dumb pistol question

There sometimes call “snap caps”
If you are too cheap to buy them, take a spent cartridge and use it as the snap cap. The primer will absorb the FP hit quite a few times. If you want a permanent one, punch the primer out and stick piece of eraser, plastic, rubber or what have you in the hole. I've found erasers to work well. Rimfire shells work well as snap caps too.