Advantage of Moving to Musket Caps & How?

[TennesseeJed]

I have a T/C New Englander that #11 caps were terribly inconsistent in setting off the charge. When it did go off there was almost always a slight delay. I put a musket nipple on it and use RWS musket caps. It works like a charm now.

My T/C Hawken, Renegade, and my Cabela's Hawken all work fine with #11 caps, but for some unknown reason , the New Englander doesn't.

 

[gjkershul]

I had the same experience with my New Englander 12 ga. Shotgun- # 11 caps just would not set off my charge every time. I went to an Ampco musket nipple that was much better, but I still had about a 5% to 10% failure of ignition. Then I noticed that the T/C musket cap niples are cupped on the breech side. Some sources say this gives the nipple a self cleaning/clearing capability. I bought one to go on a .54 cal New Englander barrel I recently bought through the MLforum to use as a back up Elk rifle. During my load work up of approximately 50 shots I have had 100% ignition.

 

[Dalekg6]

Hi,

I've got a Kodiak double in .58 cal. It takes 1/4-28 nipples. I converted to musket caps for the time being and I'm using the T/C hot shot nipples. I did have problems getting the right side to go off with the musket nipples and found that the hammer wasn't hitting it just right. I made a washer from a piece of wire and raised the nipple but just that much and haven't had any ignition problems since.

Dale

 

[Cosmoline]

Try switching the nipple to the other barrel, if the problem moves with the nipple then the problem is the nipple.

Now why didn't I think of that?