doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Very Old Nipples...German SxS

There is quite a selection of German nipples in the Frankonia Jagd catalogs. I haven't received one of these catalogs in some time but your post reminded me that I need one.

Chuck H, if he is going to continue shooting this muzzleloader he will in short order need additional nipples. They are consumables which need periodic replacement. If you want to keep the original nipple to satisfy a collector's mindset he needs to find a way to obtain a small supply of new ones and put the current one in storage. Tinkering around relining the current one is just silly to my thinking if he plans on shooting the gun.

Could have it Platinum lined ?

Yes, only the best will do. In fact, I would use star ruby for front bead.
I don't think Frankonia catalog will help. There are no std. parts on this gem. We're talking custom all the way.

I'd like to thank you guys for all of your info and comments. I will start by taking a nipple to a small machine shop and get the threads measured. From there, I'll see what the shop might recommend. One of the things I would like if new nipples can be made is to size the top cone to fit a standard no. 11 cap. The originals are very small "flutes" that even a no. 10 seems to swim upon. Jaegermeister...I can assure you this old girl goes back quite a bit beyond WWII. The signiture of Augustus Schloffser gives a hint to the age. I had a collector and member of the German Arms Society take a close look and was informed the piece had been originally a flintlock. Sometime around 1840 the breech was cut and rebuilt patent with percussion system. I have seen two other capes made by Schloffser listed at Herman Historica nearly identical....maybe a bit fancier. Jerry V., thanks for sending me to ALR!! You might already know me there as Captjoel. I kind of feel listing my question there as perhaps redundant....same old gun....different day...so I thought of Double Guns! I do not post much here but do enjoy this site tremendously! A lot of very knowledgeable fellows here! I will let you know how I make out with my nipple problem. All the best.....Joel

It was not that uncommon for original nipples to be Platinum lined...I hear there's a guy that goes to Friendship that Platinum lines them at a resonable price.
I was also told that big bore muzzleloading rifles were harder on nipples than front loading shotguns.

Your best bet would be to send your old crusty nipples to Dixie.

This is not based on personal experience with Dixie but I would be concerned about sending your nipples to them or anyone else, without first calling and being assured they will not be lost or discarded. Just a thought. I further don't think Dixie Gun Works actually makes nipples(or anything else they sell).

Jerry V,
Not being a ML shooter, I didn't realize that nipples were so consumable. So, finding a regular supply of them is important or purchasing them by the dozen? Again, I have no experience with ML's but a sleeve or entire nipple made from one of the high nickel content SS's used in high temp aerospace applications like Hastaloy, Waspaloy, Inconel, etc might be a near permanent solution. Small bits of these alloys can usually be found at many SoCal aerospace scrapyards.

Totally agree with Jim, I would not let the old nipples out of my sight! JMTC

JC

Jagermeister, sorry my Frankonia reference for nice nipples was misinterpreted. My reference was quite off topic. It's obviously been too long since you spent a few minutes flipping through the Frankonia pages.