Half cock for 39 years and never had a cap fall off.
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Hunting with a percussion rifle
- Thread starter Wolf777
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Half cock. That's what its there for. I may pinch a loose fitting cap to keep it secure. Never had a problem. Hammer down on a cap is a recipe for disaster when stalking in brushy terrain. See if your rifle will fire a cap by pulling the hammer back just shy of half cock and releasing. If it does, a snagged branch can cause an accidental discharge. Surprise !!!
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I make sure the cap fits on the nipple as it’s supposed to do. Tight enough to be difficult to remove and the priming compound firmly against the cone so it ignites as it’s designed to do. Hammer on half cock. Zero issues with this system…
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If I am hunting alone, I carry my percussion rifle capped and half-cocked. If I am not alone, I cap when I am ready to pull the trigger. I carry my caps in a hard rubber capper hanging from my trigger guard and it only takes a couple seconds - but yes, it has cost me a shot or two by not having a cap in place. I can live with that.
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I have a couple of the old TC plastic cappers around here. One of those might work as you’re using them. I’ve used them on the bench but there’s not much advantage to them there.
I'm shocked reading through this the amount of people walking around with their hammer down sitting on a cap. Dangerous and asking for trouble, all it takes is a trip or a hard knock and boom!
Not that I do much caplock hunting anymore but always just go half cock nipple on. One of my guns had caps always a little loose, I just squeezed them out of shape just a tad and they sat perfectly. Never had an issue in a hunting situation and always safe.
Not that I do much caplock hunting anymore but always just go half cock nipple on. One of my guns had caps always a little loose, I just squeezed them out of shape just a tad and they sat perfectly. Never had an issue in a hunting situation and always safe.
Billywfe
32 Cal
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Well dang, purists won't tolerate even a little heresy. I better skedaddle fore I get burned at the stake
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I hunt with the hammer at half cock and the nipple capped, but, I put a foam ear plug between the cap and hammer nose. When I pull the hammer back to full cock the ear plug falls off on it's own.
Don't skedaddle on my account, Billy. I like your Hawken Heresies. I'm stripping the valve caps off of all our vehicles as I type.
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Half Cock with a pinched cap, very hard to remove cap after being pinched. You will never loose one"FER SHER"!!
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No! No! We have your firing squad all lined up ... with hammers at half-cock so that ......
Half cock here. I hunt with a T/C New Englander and have taken many deer and hogs with it. I've always carried at half cock as I alway felt it was the safest way to go. Hammer down I was always concerned should I misstep or fall the impact may be enough to fire off the cap with the muzzle in an uncontrolled direction.
Dave91
36 Cl.
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Cap on, hammer down, as of a week ago. I used to be in the half-cocked camp until I was sitting in my stand and looked down and my cap was gone. They stay on pretty good so how it happened I have no idea. Could have been hugely disappointing if I had discovered the issue with a deer in my sights.
Back in Nam they just used a magnum condom.
smoothshooter
50 Cal.
If carrying hammer down, a piece of leather under the hammer nose would not be a bad practice.
longcruise
70 Cal.
That's my practice as of last year. A dropped gun on half cock can go off and i suspect it could with hammer down too. The hammer down on leather (I use a thick piece) falls away easily so it's no hindrance to shooting.
Yup. Been doing that for many, many, years and still do. Even in the rough going, steep mountains. And yes, I have slipped quite a few times and have hit the ground. Just happened again a few days ago. Not a problem.
longcruise
70 Cal.
I dropped my rife from a tree once. Capped and on half cock! Happily, it didn’t go off. It was pointing straight up when it hit the ground. Wonder what could happen if the hammer was down on a cap and the hammer hit something on the way down?
Most likely nothing. But if I thought I might drop my ML from a treestand, I would most likely keep it on half cock too. Actually, I wouldn't mind doing so in a tree but I ain't walking around with it on half cock.
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I had better uses for the Magnum condoms. I used regular ones for the rifle… ;-)
