Percussion cap substitute

[PowderBoom]

Hey guys

Please please pleeeaaaase can someone give me some ideas. My problem is percussion caps or the lack of. Where i live, percussion caps are very difficult to get hold of. I have solved this problem for my Lyman Trade and Trapper pistol, by using small pistol primers. All i did was chuck the nipples into a drill and using the file on my leatherman, turned the nipples down a touch. I then removed the anvil from the primers. Yes, yes... I know this is dangerous but a plan needed to be made. Im not suggesting that anybody else try this at home but it does give excellant ignition and you will never have a miss fire unless you forgot to load the powder. If you are lucky enough to have access to caps, use them, its far easier.
Here comes my pistol related problem.
Yesterday i picked up my Uberti 1858....(what a beatiful firearm) from the post office. I removed all the nipples and set to work on the lathe, turning the nipples down(i do have a spare cylinder that i left standard). Once that was done, i capped all the cylinders and tested it out. The caps fire fine but jump of the nipple and jam the action. Now i have this beatiful weapon but no way to fire it. Im sure there must be someone out there that could help me solve this problem. There must be another substitute or trick that could solve this. I have tried cap-gun caps (the red plastic ones), they fire but dont ignite the powder, i guess the flash is too small.
Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[jtmattison]

Well, I don't know where you are that you can't get caps but why don't you mail order some?
You can get them from many of the suppliers listed in our muzzleloading links area.
Good luck.

HD

 

[PowderBoom]

Thanks for a quick response.
I live in the middle of the bush in South africa. We are not allowed to order caps on line or have them posted. I dont even have a postage service where im from. Every now and again i get to go to a town but the two gun shops that i ever get to go to, never have stock of caps. This black powder story is quite new over here as black powder guns were only deregulated not so long ago. Thanks again though.

 

[rebel727]

Seems like if you can get powder you should be able to get caps. Or they could at least order you some if you pay for them up front.

 

[Rebel]

You could always get a Tap-O-Cap and make your own caps from aluminum cans and roll caps. May not work as well as real CAPS, but would be better than nothing. I think Midsouth Shooters Supply sells them, and maybe Dixie.

 

[PowderBoom]

This seems like the most usefull reply so far. What is a Tap-O-Cap???? I dont have access to shops like Dixies etc. But all the info is appreciated. There must be a plan some where out there.
Thanks

 

[Rebel]

Checkk this and see if it works.
[url] http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=070-tc1000&fromsearch=yes&submit=GO[/url]

 

[boar]

Powderboom You can make your own.Its called Tap-Cap I have one. It uses a strip of pop or beer can and caps used for cap guns(toy). I got mine from Forster 310 E. Lanark Avenue Lanark, Illinois [url] www.forsterproducts.com[/url] ph (815) 493-6360 order No TC 1000 catalog pg 18 about 27.00 I think Dixie Gun Catalog has them to. Now they won't on several of my guns ,but work on rest of them,depends on the make up of gun. How breech area is made. Hope this helps , are cheap to make. Dilly

 

[RedFeather]

Do you like looking at those beautiful guns? Have one of those primers go off while you're doctoring it and get some frags in the eye and you may be out of luck. Having had four eye operations (but not for that), I can say it's something you might want to skip.

They used to make something called a primer lock that replaced the nipple on rifles. You put on the base and unscrewed a cap which held the primer. A lot safer, too.

The Tap-O-Cap is your best way to go given your situation.

No flame intended, but eyes and finger tips are a lot harder to come by. :winking:

 

[jimeckersley]

You may need to have nipples made that will hold a small rifle primer or shotgun primer inside of the nipple. I've used one (for a rifle) that I bought from Dixie Gun Works. Take a look at it on their web site. You wouldn't need to remove the anvil for this type of primer holder.

The shotgun primer cups can be reloaded several times by using a small rifle or pistol primer. For your pistol, you could add a small "firing pin" that would reliably set off the shotgun type of primer. If the flash hole wasn't too large, there shouldn't be much set back of the primer.

If you can contact a local machinist or gunsmith to make a set for you that would be good to try.

Ron Blomquist, Blomquist Percussion Works could make them for you too.

 

[Mad Professor]

Can you get 209 shotgun primers? If so there is a company that sells nipples that take them. Takes longer to load than a #11 cap but sure does make a dandy spark. See:
[url] http://www.warrencustomoutdoor.com/mag-spark.html[/url]

 

[Zonie]

If your wondering what that Tap-O-Cap does, it forms the aluminum can strips into the shape of a precussion cap. You then get some paper "cap gun" caps and trim off the excess paper and insert the primer powder part into the little cup.
Some folks say that two cap gun caps work better but most agree that it's a lot of work for something that sometimes doesn't work very well.

In your case, it sounds like it might be worth the effort unless you can talk the local gun store into ordering some real caps for you.

 

[longfowler]

or you could get a flintlock. I'm sure wherever you are, if look down at the ground long enough, you'll find a rock that will make a spark. I promise once you try one you'll never go back to percusion!

 

[PowderBoom]

You may need to have nipples made that will hold a small rifle primer or shotgun primer inside of the nipple. I've used one (for a rifle) that I bought from Dixie Gun Works. Take a look at it on their web site. You wouldn't need to remove the anvil for this type of primer holder.
Thanks for the info
Do you know if these modified nipples will fit a recolver? I cannot get shotgun primers but i can get pistol or rifle primers.
Thanks for the help, i knew one of you guys would have a plan.... :winking: but please keep the ideas comming.

 

[Bolink654]

What about berdan primers? The ones in old military ammo that have no anvils. I know we have a hard time getting them here, but I've read they are easy to get in europe, so perhaps Africa as well?

 

[Bolink654]

You could also get/have made one of the shotgun primer nipples, and these

click here


But I dont think they'd fit and work on a revolver?

 

[jimeckersley]

I'm afraid modified nipples for a revolver would have to be custom made. That's not impossible.

You may not be able to get live shotgun primers, but you can get all the copper shotgun primer cups that you want for the price of postage. It's the primercups that you want anyway, so that you can load them with small rifle or small pistol primers.

I know lots of guys who throw away hundreds of used shotgun primers every year.

 

[jimeckersley]

or you could get a flintlock. I'm sure wherever you are, if look down at the ground long enough, you'll find a rock that will make a spark. I promise once you try one you'll never go back to percusion!

For the rifle, yes. He may have a hard time finding a flint lock revolver though :hmm: .

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Hey guys

I have tried cap-gun caps (the red plastic ones), they fire but dont ignite the powder, i guess the flash is too small.
Thanks for any suggestions.

I've had some success with those plastic capgun caps. There is a gadget called a "nipple primer" sold by most black powder shops. A small amount of powder placed inside the nipple should solve the problem and you may find those toy caps work OK on a revolver without any modification since the fire is direct into the powder charge. Most rifles have a long channel between nipple and powder chamber which leads to misfires and hangfires even with good caps.
Sorry for your belligerent government but ours gets more so every day. Good luck. :thumbsup:

 

[jimeckersley]

That's a good idea CoyoteJoe, and one that wouldn't cost much to try. So, just prime the nipples before using the fabricated caps. I suppose a person could even enlarge the nipple channel (not the flash hole) a little to hold a little more powder.