Ridiculous Cap Pricing

[Hawken]

Try the Slix-Shot nipples.

Are you giving them away or? I hear they are made of Unobtanium right now. Naw, the factory nipples work OK, was just thinking outloud if maybe there was a good way to make those undersize caps serviceable.

 

[Enfield58]

Are you giving them away or? I hear they are made of Unobtanium right now. Naw, the factory nipples work OK, was just thinking outloud if maybe there was a good way to make those undersize caps serviceable.

I haven’t bought any in a while so don’t know about the availability.

 

[Boomerang]

You could try cutting a slit in one side so they would expand more when you stick them on the nipple.

 

[toot]

You can make #11 caps from small pistol / rifle cf primers by removing the anvils from them. Or use Berdan primers that have no integral anvil.

now that is something that I am going to put in my favorites!!

 

[toot]

Try seating them with the hammer. Point the revolver down range, let the hammer down gently on the cap and push. It won't go off but if it does, so what. It works on my rifes where I have been using #10 for everything ( I don't have any muskets).

I use a wooden Dowell to do the same thing. I always have it in my range shooting box!

 

[toot]

You could try cutting a slit in one side so they would expand more when you stick them on the nipple.

works every time on fat nipples. or you can chuck it up in an electric drill and turn it down using a small RIFFELER or a NEEDLE file.

 

[Hawken]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but if I modify the nipples to take CCI #10, then Rem #10 and CCI #11 won't fit very well.

Or - maybe juuuust smooth the nipples very slightly with fine crocus, take off the high spots. Hm...

A hardwood dowel or similar tool then may work well enough to seat them completely.

 

[Whitworth]

A 3 or 4 inch section of 3/8-7/16" dowel cut at an angle is perfect for seating reluctant caps.

 

[44-henry]

Personally I think you are asking for trouble to try and make a #10 cap fit on a #11 nipple. The safest approach would be to either find a correct size nipple for the #10's or modify the existing nipple to fit the smaller cap. It is a simple matter to do the re-sizing if you have (or know someone who has) a metal lathe, though as has been mentioned a drill and a file can do the job too with care.

 

[JHB]

This sounds like a tolerance stacking problem. Nipple on the low end and cap on the high end it falls off.Cap on the small side and nipple on the big side it won't fit.
You may have to find a cap that fits and stock up on that particular brand and lot. Worst case scenario the cap manufactures are inconsistent in their sizing and a assortment of different size nipples will be needed.

 

[Grenadier1758]

There is an excellent treatise on percussion caps and nipples by "Mako".

Its been posted here on the forum before and here again. As you will see from the initial table of cap sizes, its just not that simple.

Percussion Caps and Nipples (guntoters.com)

 

[Hawken]

Yep, it's well known that cap sizes and some nipples are all over the place. Rem #10 caps are basically roughly equal in size to CCI #11, the CCI #10 are generally too small for the italian repro Colt pistols.

 

[Howard Pippin]

Try seating them with the hammer. Point the revolver down range, let the hammer down gently on the cap and push. It won't go off but if it does, so what. It works on my rifes where I have been using #10 for everything ( I don't have any muskets).

Strange things happen, I have a traditions percussion 50 caliber, that I wanted to use stainless steel nipples on, so I ordered a pair and the first thing I found out after put one on, is a number 11 would fall right off. I had quite a few Remington 10s, and they fit real nice, but the rest of my 10s were CCI. They are a touch smaller it seems like but I can place them on all the way with my finger, I can imagine that the dangerous to do is I don't use a lot of force. I carry my caps in a Ted cash cap holder, it must hold close to 100, and that works real fine. I can just strip them on, Give them a little nudge and they will work every time. I suppose the original nipple is a number 11 but I never tried it.
Squint

 

[oldhunter1954]

I feel very lucky as I have a small local gun shop that always has CCI #10 caps in stock.

 

[Howard Pippin]

I feel very lucky as I have a small local gun shop that always has CCI #10 caps in stock.

Last October I was at my closest gun store which is 120 miles away and is In the center of Montana, and bought a couple of tins CCI number 10 caps. Then along this winter, I find out there getting darned scarce by all the postings on here, so I been holding my breath, so I could get back to the gun store, but I didn't want to go until I had my covid 19 shots. Well sir, today I got there and went to the gun store and they had number 11 Remington's and quite a few. Without changing nipples I have to use number 10s, but I bought two boxes anyway. He was charging $6.25 per hundred. There also happens to be a gas station In the same town, that has a lot of hand loading stuff for sale so I stopped there on the way out of town and he had CCI number 10s for $6.85 per hundred. I asked how many I could buy, and he said whatever you want I've got 2000 more on hand. So I only bought 300, I don't believe in hoarding, and this is more than enough for least a couple years. I happen to know that the town I was in also has a muzzleloader club, though I don't belong, and a muzzleloader shoot every summer, so apparently though shooters aren't that worried because there were quite a few caps available. Both Dealers said I could have what ever I wanted. With what I already have on hand, it's almost like overkill. I wouldn't have bought The Remington numbering 11s, if I would've known about the other fellow had number 10s, but my shooting friend has to have number 11's so it'll probably be all right.
Squint

 

[shootrj2003]

You don’t have to buy flints you can find them,it’s a gift from the earth mother.I recently ran into a fellow that makes bows ,and arrows AND MAKES AND FINDS, flint arrowheads he makes and hunts successfully all legal game and needs to buy little.flint lockers who can Knapp are similarly well off,even powder can be made if you have to,I have to believe if we stay a free country eventually things will get better,somebody is squeezing us but they are also squeezing people who want to make money selling these things.persist longer than them.bullets were expensive in the depression too.

 

[Grenadier1758]

@shootrj2003, flint stones aren't common everywhere. That's one reason why the black English flints and French amber flints are so prized. Flint points were a common trade item among various Native American tribes as some tribes lived where flint was not available on the ground.

 

[Eric Krewson]

A friend gave me all his B/P about 10 years ago, there were several tins of caps from the 70s in one tackle box, I have shot them all up without the first misfire. There is one tin that is marked #11 but has very small caps in it, they won't fit on a #11 nipple, don't know what they are for or what size they actually are.

I swung by Walmart a few days ago to see if they had any caps left, like usual I was a day late and a dollar short, they had cleared their deer hunting equipment from the shelves and had started stocking turkey hunting stuff. Their usual B/P supply section had all been removed.

 

[Ponderosaman]

I got my tap-a-cap system last week. I made some of the caps, but haven't mixed up or applied the prime all yet. The caps seem to fit nicely on my guns nipples, tight but not too tight.

 

[FlyingMountainBoomer]

That's awesome, I just my Sharpshooters cap maker yesterday and popped out about 30 caps to experiment with. Next step: prime them without losing fingers...