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Question about musket nipple hole size

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Howie1968

40 Cal.
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I have a question about musket hole size. Searching the forum I found on a nipple you want a small hole that the flame goes through and ignites the powder. I have a couple of Thompson center musket niples with huge hole. My treso musket nipples have a small hole. I understand on a big hole you can get blowback with the hammer using a niple with a huge hole
Someone please help me understand small hole vs big hole. I'm using pyrodex rs in my .58s. I've got a lot of synthetic powder that I'm gonna use up before I go pure black powder only. Thank you in advance for any help
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The TC branded musket nipples that I measured (with a gauge pin set) when new had .031”/.032” diameter orifices. I find that they wear at about the same rate as #11 nipples with heavy loads - fast.

Have seen nipples open to .040” or more in 30 to 40 shots. Accuracy starts going away in my 45 shooting paper patch bullets past .038”. I toss any once they pin .036”.

The only advantage that I have seen with musket caps is they are individually easier to handle than percussion caps, although I use a holder for percussion caps and it’s a non issue. On the down side of the musket caps, I did have one get knocked off by brush while hunting when I used them.
 
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If using fff or pyrodex P if you see powder in the nipple it's too big, change it. If you get face sprayed when it goes off, change it. If the hammer blows back to first stage, change it.
 
I know nipples burn out in time, and I understand if you are shooting heavy loads, especially with faster-burning powder, they can burn out a lot faster. I hear that some competitive long range black powder shooters may only get 30-40 shots out of a nipple. The fellow who runs Buffalo Arms is one of those, but he carries platinum lined nipples that he says are good for over 1,000 shots. He said these platinum-lined nipples have a 0.026" flash hole. These cost almost $60.00 per nipple, but it may be cost effective if you do a lot of shooting with heavy loads and go through a lot of nipples. I just had another look at the Buffalo Arms website, and they have a variety of thread sizes, but I did not see 1/4 x 28 for musket caps, which is probably what you need for your T/C. Might be worth looking at what they do have, though.

Reenactors who shoot only blank loads typically prefer nipples with flash holes bored out to enormous size. However, shooting live rounds (with bullets), I understand accuracy can begin to suffer as the flash hole starts to burn larger, and it can become unsafe if it gets too big, due to blowback.

Shoot straight and be safe!

Notchy Bob
 
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