Does anyone have any idea when percussion caps will be available ?

[Maven]

I was able to purchase 1/2 doz. tins (100/tin) of Winchester #11 Magnum percussion caps yesterday from our local Gander Mountain, but at $7.99 each.   (Rumor has it they are repackaged CCI's;  They certainly look the same.)  Can't say I'm thrilled with the price, but that's typical of Pander, especially since there's no other source muzzle loading supplies nearby.

[bob in the woods]

I can go into the woods behind the house and come up with pieces of quartz that I can and have used in my flintlock fowling piece. Works like a charm 

[Candle Snuffer]

I think the "ammo" fixin's will shine again someday.  First, we have to get out of this paranoid period many are living in today, and hoarding everything they can, simply for the sake of hoarding it.  Just takes some time.

[Dogshirt]

Just bought 5 tins for 4.99 a tin. Could have bought 30, but I'm not greedy. This leads me to belive the "shortage" must be a regional thing.

[Don Getz]

Hey Dog.........about those flintlocks.   You should make the trip down to the Alvin York chunk gun shoot.   Over 200 shooteers,
normally shot in two relays.   The shoot is held by posting a single target, one shot at it, and a total of 10 targets.   No time
on relays, but, wanna know what holds up the line the most?........cap poppers.........Don

[Dogshirt]

That's a LOOOOONG way from Washington, I'll never be there in this life time, Montana is about as far east as I
go.
 I don't see what holds it up. I get more misfires in one night from the match grade ammo I shoot in competition
than I get from my caplock in a year. I have MAYBE 2 a year, and that is from undersized CCI caps. Only takes
another strike to fire. Other than a dryball, I have zero problems with it. And yes, I have dryballed once or twice.
As to CCI caps, I've found the Magnums to fit fine, but the Standard caps seem to be slightly undersize. It's almost like they are a 10 1/2 instead of 11. I know I don't need the Magnums to set off real BP, but I use them so I don't have that issue.

[Frizzen]

I have shot many a match in the rain that I have been doing this over 40 years. Percussion guns have lots
more problems than Flint. Here in Missouri we have had to wait on percussion guns to fire. No waiting on
the Flint boys. This is fact!.

[JTR]

I get more misfires in one night from the match grade ammo I shoot,,,

Misfires with match grade ammo? Uh-huh..... 

John

[Dogshirt]

Generally it's just a blank spot in the priming compound. If I re-chamber it to hit on a different part of the rim it fires.

[Standing Bear]

I've had that problem on several makes and grades of .22 ammo.  Thought for a while it was my old HS Trophy w a worn down firing pin or weak spring but have had a few in rifles too.  Like you said, eject and rechamber with the strike mark in a different location  and bang.

Bean counters must have been trying to save a penny's worth of material for every 100 rounds or so.  Its a pain in timed or rapid fire.

[Vomitus]

  I hear they quit making them,lol!

[Dogshirt]

  I hear they quit making them,lol!

What? Flints? That's going to upset some folks!

[iloco]

I bought a case of 10 tins from my local gun shop here in South West Va.  He had a case of 10 tins in stock when I left the shop. $5.00 a tin.

[david50]

i wish one of you caplock shooters lived close by,i have around 2000 caps i will never use and would sell cheap.i dont think you can ship them in the mail.

[Dogshirt]

Oh, they can be shipped. You just have to be "creative"! I just got a couple tins of "Altoids" in the mail.

[ebiggs1]

If flintlocks were so great, why did they give way to cap locks and eventually center fire?
Maybe not a reasonable argument but one thing for sure flintlocks are way more fun!

I shoot everything and throughly enjoy shooting my flintlocks but when the rubber meets the road caps win.

[Hungry Horse]

ebiggs;

   The answer  is the same reason cars are made of tin foil, and old milk jugs, today. Industrial shortcuts, and profit margins. You had to know what you were doing to make a reliable flintlock. A caplock could be made by nearly anyone. Plus the need for caps make you dependent. Its a big win win for gun peddlers, and cap sellers.

                         Hungry Horse

[JTR]

Ha! When the rubber meets the road, my 375 H&H mag handles the situation quite nicely!

I know, apples to oranges, but there's no winning answer to this flint/percussion argument anyway..

Just for a fun comparison, sit a half inch thick steel target out at 50 yards and shoot it with both a big bore smokeless powder rifle and a big bore black powder rifle. The black powder gun comes out looking like a puny pea shooter, and flint or percussion makes no difference! 

John

[1911tex]

JTR:  John, not being too overt here, but you are making as much sense as saying your car (whatever it is) can run circles around a 1930 Model A......but you know what, that Model A have maybe 1M times the devotes (and clubs) than your car.  The comparison you give between your super duper powerful centerfire and a flint/cap is no different...and if you were standing down range at your 50 yards with either, I dont think you would live to tell the difference.......dead is dead.

Sorry, but I still dont get your point.....or what you are trying to prove or convince on this thread.....

And a little more on the subject of this thread...The Dove killed with my 20 guage cap and ball are just as gone as those taken with my buddys 12 guage auto....but it took him 3 quick shots ($$) bam, bam, bam to my one boom to collect a dove.

He loves his new auto and guess what, I love my smoke pole and really enjoy reloading just as much as he enjoys putting 3 more shells in his tube; however, my flinter has my undivided attention with over 40 years of successful hunting.

[JTR]

Just kidding around Tex, and forgot to delete it! 
John

[draken]

I'm not here to throw rocks at those P-word guns, but maning shooting station in the Simon Girty's woods walks at EPR's,  it was my observation that a flint shooter experiencing a misfire usually took it in stride and quickly fixed the problem, while a shooter with a P-Word gun was often at a loss when they couldn't get their weapon to fire.   We always kept a vent pick, nipple wrench and pan-primer handy to assist shooters
 in getting their gun to fire if need be.  It would happen 2 or 3 times at every woods walk I ever worked on. 

Probably because the guns weren't cleaned properly, or often enough.     

[ebiggs1]

ebiggs;
 A caplock could be made by nearly anyone. Plus the need for caps make you dependent. Its a big win win for gun peddlers, and cap sellers.

                         Hungry Horse

Now Hungry you don't really think that's the reason we switched to caps and primers?
There is a great restaurant in Holtville, Alabama called "The Hungry Horace". The owners name was Horace. Don't know why I told you all that because I haven't thought of it for years.

[Hungry Horse]

ebiggs;

  Come on, do a little research instead of just running your yapper. Before 1840 the government was regularly rejecting contract rifles, because the locks were junk. It simply took too much knowledge of geometry, and metallurgy, to produce a quality flintlock. So the government utilize modern technology ( the percussion cap), and dumbed down the labor force, and went percussion. Many of the reject rifles, and muskets, got converted before the government got on the band wagon, and were sent west as surplus.

                     Hungry Horse

[Black Jack]

Getting back to the question raised by the OP, I just bought 6 tins of #11 caps at my local Gander Mtn, so they are available in some spots. They were expensive, but that's the way it goes. Any shortages may be localized. They did have #10s at a cheaper price.   
BTW, I love flintlocks and own a few, as well as percussions. From my observations at different club shoots, I would generalize that a quality flintlock can be made to fire almost as reliably as a capper, gives almost as quick ignition, and, with proper care, is almost as reliable in wet weather.

[ebiggs1]

ebiggs;

  Come on, do a little research instead of just running your yapper.

                     Hungry Horse

C,mom, Hungry. The instant the first cap and cap lock was made spelled the demise of the flintlock. The flintlock is not superior in any way. Look around, my friend, how many flintlocks do you still see? 99% of mankind is on board with caps and the resultant primers.