What is this thing called and what does it do? (percussion rifle)

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is it historical?

I was gonna guess nipple protector. Is there room for a cap underneath it?
 
drobs said:
is it historical?

I was gonna guess nipple protector. Is there room for a cap underneath it?
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Quick answers- More or less, and hopefully not. I hope someone more knowledgeable can chime in on this, but this looks like a solution looking for a problem.

I can't imagine that period militaries would have encouraged dry-firing, which this item would have permitted. I haven't seen any original examples, but that doesn't mean much. Maybe the idea here is to keep and unloaded rifle's breech from getting wet.

If there was room under there for a cap, the cap would be invisible. The hammer would need to be cocked to allow checking the nipple, which could lead to a negligent discharge within the ranks. It might also conceal the fact that the rifle is loaded and capped. Again, an ND waiting to happen.
 
I believe these were historically correct.

I bought a surplus one from Bannerman a long time back.

The inside of the pad had the imprint of an uncapped nipple (concentric circles) so my guess is that they served to keep water out of the nipple just as a tompion keeps it out of the muzzle and to cushion the impact of the hammer on the nipple if it snapped down after getting hung up on a tree limb.
 
Ephraim Kibbey said:
I believe these were historically correc
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+2 for historically correct and the Enfields


BTW, i take a pure lead round ball and let the hammer smack it down onto the nipple a few times to form an imprint/impression and use it for the same purpose.
 
British marksmanship manuals included dry firing and Enfields were issued with these snap caps.
 
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