Advantage of Moving to Musket Caps & How?

[Cosmoline]

I'm having some ignition problems with one barrel of my rifle, and in searching here and other forums I noticed some faced with this problem will change over to traditional musket caps for their rifle. How is this accomplished? Do I need to buy new nipples? If so how do I tell if I'm getting the proper thread. My rifle is a Pedersoli Kodiak.

From what I've been able to garner here, I'd need to order this:
http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?cPath=22_238_566_571_577&products_id=5870

in "6 X .75mm ”“ Lyman, Cabela’s and Italian made arms" Since this was a Cabela's sold Italian arm.

They *look* right to me, from what I can tell.

 

[mykeal]

Yes, you will need a new nipple, specific for musket caps. The Dixie link looks ok to me, but take your current nipple down to the local hardware store and check the thread size for sure. Buying a nipple based on '...Italian made arms...' is a manure shoot. The thread size is easy to determine with a gage available at most hardware stores, and if they don't have a gage, just compare to various bolts until you find one that matches it.

As for whether a musket cap will solve your igntion problems, I have no idea.

 

[deanscamaro]

I can add to what Mykeal said. I went to Cabelas to get nipples, bought a Pedersoli pack with nipple wrench, since my gun was a Pedersoli. The nipple threads were wrong and the wrench didn't fit my nipple. :shake: :shake:

 

[Jerry Coffee]

I might as well tell my tale of woe about nipples. I purchased a spare nipple from the company where I purchased my Armi Sport P53 Enfield rifle musket and it did not fit at all. I was looking for a spare nipple to use when the nipple I am using in my rifle got fouled in the field. After I found that their nipple did not fit, I called them and they said the nipple for my rifle is supposed to be 8MM x 1 nipple but that size did not fit at all. I finally determined it was a 5/16"-18 nipple with 1/4" square drive. After purchasing several 5/16"-24, 5/16"-20, 5/16-18" steel nipples and one 5/16"-18 bronze nipple from five or six different on-line suppliers, none of them fit or if the 5/16-18 nipples fit the threads, they did not completely seat.

I looked at the photos in Dixie Gun Works on-line catalog at all the nipples and I saw one nipple which was their NP-1430, 5/16"-18 "English thread" musket cap nipple with 1/4" square drive and it appeared to be exactly like the one that came with my Armi Sport rifle musket. However, it was on back-order, probably because so many people were purchasing that nipple. I found that no other black powder shooting supplier has that particular nipple. I waited a month until it was available again and ordered one......and it fit and seated perfectly and I ordered six more for spares. I determined the DGW NP-1430 nipple fits a Parker Hale P53 Enfield rifle musket. I suspect that Armi Sport purchased some of the English Parker Hale tooling and nipples when Parker Hale in England went out of business.

Since you want to switch to musket caps, make sure the nipple you choose fits the treads and has a .230" OD cone. I use RWS 4-wing musket camps on my P53 Enfield and they are a snug fit on the DGW NP-1430 5/16"-18 steel nipple. The nipples will not fall off if I carry or shoulder the rifle at half cock.

 

[jtmattison]

I bet if you tell us more about your ignition problems like powder type/granulation, rifle/barrel type...etc we can probably solve your problem without you needing musket caps.

HD

 

[paulvallandigham]

YOu don't need Musket Caps to solve your problem. You need to learn how to properly clean and set up the gun BEFORE you fire a shot.

MORE IS NOT BETTER.

The only reason for Magnum percussion caps is for shooting the substitute powders, which have a much higher ignition temperature. The only reason for Musket caps is if you are shooting a " MUSKET ", the was made and designed to be shot with Musket caps.

By example, the Slug gun shooters, that fire huge powder charges, use standard #11 nipples, or switch to useing a device that allows them to use modern PISTOL primers, NOT RIFLE primers, to ignite their black powder loads. A Chronograph will show you that using Musket caps will create spikes in your velocities, and ruin your expected accuracy.

 

[tg]

I would agree with Huntin Dawg, I shot all kinds/brands/styles of import caplocks for years and never had to use anything but plain old #11caps.

 

[wvbuckbuster]

I use a 1/4x28 musket nipple in my .50 and it has not caused me any problems. Have used it with black as well as pyro. Shoot only black powder now. I beleive it will depend on each persons gun as to how well it works for them. As for chronographs if you have used one much you will know that a small sd is not always the load that shoots the best. It works for me and see no reason to change it as it is setup as a hunting gun that has given me total reliability! :thumbsup:

 

[renovato]

Musket caps and magnum caps are a double edged sword on guns not designed for them. They can start the ball moving before the charge is completely lit. This makes pressures erratic and groups open up. I made the mistake of converting a couple guns that didn't fire reliably and it just didn't work well.

The best thing is usually to try and identify the problem and fix it. Replacing the nipples can cure a lot of woes, unless there is a hammer spring issue, or a blocked spark channel or something.

 

[Little Wattsy]

I started w/ Musket Caps and have NEVER had a problem w/ ignition and for $5.00 fer a new nipple....Why not.

 

[MercerLake]

:v I've had two different Kodiaks over the years and never had a problem with them firing reliably.
1. However, I would recomend checking that the cap seats fully upon the nipple on the offending barrel.
2.Try switching the nipple to the other barrel, if the problem moves with the nipple then the problem is the nipple.
3. If the problem stays with the offending barrel, then I would check the strength of the hammer fall. Then check to be sure that the face of the hammer is square with the top of the nipple.
4.Check that the breech face is not covered with a patch, sometimes they get left behind. Besides all the other possible goop! Pull the nipples and shine a bright light into the hole, by looking down the muzzle you should clearly be able to see if there is any obstruction!
Remember it is NOT LOADED and the nipples have been removed, lest we start a "blow down the muzzle" firestorm.
Normally the Kodiak has sure fire ignition as it is a direct straight shot thru the nipple to the main charge. They even shoot reliably with Pyrodex!
Changing to Musket caps will not likely fix anything if the possible problems listed above are not checked and corrected if found.Some of the Kodiaks hammer faces are too small to fit over the Musket cap as it is much larger than a #11. The only real advantage to musket caps is they are easier to grab ahold of in the cold while hunting. Bp is very easy to ignite and normally would not require a "blowtorch".
I have strain gauge pressure transducers that show exactly what is happening in the ignition sequence, and Musket caps can move the Prb off the main charge before it is ignited if the nipple orfice is too large. This does not help accuracy, but whether it would be noticable in a "hunting gun" depends on the shooter and a hundred other variables. :v

 

[renovato]

I started w/ Musket Caps and have NEVER had a problem w/ ignition and for $5.00 fer a new nipple....Why not.

I don't have ignition problems with #11s, and they are more consistent than musket and magnum caps. The guns I converted to musket caps were converted because they had problems, and rather than fix the problems, I converted them because it seemed "easier". Once I saw what it did to my groups, I converted them back and fixed the guns. They've shot like champs ever since.

 

[50cal.cliff]

Switiching to a musket nipple is one of those urban mthys. No one know how it got started but it's not end all cure.
Like those before me have said black powder is probably your answer, also yor lube may have some to due with the problem.
When I changed from a sub to black powder the results were like night and day for comparison. When I changed lube it completed the package for me.
I live in Florida and the humidity in my neck of the woods is only low in the winter months and then not for long spells. I have seen it be humid as hockey sticks in Januaray. Don't stay long in the winter but the point I am trying to make is my lube works well under the given conditions. My lube is Hoppe's Black Powder Lube and Solvent.
Before I made the changes to real black and the Hoppe's BP L&S the best I was getting was 3-5 shots without soem kind of a problem. Since the change I haven't hade a missfire and the clean up is alot easier! Knock wood!

 

[Cosmoline]

I may just need a new nipple. The left bore's is pretty well worn and looks to be original, so it's been in use since the 1980's.

 

[gjkershul]

Just another thought on the utility of musket cap size nipple is that if you are taking your cap on and off the weapon during a day of hunting I find it much easier to pull the musket cap off to put the rifle in a scabbard or ATV rack to move to another hunt area.

 

[renovato]

Thats very true. Those tiny #11s are a pain. I finally made a decapper out of a scrap of brass to remove the darned things.

 

[Leatherbark]

I tried musket caps of a Lyman GPR once.........The GPR would misfire occasionally because the Coil mainspring just wasn't strong enough to bust the musket cap if it wasn't seated all the way down.................Make sure you seat that musket cap down good.............Bob

 

[deanscamaro]

Hey, I just fired 4 in my new rifle and pistol. That's a pretty good string without a misfire, isn't it??? Huh??? Huh??? Anyway, they split right off the nipple (truly) :rotf: :rotf: :blah: :haha:

 

[windwalker_au]

I'm having some ignition problems with one barrel of my rifle, and in searching here and other forums I noticed some faced with this problem will change over to traditional musket caps for their rifle. How is this accomplished? Do I need to buy new nipples? If so how do I tell if I'm getting the proper thread. My rifle is a Pedersoli Kodiak.

From what I've been able to garner here, I'd need to order this:
http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?cPath=22_238_566_571_577&products_id=5870

in "6 X .75mm ”“ Lyman, Cabela’s and Italian made arms" Since this was a Cabela's sold Italian arm.

They *look* right to me, from what I can tell.

pedersoli kodiak has a 1/4x28 nipple size.
bernie :thumbsup:

 

[tg]

"I started w/ Musket Caps and have NEVER had a problem w/ ignition and for $5.00 fer a new nipple....Why not.'

It is a matter of choice like many other things, as long as the historical aspect of things is not an issue then musket caps, modern peeps, modern bullets and a whole world of goodies are there for the taking, many people just enjoy fixing things that are not broke or trying to squeeze just a little more out of a ML, then there are those who try to duplicate as close as possible the experience as our forefathers did in the past. no right or wrong, just a different perspective and level of expectation and challenge.