Nipple question

[Isom]

Question to the fire. I'm not a regular cap gun shooter . 1-3 times a year maybe.  I am a darksider though. I understand why people pop caps before starting. But ,,, to my way of thinking is, if you can see daylight through the cylinders (from the nipple side)   , why bother popping caps ? Seems to be a waste of caps to me.

Isom

[Crow Choker]

Back when caps could be had for $1.00 a tin or a heck of a lot cheaper than they are now (when I started think they were .65 per 100), ya didn't think about poppin' six caps on a cylinder to clear the nipples. When caps started hitting the highs they are now and got real scarce in my area, I went to cleaning the nipples out with denatured alcohol on pipe cleaners and giving them a blast of compressed air (from a compressor free of water in it). I put the hammer on half cock, hold the gun up with the business end facing me, and turn the cylinder looking into it. If I see equal light from each cylinder, load it up. Never have had a charge fail to fire. Also clean the interior of each chamber with large fluffy Q-tip (I lifted from my wife's make-up drawer) and denatured alcohol and air. Some shooters just stick to the old method for cause, esp if they are going to shoot at a match to insure the nipples are clear. A note- I have seen where firing a cap on a unloaded cylinder has left minor debris in the nipple. Whether that would interfere with firing, couldn't tell ya. I buy my caps at a source that doesn't gall ya (like the Cabella type stores) and the size I like (Rem 10's) are to be had, but I still resort to the pipe cleaner and air. Canned air works to. Have been doing it this way for around 10 years now-no problem.

[hellgate]

What Crow Choker said, exactly. Same history. Waste of caps and I've had nipples clogged by "clearing them by firing caps on an empty chamber". The cheapest I've found caps is at Sportsmans Warehouse for $5.99/100 Remington #10s. Q-Tips, nipple picks, & canned air!

[Noz]

I will spend .84 ¢ to be sure my nipples are clear.  I also check for debris.

[Coffinmaker]

Ah .... PLUS ONE to Noz.  As an additional, the "other" idea for bustin a cap before a shooting session is to clear the chamber by burning out any remaining oils and solvents left over from cleaning and light oiling of the chambers before putting the gun away.

I do NOT consider 84 CENTS to be excessive to insure I have 12 clear chambers with which to start a match.  I mean, Cummon boys and girls  .......... 84 "cents" fer Pete's sake.  Then when you get back to your stash of powder, you take a peek at your nipples (Ah .. turn your cylinder just like the Suppository boys do??).  Sheesh.

[hellgate]

I quit popping them beforehand when I kept finding debris in the flash holes after doing so. I pick them and blow them out with compressed air at home when assembling my gear. Of course, I'm a cheapskate too.

[Crow Choker]

Cause I'm cheap, the procedure I do to clean the chamber and nipple works, and I'm to stubborn to change back. 

[Navy Six]

Not trying to take sides and I don't care about the 84 cents. I stopped busting caps about two years ago when I went to running a dry cleaning patch on a jag in each chamber before shooting. Then, as Crow Choker already described, looking for light through each nipple. I average shooting the cap guns about once a week and have not had any type of weak report/round. This with both loose powder and paper cartridges--the paper carts I finally worked out to a reliable method. 

[Montana Slim]

I quit popping caps after I learned to clean & prep the guns properly - 40-some years ago.
If this wasn't a sound decision, I likely wouldn't have a large number of clean matches shooting Frontiersman.

Regards,
Slim