Water and the Percussion Cap

[musketman]

Zonie, what about spraying them with a few coats of polyurethane? :hmm:

 

[Poor Private]

You can also buy spray shellac.

 

[tg]

"Zonie, what about spraying them with a few coats of polyurethane

Clear Acrylic floor finish sprayed with an atomizer might work, I found it to be a good, fast, cheep substitute for waxing traps.

 

[rebel727]

I have found that musket cap tins are not air or water proof. If you look at the tin tins or plastic tins you will find they all have small air holes. But consequently pistol caps are closed up quite tight, and slightly water proof.
Must be due to the amount of caps and fulminate in each container. Musket caps more expolsive.

I'm looking at a tin of 250 RWS musket caps right now and there's no air holes. The lid isn't very tight but there's no holes. Also have a smaller Plastic tin of 100 RWS musket caps and the lid on it is pretty tight.

 

[Old40Rod]

Zonie.... Just out of curiosity... did you notice any residue buildup from the polish... nipple or flash channel-wise?

 

[Poor Private]

Open the RWS tin and look at the back side of the lid. The paper label covers the hole. It so small it hard to see but it's there.

 

[Zonie]

Old40Rod:
There were a few small specks of the dried polish on the outside of the nipple however there was no trace of the polish inside the nipple or in the flash channel hole or the barrel. I used a CVA Derringer to fire the caps so I could see clear to the bottom of the barrel. The bore had a very light grayish colored coating which was the remains of the fulminate.

Lacquers like nail polish are nitrocellulose, the same kind of stuff that some smokeless powders are made from so I believe it burned when the cap detonated.

 

[rebel727]

Open the RWS tin and look at the back side of the lid. The paper label covers the hole. It so small it hard to see but it's there.

No hole here. Maybe it's something new. I have had these for a while.

 

[MSW]

i've also used hairspray (makes the little old ladies crazy with curiousity as to what we're doing with all "their" stuff.

 

[Mad Professor]

A cheaper substitute for nail polish would be marine spar varnish, don't try the goopy urethane junk most hardware stores sell now.

Several mentions of sealing nipple with wax on this tread too. I seal my nipple with melted wax from a candle. I never go hunting without two small ones, for this purpose and for emergencies.

For end of barrel, duct tape, just on the end, trim it with my patch knife. No water/moist air gets into the barrel at all, no rust either.