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 Those are now out of style, but have been replaced by the little snap-top canisters that the test strips for my glucose meter come in.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.

[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