fulminate?

[caliber45]

Finally received my long-back-ordered Tap-o-Cap device (to make one's own percussion caps out of aluminum cans when no other alternative (expect the worst . . .) exists. (Don't bother, please, to advise me to go flint; I already have, but want to be able to shoot my perc. rifles, too . . .). Device works better than I expected. HOWEVER, the maker suggests using capgun caps as the "fuel," and I have two problems with that. Imported caps (those I find -- thus far -- are made in Italy and Germany) have tiny(!) charges. Tap-o-Cap advises using three caps,  stacked, but I doubt that even three of them will produce sufficient spark to function. The other problem: the cap discs are a PAIN IN THE WAZOO to get into the caps. So, my question: Do any of you chemistry-savvy folks know of a compound I can make/acquire without getting me in dutch (sorry if that violates today's PC rules; I like the Nederlanders . . .) with Homeland (In)Security, Customs, BATFE and the endless list of other "Big Brother" agencies keeping an eye out for my well-being, that I can make up as a liquid and "drop" into the caps? Daryl was kind enough to tell me about potassium perchlorate, but, alas, the feds here have beat me to that; it's now deemed "unsafe" for us peasants to have access to. Any advice would be appreciated. Trying to get those pesky (and clearly ineffective) paper caps into a #11-size cap isn't a task for the short-of-patience types such as myownself. Never had high blood pressure, but this situation could change all that. Tks!
-- paulallen, tucson Az

[SCLoyalist]

I also acquired a Tap-O-Cap device recently.  My limited experiments so far have been using Made-in-China roll caps.   Best results so far are to insert a cap dot, dribble a few granules of 4F atop that, and then put another cap dot in.   And, maybe try putting a little 4F down the nipple and seeing if a homemade cap with a couple of roll cap charges will set it off.    I'm not expecting to get anything as hot as even a standard CCI no. 11.   The instruction sheet says best results are obtained with made in USA roll caps, but I'm not even sure roll caps are made  in the USA anymore.   Trying to get punched out caps into the aluminum shell with that little stick in the kit is an exercise in patience building, ain't it?

You can probably find directions for 'Armstrong's mixture' on the web.  However, legality issues aside, the stuff is extremely unstable and sounds like it's just an accident waiting to happen for the home chemist.

The novelty of the tap-o-cap aside, it's probably more cost effective to keep a reserve stock of 1000 or 5000 CCI caps in storage than trying to make your own.

SCL

[flintriflesmith]

I suspect this thread will get moved to shooting but either place...
When I was a kid we made our own caps by using the white part of strike anywhere matches. We called them hot caps because they were more powerful than the store bought variety.
I have no idea if the modern matches have the same materials.
Gary

[tuffy]

Look up American West caps on Tootsietoy. These caps are made here and in Canada. They make a few different types of caps and some are not usable for Tap-O-Cap, but some are and work very well. Just read the accompanying description and you can't go wrong. 

[Daryl]

Hint - if using punched out toy caps, use a fine needle to pick them up and place inside the cap. Pushing down with a dowel or cutoff 'round' pick, should tip them over flat.
The cholorate priming compound used in the old mix I mentioned to caliber45 was quite corrosive, of course - although not at all as much as pyrodex or T-7, of course. If you do try the formula from the Pictoral History of the Underhammer - use it mixed dry only as a powder, do not mix it in a slurry as that is what makes it so unstable. Apparently a change in atmospheric conditons can set it off - it is a powerful explosive - best not to do it at all.

Trouble with tap-o-caps using toy caps, is al that foil and paper has the potential to plug nipple flash holes - make sure you have a wire pick to keep the flash channel open - probably between shots.

[ottawa]

another source in stead of the cap o matic is the plastic caps the sell for the cap guns the fit a little snug but are a lot hotter the the modern paper roll caps the old papper caps did work back in the day but now they hardly even make a pop in the new cap guns

[pulaski]

Fulminate of mercury is not something that a novice should attempt to make . It is a combination of mercury and Nitric acid that is combined with heat , and is rather unstable (read DANGEROUS)
Thanks , Steve

[davec2]

Without going into a lot of detail about this particular topic, let me say that I am involved with high energy materials all the time in my rocket propulsion work.  Here are a few excellent references that anyone interested in how these types of materials are made should read.  It is a very worthwhile subject to study but, without a doubt, the more knowledgeable you are the more safely these materials can be dealt with.  On this subject in particular, what you don't know can indeed hurt you.  Read these books cover to cover.  Amazon has them all.

The Preparatory Manual of Explosives, Third Edition by Jared Ledgard

The Preparatory Manual of Black Powder and Pyrotechnics, version 1.4 by Jared Ledgard

The Chemistry of Powder & Explosives by Tenney L. Davis

[beleg2]

I know very little about primers but:
What about dissolving some primer compound from big centerfire primers and then put this paste into Tap-O-Cap.
Yes I know it is easier to change the nipple and use the small pistol primers. .

Martin

[stuart cee dub]

A fellow shooter showed me his centerfire primer adapter last month at the mid january shoot.He had just machined an improved nipple.
Worked just fine using the regular hammer on his Siler caplock. This isn't a new idea .Bench rest shooters using underhammer rifles were using something similar in the 50's.
    What I do is order caps in volume from my local reloader retailer guy Ron .If you will buy them they will stock them.
That has to be more practical than rolling your own.... at least at this juncture.
However I am still all ears.... but I understand that strike anywhere matches are not made of the same chemicals.
 It is still easier than relearning paleolithic skills.     

[Daryl]

The primer adapters are available now - have been since the mid 1970's. I believe they use small pistol or small rifle primers.  i built one back in 78, I think it was, when caps were difficult to find in the North.  It worked very well. Even the small pistol primers have more 'snap' than any percussion cap, I think, as the entire 'charge' is directed into the powder channel.  Although easy to use, it was a pain in the butt, haivng to unscre the top, replace the spent primer a new one (my fingers are like most people's thumbs) then screw the top piece back on, take the shot and repeat.

[caliber45]

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys. It is, indeed, a trying task to get those oversize cap disks into the cap interior FLAT. As to using modern-day primers . . . well, in this day and age of Obama-Panic, primers and caps are equally costly, and oftentimes hard to find. On the suggestion of adding a few grains of FFFF powder between caps, would anyone see a problem with coating the "original" cap surface with rubber cement, and then sprinkling the FFFF on the sticky surface to make it adhere, then topping (bottoming?) that off with another cap? I believe rubber cement is combustible, and having a thin layer of FFFF would eliminate the need to "measure" a given amount. Comments? -- paulallen, tucson az

[Daryl]

Sounds pretty complicated and too many sets in manufacture.  I'd be inclined to make my own compound (again) and clean very well indeed, after shooting.