question on Cones

[Bunk Stagnerg]

What is the advantage or improvement of function of  the Slixshot nipples?

Last Saturday I shot a CAS match Frontiersman Category using a pair of Pietta 1861Colt Navy replicas. One with fitted with Slixshot the other with Treso Ampco nipples.
 I was using Remington #10 caps and had about the same cap jam problem with both revolvers. Perhaps it was more operator technique since I am still working on using cap guns in competition.
 When I practice shooting slowly cap jams are infrequent. I am sure cap guards would help and that modification will be done in the near future.

 Hellgate says the reason why Frontiersman is a fun way to shoot

Yr Obt Svt

Bunk Stagner

[hellgate]

Bunk,
Fill in the safety notch on the face of the hammer. It grabs caps off the nipple and drops them into the works. We don't need to put the hammer down on the safety pins on the back of the cylinder for 6 rounds. The hammer down on an empty chamber is plenty safe. Pietta notches are excessively wide anyway. They even put them on hammers on guns that don't even have the safety pins.

[Lefty Dude]

I have found in some Colt style revolvers filling the safety notch is not necessary.

if you take a dremel with a small tapered stone, and stone down the sharp edges of the sides of the slot, caps will not stick. I am not saying this will work in every piece, but is has worked on one of mine.

I have an 1861 CVA kit gun that I call the Rat-Rod. This is my beater piece, so to speak. After completing it's re-construction & resurrection from 30 years of neglect I decided to keep the piece as original, and loading and firing six rounds using the safety notches.
The pieces is using Tresco cones, and with the Hammer notch dressed and tapered will not suck caps. I have shot this piece with a full charge and it still will not jam.

If all else fails, I would tig-weld the notch, and reduce the powder charge till you get satisfaction.

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[Cemetery]

What worked for me was stoning the bottom edge of my hammer face....it was sharp enough for ignited caps to wrap themselves underneath and stick to hammer.

[Coffinmaker]

Just my take.  I run SliXshot nipples on ALL my Cap Guns.  Additionally, since I shoot Gunfighter, and don't have a "free" hand to assist
with problems, I just cannot stand cap jams.  Just drives me up the preverbal wall.  So ...

I tried filling in the safety notch (all my guns are Pietta save one Uberti) and polishing the hammer face.  That worked OK, but I still got
the occasional Cap Jam.  Understanding, I run light springs and a slightly reduced powder charge (18Gr 3f) and still had caps coming
off.  More so with Treso.

My solution has been to install Cap Rakes (a post) in all my guns.  No Cap Jams.  I also prefer SliXshot nipples.  To me, they seem to give
better ignition and the caps stay on the nipples (the Cap Rake makes a big difference)  the pressure relief holes in the SliX seems to
aid in the cap staying on the nipple.

If you Really want you Cap Guns to RUN, you will have to use some form of Cap Guard or Cap Rake. YMMV

Coffinmaker

[Montana Slim]

Today's percussion caps are as much to do with the problem as the cone, hammer & mainspring (of a PROPERLY manufactured revolver). Unfortunately that doesn't seem to drive better caps. Cap quality for the consumer is based mostly on luck. Whether intentional (cost cutting) or merely haste to make product (would the 2008 election have anything to do with ), the quality has been somewhat inconsistent (IMO). I've had more cap problems occur during one match than I'd had in the previous 10 years. This with the same pistols, no aftermarket parts.

I like my pistols to represent the real deal of the 1800's, so I use no special add-ons or tricks...except to increase hammer strength via the mainspring....and to substitute other factory nipples, sometimes making them more conforming to my standards for shape size, etc..

The bad news.....Cap manufacturers have at times made batches of caps that have less priming compound than the norm. I know this because I've collected data on all makes and sizes commonly available (& some not so common). I've exchanged numerous scolding emails with one company regarding the "light" priming mix in one batch - (I have a couple thousand from that batch). But, I put no noticeable dent in their attitude. A cap which is light on primer mix will be slightly harder to set off, and will have a bit less "oomph". This is when you get a "pop", but no "bang"....or an annoying hang-fire (fraction of a second). Old caps were waterproofed by using a shellac sealer and often a very thin foil (adhered with the shellac), to add durability...sort of a brand-marketing thing. But, I don't think modern caps are waterproofed..BTW, one would want to "up" the priming compound if adding a waterproofing sealer as the sealer would tend to "deter" the flame of the prime charge.

The good news.....caps have seemed a bit better than the "lows" I encountered a few years ago. Now, if we could just increase production....and get Forster to bring back their cap making kit. BTW, if you haven't done so already, leave the Forster folks a comment requesting they bring these back to market.

Speaking of old caps, I had opportunity to use up the contents of a dozen or so tins of very old caps, estimate 1870s to as late as 1930.
A local collector was selling the tins (Internet...Ebay ?) and did not want to bother with hazardous shipping and/or Ebay rules on such...anyway, I got the caps for free.  All but a few went bang, certainly worked as well or better than new ones. This was before I got into measuring priming compound & collecting stats. The caps were all mixed together, so I didn't know brand or even size. I hand sorted according to approx size.

An odd mechanical problem with revolvers I've encountered once included a bad angle between the face of the nipple and the hammer. Literally allowing the fired cap to be blown between the hammer & frame - all the way into the works on nearly every shot.
It was obvious after I looked closely...makes me wonder effect if it is only visually "close enough" not to notice.

Trodding along....
Oh-well, what else can we do 
Slim