I am getting ready for muzzle loading season and I do not do the modern in line guns. I have been doing percussion rifles for about 20 years now. I don't do flintlocks, I like them a lot, but it is one more thing to add now, and I can't do it right now. Up to now I have had a decent supply of musket and #11 magnum caps, but this past Sat as I went shooting I realized I was getting low, so I started checking around and nobody locally has any, especially musket caps (decent musket caps). The German stuff is gone and CCI changed to a cheaper, chump change cap...if you can even find them.
I was able to locate some out in Texas, but the hazmat charge blew me away even for a thousand (it was like 30%). I checked all the big stores and places like Midsouth and Midway and everybody is out of stock.
I saw threads in several places that addressed this issue in 2012 and even late 2013, but I am surprised to find that nobody is stocking even a little bit. A lot of places say the carry them but they have been out of stock for a long time when you get to digging a little.
I guess traditional is declining...again. I sure hope it doesn't go away
Just as an add-on, I contacted CCI about #11 magnum caps, and their response was that they still make them but no one was ordering them, so I asked what a minimum order would be. They replied that they only sell to distributors and the orders ranged from 5-8 million dollars annually (I am sure that is for all their products, not just percussion caps), but, apparently, the resellers are not ordering them either because of lack of demand, or because they don't feel they will sell everything they have to buy. Even if there were 100,000 shooters wanting these, most would only buy a couple of tins worth, at $7-$9 per tin retail, and those 100,000 shooters would be divided up between every possible retailer and web seller out there, I can see why nobody has them, they don't have enough of the market share to make the investment, even the big box stores. Woe is me.
Did find some #10 CCI caps at a local shop a while back. I had been out of 10s for quite a while.
You might talk to some of your local Civil War re-enactors. Those guys often get together and order powder and caps in bulk.
They might be willing to sell you some.
I think any LGS that can't sell them will not stock them. Cabelas has always had them in their store. Around here we have a lot of black powder shooters.
My guy in northern Illinois stocks plenty of caps and black powder. Much of his business is with re-enactors. Check with re-enactor groups in your area.
Jon Blackert lives out in the country, about 5-10 miles north of Mineral, IL. Call first to make sure he or his wife will be there. He makes a copy of your driver's license and your FOID card.
I finally did find some after my last post. My wife and I were up in another county near our property and we went in to a small LGS that I had wanted to stop in, and he had new stock of Win Magnum #11 caps and the German musket caps (at least it all looked brand new). I bought 500 of each along with several boxes of maxiballs and a few other things too. man was I glad to see that stuff!!! I did not clean him out, apparently he has a market out there for those, and it is less than 10 miles from my property too.
Well I used them to sight in my guns, along with FFFG, and those babies go BANG right now, nary a hang fire or misfire. It is so good to be back in the game again. Also using them during this hunting season and when I empty my rifle at the end of the day (alas, nothing to shoot at yet), it goes bang every time, even last week in the rain.
"I bought 500 of each"
At the rate I use percussion caps, I would be classified as a hoarder if I bought that many. Your usage may be different, so I won't say more.
Jon Blackert lives out in the country, about 5-10 miles north of Mineral, IL. Call first to make sure he or his wife will be there. He makes a copy of your driver's license and your FOID card.
Jon lives out in the country and he has approved, very secure, storage for black-powder and caps, remote from his house or other structures. He is regularly audited by the G-Men for his storage security and his paperwork. Most local gun stores don't want to comply with those requirements for our limited black-powder market.
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