Cap'n Ball Capping Questions

[wildman1]

No Pics. Yep I had noticed the scalloped edges and yes that's where they split. I just never paid much attention to the fact that they split until I read some of these posts. The tubes are what came on they 44. Fit is snug but not tight. I use a straight line capper that I modifed so it will fit in the recess around the nipple. When the fouling gets built up a little I just scrape some of it off. I haven't used a push stick but may try one. If i remember correctly in the past I used Remington at one point.  Don't remember if they were tight or not, I do remember that I have used some that were loose in the past just don't remember the brand. I have a few thousand CVA's and about 600 RWS. WM

[Mako]

Wildman,
Caps do split, some more than others.  Remingtons usually split at the crotch of the 4 petals.  The big problem is not the splitting, but whether or not they fragment.  The original design on the Colt's pattern pistols was to have the fired caps fall free of the cylinder as it is rotated.  They won't drop free if they haven't swollen, burst open like a flower or expanded and split in some fashion.  

The caps weren't "designed" to do this, that is just the nature of putting a thin walled copper cup with explosives in it over a hollow tube and then venting even more pressure back through that hole after the charge is ignited  Colt just realized it was going to happen so he added a channel on the starboard side of the recoil shield and made the opening at the loading port generous enough that the caps had a good chance to fall free.

I haven't used thousands of RWS caps but I have noticed they do split when just snapping the oil out of the cylinders.  Sometimes Remington caps do as well.  I think the CCI caps do it the least when they are not on a charge, but they all open up on me when I use a charge on a .44 larger than 25 gr. This even happens with the Treso tubes.  It isn't as severe and I find I get fewer fragmented caps which are the bane of the Colt's pattern shooter.  If my caps open up like  flower I rarely get a fragment and they usually drop off nicely and I have empty tubes when I hit the unloading table.  I have more problems if they blow out a side and get wedged in between the tube, cylinder and sometimes the frame.

I find the Remington caps open up more predictably and tend to fall free, I actually have more problems with CCI and RWS caps. If I shot light target loads the CCI caps might be a good choice because they sometimes almost look unfired.  They are loose on the tube and swollen a bit, but usually intact. The RWS caps in my experience fall in between the two, they split even if I use a light charge.  They split but don't usually open up like a flower.  The only RWS caps I really liked (actually needed) were the old 1055 caps which I needed for a '49 revolver I built from a kit over 35 years ago.  The tubes were so small that #10s wouldn't stay on.

~Mako

[Lefty Dude]

I shot my first C&B CAS match Yesterday. And a hardy thanks to Y'all for this thread.
I am not new to SASS/CAS, I have been shooting about 8 years. Smokless ya understand. And always 44 caliber for Revolver & Rifle.
last year I bought a pair of Pietta 1851 Navy Rebs. And the work began to get them up-to-speed so to speak.
I learned a lot lurking here in the DSD.
The last issue I was having was the Cap fit. I bought a set of Treso nipples for each, Remington # 11 caps. This all paid of Yesterday.
It was a six stage Club monthly match. I shot all six stages clean, with no malfunctions of any sort. And never pulled the Cylinder's in either piece.
I was using my TDC capper, the caps fit the nipples very well. As the nipples got some fouling on the exterior they would fit a little tighter. As good measure for proper seating I used my Elk Horn pusher I made many Years ago when I shooting a pair of Remington 58 in the early 1980's.
I have shot both Remmy's & Colt Clones, I much prefer the Colt open tops. They just point so well.
My Colts from the Custom Shop are Safe Queens for awhile, as I get the C&B started and expand my Shooting Hobby.

BTW; I have a Belgium 1960 Army that I am working on now. So Colt 60's will also grace my new Slim Jim Holsters I had made for the 51's.
Again, thanks for a great thread and topic.

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[Capt Billy]

My 51 Navy Signature Series had one of the Manhattan conversions installed by Rowdy Yates.
It was a small sleeve/guard installed right at the striking area. What it does is holds the caps in
place, not allowing them to fall into the works.
I showed it to a friend who had an OLD Remington (19th century) and guess what was in the striking area?
You got it, it looked just like my 21st century modification!

[Montana Slim]

My 51 Navy Signature Series had one of the Manhattan conversions installed by Rowdy Yates.
It was a small sleeve/guard installed right at the striking area. What it does is holds the caps in
place, not allowing them to fall into the works.
I showed it to a friend who had an OLD Remington (19th century) and guess what was in the striking area?
You got it, it looked just like my 21st century modification!

Pictures?
Also curious where one would find period examples of such firearm modifications...my internet search revealed nothing.

Regards,
Slim

[Pony Racer]

My experience with RWS caps has been very different than what has been said so far.

I found them noticeably "hotter" than any other cap on the market.  there was a lumber store near my folks farm that sold black powder guns and the accesories and he stocked rws and remington.

I found CCI to be the weakest and caused the most jams in my 51 navies.

The remmies stayed together nice and were fine.

But the RWS never jammed my 51's and had a definite hotter/louder ignition than the others.

Since I can't shoot one handed real well i shoot FC almost all the time now though.

PR

[River City John]

Don't worry, I'm in no rush. I'm just trying to understand this for possible future use.

;-)

I milled on my drill press using cutting oil and Dremel bits. Built a jig so that I could pop off the cylinder and turn it to present each nipple well. Clamped a guide to keep the jig aligned perpendicular, and a stop to keep the cutter from overtraveling and scoring the inner wall of each well. The tolerances on the jig were kept close so that there was no wobble of the cylinder when pushed all the way down flush.

RCJ

[Montana Slim]

Pictures?
Also curious where one would find period examples of such firearm modifications...my internet search revealed nothing.

Regards,
Slim

Anybody??