3-D printed snap-caps for ROA

[Old-Duckman]

Following the post and replies to the “do you dry fire your ROA” I decided to draw up and print snap caps for it (with stock Ruger nipples). I forgot that I had successfully done so for the REM 1858 but was unsuccessful making ones that worked for the Dragoon.

Anyway in case anyone is interested, here are the dimensions I used and they seem to be working fine. Just like the old Timex ad…they “take a licking and keep on ticking”.

Height - 5.7mm
O.D. - 7.5mm
I.D. - 4.7mm
Depth of hollow - 4.2mm

Material - Raise3D premium PLA

BTW I find that the Ruger has a very nice trigger. Virtually no creep, nice crisp break but does have significant over travel. I don’t have a trigger pull gauge so I can’t comment on that. I have shot the gun one time (I think I did 30 rounds) but was not concentrating on the quality of the trigger at that time. Dry firing allows for that evaluation better…at least for me.

 

[Notchy Bob]

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m way behind on technological developments. I’ve heard of 3-D printing but I’ll be hornswoggled if I know what it is. I don’t even know how to visualize it. Is “Raise 3D Premium PLA” some kind of plastic? Are snap caps for a percussion revolver just dummy nipples? Can you show any pictures?

Pardon my ignorance. I’m not being sarcastic about any of this. Just hoping to learn something.

Thanks,

Notchy Bob

 

[Old-Duckman]

Bob, I understand. it is somewhat new tech but they do have 3D printers that are inexpensive enough for anyone to own. The one I use is in my home office and was purchased by my employer.

Anyway what you do is draw (or get a file from the internet) a 3D drawing of the part you want to print. The 3D drawing is usually called a "model". Raise 3D is a company that suppllies printers and the material you use to print with, in this case "Premium PLA filament". Yes PLA is a type of plastic. There are many materials available to print with. A printer like this one prints the part from the bottom up. It extrudes a thin string of filiment on a heated plate, the plate moves down and prints another layer on top of the previous one.

We also have resin based printers at work that shine a laser into a vat of liquid resin and it solidifies the resin layer by layer. That type of printer prints from the top down. Very messy and persnickety relative to a filament type printer.

The caps I printed are simple cups that sit on top of the nipples. I seem to get at least 20 hits on the cap until it gets cracked and then I throw them away and print another set. I got an ROA out of my safe yesterday, the safe is in the basement near an outside wall (read a cold area). The first drop of the hammer destroyed the cap and pushed some of the plastic in the hole of the nipple. I had to pick it out with a thin wire. I'm sure there are better materials to print the caps with but PLA was the only type I have at the house at the moment.

So they work fine for a good while but not when the gun and caps are cold!

 

[hrt4me]

'additive manufacturing' denotes 3D-printing using powdered metal which is essentially fused (welded) a micron layer at a time over many passes in a vacuum-sealed chamber

my friends have a company manufacturing firearms and components using this method

 

[blackeagle]

STL available?

 

[Notchy Bob]

Bob, I understand. it is somewhat new tech but they do have 3D printers that are inexpensive enough for anyone to own. The one I use is in my home office and was purchased by my employer.

Anyway what you do is draw (or get a file from the internet) a 3D drawing of the part you want to print. The 3D drawing is usually called a "model". Raise 3D is a company that suppllies printers and the material you use to print with, in this case "Premium PLA filament". Yes PLA is a type of plastic. There are many materials available to print with. A printer like this one prints the part from the bottom up. It extrudes a thin string of filiment on a heated plate, the plate moves down and prints another layer on top of the previous one.

We also have resin based printers at work that shine a laser into a vat of liquid resin and it solidifies the resin layer by layer. That type of printer prints from the top down. Very messy and persnickety relative to a filament type printer.

The caps I printed are simple cups that sit on top of the nipples. I seem to get at least 20 hits on the cap until it gets cracked and then I throw them away and print another set. I got an ROA out of my safe yesterday, the safe is in the basement near an outside wall (read a cold area). The first drop of the hammer destroyed the cap and pushed some of the plastic in the hole of the nipple. I had to pick it out with a thin wire. I'm sure there are better materials to print the caps with but PLA was the only type I have at the house at the moment.

So they work fine for a good while but not when the gun and caps are cold!

Thank you, @Old-Duckman for the detailed and considerate response, and @hrt4me for the additional comments. This sounds interesting, and useful.

I just can't keep up with technology!

Notchy Bob

 

[OldNo7]

BTW I find that the Ruger has a very nice trigger. Virtually no creep, nice crisp break but does have significant over travel. I don’t have a trigger pull gauge so I can’t comment on that.

I added a small aluminum cylinder behind the trigger spring on my ROA -- sized correctly (I'll admit it took several attempts), it acts as a trigger stop and didn't impact any other functioning. I believe I'd posted about this and all the other modifications I've done to mine on this forum many years ago.

Old No7

 

[OldNo7]

I could not find the original posting of all the mods, but this posting of mine refers to all the mods I'd ever done to my Old Army.

Old No7

https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/ruger-old-army-with-elk-stag-grips.121311/

 

[Old-Duckman]

I could not find the original posting of all the mods, but this posting of mine refers to all the mods I'd ever done to my Old Army.

Old No7

https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/ruger-old-army-with-elk-stag-grips.121311/

Thanks for the link. Nice piece!

 

[William Sublette]

I'm sorry but but we can only talk about 3d printers built before 1865

 

[Old-Duckman]

I'm sorry but but we can only talk about 3d printers built before 1865

Funny!
I respect the people on the forum who try to do everything the traditional old fashioned way…I’m just not one of them.

 

[jmull4609]

 

[jmull4609]

These caps from Lowe's work good too!

 

[45D]

I still don't understand why you need them for a Ruger Old Army. They are "dry fire safe" anyway . . .

Mike

 

[Old-Duckman]

I just don’t trust that, I know that it says so in the manual. I guess that I’m a belt and suspenders type of guy.

 

[45D]

Well, it's easy enough to tell. With hammer down, rock the cylinder side to side and see if the hammer follows. I work on ROA's quite often and do just the opposite. The competition setup makes sure there IS contact with the nipple. Nobody wants to loose a match because of an anemic cap strike.

Mike

 

[Old-Duckman]

Well, it's easy enough to tell. With hammer down, rock the cylinder side to side and see if the hammer follows. I work on ROA's quite often and do just the opposite. The competition setup makes sure there IS contact with the nipple. Nobody wants to loose a match because of an anemic cap strike.

Mike

That test makes sense, thanks Mike.