Description
A-Zoom 16 Gauge Snap Caps are solid aluminum dummy shells in 16 gauge, two to a pack. The sixteen is a shooter cartridge with a mostly vintage gun population behind it, and vintage guns are precisely the ones where dry firing on an empty chamber breaks something expensive.
How A-Zoom 16 Gauge Snap Caps Are Built
Each shell is CNC machined from solid aluminum billet to 16 gauge dimensions and hard anodized. No plastic hull, no crimped end to split, nothing that swells or deforms after a few hundred cycles through an action.
The rim end carries a proprietary polymer cushion in place of a primer, rated by A-Zoom past three thousand strikes. Older side-by-sides and pumps use slender firing pins that were never designed to be snapped on nothing, and that cushion is exactly what they need.
Because A-Zoom 16 Gauge Snap Caps are dimensionally correct, they chamber and extract like real shells. That matters on a gauge where two and nine sixteenths inch chambers are still common and a mis-sized dummy would tell you nothing useful.
Where Two Shells Earn Their Keep
Break actions are the main reason. Letting the hammers down on empty chambers is what cracks pins on a Model 12, an old Ithaca or a European double, and a pair of A-Zoom 16 Gauge Snap Caps turns that into a safe end-of-day routine.
Ejector and extractor checking is the second job. Opening the action on inert shells shows whether both barrels are lifting or throwing correctly, which is worth confirming on any gun that has been sitting for a while or has just come back from a smith.
Pump and semi-auto sixteens benefit too. Hand cycling dummy shells through the magazine and carrier confirms the gun still feeds after a long layup, without burning ammunition that is harder to find than 12 gauge and costs more.
- Gauge: 16 gauge
- Quantity: 2 per pack
- Construction: CNC machined solid aluminum, hard anodized
- Primer: proprietary polymer dead cap, rated 3,000+ dry fires
- Design: one piece, no plastic hull to split or swell
- Uses: dry fire practice, hammer release, ejector and extractor checks, safe storage
- Made in the USA
- Manufacturer item: PA12212 / UPC 666692122125
Field Notes
Vintage guns are the strongest argument. Firing pins for a 1950s sixteen gauge double are a gunsmith fabrication job rather than a catalog part, and A-Zoom 16 Gauge Snap Caps cost almost nothing by comparison.
They are also useful for upland practice. Rehearsing mount, swing and trigger press with an inert shell chambered lets you complete the whole motion rather than stopping short, and a sixteen is usually carried precisely because it handles so well.
The polymer cushion is a consumable. When the face is deeply cratered and stops rebounding, retire that shell rather than continuing to strike a dead cushion.
Shooting other gauges? The line covers 12 gauge in a five pack and 410 bore in a two pack. Construction details are published by A-Zoom.
For anyone keeping a classic sixteen gauge in the field, A-Zoom 16 Gauge Snap Caps are cheap insurance on parts that are no longer made. MAG5 Firearms stocks them as manufacturer item PA12212 in the two pack.
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