Dummy round/snap cap?

[Reaper]

I'm looking to buy some dummy/snap cap rounds. I see some are made of plastic, others are made of aluminum. Anyone have some experience with them? Which seem to work best and last the longest?

[oriyen]

I like the aluminum snap caps , they seem to take a beating and hold up well although they do shed some metal each time you eject them . after a few sessions of dry firing over a few days I will thoroughly clean my shotgun inside and out.
I use the 12 gauge snap caps , I purchased 8 from Bass Pro

keep them well away from your live rounds , totally separate from them in another room , practice with them as if they are the real deal .
gun safety is same with the dummy rounds . do not point them at anything you do not want destroyed . be safe.

[Vitaly]

I have tried many dummy rounds because I regularly do dry fire drills at home. The best dummy rounds are those you made yourself. Take a spent shell of a bright color, reload it but without a gunpowder and you have cheap and sturdy dummy shell. It will have weight of a real round which is very important for dry fire drills.

[Synchronizor]

keep them well away from your live rounds , totally separate from them in another room , practice with them as if they are the real deal .
gun safety is same with the dummy rounds . do not point them at anything you do not want destroyed . be safe.

I want to echo this. If you're doing drills with dummy rounds or snap caps, put away the live stuff, or at least have it out of reach.

I've used two brands of snap caps myself.

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I first picked up a 2-pack of plastic Tipton snap caps when I purchased my 870. After using them for a while in multiple shotguns, I was fairly unimpressed. The plastic isn't very durable; it didn't take many trips through the shotgun's action for the rims to start becoming rough and chipped. The rims are also significantly thicker than those of an actual shotgun shell. When chambering, I have to slam the action home hard to properly lock it, and really yank to unbind the action and extract the snap cap. This got a little better after the plastic rims got worn in, but it still requires rougher handling than an actual shotshell. Finally, these snap caps are both shorter and lighter than a real shotshell. A typical unfired 2.75" buckshot shell is usually 2.3 - 2.4" long and around 1.6 - 1.7 oz. These snap caps are barely 2" long and weigh in at less than .65 oz. These differences make these snap caps unrealistic for practicing reloading or shell handling, or for some function checks. Between the cheap construction, unrealistic function, and inaccurate weight and dimensions, they were pretty much a waste of money.

The anodized aluminum A-Zooms I bought later on were a lot better. I own these in every caliber I have guns for. The rims were the correct thickness, the aluminum proved more durable, and their length and weight were realistic. The only issue was that that the "precision CNC machined" rims are the wrong diameter. I don't know if the designers misread the specs or what, but I bought two packs separately and all of the rims were too small. This led to occasional double-feeds that got worse as the rims wore out. The aluminum also can be tough on finishes, but that's purely cosmetic, it won't actually damage the steel 870 components. Besides, steel or brass shotshell rims will wear finishes too.

Overall, I think plastic and aluminum snap caps (good ones) have their place. They work well for basic fit & function checks, demonstrations, and dry-firing (not that you need a snap cap to dry-fire an 870, but it can't hurt), and they're easy to differentiate from real shells. If you want to get into some serious practice drills though, you'd probably be better off with what Vitaly mentioned above. Real shells loaded with a wad and shot (or something similar like a stack of 1/4" washers), but no powder or live primer, and then clearly labeled. These will work better for practice than anything else.

[EdwardE]

I don't have experience with any other snap cap other than the A-Zoom. I keep about 10 on hand and in their own designated area, away from live ammo. I haven't had any unfavorable issues with them. The rims do tend to get chewed up a little by the extractor and every so often I'll use some OO steel wool to smooth them back up a little.

[Synchronizor]

To clarify, I don't see any problems with storing snap caps or dummy shells together with live ammo (I keep mine in the same ammo cans), just keep the live stuff out of arm's reach while running practice drills.