Tap-o-caps and Pietta nipples

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MCgunner

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I've never had a problem with my home made caps, put 3 centers in each body and they go bang. They're not as powerful as a good store bought cap like the Winchester Magnums I like to buy, but they go bang in my Ruger Old Army just fine. Well, I tried 'em first time yesterday in my Pietta '58 and they did not go bang. Hmmm. I got to noticing that the ROA has a larger hole in the nipple than does the Pietta, answers the question I think. I really don't care, I can shoot store bought in the gun and prefer, of course, the store bought for carry afield. They go bang and NEVER have any lag time between the click and the bang, just like shooting a centerfire. I can use them to clear the nipples on the first load, at least save me some money there. I do like using my tap-o-caps in the Ruger, work just fine.

Got me to wondering about my options. Could I safely drill out the standard Pietta caps larger? Is there a reamer available? Would this be an option or a fools ploy?

Perhaps I should spend the 40 bucks on new nipples from Track of the Wolf? Would they work better? Thing is, a set of nipples costs what I paid for a spare cylinder!

Just shut the heck up and use your Winchester primers in the Pietta and reserve the tap-o-caps for the Ruger and for clearing nipples?

Actually, this last option is what I'm probably going to do. :D Just wondering about reaming or drilling the stock Pietta nipples, if that would work. More positive ignition is never a bad thing. Also, I'm shooting Pyrodex. BP, the holy black, if I could get it reasonably, might ignite in the Pietta, Pyrodex being notoriously harder to ignite. Last time I used the tap-o-caps was in my Ruger. I never thought about 'em not working in the Pietta. I haven't had the gun that long.
 
I drilled the nipple in my Pedersoli Kentucky Pistol kit due to several misfires. I haven't noticed any downside yet but it does fire everytime and I have not noticed any increased blowback problems. Just don't get carried away......
 
MCgunner said:
Hmm, thanks for the response! I was a little paranoid to try it, but maybe I'll dig through my drill bits and see if I can find the next size up in wire sizes.
Click to expand...
Just use the size bit that goes into the hole with a little bit of resistance but not much. Then just rotate it with your fingers until it fits a little loose. Try it out and go to the next size if necessary. I would not use a power drill on them to avoid making too large a hole and then getting blowback. This way you may not have to buy 6 new nipples.
 
I'd recommend against drilling a nipple out. if you look at a diagram of a percussion nipple, you'll see that there's a venturi, built in. it works like a shaped charge, to direct the cap's fire into the powder charge.
 
In my percussion guns the "charge" has to make a 90 degree corner so I don't think the shape of the nipple has much effect. I think the reason they neck down is to minimize blowback while maximizing the flame from the cap. Opening up the through hole merely allows more of the flame from the cap to enter the combustion chamber and concurrently allows a bit more of the pressure from the chamber to escape back to through the nipple. I am not too worried about the blowback as long as it doesn't unseat the cap or push the hammer back and it hasn't happened on the nipple I drilled out on my pistol. But, it is a muzzle loading pistol, not a revolver. With a revolver you might want to try A nipple first......
 
MCgunner, a friend tells me he loads his Tap-o-cap hulls with a "pinch" of finely-ground blackpowder and then he seats a single cap center over the powder.

Might be worth trying? It could be a way to get more fire through the nipple.
 
MCgunner, a friend tells me he loads his Tap-o-cap hulls with a "pinch" of finely-ground blackpowder and then he seats a single cap center over the powder.
Click to expand...



Wow, that's a GREAT idea! I'm going to try that first. Thanks! That just might be the ultimate answer. I shoulda thought of that, but then, I'm old and my brain is turning to mush.
 
Yep,,me too.I drilled the 1858 Remington NA nipples out to the very next drill size and I havent had any misfires after I did that.Also make my own caps,but use the Winchester magnum caps too.
 
Well, I nixed the powder in the cap idea, too big a pita to get the right amount in there such that I can get the cap on the nipple. Don't seem to have a small enough drill bit, so for now, I'm just gonna hope I don't run into a problem buying caps. If I run short, I can always just shoot the ROA with the tap-o-caps, but I will look at drill bits next time I'm in Victoria.
 
Going the very next size is minute,and you wont loose any significant pressure by doing so.I did it because I could not get one cylinder to fire on a NM Remington . I used excellent quality, real, bp, and the caps I make,which are hot. I'll try to post a close up picture today of the cylinder nipples.That solved the problem for me.
 
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