A few days ago Mike Lyle over at Zeta6 was kind enough to send me over a number of his new Safe Snap revolver tools. The SafeSnap rings are a dry firing tool that Michael Lyle over at Zeta6 and Claude Werner had been discussing many months ago. The SafeSnaps are great idea for a number of reasons. First and foremost, they are ideal for dry fire exercises. A number of shooters will tell you that outside of the .22, a center fire revolver does not need a safety tool like a snap cap for dry fire practice. I would suggest that there more than a few shooters who will happily recount to you how they ended up with damage to both firing pins and/or hammer noses when they opted to forgo snap caps for dry fire practice. Ever if this was not the cast, the use of an inexpensive high visibility “empty cylinder” safety ring is just another useful gun handling tool with no concurrent down side. Additionally as an individual who travels a great deal, the value of an inexpensive “no live round” style flag that placates the fine folks who paw through secured firearm on their way to getting stored on aircraft has its own value. Safe travel / empty cylinder indicators are always a useful tool. SafeSnaps are also ideal for reload speed development as the shooter needs to eject the Safe Snap ring before proceeding to the dummy round reloading drills. Too may shooters “cheat” on their reloading practice by not starting with the cylinder filled with either spent cases or dummy rounds. One item of note on using the SafeSnap as a reloading exercise tool. The rings were designed to drop out with a slight elevation of the open cylinder. The sockets of each SafeSnap features an elevated stud within a recessed socket. I am currently experimenting with gluing on to the SafeSnaps a number of 1-, 1-1/4- and 1-1/2-inch tall nylon and rubber tubes. There tubes will fit over the stud but within the socket and will require the shooter to give the cylinder an honest ejector rod strike to “clear” the SafeSnaps from the cylinder. Final item, post training, the Safe Snap rings, linked together like a moon clip make collecting them after practice quick and easy. And their low cost means that any lost on the range or the den are inexpensive to replace. SafeSnaps are available for J-, LCR, and K- frame sized revolvers and I highly recommend them to any revolver shooter.
