DIY Percussion Caps - What I have Learned Over Time

[@mattwhite9046]

To my recent surprise, the "ground glass" component is actually dextrin that is supposed to act as a binder, as it does in pyrotechnic black powder. You can omit it because it isn't a good binder at all & serves no functional purpose in detonating the priming compound. Test for yourself -- put some of the "ground glass" in a glass of hot water & stir. It dissolves. Ground glass doesn't do that. Sugar does. So, yes, you need a better binder. Duco cement is a nitro-cellulose-based adhesive that burns well. Thinned with acetone & dripped into each cap, it makes a fantastic binder. This was a game-changer for me in getting the compound to stick in the cups. Plus, it helps settle it in the bottom, giving me a better fit on the nipple & not crumbling off.

[@lamebeavertradingco.1642]

Thank you. I did not know the Ground Glass was Dextrin,, If so and it is not a good binder, I do not question that. Since I have been making my own black powder and early on was using dextrin as a Binder I have since stopped using it because I don't work, plus it tends to foul more. Thank you for your comment

[@woodrowbrimm2805]

I wish I.d known that a year ago before I made up all that Dextrin for making Paper Revolver Cartridges. It didn't work well in the Paper Cartridges and now I know the possible reason why so many of my D.I.Y. Percussion Caps experiments failed. I'm just glad I was able to stock up on Commercial Caps before they disappeared from the shelves. Duco Cement or Hair Spray do work, it only takes a drop.

[@nonokodog622]

Kick ass thanks. The Duco Cement states is highly flammable dry ... perfect. I picked up a cheap $30 micro pipette for some experiments. It does make it easy to add the perfect amount of liquid into the cap.

[@cowboywoodard2569]

​@@woodrowbrimm2805hair spray, that would work,going to try it thanks

[@JandMAutoRecycling]

spray with hairspray let dry

[@Beuwen_The_Dragon]

Percussion caps shortages is a large part of why Flint Lock rifles and Muskets remained popular amongst Frontiersmen, Woodsmen and Trappers in the early to mid 19th century, even as percussion guns were becoming increasingly common.

[@lugerstonecock]

After the acetone dries out, spritz the prime all with Aqua Net hairspray twice. Works great and helps hold in the compound. Reduced my soilage rate to about 3-4 in a hundred.

[@derickson936]

I’ve done this as well with hairspray Prime All caps. It seemed to work very well, no problems. I don’t recall the brand but it was something like an Aquanet super hold all weather type.

[@davefellhoelter1343]

FYI all? I spent quite some time on this topic in person, in the field, and at my bench. Here is "What I" came up with in over a Year..
1. I have both sized dies. My #10 was blowing out my cap materials base often. I found machine cuts on the ID throat of die area, I filed down, eased sharp edges with fine file, now almost 100% reliable now.
2. I now use aluminum from disposable baking sheets, or copper sheeting same thicknesses, I use both with case lube or light Balistol , and a dowse of carb cleaner or acetone once ready to add compound. I also fiddled around with wood, aluminum, and various sized pins to fab Large Musket Caps.
3. I tried all the hairspray, acetone as recommended and in directions. I came up with an old almost empty clear polish bottle, diluted to about 10:1 acetone/clear polish used eye dropper or brush in lid for fiddly application, better.
4. I then used acetone in spray bottle only fiddly adding compound to cap, better
5. after many fiddly try's to get compound into cap. I punched leather and made cap holders for manufacture ease and transport, and used every style of compounding and acetone application, better. I USE the leather in an Altoid's tin for transport, and dispensing. Now I have the 3D printed star capper thing! LOVE THEM for All sizes of caps!!
6. I then hit on an idea to use an old essential oils bottle and dropper lid my wife donated while at work. I added my dry compound with acetone making a thick milkshake type finish product mixed in my small (about 1oz.) bottle. then I found a dropper lid from a larger deeper bottle, my wife donated while working. Now I store my wet and ready compound with matching lid dropper and use longer dropper to suck up compound from bottom after a mix each time, to deposit wet sludge inside ready caps Not Too FIDDLY- BEST! so far. Went out with two small cap locked riffled muskets and a Remington 1858. ZERO caps fell off under recoil. Zero Fail to fire any times, Zero chain fires with all cylinders loaded. I busted about 36 to 42 caps in the 1858 and about 15 to 20 in the two .50's
I can now knock out cap as fast as I can punch them and drop full of compound to let dry. I make batches of about 50 to 100 per session.
7. I tapped and mounted an old nipple on a scrap and use small hammer with vise to test each batch and Not Clean my gun. I test about 1:10 OR LESS depending how good they look.
Keep Your Smoke Poles SMOKING! PLEASE? pass it ON to the Youngers
God Bless, and Let's Go Brandon, Please take the Czarina too.

[@trujello]

How much "sludge" do you deposit?

[@davefellhoelter1343]

@@trujello I think you asked about primer mix? I "try to" do the caps almost to the top(75%+) and it dry's to about 40% and will fit nipples.

[@alanrogers8535]

Interesting. I have a "Deactivated" percussion pistol (In the UK) and have put plastic caps on and fired them. got the neighbours rather upset. UK gun laws are the tightest in the world yet the gun crime rate is on par with the US. I would love to do the same sort of experiments you do. Love watching you play.

[@deandeann1541]

I have heard your knife crime rate is through the roof because the thugs know people can't defend themselves. I heard you guys can't even use pepper spray! Sad. Here in the US gun crime is always by far the highest in states and cities with the most severe restrictions on gun ownership. Where it is legal to conceal carry without a permit (like where I live) there is very, very little home invasion and my state has nearly the lowest violent crime rate.

[@ChicanoSteve]

@@deandeann1541 ... Well said indeed... Makes no sense and this is evidence of what them globalist agenda is...

[@chroma6947]

What? A cap gun got them upset? Move away

[@ChicanoSteve]

@@chroma6947 YES!!! Till my daughter turns 18, We BUGGING OUTTA HERE, ESCAPE FROM LA STYLE!!!... 😂😂😂

[@FoulPet]

I'm pretty sure China and Singapore have you beat.

[@fatherwolfs1]

I forgot the technical name for this material used in fireworks. It's that hard button where the fuse goes into the firework. Basically all it is is cornstarch heated in an oven on a clean pan at 350°, until it turns yellow to beige.
Replace the glass with this. It makes the compound like cement, so it will not crumble and fall out. A tablespoon of cornstarch would probably be enough to do a thousand caps. Again look at that button where the fuse goes into the firework it is hard.
Hope that sheds some light for you Mike, I enjoy your channel. 🙏🐺

[@lamebeavertradingco.1642]

Thank you for the Info. What I am doing right now works great for me.. Hopefully others will read your post and play with it.

[@bondjavi]

I believe is called dextrin. Going to try it. Instead of hairspray to hold the compound.

[@fatherwolfs1]

@@bondjavi You got it! It's also used in the toy caps! Thanks for the reminder!

[@woodrowbrimm2805]

You just described how to make Dextrin, and it didn't work at all for me. It is water soluble and I tried to make Paper Revolver Cartridges but it just wasn't worth the effort and now I'm stuck with about 1 1/2 cups of Dextrin I'll never use.

[@fatherwolfs1]

@@woodrowbrimm2805 I believe this video was about percussion caps, not cartridges. Also less is more. I only gave a opinion. Don't forget to get your Booosta!!!

[@rogergoodwin5533]

Theres a snaps cap bought at fireworks stands. Comes loose on box. Throw one by hand on to hard surface it will make a snap. Same level as one yours with out glass.

[@paultrimble9390]

Hello great video. I took some of bang red ring caps. Tested them. In my 1858 Remington pietta. And took my phone camera held over barrel record it. You can see different color of flash. And size of flash. Using just a cap. No powder n cylinder. Love video I'll be checking out channel. Look good. Thanks for time and money to make these videos. Very helpful. Stay safe. From ur ole hillbilly buddy.

[@Alex_556]

I am using a drop of acetone as per recipe, but the drop with dissolved a little bit of pine rosin. The result is that the primer reliably sits in the cap.

[@SuperSneakySteve]

For my caps. I cut a small disk of cigarette paper then wet it with a punch and press it in. It keeps the compound in the cap and burns easily.

[@lamebeavertradingco.1642]

thank you for your comment. I tried nitrating coffee filters to sit on top of the compound. I found for myself It was harder to fit them all the way to seat. It seemed to me the paper was to thick and would not tear when placed on the nipples. I now have some tissue paper the kind used in clothing pattern paper, not the kind you blow your nose with. I tried some of that early on with poor results.

[@1903bretep]

A suggestion, instead of trying to hold your powder + cap in place with shellac or diluted glue take some of those nitrated coffee filters which you will find dissolve easily in acetone to produce a clear viscous solution and use a drop or two of that to hold things in place. It burns cleanly leaving no residue.

[@davidlewis9572]

Interesting stuff , been debating on buying cutting jig . Already make powder n ball…definitely next step . Thanks for info

[@johnhagerman320]

You need to try a mix of acetone and nitracellular super glue about 30 drops of glue to one ounce of acetone. And when you put the primall in the cap only fill I about 1/2 or less full. Not only does the glue make the primall stay in the cap it also makes them a lot hotter

[@anthonyberger225]

Thanks beav once again you have taught me something about Caps love you man.

[@daveyjoweaver6282]

Thanks Kindly for some good info! Many Blessings and good shootin! DaveyJO in Pennsylvania

[@lthorsemanship8150]

Great stuff man! Keep it up!

[@johnndavis7647]

The Super Bang ring caps are made in Germany. They are great but hard to find for some reason.
What you can find at Wally World is Chinese ring caps.
They have loose, dark colored powder in them held in place by a white paper wad.
We might be able to pick out the wads and dump two or three charges in a cup and seal the powder in place with duco or hairspray.
The guns design can make a big difference. A design with straight
through ignition like a revolver or underhammer rifle should work more reliably than a drum and nipple design where the fire has to make a turn to get to the powder charge.
We might be able to rebuild a shotgun or large rifle primer fairly easy too.
Thanks for the video

[@chrismead1464]

Do you think just not using the ground glass in the prime all, and then giving it a sweep with the hair spray would work? Or is the acetone needed? Or the chinese ring caps with a bit of ground up strike anywhere match tip and hairspray? Just wondering, New to B.P. Pistols but finding caps is difficult.

[@johnndavis7647]

The idea of renewing primers is not a new thing.
What they had to work with in the remote parts of the far North and Siberia was strike anywhere matches.
They would cut off the tip and gently grind it up.
Then they would mix it with a enough vodka to make a slurry.
They would put a bit of that into the primer cups and let it dry.
They would do this mostly with the 22 rim-fire ammo they used to kill the animals they caught on their trap-lines.
Of course this could be done with any primer.
They may have added a drop or two of turpentine or shellack too the slurry to keep the material from shifting around during handling.
I have not tried any prime-16:08 all so I can't comment on that. Thanks for your comment and good luck on your efforts.

[@aaronschmidt169]

What's up Mike, hope you and Kim are doing well, been enjoying both your channels and that's the truth

[@lamebeavertradingco.1642]

Thank you.

[@nonokodog622]

I suggest that you use coarse sand paper and score the aluminum sheet first. I've not had priming compound fall out after that.
In addition, I started using a micro pipette to place measured amounts into each cup. Not sure how well that works yet.

[@ChrisGilliamOffGrid]

Interesting. Thank you.👍

[@SnowblindOtter]

I've found that I get fairly okay results by mixing as advertised, but instead of using acetone I use the Goof Off mixture that has Xylene in it, then I put a tiny piece of regular cigarette rolling paper on top of it.

[@smartmeis]

back in the day, the indians used to take rocks small enough to fit in a #10 percusion cap, and they would then load those into a 30-30 blackpowder round. they used them against the Calvary in 1880 or 90, id have to fact check the date. but definitely interesting what you can use as primers.

[@jordangouveia1863]

I keep mine in large pistol primers trays. Then I sandwich that between two foam pads banded together tight. That goes into a metal container. I don't transport more than 50 at a time.

[@KathrynLiz1]

The alcohol based binder will penetrate the charge more easily than water based. Shellac doesn't burn well. If you use acetone with about 5% clear nail polish (nitrate based), it consolidates the charge without significant damage t the charge or leaving a residue as your shellac did.

[@anthonyberger225]

Hey beav I just made 10 Caps as u did with the 4 f and 2 Caps I'm not going to be mixing any more of the power i received with my cap Maker thanks man 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@nsboost]

Just bought a 1000 number 10s. They are available. Just got to look for em high and low.

[@brianschumaker5912]

Instead of shellac, Try mixing some laundry starch with your denatured alcohol. I had a guy tell me it works. But I have no proof that he is correct.

[@Tammy-un3ql]

👌👌👍👍

[@charleswilliams2113]

I do the same but use acetone and about 12 drops of Duco cement to 1 oz. Of acetone. Works great but cant seem to keep the liquid past a few days the acetone disappeared and leaves the solid glue behind. So now I just mix what i need and no more.

[@lamebeavertradingco.1642]

Thank you for your comment. I did not think about Duco cement.

[@deandeann1541]

Duco cement is a close relative of airplane dope - both based on nitrocellulose. It is thicker though. Also, nitrocellulose varies quite a bit in how nitrated it is depending on the application, the most nitrated is gun cotton. Dissolving some smokeless powder in acetone should work as well as duco cement and maybe burn cleaner.

[@jimtalor9537]

Great video!!!

[@michaelkaiser1864]

Unless i managed to miss this mention....the compound in the toy caps is likely corrosive.

[@PaulMaterne]

Very good info

[@hardlylivin6602]

I also went the toy cap gun route. However, my issue is that two roll caps inside a homemade soda can cap isn’t enough to reliably ignite pyrodex. I’d use more but it’s very time consuming just to get a handful of caps completed. Maybe real black powder is more sensitive but pyrodex doesn’t want to ignite all that well.

[@nonokodog622]

I just watched a video using paper toy caps. The guy first soaked the roll in water, peeled off the top layer of paper and scraped off the compound with a small knife. Looked rather easy and fast. You may want to give it a try.

[@jonathongreyburgett2824]

Does it ignite 777?

[@justthinkalittle8913]

Prime all is: Black stuff,,, Antimony Trisulfide. Oddly heavy.. White stuff.. Potassium Chlorate and Dextrose Binder/Fuel. Yellow stuff: Sulfur. Tan Stuff, Fine sand (helps in rimfire friction)

[@joseaureliosegalotto7327]

Obtenho esses componentes ?

[@spiritualawakenings6251]

I use talcum powder instead of ground glass, works great.

[@jacksnavely559]

Try nitrate model airplane dope and Japanese tissue, also THE WAY TO GO FOR REVOLVER CARTRIDGES, best to stretch and dampen the tissue then dope it when dry. Then use it. , it is very flamable ,no glue cause it's dope

[@bipolarbear69]

No one mentions this, always inspect ever cap you make. You will have caps that are deformed which wont give a proper seat and will blow outs on the bottom. I also fill my percussion caps all the way up with acetone instead of just couple drops, never had a problem with primer coming out

[@Adam-upnorth]

I started making my own but am having about a 75% failure to ignite the powder charge in my cap and ball. I use the Prime All. I am playing with different amounts and waiting longer for them to dry. It's been around 60% humidity. They all pop but 75% don't fire the charge.

[@lamebeavertradingco.1642]

Hello, thank you for your comment. I also at first had problems. I now fill the cup, compact that, then fill the cup a second time, compact that then the drop of thinned glue. What this does for me is, it allows some of the prime all to work its way into the cone, but remember to properly seat the cup onto the cone, or nipple as most call it. Drying time will vary, that is why I set mine in the sun to dry faster. Hope this helps. Michael

[@deandeann1541]

You must be using a black powder substitute. Likely pyrodex. Terrible stuff.

[@Adam-upnorth]

@@deandeann1541 hell no! Hate that stuff. Reg goex bp and stuff made at home. I was filling the caps too light. I'm at 100% success over the last 120 shots.

[@trujello]

@@Adam-upnorth So how much was too little and how much is just right? Are you using the mixture as indicated by Prime All or have you changed the amounts up? Are you using Acetone alone or something else to act as a binder? Thanks, @Adam for any insights you can provide.

[@Adam-upnorth]

@@trujello I was simply not using enough. I'm now at 100% success and stopped counting at 1000 shots with only 2 failure to ignite the powder charge shots. Caps did go though. I'm also running paper cartridges so I'm stoked. I fill the caps up all the way and then 2 drips of acetone. After it dries I use a drop of glue I forget the name but it is all packed up atm so I can't get to it. I seen it recommended a few times so you have probably seen the same. Hope that helps.

[@drmachinewerke1]

I bought 11 cci about 4 years ago for 1.50 a package. They were on close out for 1.50 each.
I bought all they had. I’m good for awhile.
I wonder if a electric ignition system could be made

[@joseaureliosegalotto7327]

Esse primer é enviado ao brasil ?

[@cowboywoodard2569]

Have you tried flash powder ,gun cotton, goes off nice when hit with a hammer, i was thing that that would work, very easy to make and it can be very explosive when compressed.let me know

[@boomstick4054]

All of that will clear out if you shoot an actual blackpowder load

[@jimwiskus8862]

Very well done sir! Thank you. What brand of die do you use to prepare the caps with?

[@thomasmanson1119]

Hey, thanks for all your work and reporting! Has no one tried repurposing reloading primers - either large or small? And another point - you mentioned adhesive, another vlogger suggested Duco cement as it is more flammable. Have you tried that? Thanks for all your work! Tom KC3QAC

[@lamebeavertradingco.1642]

I have also heard that about duco cement. Have not tried that though. I have and do repurpose my small primers with some success and some failures. Thank you

[@kirkboswell2575]

The "ground glass" in the Prime-All isn't glass. Its a binder - probably dextrin. Don't know who started calling it "glass", but it isn't. Now, some original primer compounds did use ground glass in the formulas as a friction agent to improve performance. Maybe that's where it started. But that's not what's in Prime-All.

[@The1saturn]

I have 10s put away but truth is if I had to go thru all of this lets just say it takes the fun out of shooting, I also bought the 10 - 11 dye to make my own but with Shakey old man hands
this would not be that easy it shocks me no 1 company has stepped up to make caps what about in the UK there must be a maker some place

[@MH-jt3lx]

Use the glue method

[@elmwalt162]

Lot of work ... i might just go flint lock

[@davidstuck2866]

I have thought about this whole primer / percussion cap unavailability. IMO, IT IS UNACEPTABLE! If you get hurt trying to make these things, get a lawyer and sue them (I think most of them come from Vista Outdoors) there is no reason these should not be redily available. After they start losing millions of $, then they might add a new building and add on.

[@jimihendrix4376]

Hardly anyone shows the gun actually going off with this method, just the cap popping but not actually firing the gun!

[@zebswinney9912]

Plenty of videos show them firing the gun off. It works.

[@davidrush8283]

VIDEO 1 - PRIME ALL REPRIMING COMPOUND ua-cam.com/video/smtrbjBPFE8/v-deo.html

[@steve1774]

I bought some prime all , mixed it according to instructions with no results at all . I reached out to the manufacturer and never received any reply. I don't recommend them

[@Puppy_Puppington]

This shortage and it being out of stock everywhere.. it’s just ridiculous!!!! Why do people have to overstock…. Imma have to resort to homemade

[@johnnydjiurkopff]

It's less people overstocking and more likely a result of the artificial scarcity of munitions supplies that the US government has been actively forcing for the last several years.

[@tarzansbigknife7217]

stop saying actually