No 11 Caps Colt Dragoon

[Gray Rat]

Im new to BP CB and Im haveing some trouble putting the caps on the nipples.  The press on real hard and dont seat as well as I would expect.  Not knowing much about caps.  I read in the Colt manual that I needed No 11 caps.  So I bought CCI No 11 Magnum Caps.  Is there a difference in the physical size between a CCI No 11 percussion cap and a CCI No 11 Magnum cap.  Im trying to put a CCI No 11 Magnum cap on a 2nd gen 3rd modle Colt Dragoon made by Colt and it goes on real hard and only fires 50% of the time. 

Thanks in advance for the help.


Gray Rat
SASS 51579

[Fingers McGee]

Here's a chart with nominal sizes of various caps.  If the #11 CCIs dont work, try the shorter skirted #11 Remingtons.  Even though the opening size is the same, the shorter height will fit the taper of the cone better.

[Tsalagidave]

Careful with pressing hard on percussion caps to make them fit.  I know of a shooter who blew the tip of his thumb off with an accidental discharge. (Left a nice cleavage scar for him to tell his grandkids about...) A lot of shooters here have great tricks to get around this.  I always gently squeeze the outer rim of a No.11 cap and fit it on with no more force than I use to press on a keyboard. I do this on 2nd gen Navies and Dragoons. They almost never fall off in my experience.

If your cap is not fully seated, the "crumple zone" on the sides of the caps will absorb the hammer's impact causing a mis-fire. Another cause is that you may have crushed caps and fragments deep down in your gun's mechanics. Your hammer will fall, (click), but will lack the force to explode the cap. (Been there, done that.)

Solution: Take your gun apart and clean it thouroughly, clear any fragments & debris and then make sure that you are properly seating your caps. It worked for me so I hope it is helpful to you.

-Dave