Percussion cap maker issues

[TWC]

That be 11/64 hole for CCI #11 caps. I tried needle noised pliers they did not work so good. Dikes worked well. I was thinking that the springloaded small dikes that Harbor Freight sells might be good.

Thanks Mike.

 

[brewer12345]

Just to close the loop, I took my 9 homemade caps out on a morning of shooting to see if they would work. I left out the binder in the mix and just used heavily diluted duco cement in acetone. I was shooting a franken-New Englander. This was an older TC 54 New Englander with a rynite stock that I bought for peanuts because it had a roached barrel. I sent it off to Bobby Hoyt who bored it out and recut the rifling to 58 cal with a 1 in 60 twist for shooting round ball. This makes for a relatively lightweight hunting gun that is a real thumper inside 100 yards and I will likely use it for elk next month. The rub is that it is a little balky on ignition and won't set off subs at all. With real black it reliably ignites, but I have to be diligent about keeping the nipple and channel clean in a longer target shooting session.

I used commercial Rem #11 caps to start, but soon after switched to me test batch. A success! All the caps went off and I had one failure to fire when I did not swab out the channel when I should have. I think the homemade caps were actually a little hotter than the commercial one.

I am pleased with how this worked out. I doubt they would fit in a snail capper, but for target shooting it really does not matter. I have plenty of commercial caps, but this is an amusing enough endeavor that I will likely keep making up homemade caps when I need something small to keep my hands busy.

 

[Mike 56]

Have you made any caps toy caps? My test caps work well five caps sealed with acetone and Duro glue. I bought a nipple charger so I can see how it works with caps made with two toy caps in sidelock guns. Still need to test it. I bought the mix but have not made any. I need to mix some up.

 

[brewer12345]

Have you made any caps toy caps? My test caps work well five caps sealed with acetone and Duro glue. I bought a nipple charger so I can see how it works with caps made with two toy caps in sidelock guns. Still need to test it. I bought the mix but have not made any. I need to mix some up.

Nope. The capmaker and the mix they sell works, so I am declaring victory and moving on to the next project.

 

[TheOutlawKid]

Mr.mike 56...you ended up getting a nipple charger? Im guessin ya took my advice in the write up i did about making caps from roll caps? That treso nipple charger is a life saver when using a sidelock and hard to ignite powders or weaker homemade caps. The thing about roll caps is that they are cleaner than the prime-all/H-48 mix. Way cleaner...just not as hot. So best tomake the roll caps really hot or use a nipple primer. Technically you can get away with one roll cap dot and a sprinkle of black powder. A small sprinkle of fine Aluminum powder flakes works great too. Dont get the spherical aluminum powder as it doesn't work the same and sometimes wont even ignite

 

[748]

I thought silver fluminate might make good caps. They'll work when damp/wet.