Creative Ignition

[1942farmall]

During the current period where percussion caps appear to be hard to find and unreasonably expensive.
My curiosity has me wondering...
Has anybody tried a spent cap with a roll cap (from a kids cap gun) or two simply inserted?
Not sure if they would have the fire required for consistent ignition.
I've seen on other forums for cartridge reloading people attempting to recharge primers so it got my mind turning on percussion caps. I'd never try it with reloading primers and would be concerned about my fingers but am curious what others have successfully tried (and not hurt themselves in the process)

 

[deerstalkert]

have done it . percussion and unmentionables. works. fingers were made to abuse!

 

[Whitworth]

Caps of the 50's and 60's had a huge blob of blob of powder compared to today's caps. In a bunch of black powder gun stuff I purchased at an estate auction was a tin of homemade caps and a bunch of roll caps so they must have been doing something with them.

 

[Colonial Boy]

Kids’ toy caps work especially the complete plastic percussion caps.
Under our laws one is required to have a firearms licence, a category B, to purchase percussion caps but there is no restriction on the children’s kind.

 

[DuncNZ]

There used to be a kit called Tap-o-cap where you tapped a cap out of beer can alloy then put a cap gun cap in the alloy cap . I believe it worked well .

 

[sheriff john]

During WWII, Filipino resistance fighters used kitchen (strike anywhere) match heads to reload primers in cartridges. (From the book "They Fought Alone"). Might work with percussion caps, don't know. As a kid, I remember some caps that were peeled off individually for use in certain cap guns. They might work stuck on the underside of the hammer instead of on the nipple. Man, I AM getting old.

Opened a can of "Goldmark" caps this evening - way before my time. Do not look promising. At least some of the Alcans go off - sometimes.

 

[DuncNZ]

I had Afghani come in the gunshop 35 years ago . He had found a double rifle in a hut and wanted brass to reload , I sold him 50 .357 H&H magnum brass , then I asked what he was going to do for primers and powder , pull fired primers apart and refill with strike any where match heads and use powder from a RPG !!

 

[William Lincoln]

They still sell a type of tap o cap but price went up from $15 to $50 you can
buy the Prime-all stuff. But the best caps are factory-made--most consistent.

 

[Dark Wolf]

My #11 cap maker should be delivered this afternoon. I paid $50 (shipping included) for the tool. I have read that people that have bought the tool and made caps are getting nearly 100% ignition, depending on the method they use for charging them.

DW

 

[Tasbay]

I use the toy plastic cap gun caps all the time. Cheap and work. If you do have a gun that is a bit reluctant with the toy caps to ignite, remove the white insert and place 4-5 granules of powder in the cap and replace the insert, had to do this for my Zouave. The caps fit the #11.

 

[n.h.schmidt]

The Sharpshooter/22 Reloader Cap Maker is a quality made product.I have a Forrester Auto-cap and the new Cap MakerThey are both good. It seems that this has come into it's own. Some of us here have been doing this a long while and can help with questions. What works and what will not. The Prime / all you can order will work and is powerful. To answer the first question. Yes you can reload a used cup if you find any that are in good shape. I don't get them like that.Anymore I just use my own.

 

[dave951]

Well there truly isn't anything new under the sun.......

take a look at what they were trying back in the late 1800s. Maynard tape priming system.

 

[UndeadPoet]

Well there truly isn't anything new under the sun.......

take a look at what they were trying back in the late 1800s. Maynard tape priming system.
View attachment 107706

Yeah, when I think about the old roll-cap toy cap guns I had back in the day (40-50 years ago), I guess they were basically a “Maynard-style” double-action. You pull the trigger and it advances the cap to be ignited.

 

[Tumbledown]

Well there truly isn't anything new under the sun.......

take a look at what they were trying back in the late 1800s. Maynard tape priming system.
View attachment 107706

Mid 1800s. That was developed just prior to the Civil War but proved unreliable due to exposure in bad weather.

 

[centershot]

I know primers are also hard to come by these days, but Pedersoli makes/made a conversion for large pistol (or rifle, can't remember) primers to fit on percussion locks. It's slow to reload but it lets you shoot/hunt if caps are unavailable but you have primers.

 

[Whitworth]

Yeah, when I think about the old roll-cap toy cap guns I had back in the day (40-50 years ago), I guess they were basically a “Maynard-style” double-action. You pull the trigger and it advances the cap to be ignited.

Back then we didn't know to clean our cap guns to remove the black powder fouling. No wonder they all rusted up internally and got thrown away when rusty springs broke I had a lot of cap guns of all types but my little brother had the coolest of all, a Mattel Tommy Burst. It sure ate up a roll of caps fast.

 

[jim mencken]

anybody remember the fanner 50 six shooter ????

 

[Elkhorse]

anybody remember the fanner 50 six shooter ????

Yup I had one and was going to mention and you posted. Those were the days!

 

[jim mencken]

how about the belt buckle derringer????

 

[Elkhorse]

how about the belt buckle derringer????

Yea you push the button and it flipped out as I recall. If we had that stuff now $$$