One piece nosecaps

[wmrike]

Years ago I made a few one-piece nosecaps out of old scrap, hammering and annealing, hammering and annealing.  All went well and I got nice product.  Then I got lazy and bought the usual two-piece jobs.  Lately I've taken another swing at the one-piece jobs but it's been uphill.  Now I'm using hobby store brass sheet but it's so blessed hard!  Annealing seems to be a wasted effort.  If any of you out there are making one-piece caps, what kind of stock do you start with?

[AndyThomas]

I use the stuff that Susie sells, i.e. Muzzleloader Builders Supply. It forms real nice. As you said, "hammering and annealing, hammering and annealing". I'm always surprised how quickly it gets hard, but it softens up nicely with the heat.

Hope this helps,
Andy

[J Shingler]

Ted Cash sells little rectangle pieces at Friendship. Not sure the alloy but they work good. Still have to anneal a lot.

[Joe S]

A commonly used brass for gun parts is C260 or cartridge brass.  This is probably what MLBS sells.  I just made a butt plate from some of their brass, and it was soft and workable after annealing.  If you want something even softer, you could try gilding metal.  I’ve never used it for anything, so I don’t know if it would work for your application.

[Rich]

I've used sheet from TOW and MBS. Both were great to work with.

[Dennis Glazener]

I use the little 2 X 10 pieces of brass from the hardware store. I don't bother annealing. I find that you need the folding end to be very close to what you need to cover the gap. If I leave to much I run into tbl with the fold. Also be sure to use a couple of hose clamps to hold the piece in place on your forming tool.
Dennis

[wmrike]

Thanks guys.  Sounds like you're pretty much telling me to buy brass from my own kind, eh?

[Dphariss]

You can get 12x12 sheets of 260 brass from MSC in wide array of thicknesses. From about .010 to at least 1/4" IIRC.
Works fine.

Dan

[t.caster]

Another alternative is a sand cast nose cap. They will add a little more weight to the muzzle, but I like that on some of the long swamped barrels.

[Acer Saccharum]

I used a sandcast one a few rifles back, and what a struggle I had. I think I would keep a few on hand, if they really did come close to fitting.

They are tapered inside and out, for mold release, I suppose, but hard to get straight when installing, and then you have lots of filing, which is dangerous when the wood is sooooo thin. AND since the cap is cast, it's thick, which requires more wood to be taken off.

This is to say I am not in love with the cast caps.

Time spent learning how to make your own is time well spent.

Tutorial by an old member of the ALR: http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=9.0