Shiloh Rifle Forums

Has anyone used them? My supply of RWS caps is slowly running out.

Many in the N-SSA are using them and report good results. I see lots of them on the ground at skirmishes. They are steel with a brass plating and the remnants rust after use. Some experience misfires with percussion Sharps rifles. I'm in the same shape. I've got about 200 RWS caps left. I bought some Schuetzen caps but have not started using them yet. Mine will be used on an 1841 aka Mississippi rifle.

One other thing: the inside diameter of the Schuetzen caps seems to be smaller than the RWS and they don't seat down on some nipples correctly. You may need to reduce the diameter of the nipple to get them to seat correctly. If they don't seat correctly some of the force of the hammer is used to expand the caps and not set it off.

Thanks for the info. I’ve got a Smithy lathe and a bunch of nipples. As an aside my ‘41 is Harpers Ferry 1845 unaltered except was bored up to.58. Bore was junk so had Hoyt reline it to .54.

1845 Harper's Ferry rifles are rare, probably only a few hundred marked 1845. The records show that they only shipped one 1841 rifle in 1845 and 700 in 1846. Quite a few of the 1846 shipped ones would have been marked 1845. Good acquisition.

Good News! I was told today by the owner that Back Creek Gun Shop http://www.blackpowderva.com will be receiving 350,000 RWS musket caps tomorrow.