Drilling out a nipple

[Herb]

Thanks, that is a good explanation and I see its value. Easy to do, too.

 

[JMinnerath]

When I first ran across this forum, maybe about a year ago, there was a thread on this same subject that just went on and on.
I think I even measured some nipples with number size drill blanks.
I had never had any problems, then about that time picked up a can of Pyrodex, couldn't get it to fire worth beans.
I finally made a scraper and got down in the barrel and really cleaned out that chamber.
Got lots of old burned in carbon fouling and got a wire into the flame channel too, same thing.
Stuff had built up for years I suppose.
After I got that caked in carbon out I never had a problem again.

 

[crockett]

You can buy a nipple on standard threads that will take a musket cap. That's what I did when using pyrodex but then I decided I liked good old black powder a whole lot better.

 

[Huntin_Dawg1215]

I did the same, I went with bp and just kept the musket nipple.

 

[PreserveFreedom]

I prefer musket nipples as well. I have converted one of my rifles and one pistol to take musket nipples. I personally see several advantages:

• More reliable ignition
• Easier to handle because the caps are larger
• Less nipple distortion which leads to proper seating and less misfires
• When fired, they open up along the score lines and fall off when hammer pressure is removed

If you decide to stay with #11 caps, there is a trick someone once passed my way. If you want a little extra power in your ignition, put one granule of powder in the nipple under the cap. It's enough to flash but not enough to push your hammer back up. If you do this, put only one granule of powder in there.

 

[paulvallandigham]

WADR, the only accidental injuries I have seen first hand, or heard of, to thumbs, occurred when men were pushing tight fitting Musket caps down on dirty nipples. The caps went off, causing both blisters, deep bruising, and in one case a major tear that required a couple of stitches to close. I am sure that similar accidents have also occurred when thumbs were used to press down a #11 cap on a standard nipple, too.

It makes no Safe sense to put caps on a nipple with your bare fingers- no matter what caps are used. USE A CAPPING TOOL.

I began shooting percussion caps using a straight line capping tool, sold by Navy Arms, back then. But every supplier sells this simply tool. I "graduated" to using a Tedd Cash products oval capper, because I could dump all 100 caps from a tin into the capper, shake it a few times to turn all the caps right side up, close the lid and forget about it for months of shooting.

More important, using the capper put metal behind the cap- not my flesh.

Drilling out nipples is a dangerous practice and an invitation to an unnecessary accident. :nono: :shake: Go visit the slug gun shooters and bench rest shooters at Friendship or other major shoots around the country. They represent the "Research and Development" side of this sport. They will tell you lots of horror stories about fellows who screwed around with their nipples, and saw their guns come apart.

My brother had a nipple disappear one day when he was firing a mild load of 40 grains FFFg in his .40 caliber percussion rifle. It seems that the factory nipple was an American thread size, but the bolster was metric. He was lucky in that he wasn't injured, nor was our father, or me, standing behind him as he fired the gun. The nipple sailed up and over all of us, and was lost in the coarse stone in the drive to the range behind us.

 

[Swtodd]

What? Putting caps on with fingers is a safety violation? I'm gonna be sorry i posted this, but here we go.

steve

 

[Dphar]

I've had trouble with misfires and I'm thinking I'm not getting enough fire to the powder. It happens a various times when I'm shooting. Pyrodex and and conventional nipple. Any experience in drilling out the nipple?

Mistake. You will have a lot of gas escape close to your face.

Dan

 

[MikeW319]

Thanks for all the information. I have never liked pyrodex as well a Black Powder so I going to switch and see what happens if that doesn't help I'll get a different nipple.

 

[RBK]

Listen to Zonie.

Wish I had been a member here several years ago because I drilled out a nipple on a .40 cal pistol to get it to work. Well...it worked alright, blew the hammer back several times. I finally caught on and, changed to BP and the correct nipple.

I will not repeat that mistake again, I swear.

 

[hawkenman]

As you have been advised, do not enlarge your nipple port any larger. I build Hawken rifles and I have not had a miss fire in 30 years. The day before black powder season I take my gun, remove the stock and wrap the barrel with a cloth. Then I use my wife's tea kettle to pour scolding water down the barrel, it gets all the oil out of it and the barrel heats up's so much that any moisture will evaporate. Later on after the barrel cools I take out the nipple,and clean it with a pipe cleaner. The morning of my hunt I use 130 grains of Pyrodex, I take a flinllock primer tool and put just a little bit of 4X powder under the nipple before I screw it in.And it goes off everytime. I have a friend that took a 1/16 drill bit and opened up the port hole. When he fired the back pressure ripped out the nipple and tore him up pretty good. Our black powder season here in Florida lasts about 2 weeks. I leave my gun loaded for the whole duration. I can say that our for fathers did not unload their guns every day. But the biggest enemy of misfires is left over oil from storage.

 

[russecv58]

i'm with everyone else on this one. i would definitley NOT drill out the nipple. blow back is really not fun, especially when it violently recocks the hammer and lets a jet of hot gas and cap fragments shoot back toward your face. i reccomed a MSM spitfire nipple, they have a small hole, and are coned on the bottom. i'd also switch to real BP. just make sure you clean your rifle really well with a good dish soap and hot water, and get ya some pipe cleaners and scrub that flash channel really good too. good luck :thumbsup: