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Caps sticking in hammer ?
- Thread starter kyron4
- Start date
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Happens occasionally with the 3 rifles I have. One more so than the other 2. Seems to happen more with heavier charges. I also wonder if we might help this by polishing the inside of the recess. Sometimes they are on the rough side. And just keeping it clean with a Qtip and whatever you clean with will help. Not sure how common this is for others. I'm still fairly new to this even though I have done a lot ML shooting in a short time. My guess is that opening up the recess instead of polishing it is a bad idea because it would seem that a close fit would direct more spark down the nipple. My 2 cents. Interested in what the Gurus will have to say myself. Good luck Kyron. SW
One out of five or 10 seems about average for me. I just pick them out. Nothing about shooting a muzzle loader is very fast anyway. No matter if I'm shooting a pistol or rifle I'll chew on a toothpick while shooting to handle troublesome caps.
I've only recently shot a percussion rifle.
The CVA Mtn rifle did not have any caps stick.
The TC Hawken, which I shot half as much, had the last shot have a cap stick.
Both use #11 and the cap fit well on the nipple.
This thread reminds me that I wanted to see if there was a difference in the way the cap sits in the hammer, or maybe the TC has some crud in the hammer.
But it appears to be a normal thing from reading above.
The CVA Mtn rifle did not have any caps stick.
The TC Hawken, which I shot half as much, had the last shot have a cap stick.
Both use #11 and the cap fit well on the nipple.
This thread reminds me that I wanted to see if there was a difference in the way the cap sits in the hammer, or maybe the TC has some crud in the hammer.
But it appears to be a normal thing from reading above.
Is there a V notch cut into the front of the hammer? That helps the caps to split off.
R I Jerolmon
32 Cal
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- Oct 29, 2018
- Messages
- 37
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- 45
My CVA Mt. rifle had this habit. I put a small stone in the Dremel and "polished" the hammer cup.
I've done the same thing and keep the hammer very clean. Still have some caps that stick every so often. Not a big deal to me.
Common to happen. But, with 'hot shot' style nipples this issue no longer occurs for me.
Hi Rifleman. I tried the vented hot shots from TOW in my TC's and they did not like them at all. The flash hole was too small for their liking. When I get time I will bore them out a little. Someone posted here awhile ago that two different suppliers of the 'hot shot' vented nipples used different flash hole sizes and he had some of each. I believe he said one batch was .028 and the other was .034. Mine are the smaller ones. Be nice if they listed this on the different sites. Then the OP would know what he is getting. SW
longcruise
70 Cal.
I find the CCIs stick more than the Remingtons. The Remingtons are shorter so maybe that helps. My DIY caps never hang up.
Most new nipples that I've measured were .028, and seem to have misfires about half the time in some rifles if you were using synthetic powder like 777. Anyway, I ordered a new percussion rifle a couple of years ago and the first thing i did was bore out the nipple to .030. that worked about 90% of the time, and then i boarded out to .031 and this worked good every since. I was using 777 because it is hard to get black in my part of the country.
Squint
sportster73hp
50 Cal.
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- Jan 16, 2020
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I have an invest arms that could hold three caps before it wouldn’t fire. Very confusing until I figured it out. Pocket knife, nipple pick or finger nail is all i needed to clear it. It’s not like it held three consecutive caps just that three would not accept the fourth
Thanks Howard. I have had the exact experience and have been using t7-2f. I haven't bored any out yet but as far as I can tell the ones that work best for my TC's are at .034. The ones that come with the Traditions Hawkens are tiny. Probably .028 or less, but it never fails to fire and I don't get hangfires either. I can get t7 in 3 f locally and was wondering if that would help my TC"s as well.
Any thoughts ? SW
I had two locks that looked like this one. They were original Joseph Golchers. I built a rifle with one and sold the other. My hammers get the same treatment.
Yep…..my Hopkins & Allen i just finished I also added a notch to the hammer.
Big believer in the forward facing v-notch
Attachments
morehops52
50 Cal.
I picked these out of my T/C Hawken last time out. 3 caps stuck and i didn't notice until I got home as there were no misfires. note one has a hole blown thru it.
