Know one can get away with dropping the hammer on a cone. But if it is an expensive weapon....
-
Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.
We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.
Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103
Does anyone make/sell something like a snap cap cone to dry fire a revolver?
- Thread starter Flintlock Whiskey
- Start date
Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:
Uncle Miltie
50 Cal.
On a properly set up revolver the hammer never touches the nipple: there is just enough clearance to detonate the cap.
while that is indeed the ideal, most of the revolvers folks have do not meet the expectation
To the question at hand....I just use percussion caps. Get a fun bang and you are not messing up your nipples. (when we were kids my dad used to play quickdraw with me and my brother using his revolvers loaded with just percussion caps, fun times, probably not the dad of the year but we were having a blast)
Uncle Miltie
50 Cal.
It's simple to do: you file each cone one at a time to achieve proper clearance.while that is indeed the ideal, most of the revolvers folks have do not meet the expectation
To the question at hand....I just use percussion caps. Get a fun bang and you are not messing up your nipples. (when we were kids my dad used to play quickdraw with me and my brother using his revolvers loaded with just percussion caps, fun times, probably not the dad of the year but we were having a blast)
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2005
- Messages
- 3,197
- Reaction score
- 6,473
A simple solution is to cut a piece of thin leather and lay it in the channel for the hammer, easy to put in and easy to get out.
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2021
- Messages
- 2,714
- Reaction score
- 5,742
I do basically the same thing but use a foam ear plug cut in half, works for two or three cylinder rotations, falls out and I put it back in, easy peesy
This is the solution I know of, and if my memory can be trusted (but getting iffy these days), I think it's posted somewhere around here.
I tried using leather and it was cutting a plug and clogging the nipples.
Went with uncharged tap caps and they work great.
You can really see exactly how hard and how flush the hammer strike is works on rifles as well.
Went with uncharged tap caps and they work great.
You can really see exactly how hard and how flush the hammer strike is works on rifles as well.
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2014
- Messages
- 6,845
- Reaction score
- 9,863
Get a length of clear vinyl tubing (like that used in aquarium pumps) that friction fits over the nipple and cut it just longer than the surface of the nipple to cushion the blow from the hammer..
I have also heard that in times of need, this setup can be tweaked to be used to hold the ignition device of the self-contained ammo of unmentionables when caps are not available.
I have also heard that in times of need, this setup can be tweaked to be used to hold the ignition device of the self-contained ammo of unmentionables when caps are not available.
I’ve read where one can use those red plastic cap gun caps in place of a percussion caps in a pinch. Perhaps that is possible solution. Or just remove the nipples and have at it.
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2021
- Messages
- 2,714
- Reaction score
- 5,742
You don't put it on the nipples, you put it in the curved channel where the hammer goes......lower than the nipples.
That's what I use. And by the way, they sell them already cut to fit. I think they are called "cap keepers" they might work.Get a length of clear vinyl tubing (like that used in aquarium pumps) that friction fits over the nipple and cut it just longer than the surface of the nipple to cushion the blow from the hammer..
I have also heard that in times of need, this setup can be tweaked to be used to hold the ignition device of the self-contained ammo of unmentionables when caps are not available.
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2019
- Messages
- 8,238
- Reaction score
- 9,543
True, but most common revolvers aren't that finely "tuned"; a guy on here is making computer-printed percussion caps that he puts the fulminate in; maybe he should sell them as "bumpers" for dry fire use.
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2011
- Messages
- 9,335
- Reaction score
- 4,510
This is what I have developed for dry firing percussion revolvers and it works very well. It is a thin enough cushion to alloy a complete cycling without hammer/nipple contact , stays put on it's own and is easily removed with tweezers. It is a 1/8th inch thick neoprene glass setting block one can pick up at any glass shop. Fit a small rectangle of it to the hammer mortise in the frame then sand down the thickness until the revolver will cycle fully yet not contact the nipple .
Attachments
T
Doubled aluminum is good for multiple strikes.
They are good for one strike on the second they cut a plug as well.
Doubled aluminum is good for multiple strikes.
Is there any reason you can't just remove the Cones and dry fire it that way?
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2005
- Messages
- 3,197
- Reaction score
- 6,473
Yes, there is a possibility of work hardening the hammer until it breaks .
A properly set up percussion revolver is designed so that the caps are sure to go off, the number of damaged nipples on original guns is evidence of this; I have two, as new mechanically, revolvers from the 1850/6os period and on both of them the hammers touch the nipples.
The same applies to all antique percussion revolvers that I’ve handled, whatever the make has been.
Remember peoples lives depended on the caps working and there could be no margin of error.
I've heard this before on another forum . . .
I've never heard of it happening though . . . that's not to say it can't. "They're" iron, case hardened hammers may have done that but I think "our" steel hammers (through hardened for the most part) may be a little better. All of my revolvers use the frame as a "stop" with the hammer face being the only thing that contacts the firing pin and nothing else. Of course I use "snap cap" type dummy cartridges to drop the hammer on as the ring mounted firing pin wouldn't be dry fire safe. So, interested if anyone has ever had a hammer break from dry firing.
Mike
Last edited:
CaptainKirk
54 Cal.
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2010
- Messages
- 2,243
- Reaction score
- 871
I use the aquarium tubing and it works quite well.
I use tapered neoprene faucet washers to protect nipples on all my percussion guns.
If you buy set of assorted sizes at the hardware store you will be good for about any occasion.
-For hunting i carry my rifle & pistols loaded & capped safely by placing large oversized size faucet washer over the nipple with hammer down
to protect from accidental discharge in a fall, flips-off for fast shot @ game.
-Press fit a smaller size faucet washer or cut off piece in the revolver's hammer slot sideways to prevent the hammer contacting the frame or nipples.
If you buy set of assorted sizes at the hardware store you will be good for about any occasion.
-For hunting i carry my rifle & pistols loaded & capped safely by placing large oversized size faucet washer over the nipple with hammer down
to protect from accidental discharge in a fall, flips-off for fast shot @ game.
-Press fit a smaller size faucet washer or cut off piece in the revolver's hammer slot sideways to prevent the hammer contacting the frame or nipples.
