Percussion Cap Tins

[Castaway]

I have a strong suspicion the person that designed the tin that contains percussion caps has never fired a cap and ball revolver. Opening the tin is exercise in finger slipping, tongue twisting, and words I wouldn’t say in front of children. Nothing to get a grip on and held so tightly the lid wont twist. If you’re lucky, when you do get it open, you don’t scatter 100 caps all over the floor. If the designer ever tried it with the smallest bit of lube on his fingers he would have gone back to the drawing board. Is there a trick I’ve missed that let’s one open the cans easily?

[r80rt]

Nope, that sounds about right.

[Electrod47]

Why do you think there are so many of them out there decades old collectables, still full of primers?

[elmacgyver0]

I never seemed to have a problem with them.

[36g]

There are few tin makers in the U.S. and the design used for percussion ca[s is used for a variety of other things (think medicinal salves and solid perfumes). The tins can be decorated with whatever the end customer wants. That being said, there are other designs of small tins that incorporate a rolled edge on the tin cover and a small ridge at the bottom/base of the tin that allows better grasp to remove the cover. Those tins are more expensive however. That I'm sure is the primary sticking point - cost...

[HWooldridge]

This is why I carefully load my inline cappers over a towel laying on the kitchen table. The tins are usually easier to open if you twist them, but most any type of minor damage increases the difficulty ten-fold.

[Tazman1602]

The buggers have done that to everything, I have to use my knife to get a start opening my blasted Skoal cans, started about six months ago and drives me crazy…..same thing with some jars….elderly adult proof…

Art

[Hellgate]

If you think spilling them onto the floor is a PITA then just try over gravel.

[MarkP]

Either too loose or super tight.

[elmacgyver0]

The buggers have done that to everything, I have to use my knife to get a start opening my blasted Skoal cans, started about six months ago and drives me crazy…..same thing with some jars….elderly adult proof…

Art

You need to hand them to a child; I can guarantee they can open them.

[uscra112]

Decades ago I started carrying caps in plastic film canisters. Those are now out of style, but have been replaced by the little snap-top canisters that the test strips for my glucose meter come in. Larger volumes for storage at home go in pill bottles. ANYTHING but those blasted tins they come in. Even the new plastic ones my 6mm acorn blanks come in are an abomination.

[Driver man]

.177 air rifle pelets come in handy sized containers and have a decent rim with a screw type lid.

[bimus]

When hunting the Tic Tac containers work very well

[Harter66]

Between the Ms and I we have 5 scripts. Pill vials , aka bottles , are wonderful things. It sucks always carting a pharmacy around but at 60 bottles a year that are basically air tight , UV resistant, and quite handy it's made a little better .

I have 100 or more in surplus and probably 40-50 in use .
The smaller ones I've been using for 22,25,26,27 cal bullets , the 22s will go 50-60 per while the others go about 30 per bottle . The large ones make dandy magazines for 1917 loaded clips 4-5 at a time . The short ones hold 100 or more unloaded as well as being a perfect home for Ruger BlackHawk cylinders for the convertible and spare C&B cylinders .

No clue how many caps they would hold but the large tall ones will hold about 1500 27 or 28 cal gas checks .

[Froogal]

I have a strong suspicion the person that designed the tin that contains percussion caps has never fired a cap and ball revolver. Opening the tin is exercise in finger slipping, tongue twisting, and words I wouldn’t say in front of children. Nothing to get a grip on and held so tightly the lid wont twist. If you’re lucky, when you do get it open, you don’t scatter 100 caps all over the floor. If the designer ever tried it with the smallest bit of lube on his fingers he would have gone back to the drawing board. Is there a trick I’ve missed that let’s one open the cans easily?

You just described perfectly my very first experience. If I ever do it again, I may resort to just wrecking the can and putting the caps in something else.

[T-Bird]

I've got one of those Ted Cash cappers that I bought in the '80's that will hold almost an entire tin of caps and release them one at a time on the nipple. I fill it at home to avoid fumbling with the tin in the woods or at the range. I agree, the tins are a PITA, they are worse now that I have old fingers.

[Hanshi]

I put caps I'll be using for the day in various cap holders which make it easy to use them. I even make some of my own "cappers". Here are two of the leather cappers I made from leather; one is #11 caps, the other is for musket caps.

https://i.ibb.co/jL3bv5D/PICT0568-zps9df29541.jpg

[megasupermagnum]

Yes, the tins could be better than they are. I've not had that big of an issue with them. I shoot CCI's almost exclusively, and their tins are pretty good. I think like most things muzzleloader, tradition has made tins the way they are. Cap tins have been the same general style for a long, long time. My biggest problem with them is when they get half empty they allow way too much movement of the caps. Opening has not been an issue for me. Handling individual #11 or #10 caps is, but there's no cure for that other than a bigger cap.

I gave up on shooting from a tin years ago. Mine go straight from a tin into a cash capper. For big game hunting I will load up an inline capper.

[LAGS]

I use old Copenhagen cans for my Home made primers , and other BP stuff like balls and ramrod tips.
I am making one of my bad habits usefully in other better habits like shooting.

[Brokenbear]

I'm grinning when I say this so don't wad up on me .."I cried because I had no shoes til I saw a man who had no feet"
Be thankful you have a hundred to spill ..I just got lucky at Wally World but there are still a lot of folks without or with very few
Check your WallMart store for caps fellas as they are hitting the stores that are known to carry any reloading or BP supplies

Bear

[Sasquatch-1]

I use the TC plastic snail capper. Works on rifles and revolvers. It has a hole that is large enough to set the cap tin in and dump the whole thing at once. Open once and dispose of the tin.

[WRideout]

When hunting the Tic Tac containers work very well

Or Icebreaker can with the two openings.

Wayne

[725]

Boy, I can relate to this thread. Slippery & tight is my most common experience. A finger nail at the junction or a knife blade gets me started.

[Sasquatch-1]

Slippery & tight is my most common experience.

Boy, what I could do with that statement if I was the crude type.[smilie=1:

[KCSO]

The tins are just to get them home, then they go in a capper or a holder for range use. I have used a Ted cash capper for on to 40 years now along with a home made leather holder that holds 6 for the range or hunting. Although long ago some caps came in tins with knurled lids.

[T-Bird]

Sasquatch, glad I'm not alone!:lol:

[bedbugbilly]

That's what Altoid tins are for - if shooting at a range it makes it pretty easy to get your fat fingers in to wrap caps - easy open easy close. For rifles, I use a Ted Cash capper that I bought from Ted many years ago at Friendship.

[RoyEllis]

I just use a narrow strip of that traction tape they sell for skateboards, one strip on lid one around the base. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

[ncmn]

Man I just wish I could find some to remember how much trouble it is to get in to them

[Texas by God]

Man I just wish I could find some to remember how much trouble it is to get in to themWhat he said^^^^^^^

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

[uscra112]

That caused me to look on Gunbroker to see what I could see.....Yowzers! Think the prices for primers are bad? Try $30/hundred! And very few on offer.

Then I searched Ruger Old Army, 'cause I have a stainless one I bought over 20 years ago for a couple hundred. Yowzers again!

Proving the ancient investors' rule that in times of inflation, own stuff.

[charlie b]

That's what Altoid tins are for - if shooting at a range it makes it pretty easy to get your fat fingers in to wrap caps - easy open easy close. For rifles, I use a Ted Cash capper that I bought from Ted many years ago at Friendship.

Same for me. Also saves me from dropping primers when reloading.

PS If thinking about a cheaper capper, don't. I bought two before I got frustrated with them. Get good ones, either inline or high cap. Cash designed good ones and they are worth it.

[LAGS]

For holding the caps and installing them on the nipples of my Rifles, I have always used a Capper made out of two layers of leather with holes punched in one layer.
This is what our forefathers used.
This doesn't work on revolvers.
But it is great on rifles

[45_Colt]

Next time you have a tin open, place the smallest amount of Imperial case sizing lube on the rim and lid. I do this with pellet tins and those as-is are easier then cap tins to open (screw tops). Just a smidgen rubbed on does a world of good.

45_Colt

[Der Gebirgsjager]

As observed by several others in the thread, putting them in something else is a great solution. Other stuff that needs opening improvement are cheese sticks and packing tape. Just saw a cartoon where the devil is having an award ceremony and says, "This month's employee of the month is Bob (a little devil) who invented the roll of packing tape that really has no end to find."

302882

DG

[siamese4570]

Amen Broken bear.
Siamese4570

[Tazman1602]

That caused me to look on Gunbroker to see what I could see.....Yowzers! Think the prices for primers are bad? Try $30/hundred! And very few on offer.

Then I searched Ruger Old Army, 'cause I have a stainless one I bought over 20 years ago for a couple hundred. Yowzers again!

Proving the ancient investors' rule that in times of inflation, own stuff.

I’ve been wanting a Ruger old/new army for a couple of years and wil NOT pay what they go for, probably why I’ve been waiting 8 months for a new Ruger SBL.

The last time I waited 8-9 months for something to get released it cost me hundreds of thousands over 25 years…

Art

[GL49]

I just use a narrow strip of that traction tape they sell for skateboards, one strip on lid one around the base. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Why is it that I can't think of the easy solutions?

[indian joe]

Same for me. Also saves me from dropping primers when reloading.

PS If thinking about a cheaper capper, don't. I bought two before I got frustrated with them. Get good ones, either inline or high cap. Cash designed good ones and they are worth it.

Got three inline cappers one good one that I dont like (cash I think) two cheapies from Cabellas I way prefer ..................

[indian joe]

I'm grinning when I say this so don't wad up on me .."I cried because I had no shoes til I saw a man who had no feet"
Be thankful you have a hundred to spill ..I just got lucky at Wally World but there are still a lot of folks without or with very few
Check your WallMart store for caps fellas as they are hitting the stores that are known to carry any reloading or BP supplies

Bear

Yeah just bought the only tin of caps within a hundred mile radius of my house Remington number ten's = $18 /100
Rang a feller about three hours away - he has plenty RWS $22/100 for top hat caps , $18/100 for 10 & 11 --but NOBODY is shipping dangerous goods - six hour drive with gas at two bucks & twenty a litre .................THEY are tryin to wear us down!.... new shipment of Wano powder he says will be $190 per kilo and drive to collect it.

[uscra112]

Singing an old favorite. I wanted a pound of Swiss 4F a few years ago. Nobody who had any would ship such a small quantity. I wound up meeting a fireworks guy at a 4th of July event 2 hours away. He had it, but like the others he wouldn't ship less than a case. *sigh*

[alamogunr]

I pick up a tin of Altoids while waiting in line at WM. I can always think of another way to use the empties. I've got a couple that hold all the wrenches that came with MP molds. Now I need one for percussion caps, when I find some.

[Jackrabbit1957]

I used grab a couple of tins each time I was in the local Wally World, then they stopped carrying any blackpowder supplies and alas no longer have any such items on the shelf.