OMG Percussion caps at my local Gun Store

[Muzzle57]

Not sure I see the connection, but for what it’s worth I was pushing a wheelbarrow for a bricklayer.

Yep, i also worked masonry back several years ago. Hard work and at quitting time i was tired and ready for supper. But what i liked about the work was at the end of the day you could stand back and see what you had accomplished and not have to wonder if you had done your job and made a difference.

 

[mushka]

In the Sportsman's Warehouse in Yuma yesterday and just browsing for small items and they had cci
#10's for $5.99 a tin. Lots of them and no limit far as I could see. I didn't buy any as I have plenty of 10's and mostly use 11's.

 

[Uncle Miltie]

you were making a dollar and hour cause you were at a low entry job

Maybe they lived in an area far removed from urban and manucturing centers and made less because that's all that was available, just like today......

 

[jdw276]

Maybe they lived in an area far removed from urban and manucturing centers and made less because that's all that was available, just like today......

Or that was minimum wage. I was 1.75 when i was putting myself through college.

 

[J. Paul]

And in 1960, I was 4 years old, woke up Christmas morning and had a Mattel Fanner 50 Shootin Shell revolver under the tree, with plenty of caps and those gray snap-on bullets. I sure am glad there wasn't a cap shortage then. I was so small that my Dad had to punch some extra holes in the leather belt.

I ran across my old fanner a few years back

 

[SPQR70AD]

Not sure I see the connection, but for what it’s worth I was pushing a wheelbarrow for a bricklayer.

no connection? you were the lowest guy on the crew a laborer. the masons laying block and brick made a lot more then you. I started carrying lumber 15 years old in 1968 at $2..50 an hour the carpenters were making 8 dollars an hour. do you understand?

 

[Stantheman86]

"Hoarding " is subjective

I buy caps to shoot, and I burn them up pretty regularly, so Dunham's or Cabelas will take my $$ the same as anyone else who had the same ability to drive to the store like any of us

Percussion caps are a "hobby item" in my opinion . Sure, in a pinch I can use my cap and ballers to defend myself the same as any other weapon. But I don't think of caps as a "necessity "

There are probably hobbies I could care less about that have a shortage of something and people involved in that are "hoarding " , who knows. Is there a fishing bobber shortage? Some guy on The Fishing Forum is all like "just bought Dunham's out of bobbers"

For a while, back in 2019 I had very few musket caps and maybe a couple pounds of powder, so I just fired them less. I worked on other hobbies

Sure I even consider .22 LR a "necessity " and I've got bricks of it hidden all over the place. I'll use that to repel boarders before I'm loading a percussion firearm

If I want to drive to Dunham's and clean them out of $13 #11's I definitely can the same as any other consumer, I'm sure what's on the shelf is what's there after Dunham's employees got a few tins for muzzleloading season. Hoarding for resale is grimy and I hope anyone that does that's Christmas Tree burns down..... if you're stocking up because you're an avid shooter, all's fair in Love and Muzzleloading. I will buy 5 or 10 tins to keep my #11 using guns shooting even if I have 2,000 put away. Dunham's put them out for sale to any customer, if I don't buy them someone else will.

 

[sheriff john]

Hard to shoot w/o caps. Likewise, seems to me hard to sell percussion firearms with zero supplies on the shelf. Perhaps part of the reason our numbers are shrinking? Manufacturers and distributors need to keep investors' money moving, not sitting unsold in warehouses or store shelves.

So, I bought a couple of tins at (to me) stupid high prices. Demand drives supply. When the demand for common calibers is finally satisfied, for example, not-so-popular goods start to appear. Lately, unmentionable ammo prices have come down. Same will happen with our stuff, eventually.

 

[Codger Craig Wilcox]

If I’m going to hoard something it will be an item such as caps and flints. You can hoard the toilet paper. Plenty of paper products available for that purpose

Or a wet wash rag and some bleach in a bucket.
I am told that some societies use their left hand for such things, their right is for eating. Pity the one-handed man!

 

[Bad Karma]

Maybe it’s a new line of high-speed and improved cap making machines!

Designed for the hobbyist shooter to produce perfect caps, all three sizes, the equal of Remington or RWS, while using non corrosive priming mix.


(if we’re gonna dream, dream big!)

 

[Stantheman86]

Hard to shoot w/o caps. Likewise, seems to me hard to sell percussion firearms with zero supplies on the shelf. Perhaps part of the reason our numbers are shrinking? Manufacturers and distributors need to keep investors' money moving, not sitting unsold in warehouses or store shelves.

So, I bought a couple of tins at (to me) stupid high prices. Demand drives supply. When the demand for common calibers is finally satisfied, for example, not-so-popular goods start to appear. Lately, unmentionable ammo prices have come down. Same will happen with our stuff, eventually.

Dunham's ironically doesn't have any percussion revolvers and few if any caplock sidehammer muzzleloaders, maybe some inlines but they always have 50+ tins of CCI #11's in the muzzleloading section

Cabelas had a case overflowing with Pietta cap and ball revolvers yesterday, 0 military style muskets or rifles when for years, they have always had the usual rack full of rusty Pedersoli Brown Besses, 1861 Springfields, caplock Pedersoli Kentucky rifles . Nothing except 2 flintlock Hawkens by Pedersoli.

Cabelas had very few caps, only CCI #10 and Musket, and I didn't need any other types bad enough to ask an employee to look in the back plus they all seemed cranky.

So, from my observation.....

Repro percussion revolvers are abundant, repro muskets and rifle-muskets are scarce, caps are available varying by Region apparently, and a store a few miles down the road from another may be a Bonanza of caps while another has none

I think the supply chain is catching up and the "resale " idiots have given up for the most part.

Besides the niche market of blackpowder shooters and hunters, no one else cares about percussion caps. It's pretty much 5% of the "firearms enthusiast " group looking for caps , powder and stuff like cast Minies and round balls in "odd" sizes

 

[cliff lee]

Hi Caps here in Australia are costing $ 16..00 Australian if you can find them you can get RWS but there in another state from me 1000 miles away for around $ 36.00 for a tin of 250.lucky I've got 5000 caps sore the righting on the wall back two years ago started buying when a lot cheaper.Same as Flints there over $ 6.00 each here crazy. Cheers from Australia

 

[sheriff john]

One thing learned during the past coupla years- it only takes one glitch in any supply chain to mess up a whole lotta stuff. Thinking back to the 1800's, a tin of caps might've been a great deal more important than today (and a whole lot harder to come by depending on where you lived). Might be interesting to know the relative cost back then compared to today.

 

[toot]

If I’m going to hoard something it will be an item such as caps and flints. You can hoard the toilet paper. Plenty of paper products available for that purpose

remember that the kid that dies with the most toys wins!!! you are on that route.

 

[Tradbow]

remember that the kid that dies with the most toys wins!!! you are on that route.

I’m all right with that as long as I can take care of my family and leave them in a position to carry on in after I’m gone.

 

[toot]

I’m all right with that as long as I can take care of my family and leave them in a position to carry on in after I’m gone.

That is a nice jester

 

[toot]

That is a nice gesture.

 

[COTNTOP]

There is not one hoarder I know that wouldn't share his stash with me if I was in need. There is not one retailer that I know has me on their rabbit ass mind.

 

[Rum River]

Was at a gun show in Duluth today, no caps. Stopped at a store in Superior WI later - CCI #11’s for $11.99. Close enough, I bought three tins.

 

[Buckskinquin]

In the SE portion of the US, which does have NMLRA and NSSA enthusiasts, no one carry’s BP or caps. It has become a vast wasteland for the dedicated BP shooters. While I read on a regular basis of stores that are selling caps and Real BP in other parts of this country; a review of online sellers reveals a dearth of caps and black powder available. The Maine Powder House, Powder Inc., Powder Valley, Buffalo Arms, Midway USA, Graf and Sons all show “Out of Stock” for Swiss and Schuetzen BP, some have bulk BP repackaged, but to find #10 or #11 caps for sale is a rarity. Most don’t offer “notify when available”. Musket caps are available on a number of sites. My concern is; if these retailers don’t receive the desired product to sell, they will starve and close. I’m not sure how they stay open considering the shortage of product. Do me a favor, the next time you see the President of Speer, set an empty plate and glass with no silver ware in front of him, and say, “Bon Appitet!”