Colt Walker Cap Problems

[105GunGrunt]

I have both a Colt Walker and 1860 Army with the same problem. Using FFg splits the caps. Pyrodex DESTROYS the caps. I have been using CCI #11s. They are so mangled after firing I have difficulty removing them so that I may take the next shot. I have installed after market nipples with a much smaller flash hole that was supposed to reduce the back pressure, but that did not work. Anyone have a solution? Does anyone make a "heavy duty" cap?

[docone31]

You need #10 caps. They will be destroyed during the firing process. You want that.
In the westerns, they showed the person firing the pistol as bringing the pistol up over his head after it was shot. The cap and ball revolvers, it was practice to do the same thing. This ejected parts of the cap outward rather than down inside the mechanism.
I have had the #11 caps dislodge before firing and jam the cylinder.
Go with the #10 caps.

[44man]

I use Remington 10's or 11's. You WANT them to break apart or you will be picking them off the nipples with a screwdriver. They should split and stay in one piece so they fall out.
The other side of the coin are RWS caps on a rifle. They shatter and will stick pieces of cap in your face. The Remington and CCI caps do not do that.

[mooman76]

I used to have some CVA caps years ago. They were a solid cup brass cap. I hade to litterally pry them off with something like a screwdriver or pocket knife. I switched to cap that split and came off easy afterward. That's what you want as long as they are not fragmenting.

[JIMinPHX]

I used to have that same problem on two nipples of a 51 colt clone. Three other nipples had a loose fit that required me to pinch the caps in to keep them on. The 6th nipple worked properly. Poor cap to nipple fit is the demon that you are dealing with. If you are lucky, changing the brand of cap you use will solve your problem. Some brands of caps are bigger than others within a given size. There are #10 & #11 sizes as standards. CCI & Remington caps of the same specified size fit a little differently. I don't remember which is the big one & which is the tight one. RWS also makes a 10.75 that is extra tight on a #11 nipple.

I wasn't lucky enough to get away with just changing caps, since my nipples were all different sizes. I actually had to make some physical changes. At first, I made due by spinning my fat nipples in a drill chuck while holding sand paper against them until I got a good fit. Eventually, I found a set of replacement nipples that a vendor at a SASS event was selling. By that time, I had access to a lathe & did a proper fit up on the new set. A correct nipple fit stretches the nipple just enough to get a snug fit. Correct nipple length comes up about .010"-.020" short of touching the hammer when it is down. The thickness of the cap will make up that gap in normal use. If the hammer actually hits the nipple with no cap on it, then the nipple will get distorted from use & that's a real headache. The gun I was dealing with was a Pietta. The nipple threads on it were a special extra fine metric. I think that they were M6 x 0.75 or something like that. Different brands of gun use different nipple threads & different nipple lengths.

Oh wow, I just noticed that this is your first post. Welcome to the board new friend.