Cap maker

[Gtrubicon]

I’ve had better luck with the painted side on the outside of the cap. When I prep the can, I cut the bottom and top off the can, rinse thoroughly and scrub the non painted side with a scotch brite or steel wool.

[lead chucker]

roughing up the alumínium makes sense so the compound has something to stick to better. My lathe i believe is 7X14 its a little lathe.

[trapper9260]

I use the old Cap O Matic maker and use soda cans 2 of them with roll caps with 3 or 4 F BP and they go off all the time. If I remember right I used 5 roll caps . There was no delay for just the cap go off then the charge in the gun . It was all at once. One of these days I will have to try the idea of smokeless powder.

[Idz]

I made single stage capmakers for #10-#11 and muzzle loader caps see the thread:

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...ercussion+caps

I've tried the H48 type priming compound, its easy to make but its kinda dirty. The EPH20 is more difficult to make but is clean as commercial cap compounds.

[lead chucker]

Idz. I would like to thank you for that because if i remember right i printed that and used it to make my cap forming die. Its not perfect but works. With out your information i probably wouldnt have been able to figure it out on my own. It is a simple design but has to be done right to work. I would like to make another one that makes just a little bit longer cap. Its help from guys like you that help make our little world go around.

[rbuck351]

Instead of making the cap I use the cap from a fired shotgun primer and just run them through a punch plate. Lg rifleprimer cup workok too but are a bit shorter.

[armoredman]

Some pics of LAGS cap maker.

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[LAGS]

This is a tool to Go With your Cap Maker.
It gives you a place to pound and form your caps.
Flatten out the metal that you use to make your caps.
You also have a plate with a hole in it to size the outside of the caps better with a punch.
The caps look more like factory caps.
Then you rotate the plate over that hole.
You punch the sized caps into that hole into a space to catch the cap.
I also drilled the block of wood to make storage spaces for the pinches and cap maker so stuff is all stored easier .
I hade made one of these tools out of a block of wood with the holes drilled into it.
It worked.
But the size of the holed to size the caps widened after a while.
And the flat spot you pound the primers down to would dent after a while.

[LAGS]

I call this tool my Uniformer.
It improves home made Primers Caps so they can be tuned to the exact size you need to fit your nipples

[Gtrubicon]

I call this tool my Uniformer.
It improves home made Primers Caps so they can be tuned to the exact size you need to fit your nipples

Thank you for sending me the info on this. I made up the plate and punch a few weeks ago. This really improves the the homemade caps. They fit the nipples much better and are easier to handle. I built the plate and punch out of scrap. Thanks LAGS!

[armoredman]

Using LAGS tools, it is really easy for even idiots like me to make caps.

[HamGunner]

I run the new formed caps thru it with a punch as it sits on a steel plate to flatten out the bottom of the cap.
Then push out the nicer formed cap as it sits over a block of wood with a hole drilled in it to catch the cups.
The caps fit the nipples so much better , and seem to fire better with the little dome on the cap flattened out.
Yea,
It is a little more work making the caps.
But to me , it is well worth it.

I got some chain fires with my Pietta 1851 Colt Navy replica that I am blaming on the improper size and shape of some of my caps. Actually not true chain fires, as they were caused by the caps slamming into the recoil shield from the cylinder recoil rather than getting ignition from the hammer fired cap or from the throat area. I use bullet lube, so that has never been an issue either.

I am going to make myself up something similar as I found out that the rounded heads on the caps made by my cap making tool makes it easier for a chain fire or actually a "slam" fire. I was using .010 brass sheeting that I found at Hobby Lobby and the caps did not fit the nipples on my revolvers very well, whether they were factory nipples or the Slix Shot nipples. Even though the cylinder rotated without the caps touching the recoil shield of the receiver, I got some "slam" fires.

I had been using the same tool for some time now to make the caps out of .008 aluminum flashing and never had a single problem. So apparently the stiffness of the cap material is critical unless one flattens the nose of the cap and improves the shape of the cap overall.

I only had a small amount of the .010 thickness brass sheet so I will use these already made up caps on my Squirrel Rifle and use thinner thickness metal for the revolver. Plus improve the overall shape of the cap as well. I do now have some .007 thickness brass sheeting as well as more .008 aluminum flashing, so I do not expect to have any further "slam" fires.

[LAGS]

I use the .005 thick Brass Sheeting when I make the caps out of brass.
I use the same thickness Copper sheeting that I got from hobby craft store.
The only thing is.
Copper sheeting is softer.
So it is easier to tear when stamping out the caps , or running them thru my Uniformer tool.
But I too found out that when the caps are swedged thru my Uniformer.
Flattening the top of the cap makes them work better.
A lot of caps with the domed tops only work when the hammer hits them twice.
Right now,
Most of my caps are made out of double layers of soda cans and run thru my Uniformer swedger.
Copper and brass just cost too much.
Not that I don't have money.
It is just a lot of them get damaged when making them, so you waste a lot of material you paid for, and your Time.

[HamGunner]

Lags

I made up some tooling as you described and it works beautifully, to both square up the nose of the caps and smooth out the ragged sides. My caps, of all the material that I have on hand, fit much more snugly onto my nipples now and fit further up onto the nipple with an acceptable amount of pressure. I am certain that I will not be having any further problem as they act much more like a factory cap now.

Thanks again for your knack for ingenuity. You just selflessly keep helping us all enjoy this hobby more.

[LAGS]

HamGunner
You are welcome.
I am glad that I can help others.

[Dark Vaj]

Why not make one for use with a reloading press? I have one of the old Forster Cap maker that was intended for the press to punch out caps, I also have the hammer pounding version too but I find that the reloading press is more efficient and consistent, plus less energy spent using the press than whacking it with a hammer...I've always wonder why people don't make one for use with a reloading press? You'll crank out alot of'em faster and more consistently at home.

[LAGS]

I have thought about making my Uniformer out of some steel with a 7/8-14 thread on it and a correct sized punch that fits into the loading press ram plunger .
I do have Three reloading presses.
But this is not Something that all of us can do with a Lathe or have a machinist build it for you.
( How many of you guys have a lathe ? I use to )
I love to try and show you guys " Things" that you can do Yourself or with tools that most people do have at home, and just use scrap material.
In many ways I am trying to show you guys that you can do things fairly cheap because they are things that you don't use that much to justify a big investment in Professional Style Tools.

[HamGunner]

I use an arbor press for punching out both my caps as well as my gas checks on my simple tools. Much easier than using the palm of your hand or a mallet. A set of tools that work on a reloading press would be really nice, but it really does not take me long to punch out enough caps or gas checks to last me a good while. If I shot more or was a good bit younger, I might seek such tooling, but I am not going to be using the tooling enough to justify getting set up.

[crandall crank]

I had a cap maker made using the plans from IDZ. Best success was with energy drink cans. They seemed to be thicker than regular soda cans. I went the easy route and bought the Primer-All compound.

[HamGunner]

As mentioned in my posts above, the metal sheeting can be too thick, but it certainly can be too thin as well. I experimented with soda cans and they are around .004 thickness. One layer is too thin. Too much destruction of the caps upon firing. Two layers worked much better, but I found the two layers to be a bit of a hassle.

I have the cap making tool sold by Prime-All and it seems to like the metal to be between .006 and .008 for best results. I got less blow up of the caps when the metal is at least .006 or .007. But the head of the caps produced by the Prime-All cap maker are rounded , thus the need to further adjust them with tooling such as Lags has come up with to flatten the head.