Cappers

The main benefit is a thumb that doesn't look like this:
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I don't care what he said a cap didn't do that. You can't make a cap explode from pressure(and I have tried) and even if you could for a cap to do that kind of damage you'd blow the hammer back to full cock or shear it off with every shot fired. It looks to me like he got it in front of a cylinder with smokeless powder and the cylinder flash got him and he doesn't want to admit it. And besides that who puts caps on with the outside of their thumb?
 
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using a capper...be it a straight line..or a snail....takes a bit of practice....once you get the technique...it goes much much quicker.....and sometimes the capper will need a little tweaking to properly retain the caps....had a friend give me a Ted Cash snail....that would spit out multiples.....a few moments with a needle nose pliers...works perfectly now....
 
I find the idea of a cap detonating under finger pressure to be doubtful. A weak hammer strike is much weaker then my thumb pressure when seating and it won't set them off. You need a good whack to do it.

Then again, I'll probably make some sort of capper. I bought a Pedersoli Remington-style capper which don't work with Remington clones, go figure.
 
I don't really get warm and fuzzy over a capper either, but I do have them for when I want to carry the pistol in the woods. But for range time its fingers and a dowl rod. Put your caps in a bigger container that is not so easy to tip over.



Because its way, way easier to carry caps on a woods walk in a capper than loose in my belt pouch all mixed in with this other stuff
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Not if you put a Musket Cap nipple on that boom stick. Both my Rifles use musket caps now, simply because I don't want to use a capper, and a pouch sewed inside a possibles bag holds the musket caps and they are easy to grab and put on.
 
Quote: Originally posted by drobs
Quote: Originally Posted by Fingers McGee
I've used snail cappers in SASS competition for over 15 years. Used them while rendezvousing before that. Loading by hand during a match is not very fast or convenient.
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Is the snail capper you use specific to one size of C&B revolver caps? Can you use #10's or #11's in the same capper?

I'm looking to get a Snail Capper but some of the descriptions I see are very vague.
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I use #10 Remingtons. I also prefer the nickel Ted Cash cappers over the brass ones.
 
Appreciate it Fingers McGee.
By the way - does your Central Ozarks group have any shoots planned in April / May? I'd like to come up for a visit if possible on next trip home to Missouri.
 
Well, ordered myself a Ted Cash capper, since people say it works well. Hopefully it'll work with the 1858 without having to mangle the cylinders.
 
You can't make a cap explode from pressure(and I have tried) and even if you could for a cap to do that kind of damage you'd blow the hammer back to full cock or shear it off with every shot fired.
Remember, it's not just the power of the cap. It's the charge being set off also.

"Happens that I am one of those pards who Old Scout mentioned as having a cap detonate under "finger pressure". Yes it can happen! The results ain't fun or pretty! For those who want the gory details, it happened in either June or July (I would have to check with the local Sheriffs office to be sure. It was recorded as a "firearms related injury" at the time and the doctor called in the Deputies to record the details) of 1986 in Marion County, Iowa. I was in a farm lane on my in-laws property doing a bit of target practice when a cap that I was "seating" on my 58 Remington detonated under the pressure of my thumb. Now a percussion cap doesn't have much power, not much more than the explosive force of a cap designed for toy cap guns, but the escaping gases coming back through the nipple hole from the ignition of the powder DO HAVE CONSIDERABLE FORCE!. Without the hammer down over that little hole enough hot gas can escape to do a lot of damage to any digit in its path. When it happened I ended up with a thumb that looked kind of like a peeled banana, only black! The nail bed was laid back down over the knuckle of my thumb, a strip was peeled down the inside radius, and the meaty ball was sort of bulged out. This left the bone exposed on the end of my thumb! (OUCH!) After washing and wire brushing away all the charred stuff the Sawbones was able to pull every thing back together and sew it up by running stitches through the thumbnail and the meaty part. But there was a piece missing that he couldn't do anything about. It really didn't hurt though, in fact I've never felt anything in that thumb again! Apparently the nerve bundle on the inside of the thumb was instantly cauterized. Made fer a bit of a hassle to relearn how cock a revolver!"

I guess the whole story could be made up but I don't know why he'd be more embarrassed about one version than the other.

Steve
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Remember, it's not just the power of the cap. It's the charge being set off also.
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That's what I'm saying. If a cap(with a charge behind it) could do that kind of damage then the pressure of every round would force the hammer to full cock and probably shear it off and a chain fire would totally destroy it. I have tried everything imaginable to make a cap explode from pressure alone and couldn't do it. I've even crushed them in a vise. Plus the damage to his thumb is on the wrong side. By saying it was the caps fault he takes the blame off himself. I think he did something stupid and doesn't want to admit it.
 
Straight line capper. It looks like it might work. Previously I bought an Italian made capper - Remington style, they market it, doesn't work with Remington 1858s. Mostly I want it so I can load faster and without the occasional cap dropping.

Although, I'm going to go with Hawg here, percussion caps need a good whack to set them off. I played with the mainspring tension screw quite a bit - lighten it too much and it won't set off. I tried to squish them with a metal rod (curiosity) and pressure just mangled them, didn't make them go off.

I'm just not seeing it, but who knows, maybe some combination of factors - maybe some grit throwing a spark? I don't press the caps too much with my thumb, they slide on just fine and snug with a light press (Remington #10s and stock Uberti nipples agree very well with each other).
 
I've seen period cappers made from leather. It's just a circular piece of leather with holes punched into it to hold the caps.
 
A member here asked:

Gary,
I make these but never knew they "might" be period correct. Can you elaborate. I put a short leather strap in the center with a loop on the end that cinches to my middle finger. After you cap at the palm side of your hand, just flip it over to the backside out of the way so you can shoot. .....
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The one I saw was a circular piece of leather with spade (or more like a diamond) like starbursts emanating from it. The cap holder was suspended from the strap of the hunting bag. Each spade like starburst had a circular hole punched into it which accomodated a cap.

The original owner, John Francisco, was a sutler during the Civil War and probably used it around 1870-1890 for his double barrel shotgun. A few months back there was an Ask Sarah inquiry in Muzzle Blasts magazine where the rib of the double barrel shotgun had a hunting scene on it (hunter with his dogs, birds, trees or something like that). It was the exact hunting scene on that shotgun he owned!

I have to find the images and write an article for Muzzle Loader on some articles in that museum (Francisco's Fort in La Veta, Colorado).
 
Well, this thread kind of went off the rails. So be it, I will be careful with my thumbs.

Spent the evening loading and unloading, while NCIS droned in the back ground.

I think the capper is kind of nice. It is growing on me.

If you hold a finger over it while you engage the next cap you can keep it from shooting caps into the carpet. The next vacuum should be interesting, I have attached a fire extinguisher to the Kirby. It may already be a vacuum attachment, I will have to check the manual.

Next, if you pull it off just right, the cap will not shoot off the nipple into before mentioned carpet.

Remington, 10 or 11 work just fine.

I may file a little off the end, it seems to be a little long. I may also buy several more, wisdom from you forum geniuses.

It works better on my Remington than on the Colt. The Remmy has a little more room in the loader, and the nipple angles slightly outward. The colts are straight and the loading area is a little cramped. Even though the cylinder is roomy. You have to go straight in and out. I can not comment on the snail cappers as I believed the scuttlebutt about them not working on the Remington and did not buy one.

Your mileage may vary. The moral of the whole boring story is to practice, try stuff out. 150 year old technology is not intuitive to today's brain. I am pretty used to everything being engineered for me. It is refreshing to have learn a skill.

This, among many things is what I love about cap and ball. It requires an actual human being to operate the machine.

I think this thing has potential.

BTW, after capping several dozen, over an unloaded cylinder, on two different guns, none went off and my thumbs are undamaged. The potential still remains, always be safe.
 
Can't find the thread right now but another one of our esteemed members dremeled out the openings for the nipples on his Remington cylinder to allow the use of a snail capper.

I thought that was a great idea and gonna have to give that a try.

Random example borrowed from the web:
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Interesting photo of those cylinders. You can figure out what type of key Ruger uses to cut the cylinder stop notches and the mill bits for the nipples. They're very different from the aftermarket maker.
 
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