Jams with black powder revolver

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I haven't shot my '58 Army in about a year but I don't recall having any jamming problems with this pistol. The Remington design is a little better function wise, IMHO. Buy a Remmy, you'll love it! Plus, they are much easier to load and the cylinder can be taken out without tools, just lower the loading lever and pull the pin out, pull the hammer back a bit and the cylinder will slide right out!
 
I don't take credit for inventing the term "Gunfighter's flip." It has been around for a long time and I forget where I first heard it.

It seems to work for a lot of people but when I've tried it, It just helps the cap fall into the hammer cut either to act as a hammer block for the next shot or slides down into the action and really gums things up. What works better for me is to hold the revolver pointed slightly downward to keep the cap from leaving the nipple and letting it cycle to the right to fall off at the capping window in the frame. When I remember, I give it a slight flick as the hammer reaches full cock to kick it loose at that point.
It is also helpful to keep the hammer face free of grease, fouling or other sticky stuff so that the cap doesn't stick to it.

On one of the history channel, tales of the gun or similar program episodes, there is a slow motion film of a guy working two percussion revolvers (colt types) fast. You can see him dip the muzzles as he cocks the guns.
 
I always thought black powder was a way to relax. It seems it gets some folks really cranked up!

Google is just a tool, it is not gospel. Garbage in, garbage out. Nothing in, nothing out.
 
cap problem solved

Dang, you guys are great. Everything helped me. I got a new pistol from Cabelas today and it did make a difference. The "flip" worked (I am left handed if that matters lol) and thank you all for the advice I will take. I just had a good time with that old/new pistol.

Talmage
 
WOW , I thought we were above such harshness on the BP Shooting subforum.

very disappointing.
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Wait. What the heck is going on? I have read this entire thread, I found absolutely no evidence of BS. Everybody made a very good contribution, and I learned many new things from it, even though I have worked with black powder for such a long time.

You should see Glocktalk and HK forums, especially when three fellows named Todd, Gecko45, and SPECOPS were on there:D
 
Something I might add ..caps back in the day ..were made different than what they are today ..infact very corrosive to the gun , but they could have been made thicker and not had the problems with the small fragments we do today . Things today are made much cheaper , for greater proffits . Todays makers probally didn`t do enought testing to relize there would be a problem by makeing the cap out of thinner materials ..after all 20 years ago guys like us that shoot these replicas were hard to find .
 
Sundance,

The original caps of the period (19th century) were made very thin, so they wouldn't cause jams. I use Remington percussion caps because they are a bit thinner, not to mention that they perform better than CCI in almost every way, at least in my opinion, whatever it is worth.

TG.
 
Tightgroups you might be right ..I`ve never seen a cap from that era ..although hard to beleive anything from that period being made thinner than whats made here today .
I do know musket caps are made much thicker and when I fire my Zuave rifled musket , the caps don`t fragment at all thats what got me to thinking about the possibility of the thicker caps cureing the small fragmenting problems ...they stay put untill I take them off ..and they have a larger charge in them than the smaller #11`s and such . I use the Remington#10 caps on all my pistols , and never have a problem ..CCI`s and me don`t get along at all ..I`ve got guns with weak hammer springs that won`t even pop a CCI cap .
 
Hi,

They made them thinner specifically so they would crumple up and not jam the action of the gun. Think about it, the thicker the cap, the more problems with jams, less clearance and more resistance when they do fall into the action. The thinner caps would shred easily and probably fall right out.

I don't like CCI's, I used to use them in the beginning but switched to the Remington caps because they were made of thinner material. Plus the Remington caps are easier to "bend" into an elliptical/oval shape, so when you put them on the nipple they stay put, giving a nice and snug fit.

TG.
 
I sometimes use my own caps, made with the Tap-O-Cap out of Bud light cans. These caps, made from aluminum, tends to stick on tight on the cylinder cones and not fragment, like the Remington and CCI caps tend to do.

Also the German caps from Dynamit Nobel tends not to fragment as much, although they do, occasionally, especially on my LeMat, where the mainspring is much more powerful than conventional caplocks.

I read that closed-recess revolvers such as Patersons will experience more problems with cap fragment jams. large revolvers with open recesses, such as Navies and Remingtons, tend to cycle spent primers with better efficiency, thats what the recesses on the recoil shield is for.
 
Hi Rachen,

I want my caps to fragment and drop out, so the nipple is clear for the next reloading. During real combat, that is exactly what you would want to happen. Since we needn't worry about that now-a-days, it really is a personal preference. I like the Remington caps the best as they are much softer and don't gum up the action, at least in my revolvers.

I've heard of those Tap-O-Cap gizmos'...Are you happy with yours and do they work alright?, or would you recommend everyone to stick with the store-bought percussion caps?

TG.
 
I've heard of those Tap-O-Cap gizmos'...Are you happy with yours and do they work alright?, or would you recommend everyone to stick with the store-bought percussion caps?
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Howdy there, Tightgroups.

Midsouth Shooting Supply sells those, and I got mine from them a year ago. I don't know if they still sell them or not, but mine worked extremely well for me. The only pet peeve about using homemade caps is that the primer chemical in the kid's capgun caps tend to be very corrosive. I haven't had an issue with corrosion due to the caps, but every time I finish firing, I clean the cylinder and cones as soon as possible.

I bought the Tap-O-Cap because I am self reliant and I enjoy playing frontiersman once in a while. However, now that I done several tests with them, I tend to keep it aside for emergencies, and use store bought caps for regular range practice. HOWEVER, the tool is absolutely good, and I recommend everyone have one as part of his/her emergency kit.
 
I've never had a cap jamming problem with my Paterson. The nipples are set fairly deep in the cylinder.
Tap O Cap drive me nuts. I can't find an ignition source that sets off the powder - the red rolled caps make a nice POP but they don't ignite the powder.
 
hmmmm you know ive heard of tap o caps. REad different things about them but never tried them. Cost is cheap. But then you read reviews like pohills then it just makes you rethink it. Tap o caps only come in # 11 caps though. Id love to get one in a #10
 
It's a great product for about $20.00. It's time consuming, but once you get the hang of it you can crank them out. I just can't find a good paper cap to make it go BOOM.
 
I might break down and buy one o' those Tap-o-Caps someday, thanks Rachen!

You can always squeeze the the #11's so they are a bit oval shaped, then they will stay on a #10 nipple just fine.

TG.
 
Is anyone that owns a Tap-O-Cap making their own powder also? If so I've got an experiment for you. Would a tiny bit of homebrew powder in a homemade cap work in place of the paper caps? Perhaps, when you form your ball, before corning it, you put a thin layer into a cap, and let it dry. Will it explode when the hammer lands on it?
 
Black powder is not impact sensitive.
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I was going to say the exact same thing too.

I might break down and buy one o' those Tap-o-Caps someday, thanks Rachen!

You can always squeeze the the #11's so they are a bit oval shaped, then they will stay on a #10 nipple just fine.

TG.
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It's very worth it! Yes, the caps can always be pinched to be made to fit the cones.

If you have ignition problems with the paper roll caps, you can always try the daisy petal caps. HOWEVER, THEY ARE CORROSIVE, AND ABSOLUTELY MAKE SURE YOU CLEAN YOUR GUN AFTER USE.
 
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