DIY Snap Caps

Being a frugal and practical Vermonter, we don't like to be considered cheap, I like DIY projects. There was a post recently about how tough and pricey it might be to have to replace the hammer mounted floating firing pin on earlier S&W revolvers. My buddy and training partner went out and bought a set of A-Zoom snap caps for his .38.
I remembered that as a kid, my father used to make snap caps for our shotguns by de-priming a couple of shells, cutting off all but about an inch of the plastic hull and filling the primer hole with white bathroom caulking compound. They worked very well and because we were not dry firing the shotguns much, they lasted a long time.
I got out six .38 cases and drilled the flash hole out just a little larger, about a 1/8" bit works fine. I re-sized the cartridges, flared the case mouths and de-greased the primer pocket with a little alcohol and a cue tip. I then heated up the Hot Glue gun and filled primer hole over full, first making sure some of the hot glue went through the flash hole. I let the hot glue harden overnight and then trimmed it flat to the base of the cartridge with a razor blade. I seated 158gr jacketed bullets in the cases and applied my normal crimp. Lastly, I took a red Sharpie marker and colored the outside of the cases in Red so they were easily identifiable as something other than live cartridges.
I have dry fired on these several hundred times on each snap cap and there is still just a slight indentation in the rubber hot glue. Now I don't worry about possibly breaking my firing pin. If they wear out, I can refill the primer pocket and keep on dry firing!

I like the idea of making my own equipment. I would add a small hole in the case 1/4 inch or so above the rim to identify this case as containing no powder. Just a Safety thing, but not my original idea.

For rimfires I use #4 plastic drywall anchors. I trim it on the extractor side to keep it from being pulled out.