doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com #11 percussion caps

Thanks, Lorne. Is there any difference with #11 caps noted as "Mags."?

SKB you are a true renaissance man, with the knowledge to tease someone terribly in the most artful and delicate way about the obscure things that matter most to him. Unfortunately, no, not an oval bore, the machinery for which was apparently lost and which barrel makers tell me would be next to impossible to mill out today. This is a standard 1:72 turn Colerain barrel made for this one project, which is a .62-caliber rifle for me hunting your western big game. It is a pretty good copy of the Little Bat Garnier rifle by Folsom in a Nebraska museum, being made by Mark Wheland here in central PA. It is stocked in full curl sugar maple, the two first log slabs of which came off of one of our timber jobs about six years ago. I hardly see curly sugar maple any longer. It was a pretty big piece of wood, which also produced a long rifle stock for our local game warden's .54 flintlock. I gave the remaining 1/3 to Wheland, who I am sure will make a dandy flintlock from it for some very happy customer.
Better start hiding your mule deer once I get my hands on some percussion caps in three years

I can relate to the quest for a nice Muley with fine percussion rifle.

yeah, i liked this picture from the moment I saw it. Don't tell anyone, but I keep this picture folded up in my wallet

In shotgun, no. In rifle, there is a difference. In my Pedersoli Mortimer "Whitworth" .451 not (hexagonal) I find that I get slightly better groups with regular than magnum caps. But, using the same caps all the time is more important. Group size also changes with load and fineness of powder. Virtually anyone shooting rifle competitively uses Swiss or Eynsford, probably 2FFg or 3 FFg. Right now, most folks are shooting whatever powder they can find, exclusively.

Best of luck with it.

Thanks, Lorne. I appreciate the explanation. I'm only shooting shotgun, 13 gauge from the 1850s with original nipples.

Should you wish to get replacement nipples, "Track of the Wolf" stocks quite a range of types and sizes, including oversize threads. They had some .225 X 32 (I think) that fit my Henry Egg 14 gauge, and worked even though they were revolver nipples.

Sounds like a very nice gun. Enjoy!

A small hole in the wall basement gun shop nearby I visited tonight had 200 CCI #11 percussion caps hanging up in a corner. Bought them right up and suddenly felt like my first percussion rifle had promise beyond looking nice. The owner said he’d try to find more from some old lady who supplies him, and he would like to trade them for 209s, which I do have. I haven’t felt this kind of optimism since 11/2/20

Thank you, Lorne. I have talked with Track of the Wolf about possible replacement nipples and just about everything else I need! They only set up to produce nipples periodically. Next time they plan to do that is likely 4 months or so away. After talking with them I don't think they have any nipples in stock that would fit so I have to wait. The original nipples are very clean and work fine with the #11 caps. I see now that GunBroker is a possible source for #11 caps and #11 'mag' caps. The regular #11s work fine so I don't see any reason to get the 'mags'. Your help is much appreciated.