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Posted: 12/13/2024 10:39:03 AM EDT
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Just bought a .36 cal Pietta Navy and of course the only caps are online+ HazMat Anyone here make their own? Worth the trouble or are they too hit or miss? How comparable are they in dependability to Remington caps? Also, should I even consider CCI caps? Don’t really want to make my own but it is what it is https://22lrreloader.com/products/10-percussion-cap-maker This along with the repriming compound Thanks in advance |
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Originally Posted By Cpt_Kirks: Aluminum is hard to form. Thin copper sheet works best. That’s what I’m gleaning from research. When Im near a craft store (walmart?) I’lll pick up some copper sheet and go this route. Ive got a few pounds of BP that I’ve made so Im not averse to making caps. Looks comparatively quick; but still…. |
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Originally Posted By AeroE: I'll buy CCI and RSW caps before Remington or Italian. I need to remember to save fired caps. Yotube (Mike Bellevue?) had that the CCI #10 or 11’s don’t fit as well as Remington caps on a .36 Navy but I obviously don’t have any experience, hence my reluctance. That’s all the info about them that I know. I may buy CCI #10/#11 regardless if I see some on the shelves |
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Originally Posted By Urimaginaryfrnd: Caps have become more available here lately both Remington and CCI. Call around . This is the last step I’m taking before buying the cap tool I’ll make the calls starting tomorrow *or just go I haven’t much hope as everytime I’ve gone to Academy/Rural King (only place close) in the past for black powder they never had any but come to think of it, muzzleloader season here does start tomorrow. There’s a chance |
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Originally Posted By gODZOOKIE: Yotube (Mike Bellevue?) had that the CCI #10 or 11's don't fit as well as Remington caps on a .36 Navy but I obviously don't have any experience, hence my reluctance. That's all the info about them that I know. I may buy CCI #10/#11 regardless if I see some on the shelves Originally Posted By gODZOOKIE: Originally Posted By AeroE: I'll buy CCI and RSW caps before Remington or Italian. I need to remember to save fired caps. Yotube (Mike Bellevue?) had that the CCI #10 or 11's don't fit as well as Remington caps on a .36 Navy but I obviously don't have any experience, hence my reluctance. That's all the info about them that I know. I may buy CCI #10/#11 regardless if I see some on the shelves Change the nipples. |
Keep your powder dry, and watch your back trail.
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Thanks all No one around here has caps so I went ahead and purchased the tool and priming compound *didn’t try Walmart as I ordered the kit after I thought about them Also ordered .005” copper sheeting and duco cement (I have acetone) using this guys tutorial  DIY Percussion Caps - New Improved Method I’ve made the blackpowder for my two flintlock rifles so might as well make the caps to go along with my percussion pistol, too. We’ll see how it all goes |
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I use the copper sheet. Much easier than aluminum, the tap a cap needs to bend the copper and not rip. Aluminum breaks or rips often when making the cup. I use 3 German made toy caps to glue (Elmer’s) in to the cap, just wet the end of a match stick with a little glue and pickup the cap and touch the cap to the glue and push into the cup , stack them up 120 degrees apart I cut them with a small hole punch (don’t know the size. About 1/8”?) And I cut them out off center so they are able to be put into the cap off center to create a 3 leaf clover pattern (The cap will not fire reliably if centered, if centered it may be pushed down the hole without being crushed and detonate the cap) I keep the CCI caps for hunting, the homemade for target shooting where a failure to fire is not a problem |
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Having caps is much better than not having caps, but I have yet to see anyone produce a die set that makes a percussion cap that looks good. Every one I've ever seen, even from copper, looks very homemade. I mean, they go pop, but I won't spend my time making caps that look like that. That might sound strange being as I have made my own black powder before, but the difference is you can produce black powder that is every bit as good as what you can buy. If you follow Everythingblackpowder on Youtube, you can even produce black powder that is better than you can buy. I have yet to see a homemade percussion cap that is acceptable. Before anyone takes offense to that, I have the same criticism of gas check dies for cast bullets. The dies that are available to us today simply do not produce a quality product. Obviously every location is different, but there is no reason a store near you can't get caps. They are not hard to find right now, just very expensive. I don't know that I have a store around me that doesn't have them. Everywhere I look online has them, powder valley, midwayusa, natchez. If your local store doesn't have them, they aren't even trying to get them. Sure it might be expensive to buy online, but by the time you buy dies, mix, copper, all that stuff, you are certainly going to be in it over $100. Unless you shoot a ton, that $150 for 1000 caps will last a long time. |
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I started to do it before they dried up, more of a way to keep shooting if ammo or caps become unavailable I started this process to become more self sufficient under obuma and hill dog I even have started the process to reload primers. The corrosive is easy; non corrosive is harder to get the correct chemicals |
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Originally Posted By kychas: I use the copper sheet. Much easier than aluminum, the tap a cap needs to bend the copper and not rip. Aluminum breaks or rips often when making the cup. I use 3 German made toy caps to glue (Elmer’s) in to the cap, just wet the end of a match stick with a little glue and pickup the cap and touch the cap to the glue and push into the cup , stack them up 120 degrees apart I cut them with a small hole punch (don’t know the size. About 1/8”?) And I cut them out off center so they are able to be put into the cap off center to create a 3 leaf clover pattern (The cap will not fire reliably if centered, if centered it may be pushed down the hole without being crushed and detonate the cap) I keep the CCI caps for hunting, the homemade for target shooting where a failure to fire is not a problem Interesting. Good to remember Thanks |
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Originally Posted By fgshoot: Having caps is much better than not having caps, but I have yet to see anyone produce a die set that makes a percussion cap that looks good. Every one I've ever seen, even from copper, looks very homemade. I mean, they go pop, but I won't spend my time making caps that look like that. That might sound strange being as I have made my own black powder before, but the difference is you can produce black powder that is every bit as good as what you can buy. If you follow Everythingblackpowder on Youtube, you can even produce black powder that is better than you can buy. I have yet to see a homemade percussion cap that is acceptable. Before anyone takes offense to that, I have the same criticism of gas check dies for cast bullets. The dies that are available to us today simply do not produce a quality product. Obviously every location is different, but there is no reason a store near you can't get caps. They are not hard to find right now, just very expensive. I don't know that I have a store around me that doesn't have them. Everywhere I look online has them, powder valley, midwayusa, natchez. If your local store doesn't have them, they aren't even trying to get them. Sure it might be expensive to buy online, but by the time you buy dies, mix, copper, all that stuff, you are certainly going to be in it over $100. Unless you shoot a ton, that $150 for 1000 caps will last a long time. With the accessories (not to mention the pistol) just to get started in percussion, I figured might as well spend the bucks getting started on making my own caps. In for a penny in for a pound! lol |
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If that's what you want to do, by all means do it. It seems to me that percussion caps can be made that are reliable enough, and keep people shooting. From what I'm seeing though, you are looking at a hours of work for 100 caps that are by every metric, inferior to what you can buy. Why better tools have not been produced yet, I have no idea, but that's what it is today. If I want to go through that kind of crazy tedious work, I'd much rather take up knapping flints. |
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Originally Posted By fgshoot: If that's what you want to do, by all means do it. It seems to me that percussion caps can be made that are reliable enough, and keep people shooting. From what I'm seeing though, you are looking at a hours of work for 100 caps that are by every metric, inferior to what you can buy. Why better tools have not been produced yet, I have no idea, but that's what it is today. If I want to go through that kind of crazy tedious work, I'd much rather take up knapping flints. This particular percussion cap maker is the only guy I’ve found that makes these. This person must be extremely busy! lol What a market to be in now. Making caps was not something that I was really looking forward to. But the ability to make my own now is satisfying, whether I use it or not (haven’t given up looking) Same as the bullet molds I own. Have no plans on making my own balls but glad I’ve got them. And making my own blackpowder? Now that is something that takes a lot of time and effort! 
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Get a case of 5000 Remington #10 caps from Graf's. I bought 10,000 when Obama was still in office and easily still have 8000 on hand. $486.44 with shipping and hazmat included. https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/82364 Then screw around with homemade caps. |
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