Nipples & Caps

[[email protected]]

So much has been said on here about caps falling off, caps having to be pushed
on with a stick, caps just won't fit ect. In the 50 years I have been shooting
these revolvers, I have never had a cap problem. I had learned 50 years ago
that you fit your nipple to the cap. Not the other way around. Choose a cap that
is easy to get and fit your nipples to it. No matter what the size. At the time
I could get RWS 1075 cheap 24.00 a thousand so I put the nipples in a drill
press and turned and then polished them so the cap was just a sliding fit without
falling off. We all did this back then. No problem. Later when RWS got too expensive , I changed to CCI No. 11 standard cap. I had to slightly change the
nipples to fit these caps. People wonder about mis-fires. The anvil on the nipple
should look like the ones I have done here. I just use a drill bit. Caps fire every
time even with weak main springs. I would rather spend my time shooting than
messing around with nipples, arbors, what kind of lube on wads, which are a joke themselves, and all the other things you can find to mess with. If you look
hard enough you can find something wrong with anything and start messing with
it. Me, I would rather be shooting, trying to improve on that, not messing with
my gun all the time.



Regular CCI No. 11 cap

 

[WolfSpring]

I am very new to this hobbie and one thing I noticed right away with mine, which was a pawn shop, was the nipple had mushroomed. After many hours of reading and learning I read the worst thing you can do is dry fire a percussion cap revolver because it will mushroom the nipples. I think a lot of new people may be doing this or getting used revolvers. I could not find nipples that would fit my revolver locally so I just sanded them down till they fit.

Thank you for the information and pictures I'd wish I'd have seen something like this a month ago when I first started.

 

[StrawHat]

Exactly, fit the cones to the caps on hand. Too easy for many people.

 

[1KPerDay]

Exactly, fit the cones to the caps on hand. Too easy for many people.

How do you make nipples larger in diameter?

 

[[email protected]]

I give up:banghead:

 

[1KPerDay]

Or you could just answer the question, but maybe that would take too much effort.

 

[celem]

Very true and I would like to do that for my Pietta Remington 1858 however I have four cylinders and that is going to be rather pricey with some of these aftermarket nipples. If I could find some standard nipples that fit Remington number 11, I would be better off, but they need to have Pietta threads. Any suggestions?

 

[BowerR64]

Thats why i havnt replaced mine for one gun your talking $35.

The whole reason i like shooting these things is because its fun and cheap but if i have to dump a ton of money into a $150. gun to make it fun to shoot ide rather just go back to waiting inline for .22LR!

 

[BowerR64]

I think i get it i maybe wrong though.

If you drill some of the point of the nipple down the cap will sit lower where the nipple is slightly larger in diameter.

Drilling is more even and you can use a drill press on the steel nipples.

Is this right? Its just a guess because im not for sure really.

The stock nipple bottoms out at the blue line, but the cap isnt tight at the red line. Once its drilled the cap sits lower on the nipple giving it a new fit on the stock nipple?

When i first seen it i didnt understand it because after you drill it the edges should look sharp but maybe he filed the edges down? or they flared in from use?

 

[Jaymo]

Drilling seems to have a funnel effect on the flame, concentrating it into the smaller flash hole in the nipple and giving better ignition.
Of course, if it reduces the length a hair, the caps will fit tighter.

 

[BowerR64]

Thats what i thought also but if you use a larger drill bit it will drill a little off the point.

It is a fine line though because you only have a little wiggle room doing this. If you take to much off the nipple will be to short and then the hammer wont strike the cap.

When i was removing my cylinder to drill them i let the hammer drop and as the hammer was down on the nipple i moved the cylinder in and out and i could see the hammer move a little as it was being pushed back and forth still touching the nipple so mine has some room to shorten.

I have one newer colt and 3 of the 6 fit a little loose i did one and it helped but i think im going to use a dremel insted of a drill press. I want the cap to fit over the coned effect thing.

 

[EljaySL]

I always just budget for some new nipples when I buy anything percussion. These days you can contact the companies that make aftermarket nipples and just ask them which caps they used as a model. If they can't answer move onto somebody else.

This does make having a pile of extra cylinders much more expensive, yes, but a lot of people never go that route.

 

[BowerR64]

Im not good enough for a set of $35. nipples

Im just trying to get good with what i have.

 

[BullSlinger]

I spent the money on a couple of sets of Tresco nipples when all I could get were #11 caps. On my Rugar Old Army I was very pleased they worked great. The Pietta not so.
On my Pietta 1860 Army the Tresco nipples changed the POI for the charges I had worked up and the gun shot 6 inches lower and four inches to the left. I went back to stock nipples and POI returned to POA. Pinched the #11 until I located #10 caps.
When it was all over and done, I really don't think spending $70 bucks on the nipples was a wise thing to do. I am gonna stick to stock nipples that are cheap to replace when necessary.

 

[Hellgate]

I've had misfires (weak "pops") from drilled nipples. It seems just the edges of the priming compound fires and the center doesn't, leading to a plugged nipple and no powder ignition.

 

[BowerR64]

I spent the money on a couple of sets of Tresco nipples when all I could get were #11 caps. On my Rugar Old Army I was very pleased they worked great. The Pietta not so.
On my Pietta 1860 Army the Tresco nipples changed the POI for the charges I had worked up and the gun shot 6 inches lower and four inches to the left. I went back to stock nipples and POI returned to POA. Pinched the #11 until I located #10 caps.
When it was all over and done, I really don't think spending $70 bucks on the nipples was a wise thing to do. I am gonna stick to stock nipples that are cheap to replace when necessary.

Thats interesting i didnt think the nipples would mess with accuracy like that. I can see maybe raising or lowering the POI but not changing the windage? Maybe because the pietta nipples fit in kinda at an angle?

Ive seen the treso nipples on ebay for $35. maybe these arnt the same thing? why did yours cost $70? or because you bought 2 sets?

Is it tresco or treso or maybe they are 2 different brands?

 

[BowerR64]

The one nipple in Phils photo at about 8:00 looks freshly drilled but doesnt appear to have the same lip. The hole looks rough also as if it hasnt been cleaned up yet.

 

[BullSlinger]

Yeah the seventy bucks was for two sets. The Pietta was a colt, no angle just straight.
On the ROA I really needed a new set of nipples just wish I would have ordered a cheaper set of nipples. Overall I do not have problems with stock nipples only problem I was having then was proper size caps were not available.
Only one brand I was referring to just don't remember correct spelling, Tresco I think.

 

[Noz]

I give up:banghead:

Welcome to the club

 

[1KPerDay]

Must be nice to have it all figured out... must feel so superior.

 

[cp11]

The new slix-shot nipples with Rem #10 or #11 work great on a 58 Pietta. Seems like the #11's are a little shorter than the #10's. They're right at $40 shipped.