Enhancing Ignition

[jd45]

This may have been discussed before, but please allow me to ask again. Is it possible to change to a musket nipple on my Lyman Great Plains Hunter, & is it worth the effort & expenditure? Thanx for your input. jd45

[Semisane]

Possible and simple.  Just get yourself a 6-.75mm metric thread musket nipple from someplace like Track of the Wolf (about six bucks) and screw it in. 

Worth the trouble?  Maybe.  Are you having ignition problems with #11 caps?  If so, have you tried CCI magnum caps, or Remingtons?  About the only advantage I've found with musket caps  is that they are easier to handle with cold fingers.  I have a musket nipple on my musket, but haven't found the need to convert my Renegade or New Englander from standard #11.

[Trapper-Jack]

I have a Great Plains Rifle (not the hunter) but my problem was the nipple / main spring combination.  A lot of the time it required two hammer falls to pop the cap.  The coil spring of the lock didn't have enough snap and power to reliably swedge the cap onto the nipple and pop it with the same stroke, especially after the nipple got a little dirty.  I solved the problem by chucking the nipple in a drill press and turning it down, using a file and sand paper, a little so the cap fit snug enough to stay on but didn't need a lot of force to seat it down on the nipple.  This reduced the nipple diameter and helped polish the surface.  It is my feeling that where the magnum caps have more pop in them, the skirt seems to be a little smaller so they seem to fit a little tighter. 
Also make sure the flash channel is clean as well as the face of the breach.  That will sometimes have an effect on the ignition reliability of the gun. 
That's just my opinion, you're entitled to yours.  Good Luck

[simonkenton]

A trick that I liked to do for hunting, was to put a few grains of powder under the nipple.
After I had loaded the gun, I would pull the nipple, and put 2 or 3 grains of powder in the drum, then screw the nipple back in place.
I do not mean 3 measured grains of powder, I mean 3 little specks of black powder.
Never had a misfire while hunting.


Also, I am meticulous about cleaning oil out of the drum and the breech. I use a couple dry patches to get oil out of the breech, then I use several pipe cleaners and clean all oil out of the drum.

[necchi]

I do the same as simon whilst setting up for a big game hunt.

 Years back I tried the musket cap thing, had to bend the hammer to fit,,I found what I gained was a bigger mess to clean around the breech and lock, and the need to repalce the hammer when I went back!
 Use CCI mag caps or RWS, an aftermarket nipp like a Hot Shot or Red Hot, keep things clean and dry and there is no trouble, really, there is little too no gain by switching. All the bad talk about cap locks is marketing crap from someone that wants to sell ya somthing.
 

[brpc]

JD:  I replaced the nipple on a GPR with one for musket caps.  I wasn't having ignition problems.....it was just that musket caps were easier to handle when hunting and I had a quantity of them.  It didn't work.  I had multiple failures to fire.  It wasn't the caps because they worked in a couple of other guns.  Went back to the #11's and bought one of those "star 7 cappers" by Thompson Center for field use.  Real quiet and works every time.  Jim

[JPShelton]

Possible to switch to musket cap nipple on GPR?  Yep.   Been there, done that.  I determined that my experiement with musket caps was a solution to a non-problem and promptly went back to the original nipple.  I have some kind of aftermarket Number 11 nipple on the rifle now, but I can't remember which one it is.  Whatever it is, it works just as well as the one that came on the rifle when new, and that one gave no reason for complaint.

Is it worth the effort?  Well, there really wasn't much effort involved, but even so, FOR ME, it wasn't.

Worth the expense?  Again, it wasn't for me.

I've had my GPR so long now that I can't remember when I bought it.  It was a sweet shooter from new and remains so now.  Ignition has been very reliable, provided that I've really made sure that the bore (breech in particular) and snail are clean and dry (as in de-oiled) prior to loading.  I've had a few FTF's with the rifle, but never when I've done a proper job of preparing it for loading in the first place.

JP

[jd45]

Thanx for your responses, guys.............I'm not having ignition problems, I just thought it'd help insure a "bang", especially in severe cold. I've been using the CCI #11 Magnum caps.........they work well. Think I'll stick with em. Hope everybody gets their deer this season! Thanx again, jd45

[flintlock]

Another good way to insure good ignition, stick with real black powder...The ignition temp is lower...

[Bladeforger]

Not exactly relevant to the issue but relevant to misfires:

I've had a number of times on my .40 that it wouldn't go bang.  The #11 cap fires and nothing else happens.  A friend at the range taught me a neat trick.  Using a flintlock primer, with 4F powder, you remove the screw beside the nipple and put in a bit of the 4F.  One pump of the primer is more than enough.  Replace the screw; put on another percussion cap; shoot.  So far it's been needed about 10-12 times in a couple of hundred shots.  Each time, it has worked splendidly. 

[jd45]

Bladeforger, that sounds like a good trick, however, long ago I messed up & didn't pull that allen screw at the side of the barrel soon enough to clean it & the threads, so I haven't been able to remove it. I'll have to get some Kroil & try that. Any other suggestions will be appreciated. jd45

[nw_hunter]

This may have been discussed before, but please allow me to ask again. Is it possible to change to a musket nipple on my Lyman Great Plains Hunter, & is it worth the effort & expenditure? Thanx for your input. jd45

Lots of folks have that problem with lyman nipples. Toss it, an try a hotshot. The  lyman nipples are too big in dia for the CCI caps. If you can get your hands on some Remington caps the problem should go away.

[nw_hunter]

Another good way to insure good ignition, stick with real black powder...The ignition temp is lower...

His problem is, the cap is not seating on the nipple, that is why it takes a couple of hits with the hammer to push it down. If the cap don't go BANG!, the gun won't go BOOM

I agree with you, that real black is the way to go. "That said" with a good ignition,, Pyro, or other subs will work.

[necchi]

His problem is, the cap is not seating on the nipple, that is why it takes a couple of hits with the hammer to push it down. If the cap don't go BANG!, the gun won't go BOOM

When did he say that?

[nw_hunter]

His problem is, the cap is not seating on the nipple, that is why it takes a couple of hits with the hammer to push it down. If the cap don't go BANG!, the gun won't go BOOM

When did he say that?

LOL!   I guess in my sleep! My CRS catches up with me at times ;

[necchi]

know what ya mean
 That very topic comes up very often though doesn't it, after you've answered it the first 50 times it all becomes a blur don't it?
peace friend 

[jcn59]

Trapper Jack said "it" in reply 2,  about the cap needing 2 hits.

[coyotejoe]

A trick that I liked to do for hunting, was to put a few grains of powder under the nipple.
After I had loaded the gun, I would pull the nipple, and put 2 or 3 grains of powder in the drum, then screw the nipple back in place.

That is a useful trick but it is a "make-do" solution to a problem that should not exist. If the rifle had a properly designed breech, which very few do, the normal process of loading would push powder through the flash channel and right up to the nipple. T/Cs and all of the copies of T/Cs have a very small flash channel and that is the issue for which you are trying to compensate.

[Trapper-Jack]

Trapper Jack said "it" in reply 2,  about the cap needing 2 hits.

Yes that was me that said two hits were needed to make the cap go off.  That was the ignition problem and fix that I encountered when I first got my GPR. 
Sorry if it caused some confusion.