One time there was an ammo draught and then Goex went under, it was a dark time. And then Hoffman Reproductions showed us all how to get through it. Thank You Ben God Bless, and even with the current difficulties, making powder and now caps, is actually adding to the fun and enjoyment. I know it sounds crazy but maybe this will be remembered as a good thing in the end, a time we can look back on with a proud memory, a time we did not break or got forced helplessly to our knees, no it was a time we faced head on and got stronger from, you made that happen Ben, we are standing because you helped us up.
We Sir, not sure I deserve all that credit & praise, but I am grateful to be able to share what I have learned with others. You are right, this all started out of a need but it has become really enjoyable to be able to produce usable goods for black powder shooting! Thank you most kindly for your words & watching! Merry Christmas!
You wouldn't really want to get into a self defence war only armed with black powder muzzle loaders or cap and ball, however, it's still a massive upgrade on nothing at all!
Well said and thanks to all who accept the challenge of self sufficiency. It is the same spirit that pushed the forefathers (and mothers) through the hard times. Surprising how projects like this can raise your self worth as well as survival skills. Not to mention just plain fun!
@@MrOldclunker Black Powder is classified as an explosive, and it is illegal to manufacture it without the appropriate licenses from the BATF1. However, individuals do not need a manufacturer’s license if they manufacture black powder for their own personal, non-business use and the black powder produced is not a “commercial” product within the contemplation of the exemption and must be stored in compliance with the appropriate regulations2. Regardless, persons engaged in the business of importing, manufacturing, or dealing in black powder in any quantity must have a federal explosives license, and comply with recordkeeping, storage and conduct of business requirements3.
As a 15 year old in 63 my friends father taught me trap shooting and hand loading. He had a home made primer loader he loaned me to hand load my own primers too. I'll never forget the process, place the primer up and punch out the old primer, flip the primer over and press down the anvil Place a pistol primer over the top and press it into the brass. It saved me a little of that teenage money that I would then spend on power and shot. Once in a while I had a misfire but that got me into the habit of not flinching. This was before the one piece plastic wad too so the loading of the shell was a lot different too.
Suggestion: Drill a bunch of holes in that board, just large enough for the caps to stick a tiny bit. This should improve production speed, I believe. When they’re done, just use the pin to push them out.
So if Armstrongs mixture is used, it can be "wetted" to reduce volatility. It can also be pipetted while wet into a percussion cap blank. Then you can use a standard food dehydrator to drive off the moisture. This aids in large "batch" creation. Just a little knowledge transfer.
Thank you! I was thinking that alcohol might do the trick but it probably isn’t substantially better, evaporating alcohol attracts water so the final result might be about the same.
You might want to store your homemade caps in a Ziploc bag with some of that silica gel. those little dryer packs you get in electronics. The powder in the Caps is hydroscopic. Stored in this way they'll last almost forever
@@mikemcchesney2555me too, those things were so useful. As a teenager I’d put ten or fifteen grams of flash powder in them, a bit of fuse and those firecrackers were awesome!
For storage an idea is to obtain glucose test strip containers, which are often thrown away when empty. These are very water tight to protect the unused test strips.
You are so blessed to have a stream running through the woods....reminds me so much of the northern woods I grew up in! Thanks for the info on making your own caps! (Caps are currently very hard to find (June 2022)).
I've made several thousand of those caps. Tried gluing BP onto paper and inserting that in the cup. Worked but really fouled the outside of the nipple area. Came across a brass gadget that put a small amount of FFFF powder in the nipple for removing uncharged balls. A pan primer works as well. I can use Pyrodex in the rifle rather than BP as it's ungodly expensive here. Put a couple of grains in with it and rarely had a misfire using only a single cap in the cup. Not to mention the cap stayed in place and there was no exterior fouling. At nearly $0.20 for one percussion cap, these are a blessing.
That is so awesome! Keep it up! Percussion guns seem to be cheaper too. I love the level of self reliance. Your how to make powder videos were great too
Nice video, valuable info! I've had good results getting plain old safety matches to go bang when wrapped in foil & hit with a hammer (not as a PC) by powdering the matchhead and scraping off just a few crumbs of striker & mixing it in. The chemistry is similar to the caps & much easier to get -- I think I'll give your method a try with matches & striker powder.
Great video!! I did a video on this subject as well. You can also use strike on box matches. Grind up the heads, and using a Razer scrap some of the box( sand paper). mix very carefully. Makes great impact ignition powder. plus you get alot out of a box. But make in small batches.. Very powerful. Use rubbing alcohol in the mixture makes it easier to full caps. Dos not take much. And when the alcohol dries it works perfect... Cheers
I do a mix of the matches stacked in paper cap Oreos? going to try an acetone clear nail polish (used my fishing lure build nail polish Not my Wifes) (5:1) to try to keep it all in place for better assembly and handling. I may have also watched your content?
@@davefellhoelter1343 that's a great idea let me know how it gos please. That's the biggest problem with making them is keeping them from falling apart. And if you have seen some of my videos. Thanks i am rebuilding my original Confederate Griswold and Gunnison revolver on the channel right now.
@@snappers_antique_firearms I did try the acitone 4or5:1 with prim all compound in some lg Lg spent empty riffle caps for an exsperiment on my 1858, not totally enthused, but need more practicing.
I'm new to this channel and absolutely love it! Making our own bp and now percussion caps, this is what I like, to know how to make my own kit items when possible. Thank you so much for your content here. Wish I could hang out with you sometime and shoot our smokepoles or do a small bore squirrel hunt in the fall. Muddy Bear- brushy mtns NC
Thanks for the video very interesting I assembled the same CVA BP rifle many years ago, all my guns were stolen while on vacation. That rifle was very accurate at a 100 yards, enjoyed shooting it hated the clean up. LOL
22lrreloader also has a primer compound that can be used instead of roll caps. A supplement video might be good although your caps seemed to work well. Good video!
When I first got into black powder shooting I tried the plastic caps made for a cap gun revolver. At first just to clear the flash hole before loading. Later I tried them for actual shooting. They worked pretty good. Obviously lower power than a real percussion cap but if its shtf days then you do whatever it takes. They are extremely corrosive. Even more so than black powder or even corrosive primers. After giving my .36 revolver what should have been a good cleaning I later found it crusted over. Had to break out the old military corrosive cleaner.
@@jamesbrill7318 if you are in a real pinch and relying on a blackpowder gun as a shtf weapon I would say you are having a very bad day. I bet if you had to you could open up paper caps and use the compound as a primer compound in a percussion cap. Dunno how to make it stuck to the inside like a factory cap. Maybe just fill the nipple with that stuff and put some foil or even tape over it. Interesting thought. Now my brain is on it. I will try and find some paper caps and test a few methods. Let you know how it works.
Ordered mine for #10 and 11 with compounds and paper caps too and Berdan priming system! I took it a step farther made my own die and anvil then ordered some copper sheeting of dif thicknesses. my modern new manufactured caps are failing at a 50% rate and have a poor fit. Link to your Powder Ingredient KIT Please! LOVE your info keep them SMOKING I was 12 in 1972 when I bult my first Rem 1858 cap n ball! Now I am getting into Flint Locks!
Thanks Ben. I always find your videos entertaining as well as informative. May have to try this after I get the powder making down. Merry CHRISTmas to you and yours. Max
Really like your content since the videos are filled with alot of good information and not a bunch of irrelevant shit like so many other channels. Could you please do a video on how you antique and treat wooden knife and axe handles? Would be really helpful to see.
Great video! I remember seeing those dies when I was a kid, in every shooting or hunting magazine. I think even “Boys Life” magazine when I was in the Cub Scouts had them. But I hadn’t seen or thought about them in the past 40 years. And certainly never actually saw one used. Very cool! And those paper caps…I can smell them in my memory! Good times. It does make me wonder if there’s not a diy chemical compounding way to make the percussion in those cut out cups, though… Anyway, Merry Christmas to you and your family, Ben, and God bless!
Thank you! Yes, that smell of the caps brings back many good memories for me too.. I believe there are a few such mixes that can be used to create the spark in the cap. I just have no information on those methods. Merry Christmas to you as well!
I use kids red round snap caps for percussion caps the plastic ones for revolvers they work fine very strong and corrosive just pull the paper out. If theirs powder in em their 💯 reliable! U can see if their a dud very easy self explanatory. Still hard to find apparently kids buy em up in a hurry!!
I like that ! I too have one of those CVA JUKAR .45 Kentucky rifles. It’s a load of fun. Built mine from a kit when I was about 13/14 years old. Merry Christmas to you!
I got the kit from 22loader or whatever they're called. Took 2 months to get it. I then got sick and got into flintlocks so haven't made any, go figure. I still have one cap rifle and an 1860 Army so I guess I can make some up when I need to.
Learning to make your own Poweder caps and balls/conicals would be priceless in the event that all hell breaks loose and grid/ internet/ everything goes down. Plan ahead folks.
There's no need to fuss with capgun papers. Mercury Fulminate is a very simple to make. If you rinse the crystals with ice water to increase purity then dissolve it in ethanol (everclear), you can use an eye dropper or syringe to fill the caps and let id re-crystalize right in the cap, itself. For safe storage, just leave it dissolved in the ethanol and make sure to top off the ethanol whenever you start to see crystals forming in the bottom of the jar.
Make your own mercury fulminate or if you can find red phosphorus (old flares from WW2) make some potassium chlorate. Mix pot Chlorate, 10% phosphorus, 4% aluminium powder/ A ligh spray of varnish to fix it and that's it. I bought my punch from Dixie 20y ago..
If their were one thing I could own in America land of the free but with 10% usery every yr. I’d like a primer factory! I’d feel so safe and patriotic knowing I was makings viable ways to help patriotic Americans! If you’ve ever handload u know
word of the wise.... If you take any book of matches.. scrape off enough of the striker material. (red phosphorous) then crush up enough match heads to equal a 50/50 ratio.. Mix it with a tiny bit of 90% rubbing alcohol till it makes a thick paste. fill your caps with a drop and let dry. homemade percussion cap.
I tried this in my revolvers but they only worked about 20% of the time with Black Powder and almost never with Pyrodex P. I use the priming compound from .22LR Reloader but leave out the yellow Dextrin part of the mix andseal with a mixture of about 60% Acetone and 40% Duco Cement which is Nitro Cellulose Lacquer, let dry overnight . This works well with Black Powder or Pyrodex P. You can also add a tiny bit of 4f Black Powder on top of the mix before the Duco. Don't overfill or the hammer won't reach full velocity before hitting the cap. If you have trouble with the caps tearing in the forming die run a propane torch over the strips before Punching them to Anneal the Aluminum or Copper strips.
Another level of self sufficiency would be to make your own cap powder (which at the moment I can't think of what it is called). It's in primers. I watched a video about a year ago where a guy made his own.
Excelent,shooting! Excellent video as usual. I will keep watching!I have learned something from this video, also about home made powder.would you do a session on musket caps.David Back from Menifee county Kentucky.God speed, have a merry Christmas.
I always put the butt of the stock into my arm, just below the shoulder. I could be mistaken, it looks like the butt is in the shoulder, same position as a modern rifle stock would be set. My understanding is the curved stock was designed for the arm position.
What you want to make is mercury fulminate. There's instructions on this site how to make it. It's a bit dangerous. Basically you have to make it outdoors and be upwind of it. But you only have to mix 3 things together. Mercury, nitric acid and ethanol. Have fun.
@@gunslingerfromwish4656 one of the tricks is to just make a small batch at a time. A little bit would make a lot of primers. I think when you're first done the stuff is safe. When it dries out then you have to be careful. Silver fulminate is so unstable it can go off just under its own weight. So yeah don't try to make that.
Had the set up to make my own caps about 20 years ago. I found that they were less powerful than the weakest commercial caps. They also do not work well with a gun that has an angle to the fire path, like a Hawken. Now for a pistol or rifle with straight path from nipple to powder it works better. It also is no good for pyrodex.
Did you ever try the make your own mix for the caps. They sell a bag of powders to make caps or 22s. I haven't tried it yet. Maybe I need to buy a second bag for a test
First aluminum wasn't in wide use in cowboy days. Second if your gunna make it mist well make it right. Commercial caps are made with brass which is just as thick as your can. They don't disintegrate on detonation. In cowboy days they used a metal that was thinner and wouldn't jam the gun. Try that.
This is all well and good, but getting back to real basics calls to question "How to make black powder caps from full scratch?" What is the formula for the toy pop gun rolled caps, and how to make a cap without the ability to order online and get exotic materials? One day, in the near future, we could lose the power grid from a massive solar flare, and with that also all internet and phone traffic, solar power, everything will be lost. Black powder can be made off grid from scratch, but what is the best formula for the powder in a percussion cap from the 1950's?
Instead of using those cap gun loads, use a Match Book. Crush a match head and scrape some of the striker strip into the mix. Load your cap and place a bit of toilet paper in the cap for retention.
