Homemade Percussion Caps - Have you ever made your own?

[Pat Riot]

I was searching online for percussion caps today and having no luck. I was perusing Dixie Gunworks’ website and saw this nifty little doodad for forming percussion caps using aluminum from soda cans. 
The  description also mentions another product of theirs for the “repriming of primers”.

Have any of you used these products and if so how did your homemade primers work out?

 

https://www.dixiegunworks.com/index/page/product/product_id/10237/category_id/339/product_name/RL5500+Tap-O-Cap+%2310+Percussion+Cap+Maker

 

https://www.dixiegunworks.com/index/page/product/product_id/9717/category_id/342/product_name/RL0810+Prime-All+Compound+for+Reloading

 

Doodad:

 

Go putty:

[J-BAR #18287]

I've done it.  Very time consuming, frustrating.  The caps go bang if you do everything right.  I'm saving this for the end of the world/ SHTF days.

[Warden Callaway]

Got the kit too.   I made a few caps hulls and they were so ugly i didn't bother trying  to load them with goop. Over on the The high road black powder forum, guys talk like they make them all the time.

[The Shoer 27979]

I didn't  know dixie had that stuff, I have a web site that has the same stuff for sale

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

Picked one up along with my make your own condom kit.

[Pb Mark]

For actual ML pistols and rifles, a little piece of the proper ID clear rubber tubing plus a small rifle or pistol primer works if needed.  A 209 conversion works too.

 

Buffalo Arms Co has caps in stock at the moment FYI   $$$$ though.

 

 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

I recall the day in 1975 or 76 when a kid walked in to the Flintlock at Hobby City and asked to speak to Ray Taylor. the boss.  He pulled what looked like half a hinge with a slot in the side out of a paper bag, took the "hinge pin", and a piece of a 7 Up can, a roll of toy cap gun caps and a box of strike anywhere matches and proceeded to make a dozen or so percussion caps.  He never said a word after asking to talk to Ray.  Ray got a pistol out of the back room and all but one of the caps fired.

 

Ray made some phone calls and did his magic and within a few weeks we were selling a slicked up version with Pat. Pend. markings on them.  The kid came up later with a great pistol prototype model (that for some reason never sold), made a goodly amount off of his cap maker, and vanished.  I kept my cap maker for years and have no idea what I did with it.  It was a clever idea but I never had much success making workable caps with it.

[Pat Riot]

What’s really funny is right after I posted this I have found a couple of places that have caps in stock. Murphy’s Law again. 
 

I may get this thing just for the heck of it. 

[J-BAR #18287]

Hey Pat, 

 

Remember that the edges of aluminum beverage cans are sharp.

 

Don't ask how I know!

 

[Jabez Cowboy,SASS # 50129]

I have a Cap making Kit,,, it stays in the bag. For when I can't buy or trade for caps anywhere.... Like might be coming to Canadastan....

 

Jabez Cowboy  

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

On 10/5/2023 at 2:00 PM, Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933 said:

Picked one up along with my make your own condom kit.

Wow, Dixie Gunworks has that too?  Well, I suppose they would, I remember….

 

This is my rifle,

  this is my gun,

….

[Texas Joker]

I opted for rock locks, outa be able to find flint, chert or some such.  With enough research or access to an old farmers recipe book you can make green powder.

[Pat Riot]

I worked with a guy years ago that told me how he made percussion caps using strike anywhere matches when he was in high school. They used acetone, I believe, to dissolve the match heads and they would make a runny paste that they would put into cap cups they made with really thin copper sheeting. 
 

I also recall him telling me how they snuck into school early once and put this paste on the toilet seat standoffs so when someone sat done it would set it off like a firecracker. Trouble was one of the ceramic toilet fractured and literally broke in half when someone dropped the seat on the toilet rim. Apparently his Dad was not pleased as he had to pay for the damage. 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

On 10/6/2023 at 7:58 AM, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

I recall the day in 1975 or 76 when a kid walked in to the Flintlock at Hobby City and asked to speak to Ray Taylor. the boss.  He pulled what looked like half a hinge with a slot in the side out of a paper bag, took the "hinge pin", and a piece of a 7 Up can, a roll of toy cap gun caps and a box of strike anywhere matches and proceeded to make a dozen or so percussion caps.  He never said a word after asking to talk to Ray.  Ray got a pistol out of the back room and all but one of the caps fired.

 

Ray made some phone calls and did his magic and within a few weeks we were selling a slicked up version with Pat. Pend. markings on them.  The kid came up later with a great pistol prototype model (that for some reason never sold), made a goodly amount off of his cap maker, and vanished.  I kept my cap maker for years and have no idea what I did with it.  It was a clever idea but I never had much success making workable caps with it.

I seem to remember it was called a Tap-O-Cap.

[Pat Riot]

24 minutes ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

I seem to remember it was called a Tap-O-Cap.

That’s what Dixie Gun Works calls it on their website.