Caps not firing on first hammer blow.

[N. Highland Grant]

I am havng an issue with my smooth rifle, the caps (CCI #11 magnum's) arent going off on the first blow from the hammer, most of the time, what I mean is maybe half the time it will go off first time and the other it takes two tries.

What can cause such a problem, I have ead that it may be due to a mushroomed nipple, but I dont think that is the issue as I have tried turning it a little in my drill press with a file at least a half dozen times, the cap fits easily on and must be pinched for it to stay on.

Anyway today I am going to make a new tumbler that will allow me to get more performance out of my mainspring, hopefully a a more powerful blow from the hammer will increase reliability.

 

[N. Highland Grant]

I was experiencing the same thing with my TC Renegade .54 again using both standard and magnum CCI #11’s. Sounds just routine but what I found was a sooted up piece of #11 cap inside the hammer face cup … which was insulating the blow of the hammer . The brass pieces were so sooted up and flat you couldn’t see them until you scratched them out with a screwdriver. Easy fix

 

[wiscoaster]

I had a similar problem one day and it turned out to be part of a cap stuck in the hammer.

Ditto that. A piece of a cap was preventing the hammer from falling all the way to strike the cap with full force.

 

[planefixer da50]

take a peice of wood, spring cloths pin half n seat it all the way. it will not go off under your thumb, it takes a good strike to set off cap. finger push will not do it.