Percussion Caps and Prime All

[F.G. Ford]

Has anyone tried making percussion caps with Prime All.
It seem quite viable and possible.
I have made caps with Tap a Cap and caps from children cap guns, and that was a waste of time at the best.
Apparently you can make any strength of cap, although this is not always the best way to go.
The cost of doing so is way less than .01 cent per cap ( not counting you time )
But for $20 you can make thousands of caps.
Percussion caps now cost more than .22 live ammo????
Please tell me something positive about this " Prime All" stuff.
Way up north here in Canada they are asking $8.00 + a can of 100 caps, when you can find them, then they want tax. If that is not a kink in the pants.
The tax alone is more than the cost of making a hundred caps with the Prime All stuff.
I'll be watching this post to see what the possibilities are.
Fred

 

[F.G. Ford]

Try this link to see if it works.
I hope I have not crossed the lines of The Muzzleloading Forum with this post.
It is not my intent to cause problems with the theme of the Forum.
Fred

 

[painter]

My kit is on order, but hasn't arrived yet. I contacted the seller and he answered right away apologizing for the delay explaining that they're about a month behind due to order volume.

Someone else on this site posted that they work. I saw on an unmentionable forum that the compound is corrosive which doesn't bother me since I use water to clean.
I'll let you know when it arrives.

 

[Grimord]

I have used it without problems, but i prefer to load my "Tap-A-Cap" shells with toy roll caps. I peel off 3-4 of the cap blisters, stuff them in the cap shell, then spray the open end of the caps with hair spray to seal. When I use them, I first prime the nipple with 4f powder with a nipple primer, then set the cap. I have had only 2 failures to fire in over 300 caps so far.

 

[eggwelder]

Old Ford, do you know if we can get this Prime all in Canada?

 

[Omahkapi'si]

That would be good to know for sure.

 

[F.G. Ford]

I do not know if we can get it in Canada or not.
About the only thing we can get now is Play Dough, and apple juice.
Chances are apple juice is prohibited.
Fred

 

[eggwelder]

Yep. We can still get Kindersurprise eggs..............there’s that i suppose

 

[Kansas Kid]

My kit is on order, but hasn't arrived yet. I contacted the seller and he answered right away apologizing for the delay explaining that they're about a month behind due to order volume.

I ordered from them a couple weeks ago and have not received anything but a bill from the credit card company. I don’t need it now and am pretty sure it will get here just posting my experience.

 

[F.G. Ford]

Hey Kansas, when you get that stuff, would you please post your findings here.
It will be a great help for all of us here in the percussion shooting end of muzzleloading, and also help put a stop to the price gouging we are enduring with the exceptional increase cost of percussion caps.
We pay more for a box of caps than we pay for a box of modern ammo
With this "Prime All " stuff we can make #11 caps and top hat caps as well at a fair cost.

 

[F.G. Ford]

Cabela's want $9.99 for a box of 100 caps, plus tax, that is over .10 cents per shot, and of course that does not include powder & ball
If that is not crookery nothing is!

 

[Kansas Kid]

There are a couple of threads already going where people are actually using the system. I didn’t read anything negative about it. It’s probably a little slow and make small batches of the compound as it could be dangerous if not handled properly. I have about 1500 caps and lots of flints at the moment. I shoot about 50/50 of each but just wanted another option for caps.

 

[brewer12345]

Hey Kansas, when you get that stuff, would you please post your findings here.
It will be a great help for all of us here in the percussion shooting end of muzzleloading, and also help put a stop to the price gouging we are enduring with the exceptional increase cost of percussion caps.
We pay more for a box of caps than we pay for a box of modern ammo
With this "Prime All " stuff we can make #11 caps and top hat caps as well at a fair cost.

I bought one and tried it out last summer. Worked fine. Making the caps is easy and quick. Priming them is a little tedious, but not too bad. They all went bang and they all lit the charge like normal on a rifle.

 

[William Lincoln]

DEAR FORD, I posted before that I bought the system. With the powder bags
of chemicals and punch machine it was like $35(few yrs ago) they had just
stopped the tap a cap machine. Another young fellow was making them but
he lost his access to the machine to make it, so I contacted the guy
reloading 22 cals and bought his .I never used it except to punch a few caps from a
soda can cut and rolled flat. Now my concern was about those plastic bags
and if the chemicals could be stored safely. So I put them in an outbuilding
away from what matters. So if anyone out there cooks that mix up and
makes caps let me know how it went and what you think about storing it
safely. I would like to know what those powders are since I would like a
better price to stock up, if safe to do so, since I cannot be sure that I could
get "components" online in future years. PS: I AM NOT DIRECTING YOU
TO MAKE THAT STUFF IF ,YOU DO IT ,IT IS AT YOUR RISK AND DO NOT DO
ANTHING BECAUSE I OR THE FORUM SUGGESTS DOING IT. IN FACT DO NOT
DO IT BUT SHARE YOUR INVESTIGATIONS PLEASE.

 

[n.h.schmidt]

There is now a LOT of interest in this. I have made my percussion caps for many years now. I have a old forrester made cap maker and a home made cap maker. I have the prime-all and it will work and can be made very powerful . There is safe ways to do this You would need to clean well because the prime-all makes corrosive caps. Can you get this sent to you? I have a lot more to share about this if there is a interest. The toy pistol role caps can work and be powerful but it isn't done the way most think . The cap makers that 22reloader sell work well and is a good start.
n.h.schmidt

 

[Winchester97]

There is now a LOT of interest in this. I have made my percussion caps for many years now. I have a old forrester made cap maker and a home made cap maker. I have the prime-all and it will work and can be made very powerful . There is safe ways to do this You would need to clean well because the prime-all makes corrosive caps. Can you get this sent to you? I have a lot more to share about this if there is a interest. The toy pistol role caps can work and be powerful but it isn't done the way most think . The cap makers that 22reloader sell work well and is a good start.
n.h.schmidt

I for one am quite interested in anything that can be shared as far as this process goes. I assume a normal soap/water cleaning will clear the corrosive residue. Anything you have to add would be great.

 

[Albion]

Same here. I’m all ears. Or eyes in this case.

 

[VA Guy]

I would like to know what those powders are...

Presented with context as an original source because I know nothing about this, I'm just OK at using a search engine...
...but if you are curious, here is some info I found. Of course, these are just forum posts so it could be that the info posted is complete BS so take it with a grain of salt and use it as the basis for your own research.

Prime-All Compound
.22lr. Anyone make priming compound? [Archive] - Cast Boolits

I for one am quite interested in anything that can be shared as far as this process goes. I assume a normal soap/water cleaning will clear the corrosive residue. Anything you have to add would be great.

Regarding corrosive priming compounds - when imported surplus corrosive ammo was common, the "standard" cleaning solution was window cleaner with ammonia (Windex) as the higher PH of the ammonia was thought to neutralize the acidic compounds. However, from my reading on the subject it seems that this was probably rooted in gun shop BS and the problem wasn't so much that the residue was acidic, but rather the salts that were produced. If you read on the subject nowadays, it would seem that the technique preferred to clean corrosive residue mirrors some of those used for cleaning black powder arms - flush with warm water, dry, oil. So logically speaking, the water based cleaning libations used on most muzzle loaders today should suffice.

Scotts Gunsmithing - Corrosive Ammunition Cleaning Tips

Note - the information in this post is worth exactly what you paid for it.

 

[William Lincoln]

There is now a LOT of interest in this. I have made my percussion caps for many years now. I have a old forrester made cap maker and a home made cap maker. I have the prime-all and it will work and can be made very powerful . There is safe ways to do this You would need to clean well because the prime-all makes corrosive caps. Can you get this sent to you? I have a lot more to share about this if there is a interest. The toy pistol role caps can work and be powerful but it isn't done the way most think . The cap makers that 22reloader sell work well and is a good start.
n.h.schmidt

PLEASE DO US A FAVOR AND GIVE YOUR ADVICE AND EXPERIENCE ON THIS. I WILL PRINT AND SAVE IT
AND TRY IT THANKS, BILL

 

[n.h.schmidt]

I don't want to come off as a know it all. I I will only present what I know works for me. Like most I started out punching out role caps and using three or four in a cup. That only kind of worked. Rarely more than five shots in a row ,even with black powder.And that was with a rifle with a very good flame path.. Then the idea came to use a bit of black powder in the cup with one or two punched out role caps. This did work better almost good enough.. Some time ago a fine fellow that goes by the name Traffer here presented what I think the best way to use the role caps. What you do is take a strip of the role caps and soak it water for about a min. Remove from the water and gently rub the strip between you thumb and forefinger. The thin paper on top will move and you can remove it from the thick paper. You now have a strip of wet dots on the paper. With a sharp knife you can lift the dots on the knife blade. It's not hard and you will soon develop the skill. You can go right down the line and stack them up on the blade. Keep the strip wet and they will come off. When I have the number I'm wanting .Ten or more for rifle use. Six for revolver. I scrape them off into the cup. Do as many as you want but don't do this so long as to let them get dry .The dots will crumble if they are dry. With my slow speed I do about ten at a time. I push the dots down into the cups with a wooden match stick bottom. Let dry .You do need to stick them into the cup, or it will all fall out. A binder is needed. A drop of Duco Cement thinned in a tablespoon of acetone or shellac way thinned in denatured alcohol . Either works very well for this. Just dip a match stick in the binder and use it as a dipstick. Just a drop in each one works well. Several light coats of hairspray will also work . I do not use any paper or foil covering in the cups. Paper tends to clog the nipple. Doing this wet is safe.None will fire until you are ready.
n.h.schmidt