Buyer Beware. Checked Brownells caps currently for sale. $120 per 1000 for #11 CCI Magnum caps ($12 per 100) and $111 per 1000 for #10 CCI caps ($11 per 100). Buyer then pays shipping costs, plus Hazmat fee (not cheap). Brownells was recently waiving Hazmat fee and was offering free shipping on I believe $99 plus orders. Not sure if either is still in effect. IMO pricey without the shipping and Hazemat. After years of dealing with Brownell, they are pretty proud of their wares, great business, but not the cheapest.
I'm not real familiar with the use of magnum caps, have read some postings by others of their use, but being I'm not interested of buying any, largely ignore alot of the info regarding them. I do have a pretty good stash of Rem 10 and CCI 11 caps so no need to buy. I did use a tin of magnum #11 caps years ago on my TC 45 Hawken rifle but never saw any advantage with them. IMO using magnum caps esp in a percussion revolver will up the pressure of the already fast burning FF or FFF powder being used. Sort of like using a magnum primer in a fast burning smokeless powder in a modern firearm where standard primers are used/recommended.
The #10 CCI caps are another thing. Brownells lists them as for use in 'small muzzleloader nipples'. That's for sure! Not trying to throw mud on your post Big Ugly, but CCI 10's are the smallest internal diameter percussion caps manufactured and also have a short skirt. Alot of percussion shooters and those wanting to get into the shooting of, have the idea that manufacturer of nipples make #10 nipples and #11 nipples. NOT!!!!! Nipples vary in cone length and diameter. The diameter increasing from the top down. Most of the American made after market made nipples like SlixShot, Treso's and Track's state they are designed to accept #11 CCI's, but RWS 1075's which are of similar internal width and skirt length work well. Remington #10's IMO and many others work even better as having almost the same internal width, they have a longer skirt that fits down over the nipple a bit more which helps them hug the nipple better and are retained better after firing. There is a world of difference between Rem and CCI #10's as there is between Rem #11's and CCI's, both internal and external dimensions.
Dirty secret on nipples is that unless a shooter knows this fact and that is not all #10 caps made are of the same dimension's, nor are #11's. This has been brought out in alot of posts here on this forum and also on the CAS City forum. Years ago not knowing this aspect, I bought 500 CCI #10's and they didn't fit down on any of the percussion nipples on the various Colt or Remington replicas I had, both Uberti and Pietta. I would have to use a small wooden dowel to seat them and even then it wasn't complete. I know it is said that in order to ignite a percussion cap, they need what amounts to a good wack as from a spring powered hammer. Pushing them on and it just wasn't a gentle push, made me nervous so after only using about half a tin I quit using them. Still have 4 1/2 tins of them. Remington #11's are both a bit wider internally and have a shorter skirt than their #10 Rem cousins. I haven't used any Rem 11's in years as they had a sloppy fit over my then percussion revolvers and my TC Hawken.
A guy who goes by the handle 'Mako' on the Cas City forum years ago did some measurements and CAD drawing work with the at time available nipples and caps. He had a great chart still available on the forum (Darkside section/Dark Arts) and it has also been posted on this forum. Sometime ago I measured all of my caps I had on hand #10 and #11 Remington's, #10 and 11 CCI's, and RWS 1075"s. Using an accurate digital caliper I came up with the same measurements as Mako (within .001") both internal and external. I tired them all on every percussion revolver, plus nipples on hand, and those I use on my TC rifle. The only ones that passed as far as ease of seating firmly without having to push hard, retention before and during firing, and staying somewhat on the nipple after firing were Rem 10's, CCI 11's, and RWS 1075's. As I stated before, the Rem 11's were sloppy and had to be pinched to stay on and they have a shorter skirt than the Rem 11's. CCI #10's were another matter.
This comparison was made on both Uberti and Pietta factory nipples, SlixShots, Track of Wolf, and Tresso's. Gun models from Uberti and Pietta, a Walker, three Dragoons, 60 Army, three 51 Navy's, 61 Navy, and both Pietta and Uberti Remington 1858's. Later tried on a Ruger Old Army, same effect. The CCI #10's all required the pushing down of the cap onto the nipple using a pencil size wooden dowel. ONE exception. I bought a spare Pietta 1858 Remington cylinder from a guy on another forum for my Pietta Remington. The nipples on that cylinder were a bit smaller in cone diameter than my other two Pietta Rem cylinders and those #10 CCI's did slip on a bit easier, but still needed a push with the dowel. I've read where nipples on smaller caliber Italian made percussion revolvers and some small caliber rifles use the smaller diameter caps. Also read that early made Italian revolvers prior to the 90's used a smaller diameter nipple than what is put on today. I've read Track of the Wolfs chart on their website telling what nipples work and are needed for various percussion firearms, giving all of the dimensions of those nipples and from what I've read there, the smaller caliber (.31 and others) revolvers, pistols, rifles sometimes use the smaller diameter caps such as the CCI 10's.
Got windy, my coffee got cold twice typing this, but what is what in the use of percussion caps and how they fit on percussion nipples is sometimes not explained properly. As I mentioned at the beginning of this to long of a post, nipple manufacturers whether foreign or made in America, don't really make # 10 or #11 nipples. They produce nipples that allow the various makes and sizes of produced percussion caps to fit properly over them. It's up to the shooter to determine what works best. Nipple makers have gotten better in the last 20 years or so in the dimensions being more uniform, but the 'best of the best' of caps to work on the majority of cap revolvers, rifles, and shotguns from my expierence and from what I've read over the years are Rem 10's, CCI 11's and RWS 1075's.
Edit: I was going to mention but got reminded after seeing Mako's chart in SDSmlf's #6 post that Remington #11's have decreased the internals of their #11 cap since the early years. The Rem's I used on my trial and error nipple/cap trials were some I had had for awhile. If you check Mako's chart in the post SDSmlf's posted you can see that Rem 11's have the same internal width as Rem 10's, CCI 11's, and only .001" less than off RWS's. The down side of Rem 11's is that they are only 0.152" in skirt length which is 'way' shorter than Rem 10's, CCI 11's, and RWS 1075's, in fact shorter than the dreaded CCI #10's, which are 0.165" This shorter skirt length doesn't give the cap as much as the other three I mentioned as good to fit down over the tapered nipple which can allow them to fall off before firing, fall off of fired cylinders when firing, and not allow much fired cap skirts to hug the nipple allowing spent caps or frags to fall into the action. Wouldn't affect a percussion rifle as much but may not allow an unfired cap to fall off prematurely before firing the rifle or during a hunt may not be there when aiming at that prize 'turdy point' buck. I did have that problem with Rem 11's back in the day when shooting by percussion TC Hawken, not during a hunt but when target shooting.
CC
