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Thread: Making caps

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy archeryrob's Avatar
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    Making caps

    With Tap-o-cap gone and I might want to make my own caps, is there substitute?

    Has anyone made their own? I can't see it that hard to punch circles and making you own forcing cone on a correctly sized round anvil press.

    I have also seen comments that they homemade caps work in rifles but can jamb pistols.

    What is true and what have you all seen?

  2. #2
    Boolit Master

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    I have a mannyinca cap maker and have only used it on rifles, found that I need to double the pop cans to get it to stay on the nipple but otherwise worked fine. the place that makes the 22lr reloading kits makes one but don't know how good it is.

  3. #3
    Boolit Grand Master In Remembrance
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    On the usual auction site, user vindex still has 5 of those cap makers on there; That's one option anyways.

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    I made caps with the Tap-a-can. The toy caps being inserted had a rather disconcerting habit of going off while being seated in the caps. Always made me wonder how it would feel if the rifle went off when seating them on the nipple......
    The solid soft lead bullet is undoubtably the best and most satisfactory expanding bullet that has ever been designed. It invariably mushrooms perfectly, and never breaks up. With the metal base that is essential for velocities of 2000 f.s. and upwards to protect the naked base, these metal-based soft lead bullets are splendid.
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  5. #5
    Boolit Master
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    The sharpshooter 22 reloaded cap maker is better than the old tap o cap. It folds the sides of the cap into a nice cylinder. Then you can use the German legends caps or make your own priming powder following the formulas in the sticky on this forum about doing so.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master


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    I kinda cheat....wait til BP season is over then keep eye on wally world clearance. Every year I roadtrip to several stores and buy all the CCI caps on clearance, this year scored 43 100ct tins @ $2.50 ea. Hard to beat $25.00/thousand, no hazmat & no tax (disabled vet). Oughta last me a week or so....right?
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  7. #7
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    I made my own tap-a-cap from plans on the internet. Works really well on my rifles. I don't have a pistol so don't know how it would work. I scrapped the priming mixture from roll caps and mixed it with acetone to form a paste for priming.
    Then I ran across 2k of the CCI cheap and quit playng with it.
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  8. #8
    Boolit Buddy archeryrob's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by aspangler View Post
    I made my own tap-a-cap from plans on the internet.
    What plans, where?

    Quote Originally Posted by RoyEllis View Post
    I kinda cheat....wait til BP season is over then keep eye on wally world clearance. Every year I roadtrip to several stores and buy all the CCI caps on clearance, this year scored 43 100ct tins @ $2.50 ea. Hard to beat $25.00/thousand, no hazmat & no tax (disabled vet). Oughta last me a week or so....right?
    They don't carry them in Maryland. Most stores don't cary them or BP. I have to got to WVA or PA or order online.

  9. #9
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    I tried the Tap-o-Cap with the roll caps from the wallymart. They didn’t set off my rifle, even with 3 caps. How do you get it to work?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  10. #10
    Boolit Master
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    the .22 reloader one looks good also they have primer compound which works better then toy caps. there is a video on you tube about using it.

  11. #11
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by fiberoptik View Post
    I tried the Tap-o-Cap with the roll caps from the wallymart. They didn’t set off my rifle, even with 3 caps. How do you get it to work?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Todays caps aren't as strong as they used to be. You could take a tiny bit of 3f or 4f BP in the cap to make it work. Someone here made a cup/scoop out of a used center fire primer and wire for a hnadle.
    Aim small, miss small!

  12. #12
    Boolit Buddy
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    Taffer has lead the way to use the german role caps. You soak the role or part of a role in water for about a min. You can then gently part the very thin red paper off from the thick base. You then lift the dots from the paper with a sharp knife and put them (still wet) right into your cups. Tamp down and let dry. For revolver use four dots is good. For sidelock rifles I put in ten dots. Even ten dots does not fill much of the cup. This if done while still wet is safe .I can use these caps to set off Pyrodex or BP. This way ensures that you get almost no paper in your cap cup. They can be powerful too. The water does not reduce the caps power once dry.
    n.hschmidt

  13. #13
    In Remembrance

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    Quote Originally Posted by archeryrob View Post
    What plans, where?


    They don't carry them in Maryland. Most stores don't cary them or BP. I have to got to WVA or PA or order online.
    They are available from 22lrreloader.com. Don't know the price but they have them. Get some priming mix at the same time.
    Tennessee Hunter Education Instructor

    “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to
    restrain the people; it is an instrument for the
    people to restrain the government-lest it come to
    dominate our lives and interests"
    Patrick Henry

  14. #14
    Boolit Master AntiqueSledMan's Avatar
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    Archeryrob,

    I don't have any plans, but I do have this.

    AntiqueSledMan
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Tap-O-Cap.jpg  

  15. #15
    Boolit Bub
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    If you own a drill press it's fairly simple to fabricate a two stage die that will punch out four-leaf clover blanks from sheet copper and then push them through a second die which extrudes them into a cup shape.

  16. #16
    Boolit Buddy waarp8nt's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RoyEllis View Post
    I kinda cheat....wait til BP season is over then keep eye on wally world clearance. Every year I roadtrip to several stores and buy all the CCI caps on clearance
    I have done the same thing over the years. My local store sells out fairly quick, but the next town over must not have any shooters, they always have some caps left over after season.
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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check