Caps not firing

darestie

New member
I took my new Pietta to the range for the first time. The only problem I had was that the caps weren't always firing on the first try. If I retried firing a cylinder after it misfired it would always fire the second time. I am using #10 caps and I'm wondering if maybe that 10's are too small and I should be using #11's. Has anyone had this problem before?
 

ren219

New member
Congrats on the new Pietta! I own an 1858 Rem and an 1860 Army, both Pietta's. I had the same problem on both guns. I tried cci #10's and cci #11's. Neither one worked very well. I now use #10 remington caps and they work flawlessly on both guns. The remington caps seem to be harder to find, but that might just be in my area. Keep us posted!
 

Hawg

New member
You're not seating the caps fully on the nipples and the first hammer strike seats them and the next one sets them off. CCI's are a tighter fit than Remingtons and need a little pressure to fully seat. RWS are even tighter. Remingtons are a little larger. I usually lose one or two under recoil with my 58 Remington but they work ok on my 60 Colt.
 

darestie

New member
At first I was seating them loosely but after getting a lot of misfires I started seating them what I thought was pretty firmly. After that I was still getting misfires just less frequently.

I am using #10 CCI. The Bass Pro by my house carries both Remington and CCI caps. If I do switch to Remington, would it be better to stay with #10 or go with #11? If anything I will get some #11 CCI's.
 

Pahoo

New member
Your pietta should require #10 primers and do not recommend you switching to #11's unless you replace the #10 nipples with #11 nipples. A tight fit on nipples is very important and should be tight to reduce the possibility of chain firing. In the end, you may have to replace the nipples anyway asnd some of my problems went away when I switched to a good S.S. #10 nipples. You should want to have a spare set anyway. Size and primers were not as much an issue as quility of nipples. Don't give up on the #10 primers and try both till you are satisfied.
 

44capnball

New member
I had a Pietta 1858 Remington that wouldn't take #10 caps no matter what. It must have come with #11 nipples instead of 10. It liked Remington #11's plenty though.

I personally prefer Remington caps to CCI's across the board for exactly the reason that was happening to the OP. Even on #10 nipples the #11 Remmies work good for me if I pinch the cap a bit.
 

Hawg

New member
My Pietta 58 Remmy made in 2000 takes #11. My Pietta 60 Colt made in 2007 takes #10. Don't know if the manufacture dates have anything to do with it or not.
 

mec

New member
remington percussion caps became unavailable here about a year ago. Non of the distributors carry them anymore. They have been gone from the remington catalog for about that long. Midway listed them as "Out of Stock No Backorder for a long time but then dropped them altogether. Grafs no longer has them. Apparently Bass Pro and cabelas still has a remnant.

I had ignition problems with CCI even when I hammer seated them fairly heavily. I finally got good ignition by dowell seating them with very great pressure. I only do this when I'm alone on a range with the gun pointed in a safe direction.
 

Hawg

New member
The last #10's I bought about a month ago were from Gander Mountain and were Remingtons because that's all they had. I prefer CCI's, never had a problem with them.
 

darestie

New member
After searching the Pietta manual it says use to either #10 or #11, I suppose they allow discrepancies in their manufacturing techniques that may vary from gun to gun. I will get some CCI #11 for next weekend when I go to the range and see how those work out.
 

Raider2000

New member
I've got about 600 #11 Remington Percussion caps from my local Gander Mountain, not too long ago & about 200 #10's too, so they must be making a come back...
 

darestie

New member
Just an update. I just got back from the range; I fired 24 rounds with not a single misfire using Remington #10's, definitely a huge difference.
 

Colduglandon

New member
I took a CVA sidelock to the range today for the first time. I had the same problem with CCI #11. The first pull of the trigger, nothing on every load, the second time I pulled the trigger no problem.

This is my first BP weapon. I had fired rifles and revolvers previously on a couple of occassions.

I was reluctant to put too much pressure on the cap, I don't know how sensitive they are. I reload so I am not too gun shy around primers, powder etc. Just want to be safe. I did not use a capper, I put them on by hand. Could that be the problem? I imagine using a capper would allow me to press the cap more securly. (Just thought of this)

This gun was never fired before. I built this from a kit recently. I purchased it several years ago and finally took it down from the shelf and put it together.
 

Hawg

New member
Use a wood dowel to seat it firmly. Or carefully lower the hammer and use it to put pressure on it. Personally I use my thumb.
 

long rider

New member
Seating Caps

I found a good way to make caps fit well.
I have lots of nipples,i have some for 10 and 11 caps.
What i do is put them in my drill and take them down a tad
till i get a good fit. A man needs choices.


SOD BUSTER TRIED TO PULL ON WILSON.:D
 
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