Why I Do Not Use My Finger/Thumb To Seat The Cap

[mykeal]

it does seem that some here are trying to tell me that I am being foolish

Nobody said you were being foolish - where do you get that from? What we said was that we don't agree that there is significant danger in seating percussion caps on nipples with our fingers/thumbs. I note that you ignored my post entirely.

Look, you don't need to justify your preferred method of capping a nipple. If that's what you want to do, fine.

There are warnings printed on the packages.

Yep. Warning about everything BUT seating caps with your fingers. What Phantom Captain said.

And the bit about REPORTED incidents: That's the point, there are not many REPORTED incidents. It doesn't mean they do not happen.

I guess you also missed my reference to the chain fire phenomenon. There doesn't seem to be any reluctance to report those incidents - the internet is rife with them. That suggests to me that if they were occurring, they'd be reported, with great vigor.

Caution when dealing with explosives is not foolishness. I urge you to continue your healthy practice of keeping your fingers out of harm's way. But you might reconsider attempting to convince the congregation that the probabilities of a damaging event are significant.

 

[Black Duck Charlie]

Nobody said you were being foolish - where do you get that from?

mykeal, I refer to post #18, from CraigC. Others have made the implication, at the very least. Am I upset? No, just disappointed that the responses I get seem to imply, at the least, that because there is next to zero chance that anything will happen it just won't happen -- and that I am "foolish" to lessen those chances.

The fact that it hasn't happened very much simply means that it hasn't happened very much -- not that it is not worth worrying about.

 

[buttrap]

Goes along with why they put decockers on autos now. I have all my thumbs and have been seating caps for the past 40 years with out no issues and I have never ever had a primer go of in a press. Guess I am just blessed its all. Well sure you can lessen odds all the time but not driving on a road makes more sence as its one heck of a lot worse odds to get hurt than using a cap pusher when capping.

Using a cap push stick has a lot higher risk of setting caps off too as its a hard item seating the cap. Keep in mind the idea is a hard tool pushes on cap and it goes off AKA the hammer.

 

[arcticap]

I don't think that anyone has implied that Black Duck Charlie is foolish for worrying about it. After all some SASS clubs have the push stick rule.
But from their own perspective they may think that the notion of them worrying about it is foolish and therefore they choose to not to worry about it.

Black Duck Charlie, it seems that you don't like the fact that other folks don't agree with your perspective. It almost seems that you believe that if other folks aren't using a push stick then they are doing something dangerous.
Do you think that or are you not insinuating that in your post #12?
There's a certain degree of risk doing anything. But the fact that there's a risk doesn't mean that most folks will agree that the practice is dangerous enough for them to worry about it or to change their practices.

Science says that the chances of lightning striking twice in the same place are extremely low, too, yet it has also been proven that lightning will strike hundreds of times in the same place under the right conditions. I'm not going to deliberately put myself in a situation where there is an increased chance that I might get hit by lightning.

I don't have any real control over whether something breaks while driving my car, or the actions of other drivers -- or even whether the guy next to me on the firing line does something truly stupid and dangerous -- but I do have full control over my own actions while loading/using my firearms.

 

[Black Duck Charlie]

Ok, y'all are 100% right and I'm 100% wrong -- simply because y'all have been shooting " a long time" and I haven't. Is that what y'all want to hear?

 

[PRM]

Well, I guess it could happen. The pic sure looks painful enough. I've been capping my revolvers with my thumb since the mid 70s and have yet to have any problems. Am I going to change now? Probably not!!! But, the thread is good reading.

 

[Pyro]

I'll stick to the old finger method.
This is the first time ever hearing of this, anything is possible.
Not concerned one bit.

 

[BCRider]

BDC, no one here has said you shouldn't do it your way at all or that you're "wrong" in any way. At most they've suggested that you're putting a lot of stock into one reported incident that may well have had some outside cause.

The only reason I've used my fingers to place the caps is that up to now I've only been able to get #11's and they had to be squeezed so as to hold the nipples on the guns I use. I've now got a guy that has a supply of #10's which I'm going to buy and that means that I'll be able to use a capper just like you and a stick to seat them with. I've used a stick both to avoid a sore thumb from pushing that hard on small points as well as the idea that if the seating pressure was to set off a chamber that my fingers would not be in the way. For this reason I like to wear a stout leather glove on my left hand which is the one holding the gun and that would be subjected to the cloud of flame and debris.

 

[BHP FAN]

I've got to say I think it's a heck of a lot more likely to set a cap off with a hard tool than my soft thumb.I think it's a bad solution to a mostly imaginary problem.

 

[theicemanmpls]

I think Black Duck Chuck is trying to help us all out here. This is a SAFETY suggestion.

Those caps can be really nasty.

My .36 C&B was having a cocking and locking issue, and like a moron, my fingers went up to near where the hammer comes down on the cap.

Major ouch. IMO, nothing burns more then BP, or a cap. I had the "powder" burn for at least a month.

So, thank you Black Duck Chuck for bringing this up. I will put a pencil with an eraser head in my possibles box.

Charlie, are you from the town of Black Duck? Some fantastic fishing and bear huntin there.

 

[mustanger]

BDC: Keeping in mind that this is a discussion board. One should realise that in order for a discusion to be a discusion there should be verying opinions expressed. That does not mean that nobody apretiates your concern. There are many out there reading this thread without posting. They will read the differnt opinions and form thier own. Your opinion will effect them as well as the others. I myself have picked out some ideas that I like and will try them. That is the real advantage of a discussion. Your concern is a viable one, but then even more so is the insidence of chain fires. Does that mean we should only load and shoot one chamber at a time? ( note to all, that was not a suggestion, only an example.) We will note the possible dangers, and proceed with caution.

 

[mustanger]

iceman: I know what you are talking about, when you mention powder burns. Just because the granuales are imbeded in one's hand does not stop them from continuing to burn. That is a deffinate major ouch.

 

[CraigC]

Is that what y'all want to hear?

Static

 

[BHP FAN]

I don't have any problem with someone wanting to do something as foolish as pushing a cap on with a brass or antler ''push stick'', I just don't want them doing it anywhere near me.I am very much against any ''safety requirement'' that I do so, in light of the fact that I've been shooting black powder for longer than most of the self proclaimed ''safety officers'' have been alive.

 

[Black Duck Charlie]

****Static deleted****

BHP FAN; Member


Join Date: September 23, 2008
Location: Northern California
Posts: 4,394

I don't have any problem with someone wanting to do something as foolish as pushing a cap on with a brass or antler ''push stick'', I just don't want them doing it anywhere near me.I am very much against any ''safety requirement'' that I do so, in light of the fact that I've been shooting black powder for longer than most of the self proclaimed ''safety officers'' have been alive.

And there ya go. And the "it ain't happened in all the time I been shooting, it ain't never gonna happen" thinking, well -- if it's how you want to think, go right ahead.

 

[Shultzhaus]

Caps are made by the millions. Isn't it possible to have one out of spec just enough to go off no matter what your seating method is?

 

[CraigC]

Sorry, sometimes you have to skip the sugar-coating and spoon-feeding and make your point bluntly. Because it's obvious that even though you're "new to the entire C&B scene", you know better than everybody else and won't be swayed by the facts. Though I appreciate somebody who is "new to the entire C&B scene" looking out for our best interests.

 

[longrifle346]

Yes sir, a defective cap igniting during the capping process is certainly possible...but in almost 40 years of capping I've never seen it or heard of it until this thread. Considering the instant www "reporting" we have these days I would have thought that if it were anything more than extremely rare I would have........

 

[Shultzhaus]

Agree with Longrifle. Iv'e been playing with these things since 1956, and have never had one go off unintentionaly, but some have failed to fire. It was just a thought on this thread. Maybe the folks that make caps have a pretty good handle on quality control. Don't you wish other products in this world were as reliable?

 

[theicemanmpls]

I have been "capping" for over 25years. Never had one AD. To many failures though. Usually when I dropped the hammer on a deer. However, if someone comes up with a SAFETY IDEA, I am all ears.

Thing is, those caps are little firecrackers. Ever seen someones hand after they held a firecracker in it? I have. ANY EXPLOSIVE, USE WITH CAUTION.

 

[buttrap]

I think the best idea is just use a capper with properly fitting caps. You can push them on the cones pretty tight then as you as you slide the capper off. As for push sticks if you feel better doing that well sure but its to me like crisco a total waste of time. Untill the internet and just a few years ago I never have heard of a cap going off in seating. The cap is not the issue though its the gas jet out the nipple thats like a plasma steel plate cutter.

Very low odds of that happening but if it does its going to make a cap or a firecracker going of on the thumb look like bug bite so I can see why there is a worry there.

Personaly I think the odds are a lot lower than winning the lotto or getting killed driving to work. That happens every day vs thumb seated caps going off.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Point made and taken by all. Let the matter rest and folks do as they please - at their own risk.