How many caps to a Pound?

[PatMarlin]

Bout' how many precussion caps do you consume per pound of powder on average?

I figured some one here would have a ball park answer, and it would save me some time to go figure it.

Just what are all the differences between #10 and #11 caps anyways?

Pat ...:drinks:

[testhop]

PAT
there a lot of verables in the question .
there are 7000 gr of powder so take the load you use devide in to 7000 will give you the primers needed .
i use 70 gr load for targets so i need 100 primers per lb
i use a flint for hunting so no primers but 2 different grades of powder ff for loads and ffffto prime with

[PatMarlin]

Thanks- that's close enough of an estimate for my needs.

Would like info on the 10 vs, 11 caps.

[Underclocked]

10s are smaller diameter. Mostly used on pistol nipples.

[PatMarlin]

Do the 11's have more of a charge?
Hotter I mean.

[Hanshi]

Correct; #10 are smaller than #11 and normally used on revolvers. I have used #10 on rifles that had nipples too small for #11. I've also used #10 on larger rifle nipples but had to press them down pretty good for them to fire. I'd suspect #11 would have a miniscule amount more of the compound, but hotter? I wouldn't think so. Magnum primers may have enough compound to be considered "hotter".

As is stated above, since you need one primer for each shot, it depends on your powder charge.

[Gerry N.]

When shooting BP or muzzleloaders the "cooler" the cap, the better the accuracy consistent with reliable ignition. This, of course, does not relate to (haaackhh, spit, gaaacck--- inlines, may they all misfire every time wiithout fail.)

The HOT MAGNUM line of thinking is for Weatherby style magnum smokeless cartridges and the various fake plack powders that are difficult to ignite.

Percussion caps do not come in magnum versions as such, it's just that different manufacturer's offering differ.

Musket caps are another animal and do have larger priming charges as they need to ignite large charges in large bores and when they were first designed the priming commpound, fulminate of mercury, was required in larger amounts to achieve reliability. Today, not so much.

I have a T-C Seneca set up with a custom .40 cal barrel. The best accuracy out of that barrel is with cast .390" roundballs in .020" pillow ticking patches greased with lard, 30 grains of 3F Goex, primed with home made caps made with a Forster Tap-o-Cap using America West caps marketed by Tootsie-Toy. I found some in an old Five and Dime several years ago and bought 10,000 of 'em. Should be a lifetime supply.

So, to answer your questions, divide 7000 grains in a pound by the weight of grains in your charge to arrive at caps per pound of powder. #10 and #11 caps differ only in size, and commercial percussion caps available now are not available in magnum or hotter types.

For those tools of Satan, the inlines, may they all misfire, 209 shotgun primers are needed to set off the crummy Presto-Log powders in them.

Gerry N.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

What is generally never recognized is that most modern nipples are of a bastardized set of dimensions , because of US makers, Italian repro gun makers, inch/metric, and manufacturing foibles like batch processing by a variety of small shops, and the passage of time in an old technology. Meanwhile caps by major manufacturers and importers have remained fairly uniform in dimensions, except for such things as Dixie's old thick brass, short shank, corrosive, odd sized, red plastic containered caps of 40 years ago.

Another problem is the "pinch them" to fit effort (and I have done it too), or pushing them on enough to stay on tight, that works on a rifle or singleshot pistol as an expedient thing, but not on a revolver. The real cure is to buy or modify nipples to fit properly from the start. A cap should fit like a sleeve of foam cups: that is, it should snuggle down on that nipple cone fairly easily, seating to put the charge in contact with the top of the cone, and be tight enough to be waterproof and hard to get off, and have the correct clearance for the revolvers. You just have to file the cone length to fit , especially for a colt's revolver to function perfectly, and somehow turn the cone in diameter and taper to be correct.

This is the only way to insure absolute reliability in use, especially in the revolvers. BvT

BTW Winchester sells # 11 MAGNUM caps in 100 cap tins. Likely designed for the problematic inlines and imitation BP. I nailed 1500 last spring when Wally put them on closeout. I admit to not trying them or even looking at them just yet, as my guns cones are fitted to the CCIs and others I am using.

[waksupi]

Pat, you can figure the amount of shots per pound pretty easy. The kicker is, you use a couple caps to clear the bore before loading at each shooting session, so, the amount of shooting you do per session may be a factor.

[PatMarlin]

Yea that's a good point too Ric, and I had thought of that.

I bought an evil inline 12 ga, with 3 adjustable screw in chokes- a knight turkey rifle, and the first thing I did was gut the shotgun primer- plastic insert holding crap.

Installed a nipple and housing for a "Standard" no 11, and I don't use the presto log pellets. The darn thing shoots and patterns extremely well and goes off every time with loose powder, using Star's shotgun method.

It truly is a nice balanced rifle now. I am very pleased. Also pleased that turkeys are now on our property ..!

I've got a good amount of no 10's that I don't need and found that the 10 cap will fit in large pistol primer holed brass. Wonder if a pin will set it off. Most likely.

[mooman76]

Pat, you can figure the amount of shots per pound pretty easy. The kicker is, you use a couple caps to clear the bore before loading at each shooting session, so, the amount of shooting you do per session may be a factor.

That's where my top-o-cap comes in. Instead of waisting good caps I use those for my initial dry fires.

[PatMarlin]

Now that's a good ideer moonman. I got one of those Tapocaps, but never used it yet.

[KCSO]

Caps CAME in all sizes for nippplles from shotun and musket to pocket pistol. When I started the local hardware had caps sized from 9 to 12 with 9 the smallest. You picked the cap that slid all the way down on your nipple. Lately factories tend to make all nipples #11 size but you can still find a 10 occasionally. Musket caps come in winged for ease of removal and non winged.

[Hanshi]

While I don't shoot capguns that much anymore (flints, now mostly) I use to. Killed lots of game with them. Back in the '60s I stocked up on musket caps and #10 & #11 caps. Still have some musket caps & #10s left. The only thing I've been having to buy is the #11s. They were cheap then but costly now. I might catch a lot of flack for saying this but I seldom snap a cap to clear the nipple & drum. It's a waste of caps IMHO. What i do is remove the nipple and use a pipe cleaner to clean out the nipple and fire channel. Then I take a fine wooden tooth pick and clean out the bottom hole in the nipple. Of course I wipe the barrel dry with several patches. Never had a problem in 45 years, either. [smilie=1: