Interesting new product from Accuracy X

Apparently, each is milled from a solid piece of brass.

https://accuracyx.com/product/axi-brass-dummy-rounds/

Steve has a video on Facebook, but I didn't post that link since not everyone has a FB account.

I have concerns with such products.  There is nothing restricts inertia of firing pin other then spring.  That might be asking for trouble.  Obviously, if dimensions allow, spent primer can be installed, and that would be helpful, IMO.

From stand point of checking cycling, I wonder if the weight of the brass dummies is close to weight of real round for the caliber.

AP

I am a fan of Accuracy X. I have three of their guns. This is a solution to a non-problem. If you shoot factory ammo, This serves nothing. If you handload, then load inert rounds to test with. What am I missing?

Per my discussion with Steve:

These were designed with initial setup and function testing in mind when working on the gun at the bench. 
(Where you should never have any live ammo around!)

They allow for loading in the magazine, racking the slide and checking the feeding, feed ramp angle / barrel junction, extractor set up, chambering, etc.

The recess for the primer is just deep enough for the firing pin (at nominal length) to just touch the bottom.  

Personally I would check it out first and if I had concerns I would insert and glue a pencil eraser (from some of the mechanical lead pencils).  Steve said they have not had any issues on the 1911 platform. 

CR

So they are fancy snap caps without a firing pin cushion?

I make these every time I play with seating depth empty case with a bullet seated and crimped. Eager if I'm being ignorant to learn what I'm missing.

Except this one will never go off when you least expect it.  Kinda hard to confuse them with an actual round and they are made to standard ammunition specs, unlike some reloaded ammo.  

And since its not a separate projectile crimped into a case; it will not get jammed further into the case during mis-feeds, etc.  (although the nose might get beat up depending on the builder.... )

As Steve said, they made them for their bench guys to use.  Since they were making them anyway, if anyone else wants one then this how they can get them. 
 
CR

So my take is if you see these are nothing more than a dry fire round, these are not for you. But if you have pistol gunsmithing skills (which I don’t) and you are working on feeding issues, extractor issues, ejector issues, tuning magazines, etc. then these may help since they meet SAMMI specs and won’t change dimensions over time.
 
Will I be buying them? No. Why not? My gunsmithing skills just keep real gunsmiths busy.

I use dummy rounds a lot in the training environment. Easy to distinguish them from live rounds and if a student accidentally brings in live rounds then it easy for me to distinguish them and stop any safety problems before they start. I also like to load them in with live rounds in training to see if there is flinching going on. They are generally weighted similar to a live round so they load and eject like a real round while doing tap rack ready drills. Doesn’t 100% apply to Bullseye but I do prefer them to an empty case loaded with a bullet when I am dry firing.

I made dummy rounds for test purposes, to make sure I don't mistake live ones for dummies I used Nickle plated brass and drew stripes down the sides with a sharpie, you can fill the primer pockets with hot glue and trim them flush.

Question: If dry firing a 1911 is ok, why would dry firing on a test round without a primer be a problem?

troystaten wrote:I made dummy rounds for test purposes, to make sure I don't mistake live ones for dummies I used Nickle plated brass and drew stripes down the sides with a sharpie, you can fill the primer pockets with hot glue and trim them flush.

Another eye catcher is to drill holes in the side of your dummy rounds.

mspingeld wrote:Question: If dry firing a 1911 is ok, why would dry firing on a test round without a primer be a problem?

Although the 1911 can take the shock of dry firing without damaging the chamber as in a lot of rim fire guns, both the firing pin and the firing pin stop will break if you dry fire enough.  In fact, that's how you can tell if you're dry firing enough - an occasional broken firing pin or stop.  These breaks don't show up often for the shooter who infrequently dry fires, so the gun is considered OK to dry fire.  I've broken more stops than pins, but I've had to change a few over the years.  The pins usually manifest failure more noticeably than the stops. The front portion will often protrude into the way of the case sliding up the breech face.  The stop usually has to break in two places before it's noticed.  However, you should check for the first break when you clean the slide.  If you change the stop then, you will have less chance of a total failure causing you trouble.  The first break shows up from the right angle cut for the ejector to the pin hole and is usually missed for a long time.  The second break occurs later, on the opposite side and the bottom will fall completely out of the gun unless the fit is really tight.  Depending on the fit of the stop, it still might not be noticed by failure of the gun due to the top portion staying in place.  But, it can easily stand out visually with the hammer cocked.