Cappers?

[ZVP]

 I bought 3 so far and have found them more trouble to fill than any time savings while loading. You still have to "pinch" the caps to prevent one or more falling off.#11 caps for my '58 Remington (By Piettia) and these caps seem to not split and fall into the action of my Piettia '51 .44 Navy too!
BP revolvers are a real "Hands On" thing... Probablly the way it was meant to be?
Actually capping without a capper isn't all that slow and the little pinch you can give the cap holds it much more securily. It'd be nice if the little spring on the capper would impart the needed crimp but it dosen't.
While on the topic of Caps, I have found the RWS Caps to be too thin of a material to function as needed. They fragment upon detonation and cause jams. Too bad cause RWS makes some FINE products otherwise.
ZVP

[Blackpowder Burn]

The  Cash snail capper works great on my Dragoons.  I know folks that also use them on their '51's and ROA's with no problem.  Try #10 caps, they should fit without any "pinching".  You shouldn't have to do that.

[Bishop Creek]

Ditto to what Aggie Desperado said. Try Remington #10 caps, haven't found anything better.

[Pettifogger]

If you have to pinch a cap it doesn't fit.  Period.  Also, just saying you are using "#11 caps" isn't useful information without stating the brand of cap.  Unfortunately, cap numbers have no rhyme or reason and one #11 isn't the same size as another brands #11.  Probably only a 1 in a million chance, but this guy was pushing a cap on with his thumb.  The result wasn't to good.

[hellgate]

I've got 6 or 7. The Ted Cash cappers aren't as strong when you push the cap onto the nipple but they fit all my guns. The flat brass tip bends when pushing hard. I load my cappers when I'm watching TV or a movie at home. The snail capper holds a lot of caps but if one gets tipped sideways it is a pain to clear the cap if you are in any hurry like in a CAS match. I also grind off the "lips" of the springs that don't actually contact the cap. The cappers I like have one spring and the tips are like angle iron shaped brass that supports the cap when pressing onto the nipple.

[Pettifogger]

The sheet metal "cappers" are not cap "seaters".   You need something more substantial and seating each cap after it has been put on the nipple by a capper is part of the loading sequence if you want reliable ignition.  I keep this one is my shotgun belt.

[hellgate]

I actually have several cap seaters that are 3"-4" long 3/8" dowels glued into a small 1" block of wood sort of like a long starter. It is easy on the palm than just the dowel and keeps the thumb away from the cap.

[fourfingersofdeath]

I bought a snail capper for my 44Pietta Texan (my first cap and ball gun) from the biggest BP supply place in Australia. It doesn't go anywhere fitting any revolver I have ever seen. I have a straight line capper, which is a pain and caps fall out al the time ($13.50 a 100 down here! I don't cap off, I use a pipe cleaner and some alcohol at home and a dry pipe cleaner at the range, ($1.62 to cap off two revolvers).

As to seating caps, the best ones I have seen are cartridges with a dowel fitted into it and a loop. The guys who ise these usually walk to the loading table with the loop around their wrist, cap teh chambers and then use the dowel to push them on.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I finally found some #10 Remington caps here in Victoria BC.  I couldn't find any for several years.  Now, with the new caps and TRESO cones I am GTG.  In an attempt to conserve the #10s, I tried a round of #11 rem caps.  40% misfires from both my 1860 and Rem NMA!!  #10 CCIs won't quite fit the Tresos but work sort of OK with factory equipment cones.

[Bishop Creek]

I finally found some #10 Remington caps here in Victoria BC.  I couldn't find any for several years.  Now, with the new caps and TRESO cones I am GTG.  In an attempt to conserve the #10s, I tried a round of #11 rem caps.  40% misfires from both my 1860 and Rem NMA!!  #10 CCIs won't quite fit the Tresos but work sort of OK with factory equipment cones.

I have tried so many brands of caps over the years. Started out back in 1969 with #11 CCI caps, lot of failures and misfires. Then I discovered Remington #10 caps back in the early '90s. Have never looked back. They work perfectly on my all Remington and Colt's cap and ball pistols. I rarely have a snap or misfire with them.

I have always used my thumb to push caps on the nipples, but after looking at the picture of that guy's thumb a few posts up, I may quit that practice.

[Montana Slim]

Been shooting these C&B's for around 30+  yrs.
Regarding seating caps...so far, I've only found the result of too much seating pressure to be a crushing of the priming compound...this has resulted in failed ignition when firing. So, #1 the cap must fit all the way down, have a snug fit to the side-wall of the cone (nipple) and not be crushed from too much seating pressure. Nice thing is that if it fails to fire or falls off on the firing line....well, a savvy shooter can diagnose the problem, recap if needed and continue....provided the RO doesn't trust you & takes the revolver away from you. 

Regards,
Slim

[ZVP]

  I was using #11 Remington Caps, I guess I should change to #10 Remingtons. The only brand my local gun shop carries is the Remingtons so it won't be too hard to get em.
I use a wooden dowel fitted inside a old 30-30 case to press the caps home. I just shaved the dowel to a offset point and this way it just slides down the revolvers sideplate.
Thanks for the tip on the caps!
ZVP

[WaddWatsonEllis]

This capper/snail and horn came with my ROAs and as said above, I put the cap on with the capper and  'snug' it up with the horn ...

[rickk]

ZVP,

If you can find one of these cappers, you might be happy with it. It won't fit your poor fitting cap problem (try a different brand and size of cap), but it will load and dispense caps better, especially on the 1858 Remington.  Sadly it isn't made any more.





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I was able to modify a Ted Cash capper to work the same way...

[Noz]

Ted Cash snail capper, #10 Remingtons on TRESO nipples and seated with a piece of unicorn horn.

[Montana Slim]

I have one thats very similar...bought mine new back in the 70's (19&70something) for $1.99. Should have bought a bushel basket.
Folks heareabouts know I keep it tied to my person during the match so's it don't walk away or get misplaced....

Otherwise I have about one of each available style of capper. Most work ok...most are designed to work with one size/type of cap or better with one type of firearm.

[rickk]

I had a conversation with Ted Cash about making that inline style... He sounded interested but it never happened.

Too bad, as I really think the discontinued inline capper was a good idea.

Anyway, it wasn't all that hard to convert one of his via a little bit of grinding on a bench grinder.

[Montana Slim]

I had a conversation with Ted Cash about making that inline style... He sounded interested but it never happened.

Dejavooo 

[rickk]

Yup, Dejavooo  ...

I just checked and this similar conversation happened 4 years ago.

I picked up a second capper in the middle of that thread. ;-)

But, the Ted Cash capper can be made to work as well.

It is a little loose, but works. If Ted modified his design specifically like this it would be awesome.

[Drayton Calhoun]

I've been using RWS #11's for about 20 years with excellent results. To the best of my recollection, I don't think I've ever even had a misfire with them. They are HOT. On the negative side, I have to down load to keep them from fragmenting too much and getting down into the action on my Colts.