my cap plate

[lead chucker]

This is what i use when making caps.326417326418326419326420326421

[lead chucker]

This plate holds all most 150 caps. keeps them in place when you are packing them. Works good. Also the components from skyligthter if any one is interested. You also need good sulfur. The recipe is also included. Mix at your own risk. This mix is the real deal. You can mix the antimoni and sulfur in a shot glass no problem but and thats a big But!!! The potassium has to be crushed up separate and smoothed out no lumps. A sheet of freezer paper and a plastic spoon works good. Then mix every thing together with a plastic spoon very and i mean VERY softly and slowly. Once mixed it is impact sensitive. I wear welding gloves and safety glasses when i mix it and make sure the glass is pointed away from my face. The recipe is measured in gr. on my rcbs powder scale.

[lead chucker]

I make the caps out of beer and pop cans. Cut the top and bottom off and fold half way on each side then cut in half. You can see them in the picture. Then punch out caps. I get around 26 caps out of one can. Making your own caps is fun and im all in at around $50.00 dollars and can make caps for the rest of my life. They are very reliable.

[lead chucker]

LAGS has to get credit for a lot of this he gave me advise and i went from there.

[LAGS]

Thank you friend.
I am glad that I helped you get pointed in the right direction.
I love helping others.

[lead chucker]

Well LAGS it probably won't be the last time i ask you for advise. I'm always eager to listen to and learn from those who have been there done that and figured it out.

[LAGS]

Funny thing is,
About 90 % of things that I do or teach others , were things that I figured out how to do them myself.
Maybe in my life, I have always had too much money and time.

[challenger_i]

Or not enough toys as a child... :)

[LAGS]

Nope
I had to make my own toys.
I still do.

[challenger_i]

That was the general intent to my comment... :)
I am afflicted with the same issue.

[Rockindaddy]

Pretty cool Leadchucker! Makin your own caps. I like shooting percussion 54 cal Sharps, a Colt 58cal musket and an old Tower 1853 Enfield. Might have to get into making caps too if they get any harder to buy. I have bought chemicals from Skylighter. What mix do you like???

[lead chucker]

I like the H42 recipe. The one thing i do is mix some red dot powder in a shot glass with acetone till dissolved. i use it for the glue to keep the components to stay put in the cups. When the acetone evaporates out they are pretty much ready to use. I pack the cups first then put a drop of the red dot acetone in each cup with an eye dropper. Im sure there is a better way to do it but this system works for me. They seem to stand up to some humidity also. I had some siting in a open cup out in my garage for a couple months and it can get damp in there if i dont have the heater on all the time. I shot up a bunch of them the other day and had a 100 % reliability.

[lead chucker]

The recipe is on the picture that has the Skylighter bags

[LAGS]

I just use a few drops of Nail Polish in Acetone for my binder.
There is a little color in the Acetone but barely not super visible color when dry.
You don’t want to put too much nail polish in and make it too thick.
I mention using the nail polish , because it is easily found real cheap.
I am sure the smokeless powder works well. But if you don’t use it for reloading , why would you have it or buy it.
I also use Duco Cement mixed in acetone as a binder.
The only thing is it is clear. So you can’t tell for sure that the acetone has enough Duco in it.
But staying consistent with a known number of drops per an ounce of acetone works very good because the chemicals that Duco is made from .
It is combustible when dry.
Duco can also be found fairly easy and not real expensive.

[lead chucker]

I was going to get some of that duco cement glue but have the gun powder so i figured i would try it. It might give the caps a little bit more punch not sure. I just use a small pinch of powder with the acetone. If i didn't reload i would use nail polish. I have tried the nail polish and it works. I like trying different things. Right now im real happy with using the gun powder.

[LAGS]

Have you sample lit something with that Powder/Acetone binder dried out on it.
You can test it and see if that binder with the powder Boosts the ignition of the primer.

[lead chucker]

I hit one on a pice of steel with a hammer and it fragmented. Went right through my sweat pants and stuck in my leg. Nothing real serious but stung and drew a little blood. I was wearing safety glasses. now when i test them i put on welding gloves and put a piece of card board between me and the cap. Its not contained like it would be by the hammer of your rifle. They have a good pop to them. It will make your ears ring for a minute. Not sure how to test it other than smacking it with a hammer. Never tried to light one.

[LAGS]

I was only talking about testing how the Acetone /Powder binder burns.
Just take some of your Binder and paint a little bit in a little strip of paper or a strip of aluminum.
Let it dry.
Then light it in fire with a match to test if it burns real clean, or even flashes from having what Tiny bit of powder residue left from the dry binder.
For example,
Dryed Duco /acetone burns cleaner than nail polish/ acetone

[lead chucker]

I might have to try that just for fun. When i was having trouble with that crocket rifle with plugged nipples i might have been using caps made with nail polish not sure but the new caps i make now with the gun powder for a binder have worked really good. Im thinking that i might have been using too much nail polish and that was what was causing my problem with plugged nipples. Might not be related dont know. I did get a cheap endoscope and checked the paten breech on that gun and its looks really good. Off topic but that definitely wasn't the problem as far as i can tell. The endo scope was like $12.00 dollars and works with my phone. Its realy cool to see the inside of your barrel.

[LAGS]

Yep
A cheap Endoscope is well worth having.
Especially if you like buying Used Guns.

Another thing you mentioned is right. Using TooMuch nail polish does make it gummy to a point it can plug the nipples.

[lead chucker]

I really wanted to like that crocket 32 and thought maybe i got some one else's problem . You never know when you buy something used. I think i got it figured out now and it works really good. Shoots better than i can aim thats for sure. I will keep this one. So much fun to shoot. I have had a problem with this rifle rusting after cleaning and using boor butter, only with this rifle all my other rifles are good no problems at all so i used some what they call track22 which is like aspho. I treated it with that really carefully not to get any on the out side barrel. It will remove any bluing instantly like it all ready happened. Got a little on the muzzle and it removed the bluing in it. It kills the rust. i swabbed the barrel after 10 hours and they came out clean then i oiled the barrel and called it good.

[n.h.schmidt]

Lead chucker You should be getting way more cups per can than 26. Can prep is hard enough so getting the most is worth doing. I'm using double layer pop cans and can get 48 to 51 cups out of a can. I cut the to and bottom off . Flatten the can and fold in half. Press the crease and trim off the other edge to even them up. Start punching the edge just trimmed ,I usually get 16 punches . Trim off that and start again. Done with no mistakes 48 to 51 cups can be had with double walls. I have made thousands this way. My die is on a reloading press now. I did start out with the die on a drill press. Worked really well and was fast and easy. A rate is 6 to 8 hundred per hour is easily possible this way.

[LAGS]

I agree about how many cap you can make out of one can , even using double layer strips.
I made 800 primers in 4 days.

[n.h.schmidt]

Lags Are you pounding them out with a hammer? If so, 800 is a big bunch
Using a drill press made it easy. Medium pressure on the handle was all it takes. A smooth steady pressure seems to make a better cup too. Fewer hangups with the aluminum . The Cap Maker could be made to a closer fit of the punch to the die. Mine had a .005 slop leading to a lot of metal tearing. I expanded the dia, of the teeth by placing a hardened ball bearing inside the end of the punch and taping it with a light hammer. Now the gap is about .001 . Almost no tearing now.

[LAGS]

I do punch them with a hammer.
I have a drill press , but just haven’t tried using it as a press.
The second punch set up I use makes my primers the correct size and flatter on top so they fit the nipple very well.
When I said 4 days.
That was doing it start and stop all day and evening rotating from punch a bunch.
Then prime a bunch.
And while they were drying , I punched out another bunch.
But I already had prepped the can metal by cutting it into wider strips and folded it in half lengthwise into strips about an inch wide.

[LAGS]

I do punch them with a hammer.
I have a drill press , but just haven’t tried using it as a press.
The second punch set up I use makes my primers the correct size and flatter on top so they fit the nipple very well.
When I said 4 days.
That was doing it start and stop all day and evening rotating from punch a bunch.
Then prime a bunch.
And while they were drying , I punched out another bunch.
But I already had prepped the can metal by cutting it into wider strips and folded it in half lengthwise into strips about an inch wide.

[firefly1957]

I ended up making my own Cap maker it works quite well in the drill press .
My priming is 8 grains BARIUM Chlorate , 2 grains Charcoal and .3 grains Red Phosphorus* . I have found grinding separately then dry mixing to be best .2 grains is dumped in a cap then a drop of either thinned lacquer of Nitrocellulose or acrylic to bind it when it dries . The mix is powerful and even a light hammer strike sets it off . On the plus side if it is lit it burns rather then explodes .
This mix did poorly in large pistol primers they tended to hiss rather then pop . Altering the formula to 11 grains Barium Chlorate 2 grains Charcoal and 1 grain R.P. made a powerful pistol primer . These mixes seem to cause no or very little rust in tests and ignite very hard the ignite OLD cartridge "CTG" Pyodex that was clumped together in can quite well in a .45 caliber pistol .

* got it from ETSY it is expensive but the 25 grams will last forever.

[n.h.schmidt]

Lags That sounds like a lot of work. Some time ago I posted pictures of my drill press setup. Right now My computer with the pictures is out of whack.
Firefly Where did you get that formula? Sounds easy. I'm using the fa-42 with very good results. Perfect with Pyrodex too. For my binder, I'm using a pinch of fast pistol powder in acetone. Works very well,no fallout's .