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Thread: Percussion caps

  1. #1
    Boolit Master curioushooter's Avatar
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    Percussion caps

    Where they heck are they?

    I was at NMLRA national shoot a month ago. Only a few.

    None at major retailers in Ohio, Kentucky, or Indiana that I am aware of.

    Online retailers all out?

    They just stop making them?

  2. #2
    Boolit Master

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    they go hand in hand with primers. start making your own, its easy and cheep.
    if you are ever being chased by a taxidermist, don't play dead

  3. #3
    Boolit Buddy
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    I made some recently with the Sharpshooter punch and their Prime All mix. They worked great even with wannabe substitute powder pellets. The primer material does try to fall out if you don’t handle them carefully. Honestly they were more consistent and easier to use than the Remington or CCI factory caps I have on hand. I’ll be making more and trying to find a good way to store and transport them without losing material.

  4. #4
    Boolit Bub
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    I have seen, on this board even, that if you compress the mixture in the percussion cap quite a bit, and then maybe add some acetone or hairspray, the mix won't fall out.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master curioushooter's Avatar
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    they go hand in hand with primers. start making your own, its easy and cheep.
    Why should it go hand in hand with primers? The whole reason (IMO) for primer shortage is paranoid hoarding. Why would someone hoard primers except perhaps for resale? The problem with all such things is they deteriorate with time.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master
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    Reckon you're going to live long enough for primers or percussion caps to deteriorate, if they're properly stored??
    "In general, the art of government is to take as much money as possible from one class of citizens and give it to another class of citizens" Voltaire'

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  7. #7
    Boolit Bub
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    I compress my homemade caps with an appropriate sized Allen wrench then use a 10% shellac in acetone mixture to glue it in. One drop of mixture per cap then let dry. It’s still a little delicate so I baby my homemade caps.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master almar's Avatar
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    shellac works but I found that a fast smokeless powder dissolved in acetone overnight (it forms a thick paste) and then diluted in more acetone to liquid consistency works better. Or if you have it on hand, Duco cement which is nitrocellulose based diluted 50/50 in acetone also works well. If you try the smokeless route, it takes a very small amount to make a lot.
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  9. #9
    Boolit Buddy lawdog941's Avatar
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    They're out there. I found some in several stores in Central OH. Walmart, Cabelas, and Vance Outdoors.

  10. #10
    Boolit Master Hellgate's Avatar
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    Has anyone seen NEW STOCK Remington #10s? Remington is just now advertising their new tipped Core-Lokt ammo. I suspect they have not even bothered to resume cap production.
    Hellgate in Orygun
    With 16+revolvers, I've been called the Imelda Marcos of cap&ball.
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  11. #11
    Boolit Buddy
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    I just ordered 2,000 CCI #11 Mag primers. Go to Henzsbrew Armory or Natchez. . .they both have caps in stock as of 11/7/`21.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master brewer12345's Avatar
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    I think we are a tiny niche market in a world where the manufacturers can sell 150% of what they can produce just by making a few standard cartridges (9mm, 223, etc.) and not bothering with the niche stuff. When and if they catch up on primers and commercial ammo, they will pump out a bunch of caps. Until then, compete with everyone else for the little that is out there or make your own.
    When you care enough to send the very best, send an ounce of lead.

  13. #13
    Boolit Master
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    The Sharpshooter cap maker looks suspiciously like the old Forster cap maker. Has anyone found something to use just a bit thicker than soda cans?
    "In general, the art of government is to take as much money as possible from one class of citizens and give it to another class of citizens" Voltaire'

    The common virtue of capitalism is the sharing of equal opportunity. The common vice of socialism is the equal sharing of misery

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  14. #14
    Boolit Master almar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sharps4590 View Post
    The Sharpshooter cap maker looks suspiciously like the old Forster cap maker. Has anyone found something to use just a bit thicker than soda cans?
    Yes, .005" brass from hobby lobby. It holds together and makes a good seal.
    “It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we must do what is required.”
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  15. #15
    Boolit Master


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    Quote Originally Posted by sharps4590 View Post
    The Sharpshooter cap maker looks suspiciously like the old Forster cap maker. Has anyone found something to use just a bit thicker than soda cans?
    I've been using the large (25oz) beer cans, they seem to be about 1.5 to 1.75 times as thick as soda cans and make good caps, much better results than 2 layers of the thin soda can matl.
    An old Cherokee was teaching his grandson about life. "Inside me two wolves fight," he told the boy.
    "One is evil - he is anger, envy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment, lies, false pride, and ego. The other is good - he is joy, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, generosity, truth and faith. The same fight is inside you - and every other person, too."
    The grandson thought for a minute and asked,"Which wolf will win?"
    The old Cherokee replied, "The one you feed."

  16. #16
    Boolit Buddy Brokenbear's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by almar View Post
    Yes, .005" brass from hobby lobby. It holds together and makes a good seal.
    Yes sir ..I use two layers of soda can ..which actually punch/form easier than the brass I too bought from Hobby Lobby

    And the double walled caps STAY ON THE NIPPLE ..do not fragment ..the down side is you have to pull them off each nipple

    BUT there is a tool a classy lady gave me at the range because I had just shown her hubby and two boys all about C&B Civil war Revolvers ..she watched me try to get my fingers to the spent caps ..she said wait ..came back from the car with with her purse and gave me her eye brow plucking tweezers ..pink no less ..I'm sure Kit Carson likely chose the black colored ones!Click image for larger version. 

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    Bear

  17. #17
    Boolit Master
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    I use all different kinds of material to make my caps.
    Like .005 copper or brass or aluminum pie plates.
    I need to try the double thickness method.
    But I also made a die / punch to form the inside and outside to be uniform.
    My cap maker kind of makes a ribbed exterior and the inside is kind of Domed in the bottom of the cup.
    Using my second Die / Punch set up makes the caps look almost like factory caps that are uniform and square on the top.
    I probably could make my die/ punch set up to reform the #11 caps to #10.

  18. #18
    Boolit Buddy Pigboat's Avatar
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    Our local Wal-Mart had some CCI #11's a couple of weeks ago. Guy at the counter said their manager only orders them once, just before hunting season and that's it.

  19. #19
    Boolit Master
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    Ahhh...thank you gentlemen! I suspect an order will be placed for the cap maker. I had the Forster Tap-O-Cap decades ago...have no idea where it went. The paper caps were a PITA and at that time, caps were cheap and plentiful so....I guess it ran away from home from loneliness. Anyway, the priming compound looks a LOT easier to use and, evidently more trustworthy.

    LAGS, that is a good idea. I suppose you used a # 11 cap for dimensions?
    "In general, the art of government is to take as much money as possible from one class of citizens and give it to another class of citizens" Voltaire'

    The common virtue of capitalism is the sharing of equal opportunity. The common vice of socialism is the equal sharing of misery

    NRA Benefactor 2008

  20. #20
    Boolit Master
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    The dimensions were what I played with to get the cups to reform or final form to what I wanted.
    The Die is just a piece of 3/4" steel plate with two holes drilled in it.
    One hole is for sizing the cups.
    The other hole is for a pivot pin.
    I have the die sitting on a piece of wood with a pivot pin sticking up.
    In the board I have a 1" x 3/4" deep hole to catch the cups.
    I set the die over the flat wood , then punch the cup into the hole with a punch I made to the size needed to form the inside.
    Once you tap the cup all the way down and form the bottom of the cup.
    You then spin the die around so it is over the 1" hole.
    Then you punch it down into the hole to catch the reformed cup.
    This is actually a Remade version of a primer cup maker I made for myself back in 1976 when I was younger and there was no place for me to buy primers.
    I used Toy Gun Caps back then for the primer mixture.
    But that was back in the days when the toy caps actually went Bang , not like the ones today that just go Poof.
    I wish I could post a picture of this set up , but my computer won't let me post pictures.

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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