Musket Nipple Replacement Question

Aggie1105 · Oct 4, 2024

Howdy All,

I have a .58 DGW Murray Carbine that uses musket caps. I love the gun and would shoot it more, but I have a very limited supply of 4-wing musket caps. I have plenty of No. 11 caps though. Has anyone had good experience replacing the musket cap nipple with one that would fit No. 11 caps? It looks like TOTW has a wide selection of nipples and I could get one that has the same thread pitch as the original. Would it provide reliable ignition? Would the existing hammer work as well on a No11 and it does on a musket cap? Any safety concerns?

Thanks in advance for any insight on this.

Phil Coffins · Oct 4, 2024

I would expect it to work well. The large musket caps are easy to handle and can be placed on the nipple correctly with out looking. This, I believe is why the military used them.

Old Shepherd · Oct 4, 2024

When I obtained my first original civil war musket, in the early 80’s I could not buy musket caps locally. We just didn’t have them in the PNW in any of our gun shops.
We had lots of #11’s, so I got a conversation nipple from DGW. It worked fine. Since the internet and the ability to purchase musket caps on line, I have switched back to musket caps. Now I have the ability to shoot the rifle either way.
Old Shepherd

Surrywoodman · Oct 4, 2024

I switched it the other way for a while, I had a TC Hawken that I could not get to fire reliably no matter what #11 cap I used. I converted to a musket nipple and caps and BOOM every time. The supposed cause I found out later in my case was from using Pyrodex, old Pyrodex at that. I evolved in my thought process and went to black powder and the issue went away. After a few years I went back to the #11 nipple and there have been no issues, that was over two decades ago now...

Aggie1105 · Oct 4, 2024

Old Shepherd said:
When I obtained my first original civil war musket, in the early 80’s I could not buy musket caps locally. We just didn’t have them in the PNW in any of our gun shops.
We had lots of #11’s, so I got a conversation nipple from DGW. It worked fine. Since the internet and the ability to purchase musket caps on line, I have switched back to musket caps. Now I have the ability to shoot the rifle either way.
Old Shepherd

Thanks! I've had a hard time trying to locate musket caps online. I've seen CCI musket caps online that say "for reenactment use" but the ones that say "for multiple use". I've stayed away from the reenactment use ones because I figured they wouldnt be hot enough or reliable. Is there a difference in the two types? The multiple use ones have eluded me thus far.

Thanks

Old Shepherd · Oct 4, 2024

I got my last 1,000 RWS musket caps from The Gun Works. They are in Oregon. They are good folks. I have purchased rifles from them as well.
The reenactment CCI musket caps will work on muskets but they don’t have enough zip to fire my 1859 Sharps reliably. However the CCI’s worked fine a week or so ago on my Smith Carbine.
Old Shepherd

stubshaft · Oct 4, 2024

I would think that changing to #11's wouldn't be a problem with the hammer as long as the height is not altered too much.

kh54 · Oct 5, 2024

Near the height of the pandemic I found a hoard of CCI six-wing musket caps that have fired consistently in every gun I’ve used them, including original and reproduction muskets and breech-loading carbines. I bought 6,000 and I’ll have a long way to go to use them all, so I’m obviously committed. I assume that folks who complain about CCI caps are using a four-wing variety, supposedly made for reenactors, but I’ve never seen them. I’m relieved that these work well.

Because someone may ask, I don’t recall what I paid but it was a private sale and I bought so many precisely because of a huge discount for that quantity. And sorry, I can’t offer them to anyone no matter how much I would like to help.

RiverRat · Oct 26, 2024

Once I am done with my last tin of musket caps, I will be switching to RWS 1075’s+ for my 2 Enfields. I already bought the conversion nipples from TOTW.

ADK Bigfoot · Oct 31, 2024

Track can help.

ADK Bigfoot

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