Who makes the best cap?

[Rio Grande]

I've been shooting a Pietta Remington .44 and all I had were some old tarnished Navy Arms English caps... which turned out to fit just right and were hot and 100% firing.
After I ran through those 100 or so I tried to use new CCI #10's and was disappointed, too tight and mis-firing and left a disc-shaped residue on the nipple faces that clogged them up. Sounded weak too.
Made me start thinking about how important the caps were in the whole set up.
What's the best cap?

[nicholst55]

If the #10s were tight, try a #11 cap; there are several varieties available. I usually buy the ones that are in stock locally, because I don't want to have to pay HAZMAT fees on them.

[Rio Grande]

If the #10s were tight, try a #11 cap; there are several varieties available. I usually buy the ones that are in stock locally, because I don't want to have to pay HAZMAT fees on them.

The few CCI #11's I had were were too loose.
From what I read there are very few standards between makers regarding cap dimensions.
Also I'm sure no one can tell me what are the 'standard' cone dimensions (angle and diameter) for a '#11' or "#10' cap. Not to mention height, which would vary with the firearm.
But I'm not complaining too much, I'll just 1) shop around for caps till I find a good fit or 2) polish the nipples or 3) buy another nipple set.

I'm wanting a good-quality. reliable, clean-burning, hot cap. The quality of those old Navy Arms English caps was very good. I'm sure they were over 25 years old and were still sure-fire.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Many of the Italian guns, now in production for a long time, had nipples, and thus cap sizes all over the map dimensionally. Nipple and cap length is especially important for the Colt copies. If you want to be serious, get new nipples, sort by flash hole size, turn cones to fit your caps correctly, slug your barrel and each cylinder hole, make corrections, and aim well.

BvT

[dualsport]

I have used them all, mostly CCIs though. They've been dependable, even some 20 year old ones. I think the shelf life is longer than ours when stored right.

[NickSS]

I ahoot several Piatta revolvers and the nipples they come with only fit italian made caps which are hard to find. Dixie Gun works and Navy ARms used to sell them but not any more as far as I know. The are thick and tend to stick to the nipple when fired. In fact I carried needle nose pliers to get them off after firing. Lately I tried CCI and RWS caps that i can buy locally in no 10 and 11 size and neither fits well. They are either too tight or loose. I found that if I shoot No.11 caps and pinch the front before putting them on the nipple they work fine otherwise they fall off at the first shot. I did nodify the nipples on one of my revolvers to take no 10s and they work fine on that revolver. The one thing that I do not like about both the CCI and RWS caps is that they get blown off of deform and cause jams when shooting my Remingtons and fall into the action of the colts. This is not good as far as I am concerned. I finally laid my hands on a thousand Italian caps and am using them at least until I run out of them.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Just pinching a cap is an expedient that verifies you have an improper fit. It maybe ok on a caplock rifle where there is lots of access to the nipple before & after firing, but just a sorry excuse on a revolver of current make. Several makes of newer revolvers, and even manufacturer supplied nipples are very, very good and uniform.

The colts tend to work best if attention is paid to cone length and all do better in use if the caps fit the nipple where a little push seats them snugly and a careful pry takes them off. The colts have a little circular trough on the frame behind the cylinder that the caps revolve in and there must be clearance, but not too much. The biggest payoff for the cone/cap fitting work is that the cap jam due to "falling off" or "the after firing jam" rate is greatly reduced.

Be cautious about pushing caps on with a finger as there are reports and pictures about on cap explosion damaged fingers. Likewise a loaded cylinder, off the gun and capped is a very dangerous thing. Cap only on the gun.

BvT

[DIRT Farmer]

The best cap is the one that does the job, I know this sounds simplistc, but try them and see what works. I use the CCI magum on my shotguns, CCI musket on the Volenteer rifle because it fits and CCI standard on the rest of my rifles and pistols.

[Mk42gunner]

I have had good luck with Remington caps. It seems to me that the Remington #10 is just slightly larger than the CCI #10.

Robert

[Muddy Creek Sam]

I only use the Remington Caps on my colts.

Sam

[Razor]

Remington !!!

[Rio Grande]

Looks like Remington is what I need, #10's... I hope the local Gander Mountain has them, they do advertise them for sale on the web. $20 hazmat fee!
thanks for everyone's input.

[docone31]

Remington is a good stout cap.
I like them.
The Hazmat fee, you can order a lot. Good excuse to fire it a lot.

[gnoahhh]

My Pietta Remington has been capped with nothing but Remington #10's for 20 years now, no problems. I prefer RWS #11's for everything else.

[Newtire]

I have shot alot of other brands that made various noises when they went off but the Remington caps all sound about the same and they make the powder go off just fine.