Navy Arms Percussion caps

[NavyDoc76-80]

As a general rule of thumb, many contemporary Italian made muzzleloading rifles (yes, there are exceptions, think military muskets and shotguns for example) use 6-.75mm threaded nipple, while many Spanish made examples use a 6-1mm threaded nipple, again with exceptions. Many American production made rifles used 1/4-28, and again there were exceptions.

This statement, copied from SDSmlf really is the icing on my cake. First, your time and effort to put this together is appreciated. The one nipple size mentioned I haven’t purchased to fit is the 6-.75. It’s on my bucket list. Gonna try to get to a store and purchase matching screw before ordering Another nipple.

 

[kelvinator]

@NavyDoc76-80 have we not already determined that what you have is an Uberti manufactured Santa Fe Hawken "KIT" imported by Allen F.A. with a barrel date code of 1985?
As such, I cannot imagine your barrel being threaded differently that my (non kit) Allen FA SF Hawken with barrel date code of 1984.
Which is 1/4-28
Our serial numbers are within 500 of each other.
If a 1/4-28 nipple will not thread into your barrel, there can only be 2 reasons why.
1. The threads need to be chased/cleaned up on your barrel or your nipple or both.
2. Allen FA re-tapped the barrels of their finished rifles to 1/4-28 and left the kits threaded as they came from Italy... unlikely, but still does not necessarily mean the kits were metric, just that they were shipped un-assembled with no nipple ever threaded into the barrel and thus, being threaded in Italy could be out of spec just enough that a US standard 1/4-28 won't quite go in.

I've said it before... when building a kit, expect nothing to fit.

 

[NavyDoc76-80]

@NavyDoc76-80 have we not already determined that what you have is an Uberti manufactured Santa Fe Hawken "KIT" imported by Allen F.A. with a barrel date code of 1985?
As such, I cannot imagine your barrel being threaded differently that my (non kit) Allen FA SF Hawken with barrel date code of 1984.
Which is 1/4-28
Our serial numbers are within 500 of each other.
If a 1/4-28 nipple will not thread into your barrel, there can only be 2 reasons why.
1. The threads need to be chased/cleaned up on your barrel or your nipple or both.
2. Allen FA re-tapped the barrels of their finished rifles to 1/4-28 and left the kits threaded as they came from Italy... unlikely, but does not necessarily mean the kits were metric, just that they were shipped un-assembled with no nipple threaded into the barrel and thus, being threaded in Italy could be out of spec just enough that a US standard 1/4-28 won't quite go in.

Boy you just said a mouthful. So, you suggest getting a 1/4-28 tap and “chase” the threads. Clean them up, sharpen up the threads and might be golden? Everything you said makes sense. But I have to rule out the 6-.75 before forcing the tap mentioned. If wrong, bad day. If it is 1/4-28, then we finally know for sure. The pickle of all this, the three sizes are all very close. Though I do feel pretty confident that the 6-1.0 is a hair sloppy. It didn’t help when my thread checker said 1/4-28 was correct, then get the nipple and it didn’t screw in.. went in one turn and stopped.

 

[2 shots]

my thread checker said 1/4-28 was correct,

are you measuring the nipple or the barrel threads?? if you are not measuring the barrel ,you should be.if you are and they are 1/4 x28 run a bottoming tap into it with good cutting oil. or maybe your nipple is bad. go get a 1/4 x 28 bolt and try that before tapping..

 

[NavyDoc76-80]

are you measuring the nipple or the barrel threads?? if you are not measuring the barrel ,you should be.if you are and they are 1/4 x28 run a bottoming tap into it with good cutting oil. or maybe your nipple is bad. go get a 1/4 x 28 bolt and try that before tapping..

Determining barrel thread for a nipple. Have ran a 1/4-28 bolt into thread checker. Smooth. Into rifle, this time I got 1 and 1/2 turns then stopped. Once I rule out the other thread possibility I will get more aggressive towards it being 1/4-28.
Of course as luck would have it. No hardware store had a 6-.75 screw/bolt to check threads, so I ordered a nipple for a test.

 

[2 shots]

best to get a thread pitch gauges [ U.S. and metric] so you can check the threads in the barrel. you may have to grind down the back of the gauge to fit the hole.

 

[NavyDoc76-80]

best to get a thread pitch gauges [ U.S. and metric] so you can check the threads in the barrel.

Ha! I use to have one, dang if I could put my hands on it now. Should have done that from the very beginning.