I went shooting, the first time in several months. It is starting to cool off a little, only 102 now. My experiment was a way to deal with the boring summer months. I loaded six different combinations of caps, trying to find the one that works the best for me. The results surprised me. I use the Prime-All compound, but I exclude the binder. Which is the off white bag that uses one small scoop. The instructions say to fill the cap with the priming compound, I found that filling the cap half full works better. Also I compress the compound when it is dry using a brass punch. Then I add Duco cement to the acetone before putting two drops on each cap. This combination gave me 100% reliable ignition today. I’m looking forward to doing more shooting now that the weather is improving.
Experiment with my homemade caps
- Thread starter Lyle
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Blackpowderwarrior
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Do you have any caps premade from a few months back when we were first starting to make caps?
If you do I think that would be a great longevity test to see how the prime all compound held up during storage in the finished percussion caps.... Also did all fire?
Either way it's good to see you shooting again brother
If you do I think that would be a great longevity test to see how the prime all compound held up during storage in the finished percussion caps.... Also did all fire?
Either way it's good to see you shooting again brother
I have not dated my caps, so everything is a guess. I think the oldest caps are from May or June. That was one of my first experiments. That was using all 4 of the bags and a cap full of the priming compound. I shot them today. All fired. I didn’t like the way they fit on the nipple, to full to seat easily.
Blackpowderwarrior
Member
That's awesome brother, I remember you saying something about only filling up the cap 1/3rd of the way with the compound.
How many caps do you think you can make with 1 order of that priming compound?
With 1/3 full I had some caps not set off the powder charge. If you use real Black powder then the 1/3 full might work. My last test was done using Pyrodex P. I would rather put a little more compound in the cap to guarantee ignition. I don’t know the number of caps that can be loaded with one order of Prime All. I can only guess. I have probably loaded 500 to 700 caps so far. I think that loading another 1,000 is possible. So for a $70 investment in the cap maker and one order of Prime All I think that 1,500 to 2,000 caps is possible. Then the cost becomes $20 for 2,000 caps. I use aluminum pop cans so there is no cost for the cap itself.
Blackpowderwarrior
Member
Thanks for the quick answer.
I use the brass sheeting from the hobby store and I use paper caps for primer.
Usually 5 paper cap dots per cap.
Or 1 dot and a TINY amount of BP and another dot on top with some duco cement.
I decided to extend the experiment. I loaded 25 caps and put them on the shelf. I will test then in February or March. 5-6 months should be a useful test of shelf life.
Blackpowderwarrior
Member
Now that's what I'm talking about
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