#11 or tophat cap

[Michigan Flinter]

 What is your opinion on using a #11 cap or tophat cap in say shooting an over the log rifle . Is there any advantage to using the tophat cap? My son won a Ed Rayel barrel (thanks to paul Griffith ) down at the York shoot this March and he wants me to make him a chunk gun. The barrel is 1 1/4 X52 1/2 X .480 I.D. .I plan on using a L.H. back action lock and a fullstock maple stock. All replys are appreciated. 

[SCLoyalist]

I don't know if there are pros or cons to using a musket tophat cap on a chunk gun, but check Track's selection of nipples.   Nipples threaded 5/16X18 and 5/16X24 are available for #11 caps.  You could switch between musket or #11 caps by just swapping the nipple.   I don't believe there are any 1/4X28 threaded nipples that take tophat caps, though.

[Frizzen]

Yea they do make it.  Log Cabin Sport Shop has them.

[HardBall]

  Is there any advantage to using the tophat cap?

All I can tell you about musket caps are from my experience with the older, hotter CCI musket caps, not the newer ones they call "reenactor" caps, while shooting a .58 Zouave repo by Armi Sport with a brand new Treso ampco nipple;  Those things made a heck of a spark.  I think it may have been nipple related but those caps would throw burning sparks onto the fingers of my support hand when firing.  This happened even with light charges of 2F behind a patched .570 ball.

I can't imagine a charge not going off when sparked by one of those old CCI musket caps but I have no idea if they would offer an "improvement" over a standard #11 cap.

[Hungry Horse]

I can see no advantage in using musket caps on a good working chunk gun. In a hunting situation I would feel differently. But target shooter in the centerfire game rarely use magnum primers. I don't think having that garbage can lid full of fulminate go off in your face is going to improve your score.

                    Hungry Horse

[Dave Faletti]

I used musket caps on  a couple of rifles.  I couldn't tell a difference. A good #11 works fine at least on black powder.  Maybe a difference would be seen on the sub powders.  TC made a nipple for the musket caps that was 1/4-28.  I was using the CCI musket caps from 10years ago.

[Daryl]

What is your opinion on using a #11 cap or tophat cap in say shooting an over the log rifle . Is there any advantage to using the tophat cap? My son won a Ed Rayel barrel (thanks to paul Griffith ) down at the York shoot this March and he wants me to make him a chunk gun. The barrel is 1 1/4 X52 1/2 X .480 I.D. .I plan on using a L.H. back action lock and a fullstock maple stock. All replys are appreciated. 

I suspect there would be an advantage to musket caps if the gun was poorly designed in the breech.

[bigsmoke]

T/C has the musket cap x 1/4-28.  Also, MSM makes them in 1/4-28, 6x1 and 6x.75, as well as the 5/16-18 and 5/16-24.

I have always been a fan of the Dynamit Nobel (RWS) percussion cap, whether it be #11 or musket.  CCI is always a second choice for me, even if they are from the Good Ol' Boys up in Lewiston, ID.

You will find that the musket caps definately throw out a longer, hotter flame than the #11 caps will.  Whether or not you need that for punching a hole in a piece of paper is open to personal preference.  I have always used musket caps on my .62 cal rifle for whatever I am using it for.

For the cost of a nipple and a tin of caps, you might as well give the musket caps a try.  I think you will find a few more fps over a chronograph.

[Scout]

I can only add that with my bear paws the musket caps are easier to set on the nipple than a #11 even WITH one of the brass cappers.

[bgf]

I've always heard there was a loss of accuracy in using more cap than you need, but I don't know if it is true or not.  Mostly I used Winchester Magnum BP #11's from Walmart after I had a string of problems with regular CCI's -- too many dud primers (no prime) in some tins I bought.  The Winchesters seemed to work fine, and they definitely throw more flame, as I gave some one day to another shooter who was having trouble on a damp day with either CCI's or Remingtons and his problems went away immediately.  So, you might try magnum #11's as an intermediate step before going to the musket caps. 

I think one of the reasons I don't think I'm going back to percussion is that I have a really hard time handling the caps -- my fingers are too numb and stiff!

[Daryl]

For #10's through 11's, we like a round, leather capper, holding from 20 to 30 caps around it's perifery - perhaps Taylor has a picture, if not, I'll take one. The 'round' of leather has a backing on it to support the cap whilst it's being put on the nipple - then, there is a small slit running out to the outside so the capper is merley pulled away from the nipple, not upwards to release the cap.  It is much simpler than using a brass capper. I have the brass  'strip' capper as well as a couple of the revolver cappers and the leather capper is much handier and faster in use.  It is only one of the features of my shooting, that allowed an 8 second reload with an aimed shot & hit at 50 yards to stop the clock.

I also made a few for use with the musket caps - a real boon to shooting most any caplock, except for a revolving handgun.  There, a brass capper is about necessary unless you use tweezers or needlenose plyers.

I have found the Remington caps leave much to be desired in quality, due to the priming disk falling out of them- perhaps 3 to 8 in 100caps. At 8 cents each (around here), that's too much.

[Gene Carrell]

I  don't see much advantage to musket  caps, but if you are  going  to try them  the cup  in  the hammer face  'may' need some  work due  to  the larger  diameter of  the caps.