percussion making your own

[mike mckinney]

Some years ago a guy was advertising percussion cap kit in muzzle blasts. He claimed that servicable percussion caps could be made from old aluminum cans. Does anybody know what happened to this guy and is it really possible to make your own caps?

 

[nvbirdman]

It's called a Tap-O-Cap marketed by Forsters.
The people that have used them seem to go back to store-bought caps, but rather than sell the T-O-C, they just leave them in ye olde junk drawer.
I just noticed you live in North Hollywood. I grew up there. When I was growing up we lived near Lankershim and Camarillo, and later on I lived near Oxnard and Tujunga.
I left there twenty-five years ago, and still think it was the best thing I've ever done. What cross streets are you near?

 

[THOM]

Hey Tuskin --
Dixie Gun works sells Tap-o-Cap and it consists of a die with which you stamp out your own caps from aluminum cans. You insert one or two roll caps and and you've got a percussion cap. Get yerself a Dixie Catalog..
Where abouts in N.Hollywood ??
I spent the first five years of my life on Talmadge Street. Are you familiar with that area ??
What's it like now ..
It was movies studio lots across from where we lived 55 years ago. ff: :huh: ff:
Be well

 

[Slamfire]

I used to hang out at Bultaco Western at Lankershim and Tujunga. But I image they were gone before you left. ff:

 

I bought a Tap-O-Cap 10-15 years ago, maybe longer. nvbirdman is right. If one were living in the wilderness and you could keep the toy cap gun rolls and aluminum cans around I guess they'd be alright. I made a few hundred caps with it and it ended up as nv sid, in the junk drawer. I don't know where it is now, 3 moves later, and quite frankly don't care. They work, no doubt about that, but it's more tedious than it's worth. I wouldn't recommend one. Buy your caps by the thousand and you'll be money ahead.

Vic

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

Factory made percussion caps have a much livelier and energetic priming charge and and are fairly clean, AND best of all they are NON-CORROSIVE! Ignition is pretty much a given and there are also "hotter" brands of caps, and of course, you can swap out your #11 nipple for a nipple that will accept "musket caps"--which have about 4-5 times better "flash".

The "substitute propellants" like Pyrodex and others, sometimes require a much hotter and bigger flash to properly ignite, and to perform the way they are expected to.

NOTE: Pyrodex, for example, needs more compressive force to get proper performance, in addition to having a longer flame and hotter flash... Black Powder is easy to ignite in comparison.

The Forster's Tap-O-Cap caps themselves "can" work well, IF you put more of the "charges" in than just ONE.

It is much more difficult to do, but cramming in THREE will produce much more "fire" to make ignition more certain.

The aluminum from the soda cans that you create the cap body from will oft times vaporize(?) from the blast, or it disintegrates so finely that there are zero remains of it on the nipple or anywhere to be found to "jam up the works".

WARNING! Remember the really old cap guns that you had as a kid in the 50's and 60's (EEEYERGK! now my age is starting to show!) Most of those were chrome plated or nickel plated for a "very good reason". Those "toy caps" are HIGHLY CORROSIVE! and if I recall correctly, are made from Potassium Chlorate--same as the "stuff" that is on the end of "Strike Anywhere Match" heads. You remember how badly the cap guns would rust up, EVEN though they were made out of chrome and nickel plated cast metal?

You MUST almost immediately CLEAN the fouling from the home-made caps from the gun. The nipples will most definitely need removed and scrubbed vigorously. Even with the thorough cleaning procedures done properly, AND every time, the nipple will need replaced much, MUCH sooner than if you had used modern factory made percussion caps.

Still if having NO caps is the alternative... they would make a great source to have on hand as a cache or backup supply.

Shoot Safely!
WV_Hillbilly

 

[merdean]

Gee..I was going to tell all about my experience. But it looks like everyone beat me to it. I made hundreds of caps while I was in the Air Force in Spain. I could get black powder, lead in bars or shot. Had to cast my own balls. But the only caps I ever found were musket caps and they just did not fit my nipples. So I found TAP-O-CAP in a Brownells catalog, roll caps in the BX and cans in the Class VI store. I would sit down and punch out the metal caps and fill them with 3 caps. Made my .36Navy go bang! Got me a javalin with a Spanish made .50 cal halfstock (I think it was before CVA started) Shot lots of paper too.
But.........it took a couple of hours to make enough caps for a day at the range. Then you went home and cleaned, cleaned and cleaned. I think I went through 3 or 4 nipples in the .50 and a couple of six pack in the .36. (the range was a 3 station range open FRI, Sat and Sun IF YOU COULD FIND A RANGE MASTER! and everyone used it.) {Yup, good ol Torrejon AB} [I had to become a range master to shoot].
To shorten this story, TAP-O-CAP works but is not worth the hassle unles you just can't get caps! :m2c: :results: :sorry:

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Actually, I've found the plastic "ring caps" as now sold for some revolving capguns will fit a nipple very well and will fire blackpowder without any work beyond cutting the individual caps from the ring. They fit the nipple so snuggly I expect they'd be waterproof, yet pull off easily, fired or unfired.
Now, with that said, I'll stick with CCI as long as I can get them. :haha: :haha: :haha:

 

[rrgr40]

I did that a few years ago and the only problem that I had was that every now and again when one did not go off, the nipple would get clogged with the plastic. I have a Forester Snap-o-cap I bought off of E-bay and it also works well but is very time consuming as was mentioned earlier. I like to try to stay in front of Uncle Sam in case he tries to outlaw percussion caps along with everything else. :m2c:

 

[SCATTERSHOT]

'Course, ifn' ya had a flinter, ya wouldn't have ta worry about the gummint takin' yer caps!'


Sorry, couldn't resist. Seriously, i bought a book called Homemade Ammo that goes into making your own priming compound and re using primers in centerfire ammo, don't know why that wouldn't work, too, in place of the toy caps for the Tap-O-Cap.

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

Actually, I've found the plastic "ring caps" as now sold for some revolving capguns will fit a nipple very well and will fire blackpowder without any work beyond cutting the individual caps from the ring. They fit the nipple so snuggly I expect they'd be waterproof, yet pull off easily, fired or unfired.
Now, with that said, I'll stick with CCI as long as I can get them. :haha: :haha: :haha:

I tried those plastic ring caps too, as i thought they would make "perfect" inexpensive replacement caps. I had the problem where the plastic would "cushion the impact" of the hammer and the cap would not detonate. It would take another couple strikes of the hammer before they would go off. And sometimes, the plastic peeled away and fell into the action/frame--this is just about as bad as it could get.:results:

Those caps are STILL very corrosive and the gun will need "extreme cleaning". The nipples wear out faster also, just like with the (Forster) "home-made Tap-O-Caps". BUT again, it's better than having NOTHING to shoot with...:cry:

I still have not found anything better than "real caps" for using in percussion guns. Now IF we could just get a tool and die company to make various size punches for an arbor press AND IF we could purchase the correct type and strength metal sheeting for the cup material, AND IF we could buy the proper non-corrosive priming "discs" to install in our "home-made punched-out cap bodies"... we would STILL probably be paying 4 or 5 times (maybe a LOT MORE?) as much for a box of caps.

It would require too much money, time, and labour to make enough of these to get the costs down--which is one of the advantanges we are looking to gain... AND to NOT have to rely on finding the correct fitting size, or finding a store that EVEN stocks percussion caps.:what:

I'm still going to look into that last option and seeing what the actual costs would work out to for the "long haul".:huh:

I'm always looking for a better product and a less costly means of getting to shoot with better quality and more often. :thumbsup:

Shoot Safely:RO:
WV_Hillbilly

 

[bezoar]

only real diffucultie will be correct metal to use. If you use to thin, you wont get to reuse them. But the real problem will be the percussive material. YOu could try to use teh original lead azide manure, but thats a lil delicate and un healthy...

 

[mike mckinney]

What a freakin' coincidence! I live near Lankershim and Camarillo! Athough I am originally from Sacramento. Man its really a small world out there.

 

[Gary]

Tap o Cap works and I generally put anywhere from 2-3 caps into one to ensure ignition. However, it's a project when you're bored and you're better off buying your caps.

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

While you're setting there with your cup o' coffee and your sweet roll this morning... you might want to think about "WHY" we do some of those things that we do... :hmm:

Typically we muzzleloaders like doing things for ourselves. If there's something that we can make out of miscellaneous "trash" and old parts, we go that route instead of just "buying it".:nono:

That doesn't necessarily mean that we are "cheapskates". It means that we don't like to see things wasted--if they can be put to another use. We might be considered as "pack rats" by the "ignorant" (unaware/unknowing) bystanders. I think the meanings goes a lot deeper than that. It's that sense of satisfaction--that YOU yourself came up with the custom load that shoots the best in your gun. :imo:

Because that was YOU--the one who cleans the gun to perfection. YOU are the one who maybe actually built the rifle "from scratch". That YOU scouted out a "good place" for deer, hunted, shot (with ONLY one well placed round of ammuniton), tracked (possibly), cleaned the carcass, cut the meat, packaged the venison up, and sometimes "even" cooked the meal. The whole thing could apply from small game hunting all the way up to the biggest game. Smoothbore, Rifled, Matchlock, Flintlock, Caplock, Short or Long Barreled, Primitive Fixed Sights, Patched Round Ball (and hand casted it yourself), Conical, etc...etc... et cetera...:relax:

Self-reliance is a great motivation tool isn't it...? :RO:

Examples: Those little containers that camera film (used to anyway) comes in--they make handy containers for pre-measured powder charges. OR those empty brass cartridge cases--that can be made into virtually ANY size fixed powder measure that you could possibly need. OR so on, and so on, and so on...
:relax:
Cost is NOT the only consideration... what about quality, dependability, reliability, accuracy, and a whole slew of factors too nurmerous to mention.

Just have fun and next time someone "makes fun" of you with your home-made equipment--just try to ignore them and enjoy yourself--but you are knowing how difficult it was to make that part that they are laughing at.eace:

Now if everything were just that easy...?:winking:

Shoot Safely!
WV_Hillbilly :m2c: