For those of you who have cap making dies

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Rattus58

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Has anyone here used strike anywhere match tips for cap material rather than paper caps?

Aloha... :cool:
 
I've heard of people doing this to create the priming compound for .22 LR cases so my guess is... it'll probably work. I'd use some snippers and snip the white tips off, then add some pure rubbing alcohol and a mortar and pestel to grind it up smooth, then spread it out on some foil and a baking sheet and let it dry. Should make a nice puddle of priming compound for beer can caps.
 
Cooldill said:
I've heard of people doing this to create the priming compound for .22 LR cases so my guess is... it'll probably work. I'd use some snippers and snip the white tips off, then add some pure rubbing alcohol and a mortar and pestel to grind it up smooth, then spread it out on some foil and a baking sheet and let it dry. Should make a nice puddle of priming compound for beer can caps.
Click to expand...
Thanks Cooldill... I'll give it a shot... Thank you....

Aloha.. :cool:
 
Cooldill said:
I've heard of people doing this to create the priming compound for .22 LR cases so my guess is... it'll probably work. I'd use some snippers and snip the white tips off, then add some pure rubbing alcohol and a mortar and pestel to grind it up smooth, then spread it out on some foil and a baking sheet and let it dry. Should make a nice puddle of priming compound for beer can caps.
Click to expand...
I reload 22 rimfire. Used both caps and matches. And mixed them. I have had hang fires on matches. Never on caps. A percentage of the matches primers are slow like a flintlock. It also depends if you use them wet. I wet the caps with water and peel them. Then I let them dry then wet them again with acetone when priming the case. But it seems that they lose some of their effectiveness after having been wet with water. I am still experimenting with primer. I have some very finely ground aluminum that I am going to add to a cap-match mix. Anxious to see how it works.
 
Traffer said:
I reload 22 rimfire. Used both caps and matches. And mixed them. I have had hang fires on matches. Never on caps. A percentage of the matches primers are slow like a flintlock. It also depends if you use them wet. I wet the caps with water and peel them. Then I let them dry then wet them again with acetone when priming the case. But it seems that they lose some of their effectiveness after having been wet with water. I am still experimenting with primer. I have some very finely ground aluminum that I am going to add to a cap-match mix. Anxious to see how it works.
Click to expand...
have you ever thought of a grain or two of black powder mixed in? I have some old white tipped strike anywhere we found and was curious about this. They still seem to strike so I'm wondering how it'd would work as a cap primer.

Thank you... I'm new at all of this so your comment is to me invaluable.. :D

Aloha.. :cool:
 
Traffer said:
I reload 22 rimfire. Used both caps and matches. And mixed them. I have had hang fires on matches. Never on caps. A percentage of the matches primers are slow like a flintlock. It also depends if you use them wet. I wet the caps with water and peel them. Then I let them dry then wet them again with acetone when priming the case. But it seems that they lose some of their effectiveness after having been wet with water. I am still experimenting with primer. I have some very finely ground aluminum that I am going to add to a cap-match mix. Anxious to see how it works.
Click to expand...
Traffer,
You might check with machine shops that work on VW/Dune Buggy engines. The heads and blocks are an aluminum/MAGNESIUM alloy. Get them to save the shavings for you. Makes a good mixture for ignition. Just my $.02.
 
Thanks, jerkface - haven't used it (be awhile for I could afford that much even,) but I'll keep the link and give it a try in a few months.
 
Cap making dies drawings.

Here are the detailed drawings I found online for the cap dies. Any machine shop can build you one.

piston_zps1jqfqgwf.gif
cylinder_zpspulb7ooj.gif
 
The igniter tips from "strike anywhere" matches worked good 20 years ago, but not so good anymore.

Nowadays the manufacturers are using just a fraction of the phosphorous compound that was used in the "old days"..... I would also note that the best paper toy caps available now are about 1/3 as powerful as the ones we played with 50 years ago.... and that probably explains why Forster discontinued the Tap-O-Cap.

Yeah, a tiny pinch of BP helps. Still not 100% sure-fire, though.

Last I heard, "MannyCA" on the Castboolits forum was making dies. You might try contacting him.
 
ofitg said:
The igniter tips from "strike anywhere" matches worked good 20 years ago, but not so good anymore.

Nowadays the manufacturers are using just a fraction of the phosphorous compound that was used in the "old days"..... I would also note that the best paper toy caps available now are about 1/3 as powerful as the ones we played with 50 years ago.... and that probably explains why Forster discontinued the Tap-O-Cap.

Yeah, a tiny pinch of BP helps. Still not 100% sure-fire, though.

Last I heard, "MannyCA" on the Castboolits forum was making dies. You might try contacting him.
Click to expand...
Well I know very little about chemistry but here are some things I have found through my experimenting.
Yes the "strike anywhere' matches have very very little of the strike anywhere white part now a days. If I used just these for primer it would take about 6 to 10 matches for every 22lr that I primed. Just not cost effective. The roll caps made in Germany are good. The brand is "Legends" they sell em at Walmart, Shopko etc. You get 24 rolls of 100 caps for $3. I use 7 caps per 22lr. That comes out to be about a penny per primer. The caps and matches MAY be the same compound but it appears to me that they are different. It seems that the matches have a lot more ground glass in them. I have had them ignite even when wet with acetone. NEVER MAKE ANY KIND OF PRIMER IN BATCHES BIGGER THAN YOU ARE WILLING TO HAVE IGNITE 4 INCHES FROM YOUR FACE!!!!.. As I said earlier I have been experimenting with different mixes. It seems so far that mixing some match stuff with caps works pretty well. I just tested a small batch of bullets that I loaded with a mix of 7 caps, 2 matches (just the white part) and a small amount of very fine aluminum "dust" (about 1/3 to 1/2 the amount of the caps.) Loaded 5 bullets with that mix and they all fired well. My next experiment will be 6 caps 2 matches and about 1/3 of the cap amount of aluminum dust. (2 matches of white stuff is very very little in volume) I think it would take about 5 matches to equal the amount of one cap by volume.
My technique is to wet a roll of caps with water for a minute or so. Then peel the top layer of paper off. (comes right off) Then while they are still wet, take a exacto or snap off blade and carefully scrape off one cap at a time. They come off as lumps and you can stack the lumps (that's how I measure them) I let them sit on plastic from ziplock bags to dry (you cannot use many types of surfaces as the caps have gum of arabic in them and they stick like glue to just about everything) Once the caps are dry (I have them in 6 cap or 7 cap piles) I put a pile into a shell and drop 8 drops of acetone and use a little crusher that I made to mix up the cap/acetone mix to a slurry and pack it into the rim (again with a little tool that I made.) I let them dry and they are ready to the next step of reloading. (I don't use water to wet them inside the shell because in the confined space they would have trouble drying. Acetone is so volatile that it dries nicely even inside a shell.) PS I knew about that company selling priming compound but didn't think they would sell me any without first buying their reloading kit. I don't want the kit. It is $80. That is about how much my entire reloading operation has cost including a pound of gun powder. But if they will sell it without the kit I am going to buy that primer and save myself some of this hassle. (I am hoping against hope that it is not nearly as corrosive as the caps and matches)
 
Traffer, it sounds like you're keeping busy! Here's something interesting -

12calML_zpsa9aca963.jpg

This ad from the 1960's describes a "gun" which propelled a #6 shot pellet by means of a paper cap. Notice that the ad refers to a 4.4 milligram powder charge.
I agree, those Legends of the Wild West caps are the best on the market today - each one is loaded with 0.023 grains of powder - that converts to 1.5 milligrams.

If I load three of those Legends caps into a single Tap-O-Cap hull, it will reliably ignite the main charge in a small sidelock pistol (but the hull is filled up halfway with paper/powder, and doesn't grip the nipple very well).
It's fun to try new stuff, so I wouldn't try to dissuade you from experimenting. I can only tell you that I settled on an established primer compound several years ago.
I'm not sure what's in that mail-order package linked by jerkface11, but it could very well be the same components I use - check out the "H-48" and "FH-42" formulations at this page -

https://www.northwestfirearms.com/threads/priming-mixtures.58110/

Be careful! Keep the quantities small (one or two grams) and NEVER grind those mixtures.
 
The stuff I linked to is sold to reprime .22lr cases. When mixed it makes a liquid you put into the case with an eyedropper.
 
ofitg said:
Traffer, it sounds like you're keeping busy! Here's something interesting -

12calML_zpsa9aca963.jpg

This ad from the 1960's describes a "gun" which propelled a #6 shot pellet by means of a paper cap. Notice that the ad refers to a 4.4 milligram powder charge.
I agree, those Legends of the Wild West caps are the best on the market today - each one is loaded with 0.023 grains of powder - that converts to 1.5 milligrams.

If I load three of those Legends caps into a single Tap-O-Cap hull, it will reliably ignite the main charge in a small sidelock pistol (but the hull is filled up halfway with paper/powder, and doesn't grip the nipple very well).
It's fun to try new stuff, so I wouldn't try to dissuade you from experimenting. I can only tell you that I settled on an established primer compound several years ago.
I'm not sure what's in that mail-order package linked by jerkface11, but it could very well be the same components I use - check out the "H-48" and "FH-42" formulations at this page -

https://www.northwestfirearms.com/threads/priming-mixtures.58110/

Be careful! Keep the quantities small (one or two grams) and NEVER grind those mixtures.
Click to expand...
Wow, I wonder if anyone has one of those old guns. Would be great to play with. Thanks for the formula page. Where could I get these chemicals? I would really want to make some non-corrosive primer. I found a patent for one but the chemistry language is WAY over my head. Maybe you can make some sense of it.
http://www.google.co.ve/patents/US8460486
 
Non-corrosive, non-toxic primer.

This is it. Unfortunately I am not a chemist and this is completely Greek to me. Is it possible to even get these chemicals?
"In one embodiment, the primer composition, when dry, includes approximately 25 wt % Red Phosphorus HB 801 (TP), 5 wt % PETN, 64.8 wt % potassium nitrate, 5 wt % aluminum, and 0.2 wt % gum tragacanth."
 
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This is it. Unfortunately I am not a chemist and this is completely Greek to me. Is it possible to even get these chemicals?
"In one embodiment, the primer composition, when dry, includes approximately 25 wt % Red Phosphorus HB 801 (TP), 5 wt % PETN, 64.8 wt % potassium nitrate, 5 wt % aluminum, and 0.2 wt % gum tragacanth."
Click to expand...

Those Western Haig cap guns turn up on Ebay from time to time, but I imagine they're in poor condition. They usually got discarded after the plastic broke, or after the steel barrel liners got clogged up with corrosion.

I'm not much of a chemist either. Looking at your list of ingredients, I can tell you that PETN is a high explosive, subject to strict government controls. A fellow named "Marshall" on the Castboolits forum has developed a couple of non-corrosive primer compounds, but most of his posts are over my head. Here's the thread -

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?182089-can-you-make-priming-compound/page20

Personally, I am satisfied with simple corrosive percussion caps (since I'll be using corrosive powder). I originally found my recipe on page 456 of Tenney Davis's book, Chemistry of Powder & Explosives (it's the one which contains shellac) -

http://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/the_chemistry_of_powder_and_explosives.pdf

The shellac is useful for percussion caps - instead of loose powder, you get a small pellet of material "glued" into the bottom of the hull. As Davis explains, it's also a good idea to include a little antacid (eg, one or two percent sodium bicarbonate) to extend the shelf life.

Sulfur is easy to get, and people on Ebay are selling antimony sulfide. In a pinch, you could buy a "Stibnite" crystal (natural antimony sulfide) and crush it into powder. I don't know for sure, but it's possible that the primer kit you ordered contains those substances, along with potassium chlorate.
There are a couple of different methods for making potassium chlorate at home - here's a good tutorial -

http://thehomescientist.blogspot.com/2013/09/potassium-chlorate-from-bleach.html

I have found that these "DIY" methods do not yield very pure potassium chlorate. You can purify the product by running it through a couple of "re-crystallization" cycles.
 
@ midland man: I had several and since I am such a new member (no problem with this policy) I was not allowed to post them for sale. I sold two tap o caps and one autocap on Ebay in no time. There is a guy on eBay selling reproductions for $65.00 and he has sold a bunch. I have access to an old timer gunsmith with tons of old stuff most all new. He has retired and wants to get rid of it all but he is not in a hurry. I try to buy stuff that I think is good and resell it If I knew what to buy next I'd buy it.

Last week, I took a muzzleloader buddy up there and he thought he died and went to heaven but skipped the dying part. I showed up with a bag of money and sat there and listened to the two talk for 4.5 hours! When they finally stopped talking it was time for us to go. I had another appointment to get to 50 miles away. I'll meet up with the old guy alone next week and try to figure out what to buy.
 
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