RWS caps

[ZVP]

  Ah Caps, a never ending sourcr of issuesand frustrations for Cap and Ball Shooters!
 While shooting last weekend I experienced a new occurance with RWS caps.
 I was firing my Brass frame .44 Piettia 1851 Colt reproduction and noticed a shower of sparks exiting the cap during firing. I inspected the revolver and found one cap fragmented yet still attached to the nipple. Proof positive was found as the cap had a flash hole through the backside, indicating what was happening.
 The resistance of the hammer on this revolver is just enough to hold back the flash from the soft RWs cap burning through.
 I speculate that this revolver would be better shot with Remington caps as they are made from a thicker copper.
 The spacing of the hammer also has a lot to do with the preformance of a given cap my Remington replicas have a stronger mainspring and are adjusted to more downforce than (via a setscrew) than the fixed in place Colt design. The spacing on the Remington is open and the additional spring tension prevents hammer rebound. I wonder if stoneing the face of the Colt hammer face would open free space up and prevent the cap burning through bhy holding it rather than dragging against it? Though I tend to suspect the soft and thin RWS copper as being the real culprit of burn through.
 I just want to warn you all to double check your hammer spacing and buy your caps according to the mainspring rebound and nipple to hammer face spacing.
 I have had good luck with the Remington brend caps and think I will make them a standard in my Colt reproductions.
 ZVP
 

[Cowpox]

I haven't seen RWS caps for decades.

Back around 1970, when I first got into black powder, we only had one local dealer that handled shooting supplies for black powder.

Don't remember the name, but the powder he sold was made in Scotland, and it caused the nastiest, greasy fouling I have ever seen, and he only had Navy Arms caps.

The cap tins had a Navy Arms sticker on the top, which covered the RWS logo.

As you say, the caps always exhibited bulges and perforations.   Worse, they often fragmented badly, causing the revolvers to jamb with fragments, and a large percentage of them would weld to the nipple.

Cutting and twisting welded caps off nipples with patch knife and needle nosed pliers almost made me give up on the sport.

I would have thought RWS would have improved them after 40 years ?


I finally found a gunshop 40 miles north of me, that handled Remington caps, and good old Dupont Superfine powder, which made the game a lot more fun.

I sure wish Superfine was still being made !!!!

[AtlLaw]

I been 'sperimentin with caps and have pretty much settled on RWS.  The #1075's fit the Tresco nipples better then the CCI or Remington #11's I've tried.  I'll save the #11's for my BP Rifles.  Conversely, the CCI #10's fit the Pietta factory nipples so I'll use them on those.  They are just a little tight though.

Hi-ebber, and day always be a hi-ebber...  I have had instances, maybe 2 out of the last 100 shots using RWS caps, of the cap burn through that ZVP mentioned.  Shouldn't be much of a problem though.  We'll see... 

[ZVP]

 My Uberti London Model snapped a hand spring last week, While I have her torn apart and am ordering parts anyways, I am going to het a replacement (Hopefully stouter) Hammer spring and fit it to the gun. Perhaps a stiffer hammer spring will help with cap fragments getting in the action(?).
 I am hoping that a stronger spring will also prevent hammer bounce which might be a problem with this softly sprung gun.
 This little .36 London is the prettiest little thing but a lousy preformer!
 Cap jams are common about 35% of the time (Unacceptable). I want to try to get better dependability from the little revolver.
 I'm going to stick with the thicker copper Remington #11's on this pistol too.
 Gotta experiment with this B/P stuff to see what each one likes...
 ZVP