Percussion cap maker issues

[brewer12345]

I tried the percussion cap maker tonight. Maybe a quarter of my attempts worked to form a cap. The rest either had the post pinch a hole in the middle of the cap. I tried one and two thicknesses of soda can and a piece of aluminum roof flashing. A single layer of soda can worked best, but this was still a low success rate. Any suggestions?

 

[troy fairweather]

Maybe a way to harden the aluminum.

 

[Mike 56]

It should work well with soda cans. Phone where you bought it and send some pics it might be something wrong with the cap maker. Maybe something like cartage case lube might help? I have an old Forester Tap-O-Cap that never fails. I use a rubber hammer and tap it.

 

[TheOutlawKid]

Thats very odd. I have a couple cap makers and it never fails if i do.my part. Perhaps its the material? Ive used soda cans too tho and they work but now i use .005/36 gauge copper sheets. Can u make sure the pin isnt pointed? It should be flat topped

 

[TWC]

Just got one recently. The caps it makes look like a star,kind of reminds me of the musket caps with the star washer ears. Some one mentioned drilling a hole in a dollar store pair of pliers for shaping caps.Can't remember what size bit....

 

[TheOutlawKid]

Here are some of my copper caps. This is what they should look like

 

[Mike 56]

That be 11/64 hole for CCI #11 caps. I tried needle noised pliers they did not work so good. Dikes worked well. I was thinking that the springloaded small dikes that Harbor Freight sells might be good.

 

[brewer12345]

Outlawkid, my keepers look like that. I used a can from the cheapest store brand soda, so maybe it was the metal. Will try again with a can from name brand soda. If that is iffy I will try copper.

 

[Black Jack Shellac]

When I make my caps cups,I lube both sides of the aluminum . A nice coat of Johnson's past wax. Especially on the side that becomes the outside of the cup. When you say"pinch a hole" did you mean the bottom of the cup was punched out? Be careful to not let the junk build up around the punch. A thin wire like a paper clip with a hook bent into it can get rid of this. I have made several thousand of these on my reloading press mounted cap maker
Black Jack Shellac

 

[748]

What do you use for the mix?
Fluminate, styphinate or Armstrong mix?

 

[TheOutlawKid]

H-48/42 mix.

 

[TheOutlawKid]

Its a very reliable mix. Made from po. Chlorate, antimony, sulfur, and aluminum (optional), and a bit of antacid

 

[brewer12345]

I put a bit of CLP on the die. Will put it on the metal for my next try.

 

[TheOutlawKid]

Mr. Black jack shellac actually had shared with me a very good primer recipe although one of the ingredients is hard to come by...the red phosphorus. But it was cleaner than the H-48 mix and it doesnt hurt to have a few recipes written down and tried out.

 

[brewer12345]

Well, I figured out what I was doing wrong. I went back and watched the manufacturer's demonstration video for the die and realized that he was whacking out a cap with one blow while I was gently tapping a number of times. So I whacked it hard enough with my mallet to push it home in one go and sure enough I was able to crank out a high percentage of keepers.

Now I have to learn how to prime them. I plan to dilute some Duco with acetone and use that on top of the priming mix sans the binder. How long will the finished caps keep?

 

[Black Jack Shellac]

You don't want any kind of oil on the strips or pop can . The oil will be inside the cup and then any priming will not work so good. That"s why I started using the paste wax. Any left in the cups will not hurt anything. I do lube the outside of the plunger lightly with grease or oil. That stops the galling . Your mixture should be good for years.One binder you can use is hair spray. I like the duco cement or shellac better . Before them I used a can of Rave hairspray.
Black Jack Shellac

 

[TheOutlawKid]

Brewer...what priming compound are you using? The prime-all mix?

 

[brewer12345]

Brewer...what priming compound are you using? The prime-all mix?

Yes, that is what I have to play with.

 

[TheOutlawKid]

Oh and take mr.black jack shellacs advice dillute the Duco cement a whole lot...like 1:8- 1:10 ratio. It works better and its all you need.

 

[TheOutlawKid]

Yeah just use the three main ingredients... The po.chlorate, antimony, and sulfur. Technically you can use a little bit less antimony..but thats up to you. Keep out the tan grainy stuff.

 

[brewer12345]

Yeah just use the three main ingredients... The po.chlorate, antimony, and sulfur. Technically you can use a little bit less antimony..but thats up to you. Keep out the tan grainy stuff.

Looks like I have a bag of pure white powder, a bag of off white powder. a bag of yellow powder, and a bag of charcoal grey powder. Which one do I want to skip?

How do you get the mixed powders into the cap? The instructions seem to be talking about priming a rimfire case, which is a whole lot bigger.

 

[TheOutlawKid]

The off white grainy powder is the one you skip. Before you mix the ingredients you want to break up the clumps of the pure white powder. You want it as fine as possible, humidity in the air will cause it to clump. I break it up with a plastic spoon. The gray powder is antimony, the yellow is sulfur. I mix these two together very well...then i introduce the white powder (potassium chlorate) ...this is where you have to be very careful. I mix it by pouring it gently between two small papers bent in half...like post-it note papers bent in half. I just pour them back and forth untill its fully mixed. Then i use a small scooper to scoop it and place it into each empty cap hull. Heres a pic of the scoop i made...its just an empty toy roll cap hull glued onto a wooden matchstick or bamboo scewer.

 

[brewer12345]

Thanks, Kid. You fill the caps full with the 3 powder mixture and then add a drop of 8 parts acetone, 1 part Duco, right?

 

[TheOutlawKid]

I dont fill the caps full...i fill my cap hulls only half way. Then i add the drop of thinned duco cement...then i add a small 5/16 rice paper disk over the powder..let it sit for about 5 mins then compress it a bit using a thin dowel or allen wrench. Thats why my caps look red, yellow, or green inside...cuz of the rice paper disk. Helps protect the priming powder.

 

[TheOutlawKid]

I actually put the priming powder in the cap hull...then put a drop of the thinned duco cement...let it sit for about 4 to 5 minutes...then i add the rice paper disk..compress it a bit with a dowel...then add another drop of thinned duco cement.