Sure-
Stock brake bleeders are nothing but a tube with a tapered seal at the bottom. If you open them, leave them open and pump the brakes, fluid and air will flow out and then back in when the lever is released. In fact some fluid will be pumped out but only air will be drawn back into the master cylinder. This assumes you are leaving the bleeder bare without any type of hose attached. So a stock bleeder has to be opened, then the lever pushed (or squeezed) to eject air / fluid, then the bleeder closed, then the lever released.
A speed bleeder has a check valve in it so that when it is open, material can only be pushed out and not drawn back in. So each time you operate the lever, fluid and air are forced out but when you release it nothing is drawn back in- it is a one way trip for everything inside the hydraulics.
An easy way to check if you have a speed bleeder or not is to try to look through it; a conventional, stock bleeder has a hole all the way through and you can see through it. A speed bleeder has a ball and spring inside and you cannot see through them. Also you can take a length of clean tubing and try to blow through a bleeder- a stock bleeder will easily pass air both ways while a speed bleeder will only allow air to pass from the bottom to the top and not at all the other way.
You can buy an external one- way valve and put it into a piece of plastic tubing attached to a stock bleeder and it will provide the same function. I believe they are typically called 'automatic bleeders' and are only a few dollars at any auto parts store.
You can also use a brake fluid catching / bleeding container. This is a plastic container where the tubing goes all the way to the bottom. What happens is that any air in the system is pumped out and bubbles up through the fluid in the container. But when the lever is released anything drawn back into the system is pure brake fluid because any air has risen above the liquid level in the container. I do not find that these work well though because not much fluid works its way from the reservoir to the slave cylinder and it is difficult to get air from the M.C. all the way to the slave cylinder.
Brian
Brian, this is what I did with the OEM bleeders. I opened with a wrench and kept pumping the brakes until i was sure it bled out totally, then i closed. I think maybe I still don't understand...appreciate your patience...can you hit me again?