Caps not firing

They're probably not seated all the way down. If you had tried them again they probably would have fired. What caps and what size are they?

Other possibility, a bit of oil in the nipple or cylinder "killed" the powder.

What kind of pistol is it, an open top or a Remington?

Check the barrel to cylinder gap, if it's too big it's most likely the problem, it should be between .002 to .006. It will still function at .006 but if it's really wide like around .012 reliability falls way off. Everything is based around the arbor bedding properly. With a short arbor you have a different gap each time you put the gun back together. Another thing to look at is size of the nipples. Are they #10 or #11 nipples and what size caps are you using? I found that CCI # 11 caps work really well if the taper on the nipples is at .174 at the midway point.

Get a piece of wood dowel to seat them with. Caps are not pressure sensitive. It takes a sharp blow to set them off but if the priming compound isn't seated against the nipple they wont work.

Had this problem with a Ruger Old Army. Replacing the main spring fixed it.

Perhaps trying the caps on a unloaded pistol might eliminate whether it's the caps or not. ? Un-opened caps can go bad, I have a tin of musket caps of such ilk, some fire, some don't. They are my "target" or "working up a load" caps, they keep me very "honest" as some don't fire, some hang fire. They require good follow-through! No flinching allowed.

I can't remember having any caps that went bad. My biggest cap problem is Remington caps that lose their priming compound.

hawg said:

I can't remember having any caps that went bad. My biggest cap problem is Remington caps that lose their priming compound.

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That is my first time for caps going bad. But if you knew the person I got them from, you would not be surprised.

SSBN617b said:

I will fire off a couple of rounds on empty cylinders on Monday when I am home. Thanks for all the advice but the problem is probably me.

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Be sure to sneak up behind the cat when you do that.

No, if you snap any around Mr.Bear, be sure the chambers are loaded.

The caps are probably ok. Either the caps are not seated all the way down on the nipples or someone has lightened the hammer spring as part of a “tune-up”. If the revolver is real easy to cock, I suspect the hammer spring is the culprit. A strong hammer spring alleviates many problems.

Could be a bazillion and one things. Plus a couple other things. Or it could be something else. Don't forget short cones. Or, the lower part of the hammer could be hitting the frame before the nose hits the cones. Maybe a jokester put super glue in the cones. Or spiked them with toothpicks.

First time I took my 1862 out back to shoot it...click-click-click. It was kind of a combination of all the things mentioned so far. !!! (except for the super glue and toothpicks)

Anyhow...good luck!

But don't be discouraged, with a couple shakes of his magic wand, a black cat tooth and a mojo bone, Jack made that Little Brat behave. !

OP, you say "one out of six chambers fired"
Did the caps go off "crack" like a cap gun but no boom?
or did the hammer just fall on the caps and no "snap" or "crack"
The answer to that will lead you down entirely different paths to a solution.

Make sure the nipples have a sharp edge around them. You want a nice flat surface for the hammer to strike.

Have you tried dropping the hammer on the same cap multiple times?
It is not uncommon for the first hammer blow to seat the cap and then the second or third strike fires the cap if the caps are tight.

Quick check:

Remove the grips so you can see the hammer spring. Is the screw that holds the hammer in place ( down at the bottom of the spring) tightened all the way down with no spacer between the base of the spring and the grip frame? Sometimes folks put a washer or leather spacer between the spring and frame to reduce spring tension and make the gun easier to cock. Remove any spacer that may be present and tighten the screw all the way down. Also look at the spring itself. Does it look like the edges have been filed or ground down? (another redneck method for reducing spring strength). If so, get a new spring.