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FREE Percussion Caps!

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I have over 1,000 of the old Dixie caps made in the '70s from my dad's estate. I think they were made for Dixie in Italy. I have shot a few just plinking. They are more corrosive than Pyrodex. I also have some caps that were stored in an old horn that are over 100 years old. I've not tried popping them yet. if worse comes to worse they'll all beat nothing.
 
As a kid , my Mom would send me outside into my Dad's garage workshop to keep from under foot. Early on , I found an old tin of Percussion caps marked EALY ?.. Coulda' been pre WW 1. I told My Dad I found them and he said they were old and dangerous , and not for kids. I waited until he was at the coal mine working , ok , got one of the "caps" out , placed it on his anvil , smacked it good w/ a four lb. ball peen hammer. Found that the cap fired so well , it buried itself in my left forearm. Extracted the spent Ealy cap from my arm w/ Dad's needle nose pliers , and dumped a dose of burny coal mine first aid iodine on the wound. Never told Mom or Dad what I had done , 'cause I was told not to mess w/ stuff that was dangerous. A guy has ta find his limitations.
 
As a kid , my Mom would send me outside into my Dad's garage workshop to keep from under foot. Early on , I found an old tin of Percussion caps marked EALY ?.. Coulda' been pre WW 1. I told My Dad I found them and he said they were old and dangerous , and not for kids. I waited until he was at the coal mine working , ok , got one of the "caps" out , placed it on his anvil , smacked it good w/ a four lb. ball peen hammer. Found that the cap fired so well , it buried itself in my left forearm. Extracted the spent Ealy cap from my arm w/ Dad's needle nose pliers , and dumped a dose of burny coal mine first aid iodine on the wound. Never told Mom or Dad what I had done , 'cause I was told not to mess w/ stuff that was dangerous. A guy has ta find his limitations.
My friend Kate did something similar with a twelve gauge shell, a bench vise and a ball peen hammer. The hammer came back with significant force and actually dented her 10 year old forehead. A scar she bears to this day. I’ve often told her I wouldn’t have expected the hammer could dent her hard head but there it is…
 
Ely from England made superior .22 l.r. cartridges we used for rifle club in high school so it is probably same company that made your caps.
 
People give me boxes of their dad's old B/P stuff that they inherit, I probably have at least 10 ten tins of old caps. I haven't tested all of the boxes but what I have tested go off most of the time but seem weak compared to modern caps, they don't have that loud "crack".
 
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Yep. i had a large collection of old caps. They went away in a brush pile burn.

At the beginning of the "Obama will outlaw muzzleloaders" panic i found a place that had millions of # 11 caps at $2.99/100. After giving away untold thousands i still have about 30,000 CCI and Remington caps.
 
OK. I'm not giving away percussion caps. Im talking about the negatives in getting them free. I often get a bag of accessories with rifles I buy. Stuff like powder horns and flasks - often full of powder, measures, round balls, and percussion caps. I am usually excited about the latter, but not always. The thing is, these things can be over 50 years old. Hard to say unless tin has a date stamp. Take these CVA "Hot Flash" caps. Not sure how old, but 1 in 2 don't go BANG! So into the garbage. Need to test my other "free" percussion caps.
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Could drop a little prime all in them...
 
OK. I'm not giving away percussion caps. Im talking about the negatives in getting them free. I often get a bag of accessories with rifles I buy. Stuff like powder horns and flasks - often full of powder, measures, round balls, and percussion caps. I am usually excited about the latter, but not always. The thing is, these things can be over 50 years old. Hard to say unless tin has a date stamp. Take these CVA "Hot Flash" caps. Not sure how old, but 1 in 2 don't go BANG! So into the garbage. Need to test my other "free" percussion caps.
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Interesting! I've seen back in the day very reasonable BP stuff at small shows, that came from an estate. Times have changed, whole populations of people have come & gone.
 
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