Best / worst percussion caps?

[Homesteader]

I haven't shot anything but my fantastic trade gun / fowler since I got it (thanks Roy!), which is flint. This weekend I had a bunch of people up to my place and everyone wanted to shoot "those cowboy pistols". So I broke out my two '60 Colt Army .44's.

Gotta tell ya I was feeling good about it: plenty of new Goex 3F powder, Hornady or home-cast .454 round balls, wonder wads, and over ten tins of both #11 & #10 CCI percussion caps. Just bought them at my local gun shop.

Unbelievable. The @#$%^ things only went off maybe 60 to 70% of the time. Tops. It really made me look bad. Worst I've ever experienced. (By contrast, Roy's fowler never failed to go off. Not once.) That's when I checked my old pistol bag and realized I used "Vorderladerzundhütchen" before.

Are the German caps that much better? Does CCI mean "Crappy Chinese Ignition?" I do flint a lot more than percussion these days, so I'm a little out of the loop. What caps do I need for consistent smokewagon ignition?

Any and all info is very much appreciated. Thanks!

Oh, and I did all the usual things regarding making sure the guns were clean, clear channels, new powder, unobstructed hammer strike, etc. The problem was definitely the caps.

 

[lonewarrior]

Remington caps :thumbsup:

 

[mark/wi]

It will vary by personal experience. I Use CCI and never have any trouble, also us the German caps and they work great. I do not use the Remington's, but shoot with friends that do and they do not have problems with them. When I first got into shooting muzzle loaders I tried the Remington cap and had lots of misfires. I just never went back to them. Mark

 

[mukluk]

CCI caps are just fine, I can pretty much guarantee the problem you experienced was due to the caps not fitting your nipples correctly. From what I've seen, the nipples that come on the repro C&B revolvers leave quite a bit to be desired regarding quality and durability. I highly recommend picking up a set of AMPCO/TRESCO or stainless steel nipples if you seriously want to enjoy shooting your 1860s.

 

[TennesseeJed]

I've used RWS caps the past couple of years and have yet to have a misfire with them. I had more trouble with Remington caps than CCIs.

 

[fitter]

Ditto on the nipples makes a huge difference.

 

[Raider2000]

I've had very good luck with RWS 1075's in the past & for well over 10 years have had 100% reliability with Remington #11's.

I too would suggest Ampco/Tresso cones for consistency, long life & less blow back compared to factory cones.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

ditto the nipple problem sayers.

 

[Homesteader]

Thanks for the tip, fella's. I'll call Track and order a couple of sets today. Sounds like money well spent.
:thumbsup:

 

[Bob Riegl]

:hmm: Percussion caps are percussion caps---the reasons they don't work is that they simply do not fit the nipples on your gun. Either too large or too small and I know you do not need new caps. If you have #11's or #10's the first procedure is to test which are they large or small---large is too bad, but small is good. Now DO NOT push the caps in place with a finger or a tool---that's looking for trouble and losing an eye or a piece of finger. Remove the nipples that are too small and chuck the threaded end into a slow moving drill and whilst it is turning use a small file or emery paper and slowly remove some of the metal from the nipple ( I use a small needle file in my mini lathe.). Now when the caps fit easily and stay there STOP; using some anti-seize replace the nipple---do this with each nipple until you get a good fit. NOW your gun should fire each and every time the hammer falls.It didn't cost you more money for new nipples that probably won't fit any better than before. IMHO :thumbsup:

 

[renovato]

I've never had good luck with CCI caps. I had a lot of misfires with them. If I had only tried them on a gun or two, I'd be likely to suspect nipple fit, weak hammer impact or something. But they have been problematic on all of my guns of different manufacture and with different brand nipples. Yet many others have no trouble at all with CCI caps. I don't know what to blame for my problems with CCI, but switching to Remington worked for me. Unfortunately, Remington caps are hard to find sometimes.

 

[David Teague]

I trust Remington caps(they are non-corrosive & 40 % hotter than they were a few years ago.)

New nipples, good. New nipples & Remington caps, priceless. :bow:

Cheers,

DT

 

[jtmattison]

I have CCI caps for my revolver and never had one misfire.

HD

 

[Moloch]

I had a lot of misfires with the CCI magnum caps (red box, green sticker) lately, they were banged pretty good out of shape by the hammer of my GPR but they did not go off - only at the second and one at third strike. The standart CCI caps worked flawlessy, except one misfire in 30 caps.

And yes the nipple is ok, as is the hammer and the spring. I guess the extra charge in the magnum cap absorbs a lot of the force of the striking hammer. The load of the standart caps get really squished between nipple and hammer.

But the musket caps from CCI are really good, I never had a single misfire in my ~500 shots with my musket and they are loaded hot! They sound like a .22Lr HV if shot without powder charge. :bow:

 

[Poor Private]

I generaly use Remington. But if I come across others at a bargain price like CCI or the germnas at the end of the season I'll snag them. I fire my BP so much in practice(love the smell of smoke) that an occaisional misfire doesn't bother me.
When I absolutly have to have no misfires it's remington all the way.

 

[Jim/OH]

Stick with Remington, if you want 100% reliable ignition. I have a couple of pistols that will not fire CCI's at all, put on a Remington, and it goes bang. I think the people that have had trouble with Remingtons did so a while ago. The new ones (within the past 4 or 5 years) are very hot and very reliable. I can use CCI's on my Ruger Old Army, but both of my percussion single shots do not like them. I also use #10 Remingtons on my .36 Navy.
Hope this helps, see ya, Jim/OH :hatsoff:

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

This has been my experience over the years too. :thumbsup:

 

[buttonbuck]

I used cci caps about 10 years ago and switched to remingtons, the cci failed me when I shot at what could have been my first ML deer come to find the charge fell out near as I could figure, I saw disc shaped part of the cap on the floor of my tree stand. I shot a wounded button buck, the next day and had to let a huge doe go who I assume was the mother, sort of a wierd occurance a button buck around does that time of year (early December) hence my name here. I cannot recall a failed cap since I went to remingtons. I got 6 tins on clearance for 2.00 each.

 

[madcratebuilder]

:hmm: Percussion caps are percussion caps---the reasons they don't work is that they simply do not fit the nipples on your gun. Either too large or too small and I know you do not need new caps. If you have #11's or #10's the first procedure is to test which are they large or small---large is too bad, but small is good. Now DO NOT push the caps in place with a finger or a tool---that's looking for trouble and losing an eye or a piece of finger. Remove the nipples that are too small and chuck the threaded end into a slow moving drill and whilst it is turning use a small file or emery paper and slowly remove some of the metal from the nipple ( I use a small needle file in my mini lathe.). Now when the caps fit easily and stay there STOP; using some anti-seize replace the nipple---do this with each nipple until you get a good fit. NOW your gun should fire each and every time the hammer falls.It didn't cost you more money for new nipples that probably won't fit any better than before. IMHO :thumbsup:

I do the same thing. About half of my revolvers use #11's with a good fit, zero problems with CCI or Rem's. The revolvers that use #10, it's a hit or miss fit. The nipples that are a tight fit with 10's get machined for the proper fit. I use my lathe, but a drill and a file would do the job.

If the cap is not completely seated you lose much of the hammer energy seating the cap and have miss fires.

 

[slowpokebr549]

Regular CCi's work just fine, I hate the magnums as do about half of my guns. I have a ROA that will only fire one in ten CCI's but will never fail with Remingtons or RWS.I have switched nipples on my Ruger and I have tried #10s, no go, It just doesnt like CCI.