Percussion caps

[Sunray]

Been reading a Ralph Compton novel. In it he says percussion caps could be dipped in varnish to make 'em waterproof. That true or the same nonsense as a guy having cartridges on his gun belt in the 1840's? Decidedly just curious.

[Vern Humphrey]

They were dipped in varnish -- not dipped, but a bit of varnish was used to waterproof the cap.

[JB White]

While I've heard of "varnished caps", I'm not aware of anyone doing it at home.

[Merc]

Did the caps still work if brushed with varnish?

Keeping powder and caps dry was high on the list of things to do during the CIvil War. Probably right next to “avoid being shot.” We found groups of perfect minie balls and assumed they got wet and were dumped. Never found dumped caps; probably rusted away.

[holdover]

Varnish should work, but if I was gong to do it I would use lacquer, When I made cannon primers for the battery lacquer worked better and dried faster. Once the hammer hits the cap the explosion should blast right through the covering. I'll try to spray a couple in the next few days and see what happens.

[Vern Humphrey]

The varnish was applied at the factory, not by the user.

[Sunray]

Well, there you go. Varnish your caps and keep your powder dry. Ain't science grand?

[Fred]

Colt experimented with using wax around the caps on the nipples on a loaded cylinder to seal them. He found out that after applying wax to the caps as well as over the face of the rounds within the chambers, he could immerse the cylinder in water for a time and all chambers would still fire when the cylinder was put on a revolver.

[Vern Humphrey]

Colt experimented with using wax around the caps on the nipples on a loaded cylinder to seal them. He found out that after applying wax to the caps as well as over the face of the rounds within the chambers, he could immerse the cylinder in water for a time and all chambers would still fire when the cylinder was put on a revolver.

The standard practice was to fill the case mouths with grease -- to lubricate the bullets -- and that waterproofed the chambers from the front, anyway. And using wax on percussion caps was an old trick.