Found a good cheap workaround for the primer cap shortage.

[Brutuskend]

I found these on amazon and decided to see if they would work for my black powder long guns and or revolvers.

They DO.

They are plastic, so they stretch and work on #11 or #10 nipples. They dont fall off the nipples on my 1858 remy or my 1851 colt like the #11 nipples do either.

When fired, the hammer does punch out a small "dot" of plastic that sticks in the end of the nipple, but it dosn't seem to cause any issues.

I forget just how much I paid for these, but I do know it was less than the "normal" caps I have been able to find lately. And they are much less hassel than trying to use #11 caps on my revolvers.

They also seem to be more powerful then standard caps.

 

[Malachi Leviticus Blue]

I picked up some Legends of the Old West brand toy caps a few years ago for use in case of an emergency, but have never needed them or even tried them myself.
Rumor is that Legends of the Old West are the best/most powerful toy caps versus some other much weaker ones out there, but I haven't made any personal comparisons.

What I've heard from others (zero personal experience) is that they can be sensitive fire while loading or prematurely seemingly "on their own".
also that they can be more prone to miss fires that real percussion caps, and that they are corrosive.
The corrosive part doesn't bother me since I'd clean the gun anyway, but other than plinking when the muzzle is always down range e.g., not loaded in a holster, it sounds like toy caps could be a significant hazard.

OP, were you able to extricate the plastic "dot" from the nipples without removing the nipples?
Did you have any misfires, ignition during loading, or premature ignition?
Also curious how many rounds you fired to understand your sample size.

 

[PWGUNNY]

I admire your resourcefulness. The mother of invention..

 

[dave951]

There is NO primer cap shortage, just a shortage of center fire primers. For black powder percussion caps-

blackpowderva.com

 

[kBob]

I used those on my .31s but was fearful of trying them on the .44s. a cylinder from the Colt and Remington clones was all I did just to see if they worked. I assumed they were uber corosive and cleaned accordingly.

-kBob

 

[armoredman]

Of all the things I would never have thought of...that's thinking outside the bun!

 

[arcticap]

Use a push stick to seat them on the nipple.
If they're more impact sensitive than percussion caps and can ignite when placed on the nipple with fingers, then a person's thumb could get severely injured by the hot gases exiting the nipple.
A thumb could get seared and split open like what happened to one fellow who didn't use a push stick.
Read the warnings about using toy caps and learn about the injuries of others in this post. --->>> https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...t-percussion-caps.849353/page-3#post-11097007

 

[Mike 56]

Please be careful. Years ago when it was hard to find caps I used them, in my opinion, they are way too sensitive. I found a small nipple for my cap lock rifle the toy caps. I was shooting my rifle and they were working fine then I was pushing the toy cap on the nipple and the cap went off and the rifle fired. Not so bad for target shoot with a rifle if you are repaired for it and are careful. Not so safe for hunting. I did not mess around with the toy caps in my revolvers to much chance of touching off a chamber out of battery and what if you make the mistake of having your fingers in front of the cylinder. If you feel that you need to use toy caps be very careful I won't use them in a revolver I don't feel that they are safe.

 

[damoc]

Ive tried these before and they work but like has already been said they block up the nipple as well. That being said I keep a few packets around just in case.

 

[TheOutlawKid]

Heres a link on how i use roll caps to make percussion caps..

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/how-i-make-hot-percussion-caps.849353/