Fitting a nipple questions-

[TRP]

Good day all! I have a nice Rigby target rifle with no nipple. * I've bought one at the gun show, and I don't know about how much it should stick up. As it is, the hammer nose rests on the top of the nipple and that stops its downward travel.

I have it in my mind that the nipple is supposed to be separated from the hammer face at the bottom of travel, that there is supposed to be a tiny gap so the hammer doesn't batter the nipple and the lock, rather than the hammer, stops the fall preventing strain on the hammer neck.

Is my vague memory right, should I file the nipple down?

*Perhaps a beaver got it.

 

[Phil Coffins]

The hammer generally sets on the nipple in the down position. It needn’t travel much more but being short of contact is less likely to fire the cap.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

On all the percussion rifles I've seen the hammer hits the nipple pretty hard. Battering doesn't seem to be much of a problem.

 

[stubshaft]

The hammer sits squarely on the nipple on all of my caplocks.

 

[wiscoaster]

On all the percussion rifles I've seen the hammer hits the nipple pretty hard. Battering doesn't seem to be much of a problem.

The hammer sits squarely on the nipple on all of my caplocks.

.... and that's why it's inadvisable to dry fire a percussion gun without something (such as a cap or dummy cap) on the nipple. The hammer is definitely going to hit the nipple and contact it if there's nothing on it. That's how it's supposed to work, as I understand it. That being said, an occasional bare nipple strike shouldn't be enough to damage it.

 

[TRP]

I thought I was misremembering, thank you all for clearing me up. We will see how it shoots. Although I'm not entirely sure the nipple thread is right, have to do a cast of the barrel threads and take it to a machine shop for gauging.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

If you just take the barrel to a machinist he should be able to gauge the threads without doing a cast. Or you can try new nipples to see if they fit.