Wet Percussion Caps Question

[musketman]

The "Survival Muzzleloader ! Your Pick ?" topic over in the General Muzzleloading section got me thinking, what if your percussion caps get wet, are they still good?

I myself, have seen my brother drop his capper into a small stream as he was crossing it, soaking every cap he brought with him except for the one on his gun.

So. my question is this, if percussion caps get wet (soaked), can they be sun/air dried and used with any reliability?

I cannot test this for myself because I have only flintlocks at this point in time and my brother won't give me any of his caps to play with.

 

[BrownBear]

I played with it, and when dried I got most to pop. I'm not sure that I let them dry long enough, and the ones that failed might have fired if dried more. Even one failure would be enough to make me doubt them though for regular use. I'd still try them on the range rather than tossing, though. In the mythical survival situation I'd sure dry and try.

Ah course, in that fantasy land I'd be saving my components and using snares. Lots more certain even than a flinter, and you can set dozens to be working for you while you use your energy for something more important than hunting. That's reality and not keyboard fantasy, though.

 

[necchi]

On a Minn Bear hunt a few years back, it began to rain on us the final evening. During the 3 mile ride back on 4-wheelers on primitive trails it PORED rain, we were drenched, soaked to the skin. I had RWS caps in a leather capper around my neck, being last day, we had to dis-charge and clean our wet guns(even the cases where soaked).

I literally "shook" the water off my capper, wiped the nipple dry with a cloth, capped and to my surprise "Bang". I knew we all had a demonstration to do at an event the next day, I thought what a great experimental oppertunity.
So the remaining 5 caps where left in the capper on a dry bench over night.
And again to my surprise all of those 5 caps went off!
Elapsed time of being wet; 1 hour, drying time; about 14 hours.
Now that's different than being dropped in a creek, and I would no-way have trusted those cap's for a true hunt, make or break shot, but that's what happened and my experiance with wet caps. :hmm:

 

[rabjr]

Like Brownbear I was curious once a long time ago and had like a half dozen RWS caps in a can that I dunked under water, then let them dry out. Couldn't tell ya how long I let em dry, was ages ago. Anyway, everyone fired when I tried them, I do remember that and being very surprised.

 

[JayDee Flohr]

Two different stories.................
I fell into a river, chest deep with a loaded Walker on my hip. It took several minutes before I could reach dry ground with the gun underwater the entire time. As a friend watched in disbelief, I poured the water from the barrel and all 5 went off. I can't remember the brand of caps, that happened over 25 years ago. Whatever the brand, I attribute the caps working to a tight fit.
A couple years ago I lost a capper during deer season. I found it the following spring after quite a bit of snow that winter. I didn't trust them for hunting but saved them for firing/clearing the bore before loading. All but a couple fired. Those were CCI's.

 

[vthompson]

I played with that very notion last week because I had always wondered that myself. In the process of sighting my rifle in, my son wanted to go with me to shoot so I had to wait on him to get home from work. While waiting, I put 5 caps in a cup of water for 30 minutes and I put 5 more caps in for 5 minutes. When the time was up I took the caps out of their cups and laid them in the window seal to dry out. Later that evening when we went to shoot I took them with us and we put them on the rifle and tried them out. All 10 caps fired. I walked away impressed.

 

[ohio ramrod]

That is the reason I'll use any brand cap for targets but only RWS for hunting.

 

[rabjr]

If I'm bored tomorrow, which is likely, I'll drop 5 flints in a cup of water for a while then dry them off and try them to make sure they spark. :wink:

 

[musketman]

A couple years ago I lost a capper during deer season. I found it the following spring after quite a bit of snow that winter. I didn't trust them for hunting but saved them for firing/clearing the bore before loading. All but a couple fired. Those were CCI's.

That's good to know, now we don't have to place caps in water, put them in the freezer and then thaw them out and dry them off to see if they work because you already did that for us. :thumbsup:

Those little buggers are tougher than I thought.

 

[fyrfyter43]

If I'm bored tomorrow, which is likely, I'll drop 5 flints in a cup of water for a while then dry them off and try them to make sure they spark. :wink:

Personally, I like the idea of dehydrated flints. Then just soak them in water to reconstitute when needed. :rotf:
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/232811/

 

[preston cook]

If I'm bored tomorrow, which is likely, I'll drop 5 flints in a cup of water for a while then dry them off and try them to make sure they spark. :wink:

i store my flints at home in a med bottle with water in it it keeps them from getting chipped and yes dry them off with your shirt tail and they work just fine :thumbsup:

 

Did the same thing with some RWS caps. Had an open tin and spilled some water on them I was using to clean the rifle. Swapped a new tin for hunting purposes, put the wet ones in my range box for target shooting. When I did use them, as I recall I only had one fail to pop.

 

[musketman]

Has anyone tried water testing different brands of caps to see if one brand fails more than others once wet then dried?

What about musket caps, are they as forgiving as #11's when soaked then dried?

 

[Mad Professor]

I had about a dozen #11 CCI caps fall into the sink, I rinsed them out, let them dry, and all fired at a range session.

 

[BrownBear]

I'm only experienced with the Remington and CCI #11's. The Remingtons tended to shed their priming from the cup when drying. Lots of loose little pills of priming compound floating around in the tin. I'm sure it would have popped, but getting it to stick back in the cup would be tricky. :wink:

No similar probs with the CCI.

 

[rabjr]

Well I guess we answered that,both caps and flints can get wet, dried and still work! :thumbsup:

 

[fyrfyter43]

Well I guess we answered that,both caps and flints can get wet, dried and still work! :thumbsup:

Just remember to keep yer powder dry! :thumbsup:

 

[rabjr]

Well I guess we answered that,both caps and flints can get wet, dried and still work! :thumbsup:

Just remember to keep yer powder dry! :thumbsup:

Hey! Black powder will work again to if allowed to dry out! :thumbsup:

 

[Mad Professor]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: