What caps?

[willy]

I use cci caps because they are the easiest to find around here.
What caps do you all prefer and why?


Willy

[Cuts Crooked]

With my 58 Remingtons, using the factory nipples, I prefer Remington #10s because they fit better than CCI #10s. However I read a lot of post that indicate that there are some aftermarket nipples that work well with the CCIs.

(BTW, I really like CCI caps for my frontstuffing rifles, but that's a whole other thing)

[Ransom Gaer]

All of my cap and ball revolvers have Treso nipples on them.  I have found the Remington #10 works best with them.  Cabelas has them.  I make a periodic raid on the Sidney, Nebraska store to keep my supply up.

Ransom Gaer

[Pettifogger]

Treso nipples and Remington 10s.  Remingtons seem hotter and easier to ignite than CCI or RWS.  Fired over 5,000 rounds with Remingtons before my first misfire and that was a cap that got wet in a driving rainstorm.

[sundance44`s]

They can be hard to find , but Remington #10`s work well on all my cap and ballers . I`ve got a Colt 51 Navy that just won`t set off a CCI cap (light hammer spring ) , but it runs fine with the #10 Remingtons .
I have ordered a case of them 10 tins ..from Cabelas and paid the hazmat ..just to keep all my cap and ballers running smooth .
I just don`t like to have to pinch a cap , that really doesn`t fit well .

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Howdy!

Willy, I guess I'm the oddball here.  (What a surprise.  )  I have 2 C&B guns that I replaced the stock cones (old term for nipples) with old Uncle Mikes Stainless Steel nipples and Rem. # 11s fit great.  These were gotten in the mid 1970s.  Uncle Mikes were, to my knowledge, the first after market nipples with smaller-than-stock flash holes.  Generally, .029" is the diameter which helps lessen the blowback from chamber ignition and helps lessen/alleviate slit or blown-off spent caps which often migrate down the hammer channel and into the works.  Bad news!

Recently, I became the proud owner of a 2nd Gen. Colt   1st Mod. Dragoon.  It came with the longest nipples I've ever seen.  I never found out exactly WHAT nipples worked. (I have on hand CCI #11s, #11Ms, Rem. #11s and CCI #10s.  None fit!  )  I immediately ordered the TRESO replacement nipples from Thunder Ridge Muzzleloading : http://www.thunder-ridge.com/products.php?cat=69  Unlike what most here have said, mine work PERFECTLY with the Rem. #11s, as do my old Uncle Mikes.  Don't know why MINE don't work with Rem. # 10s like everyone else, but ... Around here, #11s are more common anyway!

Go figure.

[River City John]

Left to right: Remington #10; Remington #11; Nobel #1075; CCI #10; CCI #11

Treso nipple on right, stock Italian on left. Italian nipples have taper and rounded shoulder to accept all brands of caps, - the Treso has straight sides and squared shoulder which holds caps better, plus a smaller flashhole which reduces blowback.

[Pettifogger]

Great photo River City.  Caps are like shoes.  Even though two pair from different manufacturers are both marked as 10s, the only way to see if they fit right is to try them on.

[sundance44`s]

Thats it in a nut shell ...all cap size are not equal , just depends who made them ..one thing for sure when ya find the right cap for all your cap guns ..it sure makes cap and ball shooting alot more fun and less trouble .

[Justice Johnson]

I, use rem 10's and treso or thunder ridge nips.

kepps the guns belchin fire and brimstome

regards

[Four Eyed Floyd]

I have a Traditions 1851 in 44 cal. What size Treo's do I look for?

[River City John]

Four-Eyed Floyd,

may not be the answer you're looking for, but best to either pull a nipple and send in, or measure the pitch and let the supplier know. The problem is that the importers change thread size quite often, even switching back and forth amongst metric, English. . . . tough to just say it should take such and such standard size.

I purchased my Treso's from Track of the Wolf, and they were reluctant to suggest a size to fit a Leech & Rigdon and an 1863 Remington Navy, both by Uberti. Even though they were the same manufacturer and calibre, sure enough they took different sizes.

For what it's worth, I believe the ones for the Leech & Rigdon ('51 Navy clone) were their #12-28. I'll have to go back and check the invoice, though. Not sure if they carry Treso anymore, but they do have Ampco brand.
Seeing as it's wintertime, I'd go ahead and send them a nipple and ask the supplier to match it. You will have a choice as to whether you want your Treso to fit #10's or #11's. #11's seem to be the ones that most of my local suppliers can keep in stock, but Cabela's does a good job of keeping Remington # 10's on hand.

I would bet that you'd have to also specify for Traditions .44 cal.
Not sure if this helped.   

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Howdy, again!

I'll echo what River City John mentioned.  When I dealt with Thunder Ridge, I didn't find a listing for a Colt Dragoon, 1st Model.  They listed the Walker as one size and the Colt 3rd model as another, but not Mods. 1&2.  I talked to them on the phone and they weren't sure, either, as I was apparently the 1st customer with my particular model and need.  I - impatient as always - decided to order the ones listed for the 3rd Mod.  Luckily, even 'tho it appeared and measured slightly different than the stock Colt nips that came on the gun, it fit perfectly.  (Sometimes the threads are different, but mostly it's the overall length and more importantly, the length that it is from when it screws in tightly.  Also, the threaded part can be too long on some models.)

If you can, send them one - like RCJ suggested, that needs changing.  There IS one thing about nipples that is not always known, except by experienced C&B shooters.  If the hammer actually hits the nipple when it drops, the nipple is too long.  There should be some space between the face of the hammer and the end of the nipple.  .010-.015" or so.  If they touch you will batter both the nipple and the hammer face and eventually, you'll be changing cap brands/sizes and nipples and in extreme, even the hammer assembly.  If you can slide a couple pieces of paper in betwixt the 2 pieces, you'll probably do fine.   My computer printer paper averages .005", so yours probably does, too.  ('Course, a good set of automotive feeler gauges will be best.  )  Also, if the gun is a Remington, the face of the hammer is often a different angle to the nipple and can strike at an angle.  You can file this area to be perpendicular, but then the length needed CAN be different! 

Don't fuss - it's easier than it sounds. 

[Four Eyed Floyd]

Thanks that does help at least gives me somewhere to start. Any idea if #11's are better to use than #10's?

[Steel Horse Bailey]

I don't have any scientific data, but it's pretty much 6 of one; half dozen of the other - given the same manufacturer.  Size is the difference between them.  CCI makes a MAGNUM cap, but I think they're the only one.  Hotter IS better, and the Remington #11s I use seem to fire off even hotter (or at least the same) as the CCI magnum #11M caps I have - and are more consistent, to boot.  Others have been happy with the CCI #11Ms, I may have simply gotten a bad batch.  Pyrodex DOES ignite better with the hotter caps.

I don't know if it's the same with percussion caps as smokeless primers, but with primers, it's not really a hotter flame - it just burns LONGER.

[Howdy Doody]

Good comparison pic John. I have always used Rem #10s on Italian, Treso and Ruger nipples. A while ago I had to buy some Rem #11 caps due to not finding any #10s and they fit well and performed just like #10s on ROA nipples. However, I like to use a snail capper and the shorter length cause some of the caps to tip over in the TC snail capper. I had to take a file to it and do some fitting for the snaill to be trouble free with #11s. So, other than not fitting down further, the Remington #11s work, but 10s are my choice.
I do use CCI caps to clear my nipples however before loading before a match. Why CCIs? Because I am so danged thrifty that I found the only use for them, since I had bought some tins of them and had no luck. It is my way of using them up.
I discovered that a miss or a failed to fire shot ruins a decent score`I always strive to get away with as few misses on my score card as I can muster, it pays off. IMHO

[The Elderly Kid]

Damn! This sort of tells us why people were so happy to switch to centerfire and even rimfire when they came along, don't it?

[Howdy Doody]

Damn! This sort of tells us why people were so happy to switch to centerfire and even rimfire when they came along, don't it?

  Ever wonder why it is hard to get a large class of frontiersmen? That would be why. It takes a lot of loading, tinkering and all that while trying to remember the shooting scenario and striving for reliability, along with some folks that have some real problems with actually watching for the hits instead of listening for misses. Pure lead balls just do not make a piece of steel ring, they tend to splat.
What the heck, it's a game. No frontiersman is going to win any Cadillac shooting the smokey stuff. BP shooting is for having fun with like minded weird folks. That is why I love C&B shooting and why I am weird.