Learning about percussion caps

[John from MD]

Question for the group. When I first got my Pietta, it was one of those kits from cabelas. It came with wax seals to go over the balls when pressed into the cylinder. I have never been able to find them since. At one time cabelas sold them in packs of 50, but they've been discontinued. Does anyone actually run their guns with the wax? I get that the theory was to keep the cylinder sealed to prevent sparks from touching off the powder and also lube the barrel. I just find it odd that they don't seem to carry them anymore.

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Many of us mix our own lube and soak felt wads in it to keep the fouling around the cylinder pin soft. There are a ton of places to look on the net. One of them is muzzleloaderforums.com.

I buy felt from these folks http://www.durofelt.com/products.html and cut it with a wad punch to make wads. A sharpened .45 Colt case will work also. Then I buy beeswax from Fleabay and mix it with tallow from wherever you can get it and olive oil and melt on a hotplate at low heat. When I think I have the mix I want, I drop in the wads. I scoop them out with a strainer and dump them on some wax paper and throw in the fridge. After that I just separate them and put them in plastic bags.

I punch out the wads while watching TV so it doesn't get tedious.

When I shoot paper, I load my .44's like this. Add 20 grains of Pyro P, fill to within 1/8 of the chamber mouth with cornmeal, add wad and then ball. This load is compressible to just below the mouth and is very accurate and economical as you don't use much powder.

Have fun.

 

[The Saint]

Question for the group. When I first got my Pietta, it was one of those kits from cabelas. It came with wax seals to go over the balls when pressed into the cylinder. I have never been able to find them since. At one time cabelas sold them in packs of 50, but they've been discontinued. Does anyone actually run their guns with the wax? I get that the theory was to keep the cylinder sealed to prevent sparks from touching off the powder and also lube the barrel. I just find it odd that they don't seem to carry them anymore.

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Still in production, really...just DIY with a tube of bore butter and get literally hundreds of shots out of 1 tube for about $10.

 

[Doco Overboard]

For casual plinking I usually just charge the cylinders, throw some corn meal on top of the charge press the ball home and smear heavy automotive grease over the mouth of the chambers.
After a while how much filler sort of becomes second nature especially if you make a small dipper, a bit more than a pinch with about 20 some odd grains of IIIF or whatever floats your boat works best for your gun.
That translucent (reddish tinted) water pump type grease is my favorite.
Crisco and other types, spit ball is one of them that was popular at one time. However when they get warm from carrying or in higher temps always things seem to run off all over the place. (cause verdigris on the gun holster and what not over time)
Not that water pump grease is that much better but works for me when I fool with those things.

Bend a coat hanger and solder to brass case then fancy twist the end for a make shift dipper. After a while even charging the cylinders becomes second nature even if you have a spout made up for a powder flask which are easy to kit up for your shooting box.

I'm sure other have a much more disciplined approach to carefully loading up but that's generally what I do when I get them out, not worrying to much to spoil the fun.
As as already has been mentioned caps go quick becuase they are so fun to shoot.
Whatever one does always be sure to leave ample time for cleaning its a shame to neglect an otherwise nice piece due to more time shooting than doing proper maintenance afterwards.

 

[John from MD]

I use a plastic mustard squeeze bottle for my corn meal. It works great. I also use Crisco in the cooler months but it does run in the summer.

 

[JohnnyE]

Man, just reading what you John, Doco and Saint are posting shows me how much I have to learn. Right now I'm just clicking "add to cart" on Ox-Yoke and other places to buy stuff I think I may need. One thing is guaranteed and that's when I drop in to Atlantic on Rockville Pike, if John isn't busy, I'll bend his ear, pick up solid advice, and walk out with a purchase.

 

[Blacksmith101]

You can also change nipples to Mag-Spark ones that use 209 primers if you can find those easier than percussion caps.
https://www.warrencustomoutdoor.com/mag-spark.html#pricing-information

 

[hobiecat590]

In some systems, once the protective oils are completely and thoroughly removed from the metals in a rifle/shotgun,
Place a tight fitting patch on your loading rod and snap one or two on the unloaded barrel with the patch set completely against the breech.

Remove the rod and examine the patch to be thoroughly blackened and becoming to be thread bare. Pop a second cap with the rod not so tightly against the breech where the rear of the main charge sits when loaded.
Pour main charge into dried carbonized breech for sure fire consistent first time performance.

Great tip. I usually just snap a few caps to clear anything out. Load w/ powder, then tilt the rifle and try to tap some powder into the flash chamber. Tamp, load a maxi ball. Squeeze the cap so that additional friction holds it on to the nipple better.

 

[JohnnyE]

Some 51 navies manufactured around 1860 as far as I know had left hand twist. Examples are out there that can found as I have seen them before myself.
Around the same period when the Armies came out, they all had right hand twist to the best of my knowledge.
Whether the early London models were built from local trade/ outsourced parts could be the explanation until manufacturing was moved back to America and standardization occurred spares from stores were finally used up? Not sure.
I cant also say if this is true just for the navies or other pocket models as well, again I'm not sure either.
I didn't know if I was reading your post correctly to be sure/understand all Colt originals had either clockwise or anti clockwise twist.
It would be nice to own enough examples to do a comparison and see how caps work on them.

Now I know a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. All I had to go on was rooting around on the interwebs, the source of ALL true information, to read (I won't say "learn") from a source I cannot remember, that Colt's pocket navies from the 19th century had righthand twists. True? IDK.

If you're ever in the Baltimore area, I'd be glad to assist...plenty choice to be had for getting into BP.

That is a generous offer, thank you! I so seldom get out that way I fear I won't be very likely to take you up on it. I do manage to get out to AGC once in a great while, not much closer to B'more.

I'll just sit back and "learn" from the good folks on MDS, such as yourselves.