Cappers..

[kybackwoodsman]

Ok ill go first, i do have a question about the cappers we normally carry for our percussion rifles. what were the kind that was carried during the 1800s?  i use a brass inline capper for my rifle, just wondering how it was done before everything went all modern..

[mlisa]

good question. i don't use one. the only old ones i,ve seen are round, and are for 1838 patterson revolvers.

[old salt]

I am guessing, as I do not have any data on capers at this time, that they
would have used some kind of leather with hole puched into it to hold the caps

[halfstock]

Some used a small horn such as a priming horn to carry them in and shook out one as needed.
Halfstock

[Rev]

Here is something I think might have been carried as well, maybe not in the mountains, but certainly in more settled areas... This is made from cherry & will hold about 300 caps. It has been waxed several times & should be pretty much waterproof. About an inch & 5/8's diameter. I sell these for $25 bucks, but to be honest I don't make a lot of them. They are way too labor intensive...

[shootrj2003]

I think the original cans wer fair container but I would not be surprised if some of the capppers ou see are based on old ones actually used  back then.

[kybackwoodsman]

the basis of my question was i know that some event are juried, and although i tend to shy away from places that the pc nazis swarm, if i did go would they cause metrouble over the capper i use ( brass straight capper)

[Red Badger]

the basis of my question was i know that some event are juried, and although i tend to shy away from places that the pc nazis swarm, if i did go would they cause metrouble over the capper i use ( brass straight capper)

I highly doubt it because they are in use all over, that being said I have not been to a Vous run by the thread counter types yet, so am probably talking out of turn...

[Micanopy]

It'd be interesting to see exactly what type of capper the juried events would hold some one to. Been my experience that most of them are armchair historians that heard from a guy he knows that knew a guy the had an uncle that heard from a fellow..............

To hear many of them speak our ancestors were pretty much idiots that couldnt muster a table spoon of common scense and if they personally havent seen such an item, no such item exsisted. Where pray tell did some one carry caps, and no, a cap tin in a rifle bag wouldnt do it, especially for people in any form of militia as loading fast from a tin just aint gona happen. So yes I am convinced that cappers were used and carried by many many people.

[kybackwoodsman]

im sure your right.. and thats my way of thinking a cap tin would not have cut it, especially for militia or military regiment, or hunters for that matter, trying to get one cap out if a cap tin full of caps is a pain in the hindend regardless.   i have never attended one of the juried events but a guy i knew in eastern ky named cole was telling me about some of them and how um... rectally obscured they are.. needless to say my temper dont take to someone telling how i should be doing someting that i enjoy!

[shootrj2003]

That's my thinking too,which is why I thinke the ones w e use today are [some of them]old designs,like you   gentlemen point out seperating one cap from a tin in one fight would be enough stimulus that if you lived you would figure out a better way!

[NAULTRICK1]

  My way of thinking is that after one battle that at least one of them would just poke a hole in the tin just large enough for one cap at a time, and either plugged or kept upright in a cap case or pocket easily accessible until they thought of a more efficient manner of distribution, or had the time and materials to construct a better means     

[Hawken50]

Civil war soldiers kept their caps in a flapped pouch on their belt.Now civilians used a piece of leather with hokes punched in it for the caps.I used a leather capper when i first started muzzleloading,worked pretty well.On Ted Cash's website he talkes about studing origanal brass cappers in a collection and improving the design with his excellant straight brass capper.

[Hanshi]

I like and prefer a piece of leather or similar material with holes punched in it.  Being PC is of no concern to me and I use this system simply because it's convenient and makes capping very easy.

Rev, I think that little cap bottle of yours is super neat and would gladly switch over to using that just because it's so nicely done.

[flintboomer]

I've never been too concerned with political correctness or rendezvous correctness, much preferring what works and what can either be made at home or purchased without emptying a rather thin wallet, but Civil War cap pouches and punched leather cappers can't be argued with. When at a shooting match I generally work from the cap tin because of the volume of shooting that will be done, but that means either sitting the tin down with it open and risking getting them spilled or else opening the tin and reclosing it each time you reload. Both work fine. I have a small pocket in my shooting bag that holds the cap tin where it is easy to reach.
I also have a Ted Cash capper that I keep in my pouch and use primarily when I drop the cap I took to the line.