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Caps falling off nipple

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I have a couple of rifle GPR and T/C both of these rifles won't keep a cap on unless one "crushes" the cap before it is installed. My habit is to use a inline capper place cap on nipple and press on (set) with hammer before placing it on half cock. The new cap is following the hammer instead of staying on the nipple. One nipple is new the other has about 30 - 40 capp fire if it. Any thoughts? Thanks!
 
Ringo said:
I have a couple of rifle GPR and T/C both of these rifles won't keep a cap on unless one "crushes" the cap before it is installed. My habit is to use a inline capper place cap on nipple and press on (set) with hammer before placing it on half cock. The new cap is following the hammer instead of staying on the nipple. One nipple is new the other has about 30 - 40 capp fire if it. Any thoughts? Thanks!

1) Ensure that the nipples are factory nipples for #11 caps and not #10;

2) Ensure that no one has made the diameter of the nipples smaller;

3) Ensure that there is not any "spent cap fragments" up in the hammer shrouds of the hammers that could be grabbing a new cap when you press the hammer down like that;
 
Not all caps, even though they are marked No. 11, have the same inside dia. They all vary from manufacture to manufacture and like the caps, all nipples are not created equal. You may try a change of cap manufacture or even a change of nipple manufacture. Sometimes though, it is just a matter of giving them a little pinch, before placing them on the nipple. :thumbsup: I have been known to just "pre" pinch the caps in my capper.
 
I have tried CCI and Rem. caps, I have some Winchester caps I need to try. If not I will buy some new nipples. Who makes the best nipples?
 
The GPR's nipples are a little on the soft side and will deform after a while. I replaced it with a Hot Shot nipple. When I picked up a used T/C Hawkens, the first thing I did was replace the nipple with a new Spitfire nipple. No problems. That Hot Shot has been going for 27 years. It's a good and rather cheap solution :thumbsup:
 
Uncle Mike's introduced a Hot Shot nipple decades ago...they've now gotten out of the BP business...but apparently made some deal with T/C to sell them under that same name, Hot Shot.
I put them on all my Hawken caplocks and used them for several years...excellent nipples...liked CCI #11 mag caps the best
 
It is obvious to me that the problem is that the nipples are too small for the caps. If you were using #10 caps on #11 nipples, the cap would be difficult to get on the larger nipple. Your problem is the opposite and since there are no caps larger than #11 except musket caps, at least not in the U.S., that means that the nipples are too small. You aren't trying to use musket caps, are you? I don't know why both rifles would end up with undersized nipples unless you changed them yourself or if you bought both guns from the same person and he installed the wrong nipples. Another possiblilty is that the nipples have been filed or ground down for one reason or another. This could cause them to be undersized as well. Also, I would check the nose of the hammer for spent primers stuck in the nose of the hammer. This often happens and they have to be dug out with a sharp pointed instrument such as a dental pick. This is more likely to happen to the Lyman but could happen to either of them. A couple of new nipples are not that expensive, less than $10. Change them out, clean out the hammer noses and see if that doesn't solve your problem.

A little additional info: #10 nipples and caps are for revolvers. #11 nipples and caps are for rifles, shotguns and single shot handguns. Musket caps and their nipples were originally for military arms but have been adapted for use on rifles, pistols and shotguns as well as military arms by simply installing a special musket nipple in them. I don't think a musket cap offers any advantages over a #11 magnum cap. Neither is needed except when you are shooting a black powder substitute. Regular #11 caps are plenty hot for black powder. I've shot all kinds of rifles, underhammers, side hamers with a nipple drum, side hammers with a snail drum and side slappers and none gave me any trouble with regular #11 caps with black powder. :thumbsup:

This is just my opinion. It's free and worth every penny of it. :rotf:
 
They both are #11 nipples, one on the T/c had a redish coating on it and that coating has fallen on where the cap fits on. Will look for hot shots in the near future. thanks
 
This may not be the best option but why not dry fire your gun for awhile. Repeated dry firing will swell the nipple. I've had softer nipples swell with repeated use so that I've had to use a file them.
 
Ringo said:
"...had a redish coating on it..."

That one sounds like the 1/4"x28 that Knight made for a lot of their modern MLs...had a pretty severe taper on it that ended up being too small to hold caps snug
 
Billnpatti said:
A little additional info: #10 nipples and caps are for revolvers. #11 nipples and caps are for rifles, shotguns and single shot handguns.

That's not my experience. I have a fairly good accumulation of percussion revolvers, rifles, shotguns and single shot pistols. The cap/nipple 'sizes' are random with respect to type of firearm, at least as far as the OEM nipples are concerned (I've changed several nipples to attempt to standardize somewhat); both sizes are present in all four types.
 
Buy after-market stainless steel nipples and your problem is solved. (I did for my GPR and no problems since.)
 
That was sort of a general statement. There are always exceptions but I think my statement concerning nipple sizes is correct "in general". I have a very nice Hatfield percussion rifle that had a #10 nipple on it when I got it. It was not the nipple that Hatfield put on their rifles so someone changed it for whatever reason. I just put a #11 nipple on it after I got it. I also have a double barreled muzzleloading shotgun that I changed from #11 nipples to musket nipples simply because I have a bunch of musket caps that I wanted to use up. It came with #11 nipples but I changed them. Once the musket caps are all used up, I will change them back to the #11 nipples. Yep, there are lots of exceptions. :wink:
 
I've had the same problem with caps (CCI) falling of the nipple on my T/C Renedgade. Maybe I'll look into purchasing a new nipple for it.
 
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