Nipples N' Caps

[Guy La Pourqe]

Hey fellas.

I dunno about you but I get all my percussion pistol info off of the ol' Duelist on YouTube. One of his quirks I could never figure out was that he would cap his guns - then use a wooden dowel to push them onto the nipples harder. I also don't think he bothers with lube over the ball in the chambers. Perhaps he believes as I do - that chain fires are impossible from the front. I still do lube over the chambers to keep the fouling soft. Do I need too? As it is I can usually do about 30 rounds before my gun bungs up with fouling and stops working - then it's time to tear down and clean.

But lately I have started having failures to fire - and I notice that I can push the caps harder onto the nipples as Duelist does - and the misfires seem to go away. I can't explain why this has suddenly become a necessary step - I clean my guns spic and span and made sure the nipples were squeaky clean - shouldn't the caps just slide on with no issues? I replaced the factory nipples with bronze ones from Track Of The Wolf ages ago and I am still using them. Do they deform under constant use or something?

Have any of you guys experienced nipple problems like that?:bigsmyl2:

[oldracer]

If the nipple gets a slight flair or burr at the end then the cap will not go on well. If I accidentally dry fire onto the nipple I usually use a small jeweler's flat file to make sure there is no burr.

[dsayer]

I don't know about this Duelist fella, but pressing the cap onto the nipple a bit with the hammer is part of my loading routine. Not much pressure, just enough to make sure it's seated all the way. I had a batch of CCI #11 nipples years ago that all seemed to fit real tight. About half of the times I'd pull the trigger it wouldn't even set off the cap, it just pushed it further onto the nipple and then no problem with the next shot. Since then, it's just become habit...

[Maven]

Three things to mention. (1) I too do what Duelist does, and it helps. (2) "Duelist" is Mike Beliveau. (3) If you have nipple, cap fit, and/or ignition problems, you may want to Google Slix Shot nipples: They completely cured my Ruger Old Army of intermittent firing, which happened 3 out of 6 shots with either the original nipples or the Uncle Mike's that I also tried.