Is It Safe To Rest The Hammer On The Cap?

[Mulebrain]

I have tested this, and the cap requires a very hard strike to light off!

I think it would take a very hard strike to light off the cap.

In regards to hunting this could be a nich!

I wonder if stats exist, of required striking power to ignite the cap?

 

Are you out of your mind?

 

[mike alexandre]

Just let me know and I wont be around!

 

[jdstrang]

No. Don't. Please. :no: :no: :no:

 

[cayugad]

They make cap covers for those that want to have a cap on the nipple and the hammer down. It is supposed to help keep the cap water proof. I have also heard the cap off the stem of a tire will also cover all of that but have never bothered to try it.

Personally I would be a little careful carrying that rifle with the hammer rested on the cap of a loaded rifle. My luck is I would slip, drop the rifle and it would go off. I personally carry on half cock.

 

[roundball]

I have tested this, and the cap requires a very hard strike to light off!

I think it would take a very hard strike to light off the cap.

In regards to hunting this could be a nich!

I wonder if stats exist, of required striking power to ignite the cap?

In addition to the hammer being vulnerable to a blow which could set off the cap, I think another real concern is that the hammer could momentarily by caught on almost anything, lifted up briefly then released and allowed to drop back down on the cap...seems like it should be a little safer on the half cock notch moving around with a loaded/capped rifle...
:m2c:

 

[Claude Mathis]

I have tested this, and the cap requires a very hard strike to light off!

I think it would take a very hard strike to light off the cap.

With all due respect, "hard strike" is a relative term and the actual number of foot pounds are irrelevant when it comes to safety.

The only sure why to prevent that kind of accident is to simply not do it.

 

[wilded]

You can load all the chambers on a cap and ball revolver and carry safely by letting the hammer rest between two cylinders.

 

[Zonie]

I think there is also very little possibility of an explosion in a black powder factory if someone chooses to smoke a cigarette! :: What are the chances that a hot ash would fall into the powder? :: ::
To me, this statement is strikingly similar to the idea of carrying a gun with the hammer sitting directly on the primer/cap.

IMO, life is too short as it is without taking unnecessary chances. There isn't a deer or elk in the world that is worth taking the chanch that a gun won't fire when it could result in maiming or killing of someone.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

I had a really close call that way. My dad and I were pheasant hunting. Got into the car to drive a short distance to another farm. Dad had left the caps on his double 12 because they were hard to remove and he decided it was safer to set the hammers down than to trust half-cock. As we were getting our guns from the back seat of his old 4 door Dodge, dad pulled his gun toward him by the toe of the stock. The sight snagged on the car seat, the stock slipped from his fingers and the gun dropped only a few inches but with one hammer right across the barrels of my gun for which I was just reaching from the opposite side of the car. KABOOM! Smoke,lead and shattered glass everywhere. I was untouched but could hardly believe it because the muzzle was pointed pretty much at me. He had about 20 pounds of birdshot in a large glass jar on the car seat and that had caught the full blast and flew around like shrapnel but with no force, just lead and glass rain.
We laughed like fools as we scooped up snow to put out the fire in the car seat. Come to think of it, we were fools. ::

 

[roundball]

I have tested this, and the cap requires a very hard strike to light off!
I think it would take a very hard strike to light off the cap. In regards to hunting this could be a nich!
I wonder if stats exist, of required striking power to ignite the cap?

In addition to the hammer being vulnerable to a blow which could set off the cap, I think another real concern is that the hammer could momentarily by caught on almost anything, lifted up briefly then released and allowed to drop back down on the cap...seems like it should be a little safer on the half cock notch moving around with a loaded/capped rifle...
:m2c:

As discussed in an earlier thread, these are simple, easy, quick to use...they waterproof the nipple and act as a good safety.

(no affiliation with them other than using them on every percussion I own)

http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/ubbthr...p;page=4#121006

 

[Maynerd62411]

In Illinois , it is illegal to carry a muzzleloader in a vehicle with a cap on . It's considered loaded. The hammer must be lowered onto the nipple, as well.

 

[Dave K]

I am not sure what the real answer is. I have two old original guns and they were not made with a half cock. But, I did have a T/C once and had it at half cock and the sear failed and the gun fired! Scared the heck out of me and my friends. My other two buddies had the very same thing happen to them with thier T/C's. 1/2 cock is NOT safe either.

 

[Mulebrain]

With the introduction of percussion ignition systems, I find it hard to believe that many folks didn't carry it that way!

During the Civil War were arms ever carried loaded??

I know it is less safe and not recommended! I understand, that if the hammer gets hit we have a boom!

 

[[email protected]]

SIMPLY: No.

Nuff Said,

*** WV SCROUNGER ***

 

[Mulebrain]

roundball, I checked out that device you are talking about, and I like it! Good idea!

 

[Dave K]

Makes one wonder. There are those old sayings that implies that you are 1/2 crazy if you run around "1/2 cocked". Also it seems to mean, go as fast as possible, if you "put the hammer down".

 

[jackc]

I have tested this, and the cap requires a very hard strike to light off!

I think it would take a very hard strike to light off the cap.

In regards to hunting this could be a nich!

I wonder if stats exist, of required striking power to ignite the cap?

In the words of veteran defensive firearms trainer, John Farnam, this is an example of a (temporarily) positve outcome reinforcing a negative behavior. The gun WILL eventually go off and at the most terrible time if you carry it with the hammer down on a cap.

THere is nothing worth that risk.

Please don't.
jack

 

[tg]

When I hunted with caplocks I let the hammer rest on a thick soft piece of leather tied off in a manner that when the gun was cocked the leather was pulled out of the way...it worked very well.

 

I tested it too and found I could not fire a cap hitting it with my hand but I could by rapping the hammer with a piece of wood or something similar. However, like others, I am more worried by the hammer catching on something and raising slightly, just to fall and go off.