A Mystery

[ssb73q]

Another theory could be that the new Remington caps will absorb moisture from the air. You might try leaving a few caps in an open container in the safe and see if those go bad too.

Hi Lonesome, that's a good idea. I will keep a dozen Remington caps exposed to the atmosphere in my gun safe for six months and then test them.

Regards,
Richard

[G Dog]

I know the answer to this problem.  It's very simple.  It's  .  .  .  .       

CARTRIDGES !!!!  Yep!       

Somehow, I was expecting that.

Just use CCI 10’s and you be ahright.

[ssb73q]

Maybe I will really need to run this experiment: Load up three cylinders, one with Black MZ and CCI caps, one with Black MZ and the new Remington caps, the third one with Olde Eynsford BP and the new Remington caps. All cylinders loaded with .454 cast (at the same time) balls, Sagebrush lubed wads, and Walters 0.030" 45 Colt barrier wads.

Store for 6 months and then test fire the cylinders.

Hi, three Pietta 1860 cylinders were loaded up using the Tower of Power loading tool per the above schedule. Statistics suggests a sample of six for a confidence limit of ~70%. That will work out well for a cylinder with six chambers. The cylinders will be stored in my gun safe for a minimum of six months before testing.

While I was in my caps stash, I noticed a couple of old Remington UMC #11 cap 100rd cans that were never opened. I opened one of them to find caps that have a foil lining over the primer mixture, interesting. All new Remington and CCI caps have exposed primer compound.

Regards,
Richard

Hi, it has been over five months since loading up the test cylinders per the above schedule, 30gr powder by volume. It snowed this morning and since another month may find my range under snow I did the testing today. The results:

Black Mz and Remington #10 caps: 3 fired and 3 failed to fire.
Black Mz and CCI #10 caps: All 6 fired.
Olde Enysford and Remington #10 caps: 2 fired and 4 failed to fire.

Repeated dropping the hammer failed to fire the caps that failed to fire. Putting new #10 Remington caps (from the same cap can as tested) had all the failed chambers fire.

Bottom line: The problem is with the new hotter Remington caps, the powder isn't the problem.

If you intend on keeping your revolver loaded for an extended time, don't use the new and improved hotter Remington caps.

Are you surprised? I am.

Regards,
Richard

[Captainkirk]

Are you surprised? I am.

Actually, very much so. ???

[prof marvel]

My Dear Richard -

thanks very much for all the effort in your experimant & posts!!!

>Black Mz and Remington #10 caps: 3 fired and 3 failed to fire.
>Black Mz and CCI #10 caps: All 6 fired.
>Olde Enysford and Remington #10 caps: 2 fired and 4 failed to fire.

Whilst it may not be  a lot of evidence, it is surely enough for me.
From a diagnostician's point of view, I think we can safely suspect the "new improved" uncoated caps.

Somewhere, I seem to recall a post discussing the priming composition of the remington caps either missing or falling out?

I fear their QC has gone "the way of all things".

as previously suggested by someone, a light coat of lacquer or hair spray might be an excellent idea & test.
or, stick with CCI or euro caps for longterm storage.

yhs
prof marvel