Hellgate #3302 L Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 It has been said about cap & ball revolvers that "Italian reproductions make gunsmiths of us all." I am not a gunsmith but consider myself an "advanced tinkerer" due to having owned 38 different C&B revolvers since I started Cowboy Action shooting. I only keep about 15 on hand. Many of the guns I have bought were used because I cannot pass up a "deal". Some of the guns I am sure were sold at a bargain price because the former owner could not get the gun to fire reliably on one or more chambers. I have found that some nipples were shorter than others or the drilling of the cylinder was inconsistant and a particular chamber would not fire because the hammer face did not stop close enough to the top of the nipple to pop the cap. Over the years I have made my own nipple shims to raise the heighth of the nipple so more of the cap would get crushed to set off the charge. What I used to do is coil a soft iron or bronze wire around a drill rod or nail about a dozen times, snip the coils off with a wire cutter and then pound the little lock washer like shims into a flattened washer shape and then put them over the threaded shank of the nipples needing shimming and reinstall the nipple with some anti-seize lube. Simple enough and CHEAP (my two favorite requirements). However, I'd end up with some too large or too small or too thick to work so I started looking for "factory" shims. Here's where I found thin little washers that fit perfectly over the threaded 6mm shanks of metric nipples yet fit into the recess of the cylinder. http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-shims/=q5h0dh Click: "Shims for lenghtening screw shoulders--Metric" Shoulder diameter of the nipples is 8mm. Get the screw size 6mm which is the nipple threaded shank size. Pick the thicknesses you want. These are stainless steel and precisely the right size. Now, they aren't as cheap as home made but for "real gunsmiths" it would look more professional to use them on a customer's gun. They work out to about a buck apiece but should allow you to get exactly the distance from the hammer face to the nipple to where they almost kiss to get that reliable ignition we(C&Bers)all seek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elk Creek LeMieux Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Do you shoot stainles C&B pistols? I had issues once with a stainless TC muzzleloader when I put a blued nipple in it. Nipple could almost be crumbled by hand a month later. Edt: Could be the TC or the nipple were super cheap... I don't remember paying much for the rifle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Springfield Slim SASS #24733 Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Most of my guns get reliable enough ignition but some just smash the crap out of the caps and they break apart and fall into the works. These should help that, thanks for the tip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prairie Dawg, SASS #50329 Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Thanks Hellgate --Dawg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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