Musket cap vs Percussion cap

[sandy4570]

The question came about because there is no #11 cap in my area but plenty of musket cap .Moreover, they charge the same price so I suppose since musket cap gives out more spark I get more bang for my buck. I just curious that beside the spark what is different between this two types of cap. Does prolong use of Musket cap will accelerate the damage on the wood around the lock on my Hawken?

 

[mdauben]

Musket is a *size* of cap and is much larger than a #11. It probably does give off more spark but it won't fit a gun not designed to use them.

 

[Jim K]

Yes, the musket cap would allow a lot more flash past the nipple and lead to more damage to the wood. Further, it would probably fall off the nipple when you tried to cock the hammer. Sorry, but the two types of caps won't interchange.

Jim

 

[Malachi Leviticus Blue]

Before 209 primers became all the rage in modern inline muzzleloaders, converting percussion cap rifles to use Musket caps was a pretty popular performance enhancement for folks who wanted to try to improve their stock rifle.
There may be a conversion kit for your Hawken available off the shelf if your interested.

 

[StrawHat]

When I used percussion rifles, I would get musket cones for my rifle that allowed me to use the top hats. Now, I hear the musket caps are less powerful so they don't fragment for reenactors or some such nonsense.

I need to pick up some more top hats, for a Burnside carbine.

 

[Curator]

Musket caps are indeed more powerful than #11 caps, even the "magnum" ones. If you replace your #11 size nipple with one that is made for musket size caps you may get a little more stock scorching, but this is a function of blow-back from firing, not just the cap.
I am using a AMPCO musket nipple from Treso that has a very small flash channel on my .52 Hawken with excellent results. I get less blow-back with this than the regular #11 size nipple.

 

[gojuice101]

In my experience they are more powerful. I used to use them on my rifle because it would hangfire with #11 caps but never had a problem with musket caps. And they are larger and easier to handle. Unfortunately, I can't find them anywhere around here anymore.

 

[hawkeye74]

brand of musket cap/flash shield

CCI reduced their caps to satisfy reenactor complaints. As such, they don't work very well any more. RWS caps are super caps. These are more consistant than any others on the market and are the favorites of competition BP shooters.

To remedy the stock scorch, take thin piece of copper/brass, drill hole to fit the nipple/cone base. With rubber mallet or other method to protect the wood, fit the shield flat against the wood about 1/4-3/8 inch around the nipple. Keeps wood nice and actually was used in the day

 

[EljaySL]

My Howdah is very unreliable with substitutes... unless I use musket caps, in which case it works every time. Googling around this isn't unusual and Pedersoli actually makes both regular and musket nipples for it. Similarly my Zoli made Zouave came with both musket and #11 nipples - the spare's in the patch box.

Anyway all that being said, if you know the thread pitch of your nipples you can get musket cap sized nipples for it. It definitely may throw stuff out the sides though - the Howdah does, and I'm much happier if I remember to wear a glove on the support hand.

You might also look at the hammer and think about how it would interact with a much larger nipple/cap.

 

[alsaqr]

Don't see a need for musket caps with a well maintained muzzleloader. My conventional muzzleloaders function well with #11 caps. Except for the Encore, all my inline guns use #11 caps. There are no malfunctions when using Goex Pinnacle, Black MZ, Blackpowder or Pyrodex.

Musket caps are expensive when they can be found. The only store that carries musket caps in this area wants $11.99 per hundred.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I have two CVA Bobcats, one set up for #11 cap and the other for musket cap. The nipple and hammer/cock are larger on the gun set up for the musket cap.

Musket caps will fall off a #11 nipple. My experience has also been that musket caps are harder to find than #11.

 

[sandy4570]

Thank everyone for great input. Deer Creek send me a wrong replacement nipple last week. It was suppose to be #11 but they send a musket cap nipple. Then the gun store was out of#11 cap. So in the end whatever I have will keep my Hawken shooting