Longevity of homemade caps

[Lyle]

I started making my own caps about a year ago. I finally found a recipe that works. Now I have 99+% success. I usually load my caps one week and shoot them the next. Five months ago I decided to see how long I could store them and still work. I went shooting today and shot six of those caps. All six fired, one needed a second strike to fire. I have had this issue with my homemade caps as well as commercial caps. I think that I don’t have them properly seated. My plan is to shoot six of these older caps every time I go shooting and report the results. I will use this thread for all of the reports for easy comparison.

[DragoonRick]

Your work on percussion caps is commendable. I have hundreds of red ring caps that are 10 to 12 years old they continue to work. Those and the roll caps. Are long lasting. I think it’s because they have the same prime charge as the eastern block ammo.  It is carrosive but long lasting.  Lyle I bet yours will last as long as you store them .

[AlaskanGuy]

That’s pretty good so far Lyle… what recipi are you using?

[Lyle]

I use the Prime All from Sharpshooter. I mix it according to the instructions except I don’t use the binder. The binder is the off white powder that has an ‘s’ on the bag. I use acetone mixed with Duco cement. I just squeeze some of the Duco into the acetone, I don’t measure it. I fill the cap about 1/2 to 2/3 full of the dry priming compound, then compress the dry compound with a brass punch. I then add one drop of the acetone mixture to each cap. After a minute or so I added another drop to each cap. I let them dry for at least 24 hours before I put them in the cap box. I use Sharpshooters #11 cap punch. The caps it makes fit the Pietta and Uberti factory nipples perfectly on both of my Navies. I use pop cans for my caps.

It is a slow process but I have the components to shoot whenever I want to.

[Lyle]

I went shooting yesterday, nice say about 75 when I got to the desert. To be sure that no cleaning oil or lubricant was in the nipples or cylinder I fired two cylinders before I tested the caps. All six fired and ignited the powder. I couldn’t notice any difference between the six month old caps and the new ones.  I should have enough caps to continue the test until May. I plan to post updates after each test.

[Captainkirk]

I went shooting yesterday, nice say about 75 when I got to the desert. To be sure that no cleaning oil or lubricant was in the nipples or cylinder I fired two cylinders before I tested the caps. All six fired and ignited the powder. I couldn’t notice any difference between the six month old caps and the new ones.  I should have enough caps to continue the test until May. I plan to post updates after each test.

Thanks for taking the time to follow up, Lyle!

[ShotgunDave]

Thanks for the update Lyle. I really need to get my Sharpshooter die out and make some caps.

[Lyle]

I tested the old caps today. I popped a cap on each nipple then fired one cylinder using my normal load. Using my normal load with the old caps, they preformed the same as the new caps. So far it seems that the old caps are just as reliable as new ones. I will continue with the test, shooting 6 at a time, until the caps are gone.