New CCI musket caps "For Reenactment Use" -??

[Oblofusc]

I just got 3 tins of CCI musket caps and they say "Four Wing" and "For Reenactment Use."

I noticed on the reviews section on the Dixie site for CCI musket caps that the older CCI 6 wing caps were supposedly too hot and often fragmented and reenactment groups would not use them anymore for that reason. The rumor was that CCI was making these 6 wing caps primarily for in-line muzzleloading rifles.

So now apparently CCI is now making a four-wing musket cap "for reenactment purposes." What I want to know is, has anyone had experience with these when used for actually shooting muskets loaded with minie ball loads?

By the way I've used their 6-wing caps on my muskets and they worked fine and did not fragment.

 

[BHP FAN]

I've used them on my .54 Sharps 1863 rifle and they ignite my 70 gr. paper cartridges just fine.

 

[rocklock]

I've used them with my .54 with maxiballs and heavy powerbelts no problem, though mine did not say for "Reenactment Use" on the tin.

 

[wittzo]

They're the same cap with the same amount of compound. It's a safety restriction for the re-enactors. The 6 flange caps have smaller petals on the cap that are thinner and easier to bend and break off, they spread and fragment more than the 4 flange caps upon ignition. Since the re-enactors aren't wearing eye protection, a flange might break off and go into someone's eye.

One more thing, they usually use a full Civil War era 100 grain blank load that has more back pressure, so the caps get really blasted. I've been using the 6 flange caps with no fragmentation, but I'm not using more than 60 grains of powder.

 

[Nicodemus38]

also last i checked, the 4 flange is the correct method of musket caps in the 1800s, at least for teh british empire.

 

[DC300a]

Sorry for the late response, I havent been on here in ages.

I do Civil War re-enactments and the 6-wing CCI caps were notorius for throwing flanges at people. It doesnt happen everytime but if you have a line of 200 guys firing 40-50 "rounds" each, it increases the odds. I have been cut on the cheek by a 6 wing and my buddy found a flange stuck in the wooden stock of his .58 Enfield at the end of the day.

The above poster is correct, the 4 wing caps are "period correct" and they also do not throw flanges because there is more material in each wing.

All of that being said, I hunt black powder as well and I have seen no noticable difference in the 6 or 4 wing caps.

 

[VA27]

The 'new' caps may be ok for muskets but they are useless in my Shiloh Sharps 1863 Carbine. Two to four caps per shot is unacceptable. They just don't have the power to get through the two 90-degree turns in the flash channel.

I lucked into a couple thousand of the old caps at a hole-in-the-wall gun shop last fall, so I'm ok for now. After these run out I'll go with RWS.

 

[EljaySL]

Last time I did a search a lot of people seemed to be having trouble with them. I ended up getting a bunch of RWS and those have worked perfectly in three different muzzleloaders.