Does anyone make a reloading press die for making percussion caps?
- Thread starter tallpaul
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Malachi Leviticus Blue
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Not an attachment for a reloading press but, I made up a rig several years ago that seemed to work OK but was more of an exercise in proving I could do it than anything else.
Once I did it, I was pretty much over it.
I took a block of Hardwood (in my case scrap Hickory flooring) and drilled a hole through it and chamfered it.
Placed that block over another same side block.
Made up a rod out of a large nail that I cut off with a hacksaw and cleaned up with a file.
Used a punch to make aluminum discs out of beer cans and aluminum pie plates.
place the aluminum disk over the chamfered hole and force it through the wooden die with the appropriately sized rod (with a bit of help from a hammer at the hammery end)
fill with paper caps
end result worked click boom
Once I did it, I was pretty much over it.
I took a block of Hardwood (in my case scrap Hickory flooring) and drilled a hole through it and chamfered it.
Placed that block over another same side block.
Made up a rod out of a large nail that I cut off with a hacksaw and cleaned up with a file.
Used a punch to make aluminum discs out of beer cans and aluminum pie plates.
place the aluminum disk over the chamfered hole and force it through the wooden die with the appropriately sized rod (with a bit of help from a hammer at the hammery end)
fill with paper caps
end result worked click boom
Last edited:
somethingbenign
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https://22lrreloader.com/products/10-percussion-cap-maker
Are you thinking something like this? I've never even thought about it before, just happened to notice it looking at reloading primers awhile back.
Are you thinking something like this? I've never even thought about it before, just happened to notice it looking at reloading primers awhile back.
I’ve used his product starting the spring of 21. I’m happy with the cap maker and the Prime-All.
I will likely start with the 3d printed version of that but I know a guy or two used to make a die that mounted in a single stage press... I may just buy the 22reloader setup...
woodnbow
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The main advantage of such a die would be to make caps that look and work more like a commercially available cap. This guy could make such a press mounted die for use with aluminum flashing and the resulting caps would probably feed through cappers and fit the cones very closely…
Black Jack Shellac
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Forrester did make a press mounted die for this.Called the Auto-Cap The die body was threaded to fit in the press from the underside and the punch would fit a 38 special shell holder. the cups would fall out like spent primers.I modded the currently made Cap Maker for a reloading press.It works very well .I did mod the press for more leverage as it takes more effort to than you would think. It all works and I have punched out many thousands of double sided pop can cups. Many hundreds of brass cups too. I have looked at the printed dies. Plastic is not going to work.You would have the teeth broken with the first effort.
Black Jack Shellac
Black Jack Shellac
Well... I agree plastic isn't t g e best choice but I have seen the videos of them working... depending on the filament ya will have more or less life for sure.
Black Jack Shellac
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What video would that be? I have only seen one 3d printed cap maker on ebay and the is from Poland. The teeth on the punch looked mangled . Somebody was making a aluminum cap maker years ago it must have worked,for a while anyway.. It's not hard to put the currently made cap maker on a drill press. You need standard sized drill press to have the durability for a lot of use.It works easy and fast.
The video was in one of the ads for the ebay one... did not notice where it was made.
Do you happen to have a picture of how you did this mod, I searched your posts, but did not see one. I would like to rig up something that works on a single stage vs make them with a mallet. I have seen the old forrester that thread in and that would be neat if they still existed but I have not seen one for sale.
Dave
Black Jack Shellac
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Hi Dave No pictures of the press setup. I do have some pictures of my drill press mounting. That worked really well and is a lot easier to do than the reloading press setup. Have you seen the pictures of that?
I have not, is it in one of your posts? I thought I looked for a pic but maybe I missed it.
I have an old arbor press, that I have rigged to be able to use the sharpshooter 22 die with, still a bit of a hassle, but it is better then hitting it with a mallet. I would need to rig it upside down to make it less of a chore and have not got around to figuring that out yet.
Seems I will have to make a rig to do this with a post I can lock in the arbor press for the base (upside down), and a method for holding the upside down cutter that has a hole in it so the caps can fall through. I have a couple days off this week, so, maybe I will go play in the shop later.
Seems I will have to make a rig to do this with a post I can lock in the arbor press for the base (upside down), and a method for holding the upside down cutter that has a hole in it so the caps can fall through. I have a couple days off this week, so, maybe I will go play in the shop later.
Found it! Thanks Black Jack.
With the weather (pretty much rain all the time lately, and when it is not raining the yard is wet), and not being able to find caps locally, I have finally broken out my sharpshooter .22 cap maker. The process is tedious at best, but, it does get the job done. Have to say, if and when caps do become available locally I will buy what I can to prevent running out and having to make my own, but, if the zombies come, I will be able to make caps if I need them.
My formula (thanks to Black Jack and the kid) has evolved to 3 paper caps cut to fit and a drop of duco cement, let dry at least 24 hours.
Tested this process with an 1851 .44 navy (I know not historically correct), 8 grains of BP and a wax bullet in my back acreage. all 6 shot without issue, maybe, just maybe a slight hesitation.
2 caps and without the duco both proved to be erratic.
This worked with both double pop cans and with .005 brass sheeting.
Next I am going to build a way to use my arbor press (or maybe my single stage) to press out caps more efficiently. I like the idea of having a support for the metal so it does not crinkle so bad and slides through easier I saw from someone on here (sorry, dont recall who that was)
The cap making part is not so bad actually, its the cutting and adding the caps that takes me the most time so I do that while listening to forbidden weapons or Mike Bellevue on you tube.
My step by step:
I punch the caps out using my little arbor press from harbor freight - using the ss22 device, and that is better than hitting with a mallet (but watch your fingers, I pinched a couple of mine once or twice)
I snip the paper caps as close to the dots as I can without setting them off (end up with a little square)
Stuff 3 of these in the cap with an long allen head bit from my gunsmithing tool box that is just slightly smaller then then inside of the cap (dot side toward the hammer cuz that is how we loaded them in our old cap guns as a kid)
Once filled, i drop them in an old CCI 22 caliber ammo box (holds 50)
Put in a drop of Duco and let them set for a day or so, then put them in a tin.
if you have one, the CCI .22 box comes with a slide off lid, and under that lid is a plastic piece with 50 holes in it. I pried that piece with the holes out of the box, glued it to the top of the slide out piece and then slid it back on the box, so I have storage under the caps for wax bullets or lead balls, or, whatever (its clear so don't want to store finished caps in it - maybe if I blacked it out).
Any way, these seem to work so far, have not had any failures to ignite in my 1851, though my little cheap philly derringer (Juker) single shot does not reliably set off these caps - maybe the nipple is too small or it just has a weak hammer, it definitely does not hit as hard as the 1851.
In closing, I can't begin to thank the folks on this site, not just for the cap making info, but also for all the other BP info I have learned over the years. There are some wonderful and knowledgeable people here and while I guess I could also blame all you folks for my collection of BP shooters as well, I think Thanks is probably better
With the weather (pretty much rain all the time lately, and when it is not raining the yard is wet), and not being able to find caps locally, I have finally broken out my sharpshooter .22 cap maker. The process is tedious at best, but, it does get the job done. Have to say, if and when caps do become available locally I will buy what I can to prevent running out and having to make my own, but, if the zombies come, I will be able to make caps if I need them.
My formula (thanks to Black Jack and the kid) has evolved to 3 paper caps cut to fit and a drop of duco cement, let dry at least 24 hours.
Tested this process with an 1851 .44 navy (I know not historically correct), 8 grains of BP and a wax bullet in my back acreage. all 6 shot without issue, maybe, just maybe a slight hesitation.
2 caps and without the duco both proved to be erratic.
This worked with both double pop cans and with .005 brass sheeting.
Next I am going to build a way to use my arbor press (or maybe my single stage) to press out caps more efficiently. I like the idea of having a support for the metal so it does not crinkle so bad and slides through easier I saw from someone on here (sorry, dont recall who that was)
The cap making part is not so bad actually, its the cutting and adding the caps that takes me the most time so I do that while listening to forbidden weapons or Mike Bellevue on you tube.
My step by step:
I punch the caps out using my little arbor press from harbor freight - using the ss22 device, and that is better than hitting with a mallet (but watch your fingers, I pinched a couple of mine once or twice)
I snip the paper caps as close to the dots as I can without setting them off (end up with a little square)
Stuff 3 of these in the cap with an long allen head bit from my gunsmithing tool box that is just slightly smaller then then inside of the cap (dot side toward the hammer cuz that is how we loaded them in our old cap guns as a kid)
Once filled, i drop them in an old CCI 22 caliber ammo box (holds 50)
Put in a drop of Duco and let them set for a day or so, then put them in a tin.
if you have one, the CCI .22 box comes with a slide off lid, and under that lid is a plastic piece with 50 holes in it. I pried that piece with the holes out of the box, glued it to the top of the slide out piece and then slid it back on the box, so I have storage under the caps for wax bullets or lead balls, or, whatever (its clear so don't want to store finished caps in it - maybe if I blacked it out).
Any way, these seem to work so far, have not had any failures to ignite in my 1851, though my little cheap philly derringer (Juker) single shot does not reliably set off these caps - maybe the nipple is too small or it just has a weak hammer, it definitely does not hit as hard as the 1851.
In closing, I can't begin to thank the folks on this site, not just for the cap making info, but also for all the other BP info I have learned over the years. There are some wonderful and knowledgeable people here and while I guess I could also blame all you folks for my collection of BP shooters as well, I think Thanks is probably better
Black Jack Shellac
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- Jun 3, 2019
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- 135
You would be farther ahead if you used the priming powders. Three cap dots will prove to be not powerful enough . Been there and done that. You are using full strength Duco . That will empty a tube fast. Thinned down is the way and works better if using the powders.
Black Jack Shellac
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- Jun 3, 2019
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- 135
Your arbor press could be ideal. Find a way to mount the die body upside down to the ram. Mount the punch to a board like I did with the drill press setup. The cups will fall straight down into something you choose . The leverage on the arbor press is well suited for this use, Better than a reloading press. For using the role caps you can lift the dots right off the paper . with the dots off the paper you can use as many as you want in the cups. I was using 12 dots per cup for my rifles. To do this you soak a strip of caps in water for a min. Remove and rub the paper between your fingers and the thin top paper can be removed. You can then lift the dots off the bottom paper with some sharp knife. It's easy to go right down the line and stack em up. When you have your number just scrape into the cups. Push down and let dry and bind them with whatever your glue of the week may be.
Black Jack Shellac
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- Jun 3, 2019
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Hey guys I have a dandy binder to use to retain and secure your priming in the cup,regardless of what that might be. Take a pinch of any fast pistol smoke-less powder. Put that in a tablespoon of acetone cover and give it a hour. Uncover and stir well. use some sort of dipstick.I use pipe cleaners to get a drop in each cup. I have used this for the last two years with no fall outs. It may even increase the power a little. This is a very forgiving formula. You almost can't screw it up
Saw this morning in a Powder Valley email.
www.powdervalley.com
Sharpshooter Primer Cup Maker
Use this tool to stamp out your own primer cups. We developed this product to address the primer shortage. 1. Use commonly found roof or aluminum valley flashing 2. Cut the aluminum, comes in a roll, into approx. 1″ wide strips. Strips can be as long or short depending on how many pcs you are […]
www.powdervalley.com
