caps and humidty

[weirdjack]

Until last Saturday, I had not messed with percussion caps for 25+ years. You see, my flinters have no nipple.
My mind is aging and I forget stuff...I can't seem to recall having problems with humidity and caps back in the stone age.
What's the consensus here? Does high humidity on the firing line adversly affect caps?
I had one just mush it's guts into the nipple Saturday without firing. And had more than a couple just not do anything. And had several fire off very weakly. These were Remington #11's from a sealed package bought on Friday. The lock is functioning well. The caps just seemed affected by the humid air. Where's the powder pan when you need one? ::
Jack

 

[ResearchPress]

I don't recall any problems with humidty and caps, although in the UK we may not experience the extremes you may perhaps do?

One passing thought though, do the caps you use properly fit the nipple? Perhaps they weren't seated properly?

David

 

[musketman]

Until last Saturday, I had not messed with percussion caps for 25+ years. You see, my flinters have no nipple.The caps just seemed affected by the humid air. Where's the powder pan when you need one? ::
Jack

Are these the same 25+ year old caps from when you shot the percussion gun in your past?

Could have drawn moisture if exposed to the elements...

I suggest getting a fresh tin of caps and trying that...

 

[Rebel]

No, he said he bought them new last Friday. I would suggest CCI #11 Magnum caps. I have had problems with the Remingtons. But now you are going to hear others say Use Remington or RWS as they have had problems with the CCI's. ::

 

[weirdjack]

Are these the same 25+ year old caps from when you shot the percussion gun in your past?I suggest getting a fresh tin of caps and trying that...

Hmmmm.....thanks for the ideas....but.....
Reread paragraph #2....."These were Remington #11's from a sealed package bought on Friday."...not bought on Friday 25 years ago....last Friday...July 15, 2005. SEALED bubble package, Remingtons from Dick's Sporting Goods. Opened less than 12 hours before[url] use....tin[/url] stayed closed until actual use. I can only assume they didn't have them on the rack for 25 years.
And yes, #11 caps on a #11 nipple...a perfect fit.
I may be old, it may have been 25 years since I shot a caplock, but I still recall the basics ::
These caps seemed fine for awhile at the range...then started acting squirrely....maybe it was the squirrel rifle?
Jack

 

[roundball]

No, he said he bought them new last Friday. I would suggest CCI #11 Magnum caps. I have had problems with the Remingtons. But now you are going to hear others say Use Remington or RWS as they have had problems with the CCI's. ::

It is funny isn't it...based upon a previous experience, I wouldn't waste the gasoline to drive to the range and use FREE Remington caps...same thing with Elephant powder...once was more than enough!
::

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

No, never had that problem that I'm aware of.

AND... In years long past, I've went out in some horrendously humid heat to get to do even just a little bit of shooting. It's never caused me a problem AND with various brands of caps. I would think the humidity would be more likely to cause the powder in a flintlock pan to cake up more quickly than it would bother a sealed cap. Has anyone read any studies on the effects of the weather on open (to the air) or sealed ignition systems?

It is very interesting all the same; but I doubt you can do too much about it. Unless changing to another brand of cap that's less susceptible to moisture overall may make a difference.

"Keep yer powder dry!" may need to be changed to
"Keep your powder AND caps dry!"

Shoot Safely!
WV_Hillbilly

 

[Rebel]

Ohh, lets not even talk about that packyderm poop. :: Been there, done that, and it weren't no fun. :nono: Never would i use that junk again.

 

[JOHN L. HINNANT]

Greetings Wierd Jack,

Just got in from the range about 2 hours ago. Spent about 5 hours there. The humidity here in San Antonio, Texas was 96-97 percent. Fired 50 rounds with 5 year old RWS caps. Never had a misfire.

I buy 1000-2000 caps each June at our TMLRA CHAMPIONSHIPS. Each roll is marked with the date (month and year). The oldest purchase of caps is shot first.

To date, I have never had a problem with shooting 5 year plus old caps.

Best regards,

John L. Hinnant

 

[Halftail]

Why?If your flintlocks work so good.Are you bothering to shoot percussion?
It's also my opinion that Remington Caps are second rate to CCI's. :results:

 

[bezoar]

several things could be going on here that no one has thought to mention.

you could have a buildup of gunk in your guns hammer that is softening the impact of hammer onto percussion cap.

your main spring may have weakened over the years if left cocked (full or half)

you may have had build up of oil or debris in the nipple channel

or what ive found quite a few times with CCI brand No. 11 percussion caps :
caps that were not sealed or even filled with primer.

 

[arcticap]

Not too long ago, I opened up a brand new tin of the latest Remington 11's from WalMart and there were less than 50 in the package instead of 100. Maybe that's an indication of their quality control. Their .22 ammo has more misfires than any other current major brand too. And I have nothing against them, their old style golden caps are still firing strong here. I guess that's what it means when the outside of their new package advertises that they are 30% hotter than their old ones. Naught! :haha:

 

[weirdjack]

several things could be going on here that no one has thought to mention. ... you could have a buildup of gunk in your guns hammer that is softening the impact of hammer onto percussion cap. your main spring may have weakened over the years if left cocked (full or half)... you may have had build up of oil or debris in the nipple channel

Hmmm....thanks again for the thoughts.
I believe I did mention that the lock was functioning well. This gun was fired maybe 50-70 shots in the late 70's. It worked very well at that time. I don't leave guns at half or full cock when empty, my Step-dad didn't either when he stored it in a closet until a couple months ago. It is essentially a new lock. The hammer was clean, the nipple was fine, the channel was clear.
I'm not referring to a strong cap blast not igniting the powder, I am referring to a very weak cap about every 7 or 8 shots...and several of them didn't fire at all, just mushed into the nipple.
NOTE: I fired a few CCI caps through it last night and they were MARKEDLY more potent. Good solid flash through the barrel. I do remember not liking Remington caps when I shot caplocks years ago. But Remingtons were the nearest to buy.
Jack

 

[weirdjack]

Why?If your flintlocks work so good. Are you bothering to shoot percussion?

This was the Mowery Squirrel rifle that I had built for my mother around 1978 or so. It was shot only a few times (mostly my test firing it), it hung over the mantle for many years, then was stored in a closet after her death. My stepdad gave it to me a couple of months ago. I thought it might be a good thing to do in her memory to put it to use.
Jack

 

[2172]

Jack, I've told this story before, I think, here on the forum. When I was first involved with muzzle-loading, I was sighting in my then-new CVA Mtn. rifle...I had a couple of no ignitions, and then the hammer wouldn't stay cocked, as I'd messed with the trigger pull adjustment screw...I was using my car as my bench, so I took off the trigger guard to reach the adj. screw, and fixed it. I'd pulled the cap off before I started messing with anything. My adjustment worked, and I cocked the hammer, pulled the trigger, and the gun went off...without a cap..I later figured out that humidity plus the dropping of the hammer on the cap a couple of times had moved the primer out of the cap and on to the nipple...Muzzle Blast had a couple of letters to the editor within a couple of months of that from guys who'd had the same[url] experience...outside[/url] of a scorch mark across the roof of my car...no damage..just scared the heck out of me...Hank

 

[Bob J]

No, he said he bought them new last Friday. I would suggest CCI #11 Magnum caps. I have had problems with the Remingtons. But now you are going to hear others say Use Remington or RWS as they have had problems with the CCI's. ::

I've had problems with CCIs and RWS, but it might have been the nipple. The new Remingtons seem to work fine, but occasionally get a bad cap with them, too. Maybe a manufacturer's quality control issue? ::

 

[Zoobear]

Could be just a bad tin of caps! Try another tin. :imo:

 

[cayugad]

What you are describing is the exact thing that happened to me. I was shooting Remington Caps a few years back. Most of the time they did fire. But some were pulverized by the hammer striking them and failed to ignite and other just would not go off. I checked their insides and started to notice some of them were missing their little charge inside. I think it was green in color.

Out of one tin I would have to guess 10% were no good. I finally broke down and orders a case (10 tins) of the RWS 1075 and have been shooting happy since. In fact before I found the RWS I was shooting CCI #11 Magnums without any problems I will add. WalMart ran out of them and all they had left were Remington's. When I ran out of caps and went to buy some more, I must have looked strange because I baulked and hem and hawed around not wanting to purchase the Remington, but I really wanted to shoot. I broke down and bought that tin and only had one or two misfires out of the whole tin.

My guess is you got a tin of bad caps. The rifle sounds in too good of conditon to be the cause and you sound far to experienced a shooter to have missed something like picking the nipple or such.

 

[djnye]

i myself am no authority or even have much experience to be giving opinions about different ignition systems--but some of my friends are and they have mentioned more than a few times that percussion systems are more prone to unreliability than are flint systems in humid weather. go figure.

take care, daniel

 

[weirdjack]

Loved the story about the "no-cap" firing....whoa!
Yeah, I figure it's probably just a bad tin of caps...or something like that. I also did find one so far in that tin that had no charge in the cap. I'll go with CCI's for this next shooting session and see how they fare. Then maybe try RWS also. At least I can find all three brands locally.
I can fire a flintlock all day long in drizzle and rain and not have the frustrations I experienced last weekend with this tin of caps. Of course, it may be that I am just more accustomed lately to the process of priming a flinter.
Thanks for all the input. I was just curious if perhaps my old brain had forgotten something.
BTW- I switched to flintlocks long ago primarily because I just love shooting them. Had nothing to do with one ignition system being better than the other for me. I dig the pan flash and there is something special about using a rock to fire a gun!
Jack