Percussion Cap "Shortage"

[springfield art]

I have seen oodles of primers for sale at local gunshows. They aren't exactly flying off the shelves anymore around here.

I've only been going to one big regional gun show lately; so many ceased to exist with covid. I've never seen as much as One Tin of Caps at the big super-show. Sometimes you'll see a box on a table that a private guy has, with some orphan muzzle-loading stuff in it; I got one tin of #11's that way a couple years ago. Your key work, "local" says it all! Thanks for the tip!

 

[Sir Boniface Harrison]

Here in Europe, they tend to become rare towards about february or March. I have insured against this by buying 2'000. I also invested in a reusable percussion cap kit. I have yet to use this, but will post a review in due course.

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

I've only been going to one big regional gun show lately; so many ceased to exist with covid. I've never seen as much as One Tin of Caps at the big super-show. Sometimes you'll see a box on a table that a private guy has, with some orphan muzzle-loading stuff in it; I got one tin of #11's that way a couple years ago. Your key work, "local" says it all! Thanks for the tip!

We didn't do covid here in Iowa. No canceled events. We just went on like normal. Mask wearing wasn't required at shows either. The rest of the world seems to have went insane in that time period.

 

[chorizo]

Don't know about that. I just ordered 600 RWS musket caps and another 1000 RIO/Schutzens....expensive, yes, but they are available.

 

[kyron4]

We didn't do covid here in Iowa. No canceled events. We just went on like normal. Mask wearing wasn't required at shows either. The rest of the world seems to have went insane in that time period.

Same here in rural Indiana.

 

[Whitworth]

Check Walmart, brother picked up some and presented me with two tins of CCI #11 at $5.50 each.

 

[Notchy Bob]

After reading about Walmarts around the country getting percussion caps in stock, I took the opportunity to visit my nearest Walmart in Gainesville, Florida two days ago. After explaining what percussion caps are to the “associate” overseeing sporting goods, he pecked on his iPhone for a minute or two, and then walked me to an empty shelf, saying “If we had them, this is where they would be.” To his credit, he checked all other possibilities in his department. He had no idea whether they would ever have any or not.

I have enough caps to do me for a while, but I just wanted to check.

Notchy Bob

 

[Banjoman]

I’d been bugging our local gun store for months about percussion caps. He finally ordered one tin of CCI #11’s for me. They were a little high, but I bought them.

 

[SgtMaj65]

Two weeks ago my local WM put out No. 11 caps. There were 10 tins out at $5.62 each. I bought 2 tins to top off my stash I accumulated these past few months online and tins that I found I forgot I had stashed away. I checked back yesterday, and there’s still 7 tins left at WM. I obviously live in inline country, not traditional muzzleloaders. Probably why the new owners at my old gun range always say here comes the old school guy! I know there’s gotta be a few of us still out here, because caps at our Academy disappear fairly fast.

 

[Sir Boniface Harrison]

Two weeks ago my local WM put out No. 11 caps. There were 10 tins out at $5.62 each. I bought 2 tins to top off my stash I accumulated these past few months online and tins that I found I forgot I had stashed away. I checked back yesterday, and there’s still 7 tins left at WM. I obviously live in inline country, not traditional muzzleloaders. Probably why the new owners at my old gun range always say here comes the old school guy! I know there’s gotta be a few of us still out here, because caps at our Academy disappear fairly fast.

Wow - at that price I would have bought the entire shop's supply! They cast 25 Euros a tin here. Minimum.

 

[SgtMaj65]

Wow - at that price I would have bought the entire shop's supply! They cast 25 Euros a tin here. Minimum.

I would have bought them all if I hadn’t bought 1,000 online from Midway a month ago. It’s a super price. From just reading all the posts on ML Forum on subject of caps, seems distribution is pretty uneven across US and abroad.

 

[Kansas Jake]

If I run across caps for $5.62 at Walmart I buy a couple of tins and leave the rest for others. I just add them to the stash along side the .22s I pick up if I see a good sale. I came up short on .22s during the big hoarding frenzy years ago so now I maintain a reasonable supply. What’s reasonable for me is likely different than what is reasonable for you. I don’t resell or scalp.

 

[Fallon Kid]

Homemade Caps. Don't fall for it. I bit during last shortage. Not sorry because I can speak with experience and I’ll try anything once. The caps fail to pop about 40-50% of the time. It is fiddley and time consuming beyond belief. They will not stay on a rolling cylinder and I looked at compression rings, slip-caps, bands etc. I put everything away and might be of use for a single shot after the zombies start spreading out of Muncie, but you still cannot be certain you can get a shot off at that charging Shih Tzu

 

[AlexB]

Homemade Caps. Don't fall for it. I bit during last shortage. Not sorry because I can speak with experience and I’ll try anything once. The caps fail to pop about 40-50% of the time. It is fiddley and time consuming beyond belief. They will not stay on a rolling cylinder and I looked at compression rings, slip-caps, bands etc. I put everything away and might be of use for a single shot after the zombies start spreading out of Muncie, but you still cannot be certain you can get a shot off at that charging Shih Tzu

Odd I have shot thousands of my own caps and had zero issues since learning how to make them correctly and have zero desire to buy factory caps anymore.
The industry has shown they could care less about my money so why buy.

 

[springfield art]

Every year i fire 300-500 rounds from conventional muzzleloaders using #11 caps. At the beginning of the "Obama will outlaw muzzleloaders" panic i found a store in Oklahoma that had millions of CCI and Remington #11 caps for $2.99 per 100. i'm still well stocked: At age 84 i probably won't be buying any caps. i put posters on muzzleloader boards onto that store and they soon sold out.

I never heard that Obama was going to outlaw muzzleloaders; must've just been a panicky poster imagining things. Obama wouldn't know a muzzle loader if he tripped over one.

 

[Fallon Kid]

AlexB​

Very well may be me and not have correct stuff to make. I bought the cap punch that uses a coke can and recommended cap gun caps. Anyway thanks as you give a person hope and maybe try it again. Thank You

 

[AlexB]

I

AlexB​

Very well may be me and not have correct stuff to make. I bought the cap punch that uses a coke can and recommended cap gun caps. Anyway thanks as you give a person hope and maybe try it again. Thank You

I use the same die but instead of caps use the primeall powder.
Double the caps tweak the primeall recipe a little for a better binder.
I don't use the tan bag and mix acetone and duco cement at 10\1.
Couple other ways to do it that seem to work as well,good luck.

 

[tgfrench]

I bought half of the stock of caps my local walmart had and still make and use my homemade caps for all of my shooting. The aluminum that the caps are made from clears from my 58 remington nma reproduction easier than the factory copper.

 

[ETipp]

Last week the local WalMart here has, or had, CCI caps for $5.60 per tin.

 

[tgfrench]

AlexB​

Very well may be me and not have correct stuff to make. I bought the cap punch that uses a coke can and recommended cap gun caps. Anyway thanks as you give a person hope and maybe try it again. Thank You

Get the primer powder for the caps and you won't look back.