Different types of caps

[Mogadishu Meanderer]

I have come across about 1500 #10 CCI caps which happen to fit my Pietta original nipples nicely. I have not yet had a misfire. You speak of trying many caps but all on the same nipples? You have to find a combination of nipple/cap that works. Not all caps are sized the same and not all nipples are made the same. It may be true that CCI has a quality issue as of late but I think that the nipple/cap combination may be at issue.

Very well said. I got off the “one size fits all”bandwagon long ago and now properly match cap to nipple for the application and properly seat the cap with a wood push rod. I have literally fired thousands, yes thousands, of caps of all brands, I think I have had documented like may be 10 FTF due to the cap being faulty, and I can check but I believe most of the 10 were Winchester Magnums 11. Seen a lot of people capping with a capper, crap less scared of putting pressure on it to properly seat the cap, then double strike, they turn around and blame the cap.

 

[Crow Choker]

Natchez is a top shelf outfit, have had many a successful and pleased orders from them. I'm suspecting that possibly CCI had a bad run of caps, poor storage situation or whatever and possibly sent them out to distributors so as not take a hit on the cost of production and/or wasn't aware of the defective caps. I wouldn't think CCI would want their reputation tarnished.

On several other forums where the shooting of cap and ball percussion revolvers is one of the main endeavors and topics, shooters are complaining and mentioning failure with CCI caps also, mostly #11's as that is what the vast majority use being CCI #10's don't fit to many nipples. About the only thing the CCI 10's fit IMO and what I read is the tin they come in. Not that I'm needing any right now, I think I'll call Vista/Remington and inquire as to the production of their percussion caps, just curious to see if they're throwing the long faithful Remington percussion cap buyers under the bus. See on their website they still list Rem 10/11's under their muzzleloading section at $11 per 100 (but to check your local stores for availability). I'll advise of any news, be it just a customer service BS line or actual production news.

 

[Crow Choker]

Glad you found something CCI 10's fit 'fishmusic'. I have a variety of Peitta and Uberti revolvers that they don't fit factory nipples, nor do they fit any of the various nipples you can buy as replacements. Only exception is a spare Pietta Remington cylinder I bought from a member on another forum and they fit really tight. On all of my other hoglegs no matter if the nipples were factory or replacement, I had to push the CCI 10's to seat properly with a wooden dowel and was hoping I wouldn't cause the cap to detonate. Of the 500 I had, I think I only used 24. They fit the tin they came in and that's about it. I've heard this problem with CCI 10's not only on this forum, but others also and first hand from two other shooters I personally know in my area of residence. If someone is having to let the hammer fall twice on a cap they're doing something wrong and not following proper firing procedures in shooting a cap and ball percussion revolver.

 

[M. De Land]

Glad you found something CCI 10's fit 'fishmusic'. I have a variety of Peitta and Uberti revolvers that they don't fit factory nipples, nor do they fit any of the various nipples you can buy as replacements. Only exception is a spare Pietta Remington cylinder I bought from a member on another forum and they fit really tight. On all of my other hoglegs no matter if the nipples were factory or replacement, I had to push the CCI 10's to seat properly with a wooden dowel and was hoping I wouldn't cause the cap to detonate. Of the 500 I had, I think I only used 24. They fit the tin they came in and that's about it. I've heard this problem with CCI 10's not only on this forum, but others also and first hand from two other shooters I personally know in my area of residence. If someone is having to let the hammer fall twice on a cap they're doing something wrong and not following proper firing procedures in shooting a cap and ball percussion revolver.

Pressure alone does not ignite caps, impact or shock is required. You can test this by squeezing several (one at a time) in a vice from any direction but make sure you have adequate face protection when testing this out just in case .

 

[Crow Choker]

Pressure alone does not ignite caps, impact or shock is required. You can test this by squeezing several (one at a time) in a vice from any direction but make sure you have adequate face protection when testing this out just in case .

Ya M. De L., but I'm not going to tease Murphy's Law by squeezing a percussion cap in a vice. Ya, I'm aware a good forceful strike is required probably 99.9% of the time to cause a percussion cap to ignite, but again, by having to force a tight fitting cap to seat with a dowel, deer antler, or whatever, that 0.1% maybe probability is enough to say "Nah"!

Squeezing a percussion cap in a vice reminds me of a foolish kid some 10 years old or less that took a 22 LR from his Dad's 22 ammo supply, took it out to a weld shop, closed the door, placed the .22 rimfire on a vice, and wacked it with a ball peen hammer to see if it would go off. Yours truly here!!! What a bang, my ears were ringing for quite a while! Never did find where that bullet went, never told my Dad about it until I was probably around 30 when I figured the statute of limitations was probably expired. Dumb kid stuff. Can recall the incident and doing every step like pushing rewind on a tape. Still here to report on it though.

 

[Bad Karma]

Remington 10’s are the business in revolvers. I’m down to a thousand so I’m primarily using CCI 11’s on cone which are sized to fit. No push sticks or anything else needed with properly fitted cones seat them with thumb pressure and fire away.

 

[M. De Land]

Remington 10’s are the business in revolvers. I’m down to a thousand so I’m primarily using CCI 11’s on cone which are sized to fit. No push sticks or anything else needed with properly fitted cones seat them with thumb pressure and fire away.

Yeah, ideally that's how it's supposed to work. I use the snail and in line cappers for both rifle and hand gun depending on which the gun prefers. Once fouled I use a pop cycle stick to seat them and a wire or stiff tooth brush to clean them off when I can remember to put it in my shooting box.

 

[M. De Land]

Ya M. De L., but I'm not going to tease Murphy's Law by squeezing a percussion cap in a vice. Ya, I'm aware a good forceful strike is required probably 99.9% of the time to cause a percussion cap to ignite, but again, by having to force a tight fitting cap to seat with a dowel, deer antler, or whatever, that 0.1% maybe probability is enough to say "Nah"!

Squeezing a percussion cap in a vice reminds me of a foolish kid some 10 years old or less that took a 22 LR from his Dad's 22 ammo supply, took it out to a weld shop, closed the door, placed the .22 rimfire on a vice, and wacked it with a ball peen hammer to see if it would go off. Yours truly here!!! What a bang, my ears were ringing for quite a while! Never did find where that bullet went, never told my Dad about it until I was probably around 30 when I figured the statute of limitations was probably expired. Dumb kid stuff. Can recall the incident and doing every step like pushing rewind on a tape. Still here to report on it though.

Had you just squeezed the .22 cartridge nothing would have happened even if you had flattened it.
I had a middle school guy I new of that was always into experimenting and usually very intelligent person, find a silver colored cylinder about the size of an AAA battery, didn't know what it was and started investigating . Well he finally got the bright idea of hooking it up to dry sell battery and about blew the side of his face off ! Carried the scars along his jaw and cheek I believe for the rest of his life from the blasting cap !
He was blessed to keep his eyes !

 

[M. De Land]

So, you're saying the man's a liar? Really? I can only guess he made up the whole story just so you get the satisfaction of calling him a liar.

There can be other reasons for cap failure like when the fulmate disc comes loose and falls out which I have had happen before although I don't remember the cap brand. I don't shoot Remington much,usually CCI or RWS 1075's.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

I use only #10 CCI, and have never had one not work.
The home made ones, thats another story.

 

[Bad Karma]

Had you just squeezed the .22 cartridge nothing would have happened even if you had flattened it.
I had a middle school guy I new of that was always into experimenting and usually very intelligent person, find a silver colored cylinder about the size of an AAA battery, didn't know what it was and started investigating . Well he finally got the bright idea of hooking it up to dry sell battery and about blew the side of his face off ! Carried the scars along his jaw and cheek I believe for the rest of his life from the blasting cap !
He was blessed to keep his eyes !

I found a few of those in an old line shack. Put them in my pocket and carried them home. My dad was pretty upset when I handed over a handful of those caps.

 

[Smokerr]

I am working with a limited sample but after installing Slix shot cones , I found the Remington's just fell off and that was despite a stick push (those narrow Remington NMA slots you know).

The CCI caps stuck fine (and right now all I can get are Rem 11 and CCI 11).

I thought I would try the 76 ASP NMA Cones in the Pietta NMA . Rem and CCI failed to fire though those are the same metric base cones (granted major different era and mfg).

And the Pietta NMA cones were loose caps no matter which one I used.

So there can be some fine differences and pushing one or the other over an edge. I can shoot the Rem 11s in the ASP NMA. Have to see about the Ruger Old Army when I get it.

 

[Bad Karma]

I am working with a limited sample but after installing Slix shot cones , I found the Remington's just fell off and that was despite a stick push (those narrow Remington NMA slots you know).

The CCI caps stuck fine (and right now all I can get are Rem 11 and CCI 11).

I thought I would try the 76 ASP NMA Cones in the Pietta NMA . Rem and CCI failed to fire though those are the same metric base cones (granted major different era and mfg).

And the Pietta NMA cones were loose caps no matter which one I used.

So there can be some fine differences and pushing one or the other over an edge. I can shoot the Rem 11s in the ASP NMA. Have to see about the Ruger Old Army when I get it.

The cones are adjustable using a hammer and punch or files. Making them smaller is easily understood, making them fit larger caps is different. @Idaho Ron has a video that explains

 

[morehops52]

I've had several bad tins of Remington #11's. No charge or charge fell out. with quality today it's all a crap shoot. The only way things improve is by complaining , politely at first, loudly if needed. (of course good luck talking/hollering at a human)

 

[Smokerr]

I did some measuring of the Rem and CCI 11 caps today. I don't have the data written down yet, but at the top and lenght there is .010-.020 difference with the CCI smaller. I did not try to measure the open end as even tiny pressure is going to distort the skirt. I will try it when I have my log and micrometer in the same place but I would not trust that a whole lot.

That can easily be or even more likely cap strike and the cone differences. As noted the ASP will take the Rem 11s just fine but not the SS cones. If I have the option I will get CCI next time as those fit all.

The cones look alike on the ASP and Pietta and even measure close, but enough difference in the two guns that they won't fire the caps.

The SS cones should take the Rem 11s but I can see why they won't, you got to mfg to some standard.

I won't say there never are bad caps but I suspect most are just barely firing in the first place and a tiny shift puts them out of the right range and then you get bad caps.

I fired up the last 60 or so of the CCI caps from the 70s my wife gave me with the gun, no problems in her gun. On the Pietta NMA I had shifted over to the CCI caps on that gun as the Rems were falling off the cones.

Also a note intended test of Chain fire does not come from the rear as I got one to fire and realized they were falling off (yea its cold this time of the year and the hands don't have great feel so I did not realize what was going on, they seemed ok)

 

[M. De Land]

The cones are adjustable using a hammer and punch or files. Making them smaller is easily understood, making them fit larger caps is different. @Idaho Ron has a video that explains

I'd put a small ball bearing or hemisphere ended punch in the hole top and strike that rather than unevenly flair the perimeter of the nipple cone with ball peen hammer strikes.

 

[nick_1]

this whole conversation on which cap brand is the best is really rather pointless in todays market. We are stuck buying whatever we can find...

 

[45D]

I've always used CCI 11's for "test firing" in the shop. CCI's are harder than Rem. or RWS caps. It's a lot like Federal primers are the "go to" primers for handguns with lightened main springs. CCI primers are some of the hardest. That's one of the reasons Cowboy shooters use Rem. caps almost exclusively.
The idea is if the revolver will fire CCI's, it'll fire any others. So, my contention is It's more likely your action causing ignition problems than the caps themselves. My customers revolvers leave the shop with just a 4lb. hammer draw but will fire with CCI's. I've posted before about all the forces the mainspring has to overcome along with just moving the hammer to pop a cap. That's probably 95% of the reason
for a failure to fire. Not to mention too much endshake. Can't pop a cap if you can't hit it . . . that's why I set up contact with hammer and nipple throughout the range of endshake.

Mike

 

[springfield art]

I am really afraid this thread could go off the rails but here goes….
I have some Rem 10 and 11 caps, which never ever fail me. lately i bought a bunch of CCI 11 from Cabelas.
Today I went to range and here what i found…
Lots of misfires with CCI. My Colt 51 .36 Navy is semi-ok with CCI. But still prefer the Rems. What do i mean, Rems fire instant, the CCI have a delayed ignition sometimes and seem to fall apart after firing falling off the nipples.
My 48 Colt .31 hates them. A lot of misfires, cap jams (no cap jams with Rems). I picked off some CCI misfires and found no powder in the caps.
Am i the only one that found CCI inferior to Remington caps?
This was my experience at the range today, if yours is different dont get nasty and tell me its my pistol, its not. Shot over 1,000 rounds with Remington. Its the caps.

I've heard others say that. But where the heck can I get Rem's? The big conundrum.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

this whole conversation on which cap brand is the best is really rather pointless in todays market. We are stuck buying whatever we can find...

Well as luck has it ALWAYS with me..., I got a tap-o-cap tool and the ingredients to make #11 caps, THEN I found looked inside my lecture visuals for hunter safety and found an unopened tin of #11 CCI brand caps, from 2019. They still go BANG.

The home made ones work well too.

LD