Snap Caps - a short course in risk avoidance

It gives me the willies to think about all the guys who are slipping snap caps in their favorite fowling pieces, then waving them around the living room, popping off random shots at the family canary. The sole purpose of snap caps is to let the hammers on your shotgun down so the gun can be stored clean and uncooked. Hammer springs cocked for an extended period can take a "set' which may result in light primer strikes and/or uncertain ignition. Every gun in your gun rack should have snap caps in it.

More than likely, your favorite double cocks on opening. Which leads to the further discovery that if you store your gun disassembled, you've cocked it when you opened the action to take it apart. To deal with this dilemma the English invented the Snapping Block, originally made of horn and shaped so that you could comfortably hold it against the face of the breech with the palm of one hand while you snapped the triggers with the other. My friend Jack Rowe, America's oldest living English gunsmith, said he hadn't seen one in years. When I asked him what he uses instead, he said "you could use a bit of any hardwood, but I just hold the bloody thing against the edge of my workbench."

So, to avoid having the hammer springs on your shotgun taking a set, use snap caps if you are resting the gun assembled. If storing the gun disassembled, "hold the broody thing against' a bit of hard wood (the coffee table is not a good choice here) and squeeze off a couple. And don't forget to wipe the gun down one more time.