Can't find percussion caps. . .

[Prof Young]

I'm looking for #11 percussion caps and having a hard time finding them. The big box online stores don't have them. Internet search is not turning anything up.

Help!

Life is good.
Prof Young

[105kw]

Awhile back a friend had the same problem, 30 minutes on the telephone to every local gun shop/ sporting goods places and a supply was found within 65 miles.
The internet can be fun, but check local too.

[RC20]

Local is where I got my first 100 and then found the PC that my wife had with the gun she gave me, so I am good for a bit. I won't be shooting the BP much more this year as its getting cold.

The Local suppler will give me a call when they get them in and will ball park the use and get enough (if they have them) to see me through next year.

The big box stores do not have primers either but have been able to get them local as well (I boxed myself in with the 6.5 Lapua as its small rifle only). I keep a good stash of components now but had not realized there were no cases in 6.5 Lapua that had large rifle primers.

[Prof Young]

I'm starting to think I'm going to have to convert the thing to a 209 primer. They make a small kit for that. I did it once before on a BP rifle. This is a gun I'm putting together from a kit. (See CVA Pistol post) Anyway I'd like to be able to shoot the thing but gotta have percussion caps to do it.
Dang!

Life is good
Prof Young

[Hawg]

Check local. My LGS keeps caps in stock.

[44 Dave]

What ever you find can be made to work on a single shot. You may have to pinch them or press them down to get them to bottom out. Not like a revolver where you have to worry about other caps falling off when one chamber is fired.

[Prof Young]

Went to visit my kids in Alabama. Found some #11 percussion caps at a gun store in Kentucky. Life is good.

Prof Young

[bamaranger]

I'm pretty well set for caps, but I am surprised at how scarce they seem none the less. What seems odd is that my take on the shooting scene, at least locally in my world, that there really isn't the demand for them.

If you are a BP hunter, the inline guns are all the rage, generally all shoot #209 primers with saboted pistol bullets, and those pattern "muzzleloaders" are what I see in the woods. Additionally, AL only has a brief muzzleloader only season, few folks carry the inlines once they can tote a centerfire rifle.
If you are a reenactor, the north/south rifles take musket caps. If a buckskinner, the flintlock cuts into the use of percussion rifles at least to some degree.

I see very few caplock rifles for sale, new or used. Traditions, Lyman and the Italian imports are available, but not cheap. There are cap & ball revolvers, using 5-6 caps at a throw, but I have never seen one at a public range, nor anvbody toting one about as a trail gun.

So....who's buyinbg the dang things when they do become available???

[4V50 Gary]

Big R or Tractor Supply mebbe?

[armoredman]

Our local Tractor Supply store carries almost zero firearms related anything, a few safes and a few rifle cases. Nobody here or up in The Valley seems to have percussion caps, either.

[RC20]

I know of 3 stores that had them or get them, one is a large store, the other 2 local, I am on the call list for two of them and I failed to realize the large store was keeping them behind the counter (when they have them)

[FrankenMauser]

I had major issues getting #10 and #11 caps earlier in the year.
Could not get anything, anywhere.

Until I found 1,000 count in stock, but the retailer would only sell by the case. I did what I had to do, and bought a 'case'.

I sold 300 off to my brother, immediately, another hundred a little later, and now have a couple people trying to figure out how to justify driving here to buy some from me.

I didn't need 1k. And few people want to buy 1k. But once you have a case that you're willing to split up, people come out of the woodwork.

[44 Dave]

I bought a case of Rem. # 10 a few years ago and traded some with a LGD to get some of his # 11s.
This was before caps, primers and powder "disappeared". I had just gotten tired of the hit and miss availability of caps, so glad I did it then and still have enough to not worry.

[5whiskey]

So....who's buying the dang things when they do become available???

There are a few C&B revolver shooters floating around. I frequently shoot them, and I do occasionally see another one or two on the range here and there. Sure it's not common, but it's not like cap production has ever been as big as primer production anyway.

I was fortunate. I got back from a deployment in 2020 when Covid was in full swing. Once I got home in September, the run on everything had started. I was lucky in that I was pretty well stocked on most things (caps being the exception), but there were a few C&B revolvers I wanted, and Dixie Gun Works was perpetually sold out of them. BP was scarce, as were caps.My LGS apparently had tucked a metric ton of #11 caps and Triple7 away that they brought out during this time. They had cases and cases, 10s of thousands, of caps laying around. They had raised the price to $10.00 per 100, but I just kept buying 1 or 2 tins every so often. I still have 1000 or so caps, but it will be time to hunt for more within the next year. I go through some caps when I'm able to go to the range regularly. I was finally able to acquire most of the revolvers I was looking for, though I had to drive a couple of hours for one of them.

All this to say... there's a least a few of us that go through some caps. Maybe not many, but a few. The rest of your analysis is pretty close though. The inline guys aren't using #10s or #11s. Most folks who are into traditional rifles are like me, and more into flintlock. Though I am trying to get into BP shotgun with a caplock SxS.

[bamaranger]

In years past, the sale of #11 caps was so slow that at the end of the season, Walmart, of all places, would have surplus caps and sell them at discount on their "bargain" aisle. I bought a lot of caps cheap that way. Same too with Maxiballs. As the inlines and sabots have taken over, I don't see that deal as much, but again, I'm not in town as much anymore either.

Not only do I not see cap-n-ball revolvers at the range, I have not seen a traditional sidehammer rifle on the lease, or with a deer (except me) at the check station. The interest in the cap-n-ball guns, or all traditional BP shooting, has wanted markedly.

[armoredman]

My son would beg to differ...





Me, too.



We love our smokepoles, which is why I will probably have to bite the bullet and buy that capmaker doodad.

[FrankenMauser]

I have been disappointed as the situation evolved this year in Idaho.
Due to complaints from residents, about the difficulty in obtaining percussion caps and the shrinking availability and perceived environmental impact of lead projectiles, the Fish and Game have proposed allowing non-lead projectiles and 209 primers.

Idaho is fairly traditional in their muzzleloader rules for hunting. Loose powder, patched round ball or lead alloy conical engraved at the muzzle, open sights (now allowing 1x non-illuminated optic), exposed hammer, no 209, etc. I think they took away the phrase some years ago, but it used to include something about the cap being exposed.

Allowing skirted and 'integral pusher base' projectiles (but not sabots) doesn't feel right to me.

And the 209 thing is just weird. Sure, I had to work pretty hard to get percussion caps, but I was able to get them. And now every gun store that stocks BP supplies has some available.
But how do you use people's laziness, or ignorance of other means for getting caps, as an excuse to allow an ignition system that has been despised by local hunters for years?
Most Idahoans don't want our muzzleloader seasons to become "extended rifle season" like some of our neighboring states' seasons have with inline muzzleloaders, pellet powders, Powerbelt bullets, 209 ignition, and magnifying optics. And, we have "short range weapon" restrictions in some areas, which includes muzzleloaders.
Once that 209 ignition door is opened, we start sliding down that slippery slope toward tactical inlines, long range muzzleloader hunting, and houses getting bullet impacts near "short range weapon" areas.

[ligonierbill]

Note Buffalo Arms has RWS #11 in stock.

[darkgael]

Are "make your own" percussion cap kits still available? I bought one years ago as a hedge against shortages. The use is labor intense but the end product works. Of course, you have to have a source for roll caps.
Another alternative....also bought years ago....is an adapter that allows use of small primers - rifle or pistol. Are small primers easier to find than percussion caps?

[armoredman]

Yes, the kits are out there, and the Prime All, but the ones I have seen assembled are somewhat disappointing.