Anyone Having a hard time finding caps?

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Mike 56

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I have looking for caps and small pistol primers none to be had anywhere today I went to a local gun shop and they had a full stock of #11 CCI caps so I picked 1,000 @ 4.99 a hundred. Now I need to find small pistol primers.

Mike
 
I have found some smp here and there. I am running low on spp I have enough 357 loaded to last a while. My granddaughter goes through a lot of 9mm. I need to spin her up some ammo, That girl is good and she can shoot lefthanded as good as she shoots righthanded. I can't wait to get her shooting rifles.

Mike
 
I found a old gunshop years ago closing. I knew the owners and for $100 He gave me a lifetime's worth of #11/10 caps.

Almost 20 years later and I've made a minor dent in the stockpile.

Only ones I've bought since then are musket caps. And I don't burn through them as fast as the #10/11s.

But I have seen Remington caps and CCI caps at the area Bass Pro shop lately.
(5.99 iirc)
 
I have not personally shopped for caps but my impression is caps in general are still easy to find but finding properly sized caps, especially if your hammer spring is light, can be a chore since a lot of outfits tend to stick to a narrow variety and brand of caps.
 
Twenty years ago I made a tool that sizes caps it is a pair of dollar store wire cutters. You just need to start with oversized caps #11 CCI. Put the wire cutters in a vice and drill a hole in between through the two blades. Put a cap in the hole and squeeze the handle and the cap is sized. You can make your own custom caps that fit your nipples your whatever size they are. The same tool can be made for sizing conical bullet heels for easier loading in cap and ball revolvers. For this tool, I start with better compound wire cutters. https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-7-5-in-Compound-Action-Diagonal-Pliers-DWHT70275/203040533 It is made the same way as the cap sizer. I don't have much trouble cap jams. When I get a new gun I take it apart and deburr it. I round off all the sharp edges and corners on around hammer face and around the safety notch. I polish the cap port as well.

Mike
 
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I have not personally shopped for caps but my impression is caps in general are still easy to find but finding properly sized caps, especially if your hammer spring is light, can be a chore since a lot of outfits tend to stick to a narrow variety and brand of caps.
dont go to Cabelas then they dont have crap
 
I always keep a good 10,000 or so caps on hand but i never depend on that stock as i also make my own caps and primer material. I make the old H-48 formula, worked perfectly up until WW2 and still works great today....sure its corrosive but i wash my guns well and don't have a looproblem. Use .005 inch sheet copper and/or brass for the hulls and can even re-use them if i need too, if im in a bind and ran out of copper/brass sheeting i have rolls of .005 aluminum as back up and can also use aluminum can material. I can also re-prime cartridge primers with the same home made primer material.
 
The supply of percussion caps seems spotty at the moment. This happened during the component and ammo shortage a few years ago when they were almost impossible to find for a while. I checked some of the usual suspects: Cabelas, Midway, Natchez, Midsouth. They all have some but there is a lot of "out of stock, no backorder". I prefer to get them locally when possible to avoid the hazmat fee but if I have to order them, I get them in bulk.

I laid in a good supply for my percussion guns over the last couple of years, figuring there would be another shortage eventually for one reason or another.

BTW, I was at the local Cabelas yesterday and there were ten or so tins on the shelf. With my supply, I left them for others because I'm such a nice guy. :D

Jeff
 
How are Remington caps nowadays? For years the cap you could find were CCI #10 and 11 the tens were too small and the elevens were big so we just pinched them until I made a cap sizer. Around ten years ago Remington showed up in stores they fit great and worked well. then they started making new improved hotter caps that were too hot and blew apart and caused a lot of jams. I was ill for six years and did do much of anything including shooting my guns. Anyhow, I am almost done shooting all of my new improved Remington caps

Mike.
 
To me the Rem #10's fit the best on stock repro nipples and do the nice "petaling" or stay whole versus the CCI's which for me tend to fragment. Lately all I can find locally are CCI caps.

I've found the same on the CCI #10 and 11 caps as what you mention. I pinch the 11's and they do ok. All of the 10's that I bought are solely used to snap on the first cylinder to clear the nipples, they usually require two hits to go off because they dont fully seat.

I'm pretty new to the cap and ball game so I dont have old Rem caps to compare to the new. Never had an issue with ignition on any of the caps that fit halfway decent. Rems don't blow apart like the CCIs in my experience. I've switched to Treso nipples on one revolver and they work well with #11's and fragment less. No pinch required.

Curious on how youre sizing them? When I open a tin I go ahead and pinch all of them to the somewhat oval shape to keep from having to do it later when I load my capper ready to shoot. Id be interested in a more consistent way of doing this.
 
Buy a pair of side cutters at the dollar store. I like then because I am cheap and the metal is soft easy to drill. put the wire cutters in a vice to keep them closed both sides touching. About 1/4 inch from the tip drill a hole in between the blades so when you open the wire cutters there is half a hole on each side the cutters. I have an 11/64 hole on mine. Start with a 5/32 bit if the caps are to tight on your cones enlarge the hole to 11/64. On a side note, you can use the tip on one side of the wire cutters to remove unfired caps from nipples. Takes them off easy.

Mike
 
While I can see that joe's tool would work it seems like a lot more work to do. With my tool, you put the caps on a table cups up put the tool over the cap squeeze the handle, and your dune you don't even have to touch the caps. Takes me about ten minutes to do a hundred caps. plus it is my cap removing tool.
 
Natchez has Remington #10's in stock for $6.49.
But it usually helps to order powder or other hazmat items to combine fees. --->>> https://www.natchezss.com/remington-percussion-caps-10-100-ct.html

Midsouth Shooters Supply sells them in lots of 5000 for $250.34 but they're out of stock.
But it would be a place to watch along with Powder Valley at $5.50 which is out of stock.
Both places do have Remington #11's in stock.

https://www.powdervalleyinc.com/?s=...ategories=1&attributes=1&tags=1&sku=1&ixwps=1

https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/search?SearchTerm=remington+percussion+caps
 
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Remington #11 caps are the same size as Remington #10s they are just longer.
 
CCI #10 caps are pretty small you might have to turn your nipples down to get them to fit.
 
I have always used #11 CCI, except when European #11 caps were all that was available. #10 Remingtons just were hard to find, while #11 caps were easy and universal for revolvers and long guns.

I still have some of these from the 1970s in my stockpile and they still fire just fine.
Pinching CCI #11 caps has always worked fine for me for C&B revolvers and stock nipples. But, if you are using shiny and smooth aftermarket nipples, the odd one might slip off.

Incidentally, I have always had great success with Italian factory nipples in my revolvers. I often read that that you absolutely must replace these with superior aftermarket ones.
But, unless your revolver is a Colt open-top design (1851, 1860, 1861.....) for which Slix-Shot cones help to prevent cap jams in the action, it won't matter.
Top strap designs don't seem to have this problem.
 
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