How Often Nipple Replacement

[stinkyfeet]

I blow a nipple out on a TC about every 100-125 shots. I am running 120 grains of 2f and the old 455 grain maxi and it destroys nipples.

 

[cynthialee]

wow
makes my PRB loads with 70-90 grains of 3f look like a small load
I couldn't imagine what that load must kick like and I have no intention of ever finding out. :youcrazy:

 

[stinkyfeet]

Yeah Yeah I know I am a dumba$$ however I am still sort of young and dumb and don't mind the recoil quite yet. But you might wanna give it a shot Cynthia it really isn't to bad, but then again the TC stock is reshaped and has cast off to take the recoil away from my face instead of into it.

 

[MacRob46]

Yeah Yeah I know I am a dumba$$ however I am still sort of young and dumb and don't mind the recoil quite yet. But you might wanna give it a shot Cynthia it really isn't to bad, but then again the TC stock is reshaped and has cast off to take the recoil away from my face instead of into it.

It will get old after awhile and heavy loads do not contribute much to accuracy, as a rule.

 

[Eljay]

I almost always replace mine when I get them. Most factory nipples are just so bad, and on my few originals I take that case by case but as it turns out either they've looked kind of dodgy or they came with a nipple for #12 caps or some other bizarre scenario. Basically I just don't know where they've been. So with rare exceptions I start shooting with a new nipple.

I do have the tools to measure thread pitch which helps. And usually it's not too hard to find a nipple for any weird thing if you check 2-3 online stores. A couple of times I've had to order a couple of lengths of the correct thread pitch and just see what works but I've never failed to find something.

After that I just try to keep an eye on them - any visible signs of wear or any kind of odd behavior and they're gone. They're just not that expensive and there's only so many things that can go wrong once you get a black powder gun working. So if it starts acting weird there's something to be said for replacing the nipple before trying anything crazy.

 

[stinkyfeet]

Well the deer, bear, and hogs never has time to complain about the accuracy of the load. And to me that's all I need for that rifle. I lied I need an elk tag to use the gun on.

 

[ohio ramrod]

I keep a fine drill bit handy in my shooting box and once the flash hole burns past 1/32 . (.032) I replace them. Since I shoot a low powder charge and prb they will usually last for over 1000 rounds. With the deer rifle and heavier powder charges and heavy mini's I am lucky to get over 200 rounds. As to the nipple flatening out I just stone them if needed on guns I repair for others, never dry firing my own guns I have no problem with my nipples wearing flat. :idunno:

 

[gradog]

A lot of good answers and info. The blow back, opening up of patterns and misfires were things I didn't think about. I think around 200 to 300 shots is where I will probably draw the line. Thanks.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Never seen so many replies I disagreed with. :shocked2:
For most of history nipples did burn out quite readily. And, many were designed on the theory that a big hole at the bottom was the most efficient.
But, in more recent years, it was discovered that a tiny hole concentrated a hotter, and more efficient flame. (one of the main designers of this style was Dan Pawlak. He was the inventor of Pyrodex and he was a genuine rocket scientist and rocket propulsion specialist. He knew his stuff.)
The ampco nipple is a brass/bronze alloy that lasts much longer than most of us need to concern ourselves with. They will tire out the Energize Bunny with longevity. If you have concerns, yes, replace your old nipple with a Treso/ampco and go shooting. Personally, I like those in the Hot Shot style and find them reliable and make for easy cap removal.

 

[necchi]

For most of history nipples did burn out quite readily.

We don't know that except for speculation.
Nipples where far from indestructible as evidenced here in Russel's Journals of a Trapper;

" next day Allen shot a Grizzly Bear and bursted the percussion tube of his rifle which obliged us to return to our comrades on the 13th and make another tube."

Ampco are in a class by themselves, but the common stainless steel alloy nipples are subject to gas cutting (period) and accuracy does suffer once the holes begins to burn out.
Now I'm talking about "X" hunting accuracy here, for the guy that just "plinks" at target and a game hunter a stainless nipple could last years.

 

[Cleburne]

I have a GPR flinter, .... what's a nipple??? :grin:

 

[nkbj]

The holes in nipples need to be small so that flintlock shooters can laugh when the capper goes pop instead of pop-boom.

 

[AZbpBurner]

I have a GPR flinter, .... what's a nipple??? :grin:

They're that double row of spigots on the underside of that sow hog you shot with your GPR flinter :hatsoff:

 

[stinkyfeet]

Hey wait a second when I get a flash in the pan all the percussion guys laugh and go thousand one thousand two and yell bang.. So its a two way manure talkathon.

 

[stinkyfeet]

The Male Boar have nipples to just saying thus the saying "your about as useless as ummm (tango india tango seria) on a boar hog"

 

[jferguson]

well said!

 

[Billnpatti]

Your doctor uses the abbreviation PRN, which is the abbreviation for the Latin pro re nata, meaning "as needed". Just how often you will need to change your nipple will depend on the material the nipple is made of, how heavy of a charge you shoot (extra heavy charges can actually give you a blow back through the nipple and that will erode the hole) and how well and how often you clean your nipple. There are just too many variables for me to give you an exact or even a reasonable approximation of how often you should change your nipple. You change PRN (as needed).

 

[nhmoose]

...when the hammer recocks on its own from blow back.

Does that really happen?

Yes on every 1970's Spanish CVA kits (rifle or handgun) from first shot until replaced with a quality nipple.

They supplied kit nipples would have an 1/8 inch hole at the bottom

 

[Artificer]

Can’t even remember how many broken or rusted in place cones/nipples I saw and had to get out of NSSA barrels over the 23 plus years I worked the Spring and Fall National Championships. I could COUNT on at least two or three per shoot. One shooter with a Mississippi rifle never took his nipple out for years of shooting and by the time I got the nipple out, there was not enough intact metal in the barrel threads to hold another nipple as the rust had eaten that much of the metal away. That problem was solved by having a machinist make a standard musket upper portion of the nipple, but with an oversized lower threaded portion. Oh, and a good half dozen to a dozen of those nipples WERE Ampco nipples that were never pulled and cleaned for years.

NSSA shooters usually do NOT shoot heavy loads. Actually, the somewhat normal accuracy load is about 28 - 32 grains which was half the service load of 60 grains.

When I became the Team Armourer for the U.S. International Muzzle Loading Team, I most strongly recommended that all nipples be Ampco AND the shooters change their nipples at least at the beginning of the shooting season every year. As I informed them, it is best to have a fresh nipple in the gun and shoot it enough to ensure the new nipple did not upset their accuracy load.(Yes, that can and has happened.) I told them they DID NOT want the nipple to go out DURING an International Zone Shoot or worse, a World Championship.

And, yes, even in muzzle loading world there are people who do not listen and pay heed to their Armourer.

Sure enough about 9 months after my warning, we are in Wedgnock, UK and one of our best Female Shooters had the nipple go out in her original under hammer target rifle. It was an Ampco nipple, BTW. I was on my way back from the “necessary shack” when I found her frantically going through all the original and reproduction nipple wrenches I had laid out on the picnic table that was my “work bench.” I calmed her down, took her rifle and fortunately the nipple came out without too much difficulty. Thank Heavens someone had rethreaded the original barrel with the modern ¼ x 28 thread and I had a new nipple installed for her in short order.

This Lady and her husband were both, individually, long time friends of mine, so I had her sit down and calm down a bit. I asked her when she had last had the nipple changed and she said, “I think it was last year.” I had her drink some water and then informed her, “Well, THIS time I hope you listen to me!” She grinned. I told her I wanted her to take 10 well aimed shots at each target and distance she shot to ensure he accuracy load was still good. She did and the rifle came right back to the proper group size and group placement.

I would love to tell you she won the Gold Medal that she had won in the past and was capable of doing, but she only won the Silver in the 100 M Ladies prone rifle match. She got beat by the Wife of the Swiss Team Captain. That was bad enough, BUT I had brought the lock on the Swiss Lady’s original percussion Jaeger rifle back from the dead after some puke (who called himself a gunsmith) had butchered the tumbler and sear with a snag grinder. The Lady on the U.S. Team was NOT very happy with me for a few days after that”¦”¦..

Gus

 

[Bear Rider]

No good deed goes unpunished. :grin: