Nipple questions

[Rikeman]

I recieved a Traditions Hawken as an early Christmas gift from my wife. I am very new to black powder. Only about a month before I recieved my rifle, I built a traditions kentucky pistol. The pistol is .50 and the hawken is .54. I love shooting both of these and am totally in love with black powder shooting!

My hawken split 2 nipples vertically in about 10 shots! I replaced them with stainless steel nipples. I fired off a couple caps too see how things look. the nipple if flattening on the front edge. I dont see a way to adjust the hammer to hit square. Is this normal. I dont want to go out and keep splitting nipples.

I am shooting 80 grains of 777. With the limited rounds I got through the rifle, I wasn't able to sight it in well, but was only off to the right from the bull about 3" at 50 yards unsupported. Consistant but was breaking nipples before I could adjust.

 

[paulvallandigham]

PUt a new nipple in the gun. Then use some kind of marking dye, like lipstickto coat the top edge of the nipple. LOWER the hammer onto the nipple to transfer the marking dye to the face of the hammer. Only the high spot( the front of your nipple according to what you have observed) will touch the hammer. You can buy a small grinding bit for a dremel tool at most hardware or hobby stores.

Use it to grind away the high spot on the face of the hammer. Keep lowering the hammer down to remark the face, and watch as the ring of dye begins to form a circle. When you have a circle of dye on the face that is of even width all the way around the circle, you will now have the hammer hitting the nipple evenly. That insures positive ignition, and saves the nipple.

Some locks come with mainsprings that have way too much tension, causing unnecessary peening of the nipple by the hammer. The main spring can be reduced. It should be no more than 15 lbs. You can test it by putting the butt of your rlfle on a common bathroom scale, not the weight of the gun, and then watch the scale climb as you slowly cock the hammer to full cock. subtract the weight of the rifle and you have the spring tension on the main spring. Many modern guns have springs that are stronger than 30 lbs. That is why the nipple is splitting, that, and hitting the nipple on one edge only.

Some people prefer to heat the head of the nipple up and bend it to make it strike more of the nipple before grinding down the face to fit. If I had a lock where the nipple was hitting very crookedly on the nipple, I would do that also. The acid test is will the skirt of the hammer strike or scrape the nipple when you finish grinding down the face of the hammer to get it to strike the nipple square. And, of course, you don't want the hammer skirt to be so close that it will also strike a cap on the nipple. Those are eyeball things that can't be judged by e-mails.

 

[Rikeman]

Thanks for the suggestions. I have not tested it yet, but I am sure that the hammer pull is a lot more than 15 lbs. Is it possible to adjust the spring?

 

[paulvallandigham]

Yes. I describe the process in my article on Flintlocks that you can find and read by going to the Member resources section on the index page here, and then scroll down to Articles. If you have other questions after reading the article, send me a PM and I will guide you through the process.

 

[Rikeman]

Thanks very much. :bow:

 

[mykeal]

Paul,

I suggest he might also look at the drum to see that it's not misaligned. It's pretty rare, but I did see one like that one of the students in my hunter safety course had this year. Caused a lot of side force on the nipple, splitting it longitudinally. It's the only one I've ever seen.

 

[Rikeman]

Is the drum the part the nipple screws in to?

 

[Rebel]

Yes it is.