caps are tearing apart, problem?

[kossetx]

Since I haven't shot in 30 years I don't remember this happening. I bought CCI #11 magnum primers because I remember having ignition problems in my old CVA rifle and I'm assuming standard #11's. This cabala's hawken shoots just fine, but the caps are splitting open, sometimes in more than 1 spot/multiple splits. I was only shooting 50 grns of pyrodex with a .490 ball and .012 patch. Is this a problem? I shot about 20X. Thanks in advance for any info.

 

[Stubert]

I have a Investarms hawkin (same rifle), however mine wears a Green Mtn.54 cal. barrel. All of my caps split, flatten out or break a petal when shooting, It did it with the original barrel also. I never gave it any thought. Bought the rifle new in 1984

 

[Zonie]

I don't consider it a problem.
That's what their supposed to do.

One of my gripes with a percussion gun is when the cap doesn't split open and just clings onto the nipple after the shot.
Then I have to get out my knife and pry it off of the nipple before I can load the next shot.

 

[arquebus]

Pretty sure they're supposed to do that, that's why they have the little grooves formed into them, makes them easier to remove. Occasionally I'll get one that doesn't split, & it can be a bugger to get off!

 

[kossetx]

Great guys, thanks! The grooves in the caps and them splitting there makes sense. Maybe my old ones did too and I just don't remember from that long ago.

 

[Pork Chop]

The only bad part I have found about the splitting is that occasionally I will have one get stuck in the hammer...

 

[cowpoke1955]

If I remember right, the old CCI caps use to have a heavy skirt and wouldn't split. Had to pull out my patch knife and pry them off the nipple. Life is so much easier when they do split .

 

[jethro224]

The only bad part I have found about the splitting is that occasionally I will have one get stuck in the hammer...

That and, one time, I had part of one stick in a guys forehead. He was standing slightly behind and to my right watching my shot.
Sure does help get 'em off the nipple tho.

 

[BillinOregon]

I prefer them to open up like a flower blossom upon firing so they'll fall off the nipple with a flick of the wrist.

 

[longfowler]

I switched to musket caps a while ago, and that takes care of the problem - they stay together, and the flange on the bottom helps pop them out of the hammer recess if they stick. plus the hotter spark, and just being bigger so they're easier to handle with my fat mitts!

 

[Dphar]

If the caps don't slit they are heck to get off the nipple.
I had some heavy Fiocchis (?) back in the 60s that had to be pried off with a knife blade at times.
Dan

 

[BrownBear]

My standard CCI #11's split on every gun I own. My shooting pard uses Remingtons, and they do the same thing. Same, in fact, for #10 Remingtons on my revolver, with the side effect of a rare freeze-up when a spent cap falls into the wrong place and jams up the works.

It does make them easier to remove from nipples, and most of the time they just fall off whenyou raise the hammer after firing.

But I've got one TC Hawken that likes to grab them inside the cup on the hammer and hang onto them. Real good, sometimes- need a knife to pick them out.

I forgot about it one time and ended up with three spent caps swaged into the hammer cup. Surprisingly it never misfired, but is sure was a PITA to get them all out. I'm wondering if the previous owner opened up the cup a little, because when it first arrived it had a musket nipple on it.

Anyone have a cure?

 

[jtmattison]

But I've got one TC Hawken that likes to grab them inside the cup on the hammer and hang onto them. Real good, sometimes- need a knife to pick them out.

Mine does that too. Real pain in the behind. I even opened up the cup a little with my Dremmel and polished it but it still holds spent caps.

HD

 

Huntin Dawg,

Yep my T.C. does that also. Just one of the little things that make our "hands On" sport fun.

Jay

 

[Grey Hawk]

30 years, well welcome back to the world of Black Powder and Muzzle loading.
You were using Pyrodex, I started shooting about a year ago and used Pyrodex RS. had the occasional Pffft but no boom. Thought about Musket Caps. Even checked on the forum for opinions. I was givin a half a pound of 2FF, GOEX Black Powder, tried it with the same load and never had a Pffft since. Just lots of BOOM. The #11 caps seem to work just fine and split off or at least loosen up to remove by hand.

Grey Hawk

 

[kossetx]

Thanks! I've been itching to get back for many years. Hunting with a high powered rifle in a blind Texas style is about as much fun as getting a tooth filled. I built a CVA Kentucky rifle when I was in the navy in '78. I was never all that taken with that rifle with the 2 piece stock and all. I left it with a friend and never made it back out west to get it. I plan on building a nice gun soon but bought a starter gun again to get back into it. SFSG.

 

[paulvallandigham]

The skirt on the hammer should have a v-shaped notch in the front of it, which then allows the cap to split out and forward off the nipple when the cap is fired. If your percussion hammer lacks this notch( hair-lip), you need to grind or file on into the skirt. By giving the cap someplace to expand away from the nipple, other than backwards into the hammer, the notch lets the cap come free of the nipple( one problem often encountered) AND, also lets out enough gas that the cap cannot expand into the skirt and lodge there. I find that some skirts are way too long, and not only polishing the inside of the skirt, but beveling the inside edge of the skirt, to allow the caps to expand helped to keep them loose in the skirt. This seems to cure the stuck cap problem in my percussion guns.

 

[Pork Chop]

The rifle in question does have the split you mentioned. It still occasionally holds a cap in quite tightly...

 

[paulvallandigham]

The skirt is too thick( on the inside) if its still holding onto caps. Use a grinding bit in a dremel tool to take a few thousandths off the inside of the skirt, all the way around. I think that will solve your problem. By opening up that skirt, just a bit, you increase the expansion area for the cap, and make it much less likely that its going to stick to anything.

I saw this problem with several of the early CVA rifles that club members bought. Once we opened those skirts, they put away the needle nose pliers they had begun putting in their back pockets when they went to the firing line. I experienced the same problem with my CVA shotgun, which I easily, and permanently fixed by using a grinder on the inside of the skirt.

 

[musketman]

Wouldn't a Hot Shot nipple help with the skirt expantion?