ie: will aluminum corrode? Will wool begin to rot? etc.
Thanks for the help!!

I have used plastic and aluminum I don't care to much for the plastic therefore I use aluminum, no problems so far with zoom caps.

For ejector guns, I use the plastic ones as I sometimes store them uncocked. For the others mostly Zoom caps.

Not sure if this may help, but I don't leave a snap cap in my gun. I use them to relax the hammer spring and then dismount the barrels and remove the caps. I then remount the barrels after cleaning.

I have been very satisfied with the A-Zoom brand aluminum snap caps for my SxS and O/U shotguns. Earlier on I had plastic snap caps, but they invariably ended up sprung or broken.
As a personal safety practice - I only keep and use my snap caps in my house. Whenever my guns leave the house, the snap caps STAY IN THE HOUSE. Whenever my guns are in vehicle transit or being used at the range or in the field, ALL ammo is LIVE. That way, I'll never have an accidental discharge in the club house or in the field, mistaking live ammo for snap caps in a distracted moment.
And I never have snap caps and live ammo on my workbench at home at the same time.
This has worked for me,....so far, anyway.

Question for the group: I've heard it suggested that the A-Zoom caps (which I like) are a good choice because they have a plastic insert for the primer. Other brands have metal primer inserts. If you whack those metal primers (obviously harder than real primers) enough times, is there any concern about breaking strikers? I spoke with one professional in the gun business who reported some striker breakage in good quality Spanish doubles, which he put down to snappies with metal primers. Comments??

I only use them in my sidelock to let the tension off the locks....I've been using the brass ones with the wool mops made by Beretta. I keep the mops treated with Ezzox.

I don�t use snap caps. There is still considerable tension on the springs in the fired position. I don�t take the load off the top lever spring or the ejector springs or the sear springs or the safety spring or the 4 end spring and I don�t jack up my truck or boat trailer when I�m not using it.

A-zooms. Don't waste your money on the plastic ones. The brass ones are cool but expensive.

I can't remember... Can you snap the hammers on a LC Smith with ejectors then, remove barrels [to remove caps] and replace barrels w/o resetting cocking arms on the action?