High hat caps

[Moose hunter]

A friend of mine has an real old Colt muzzle loader. He inherited from an relative. Its a side hammer style with an real long barrel. I was going to Fargo N.D to do some shopping so he asked me to buy some of these. I asked at Gander Mt,Scheels,and Sportsman warehouse and nobody had any. The only place that new what i was asking for was Gander MT and they dont carry them. I was wondering if there was any place to buy these. In canada would be great but any place is fine. I am an Modern Muzzleloader (inline) guy so if you have any questions i will have to ask him and get back to you since i never even heard of highhat caps til he asked. One other thing this is a 58 cal and he was thinking of hunting with it what is a good bulet for this gun. I also think he said the powder he has is fff.

Thanks

 

[n8dawg6]

moose hunter, those are musket caps, and they are tough to get these days. they saw a brief resurgence right before #209 primers became popular. about the only place you can get them now is if you order them in bulk.

 

[cayuga]

A friend of mine has an real old Colt muzzle loader. He inherited from an relative. Its a side hammer style with an real long barrel. I was going to Fargo N.D to do some shopping so he asked me to buy some of these. I asked at Gander Mt,Scheels,and Sportsman warehouse and nobody had any. The only place that new what i was asking for was Gander MT and they dont carry them. I was wondering if there was any place to buy these. In canada would be great but any place is fine. I am an Modern Muzzleloader (inline) guy so if you have any questions i will have to ask him and get back to you since i never even heard of highhat caps til he asked. One other thing this is a 58 cal and he was thinking of hunting with it what is a good bulet for this gun. I also think he said the powder he has is fff.

Thanks

I used to hear people refer to musket caps as high hats. I am wondering if all he needs are musket caps for this weapon. Is this a .58 caliber rifle or musket? Most people think that colt only made revolvers back then, but they also made rifles as well.

I did a check and found this information..

Dynamite Nobel is the source for the large English top hat percussion cap, also known as a musket cap. They also have several standard percussion cap sizes with foil-covered priming compound protected by a thin coating of varnish. All of them are non-corrosive.

So I suspect all he needs is musket caps which can be purchased many places. If you went looking for "High Hat" caps I am sure it confused the store people and they simply told you they did not have any.

For possible loads;

If this rifle is a musket, I would go with Goex FFG and not FFFG.

The reason was the older muskets were meant to shoot large projectiles with 70 grains of FFg powder which was a standard load for them. I would start with 70 grains of Goex FFg or Pyrodex RS, I would also load a .570 diameter patch and roundball. Not a .575 because many of the old military rifles were actually a .577 diameter in the bore. They are also known to shoot minnie ball well. Again, 70 grains and a minnie ball. Minnie ball are normally .575 and then the paper patch for ease of loading with good accuracy also.

If the weapon is a rifle, it is probably a 1-66 or slower twist. For this, again start at 70 grains of FFg and a .570 roundball patched. Then work the load from there.

Hope this helps.

 

[cayuga]

I buy the musket caps at the local Wal Mart (well used to, now that they have updated I heard they are not going to carry muzzle loaders or supplies) and there is a little sporting goods store I can also purchase them. They are actually cheaper then #11 caps. Now figure that one out. When they hit the close out rack I am going to purchase all the tins.

They are the CCI "extra hot" musket caps. And I have two rifles that shoot them, so they are out there. You just have to look is all.

 

[Moose hunter]

Thanks for the help. I mentioned musket caps to him before . He thought they were to small. I will tell him what you guys said. Thanks for the load info. I use to use ffg in my TC sidehammer muzzle loader and thought that would be what he would shoot. I am going to get him to read your replies and go from there.

 

[n8dawg6]

just went by the bass pro shops today ... they had CCI musket caps. $6.99 per 100 :shock: . CCI #11's were $3.99.

i like musket caps, they are easy to handle, and they definitely put more fire into the charge than #11's. not that big a deal w/ blackpowder, but helps w/ pyrodex.