Which Musket Cap is "Hotter," The Schutzen or RWS???

[Southron Sr.]

What is your experience with one or both of these brands of musket caps?

Which brand is the "Hottest?"

Inquiring minds wast to know.

THANKS in advance for your replies.

[bobanderson]

I tested these when they first came out, using my Model 1 Maynard. I put cotton cleaning patches and pieces of target paper between the receiver and the barrel and checked them for damage done by the force of the cap.
In every test, the RWS caps did noticeably more damage than the Schuetzen. While the Schuetzen are definitely louder, my testing shows they are definitely not hotter.

With that said, hotter doesn't mean better ignition, softer fouling, or better accuracy. Your firearm will tell you what it likes.

[Jim Wimbish, 10395]

Bob,

You are correct about letting the gun determine the cap. I have found the Schutzen more difficult to set off with my First Model Maynard while I have no problems with the RWS caps with this gun. I also get a few more Schutzen duds than RWS duds, although not a lot more. I was having ignition problems with a Sharps a few years ago. The gun wouldn't go off at all with RWS caps but the Schutzen caps would set it off most of the time. After some work on the block it shoots fine with the Schutzen. I have never bothered trying the RWS caps in this gun again.

I have pretty much switched to Schutzen for everything except the Model 1 at this time. Muskets and Sharps seem to work with them real well in my experience.

[Maillemaker]

The Sheutzen caps sure feel hotter to me, though I have not yet done any burn-through testing. They are louder, and they pepper my left hand fingers when they go off.

I like them because they are cheaper. Unfortunately, I think they are very slightly smaller in diameter than the RWS. As a result, they don't consistently go off on my Pedersoli Sharps. It sometimes takes 2 strikes for them to get seated and go off. Of course I could turn down the nipple a bit but they work fine with RWS caps, so my last order I went back to RWS.

Steve

[Bruce Cobb 1723V]

It also seems that using winged caps can be a bigger issue than wingless caps for ignition and no one has yet talked about that. The wings sometimes don't allow the caps to fully seat. Every one of of the great shooters I have talked to used wingless, though mostly on their Sharps. Thanks to Dead Eye Bly ( John ) and friend they have a way to remove them easily too.

[Eggman]

Bob,

You are correct about letting the gun determine the cap. I have found the Schutzen more difficult to set off with my First Model Maynard while I have no problems with the RWS caps with this gun. I also get a few more Schutzen duds than RWS duds, although not a lot more. I was having ignition problems with a Sharps a few years ago. The gun wouldn't go off at all with RWS caps but the Schutzen caps would set it off most of the time. After some work on the block it shoots fine with the Schutzen. I have never bothered trying the RWS caps in this gun again.

I have pretty much switched to Schutzen for everything except the Model 1 at this time. Muskets and Sharps seem to work with them real well in my experience.

Yeah Jim had the same experience using RWS vs. Navy Arms caps (yes still have a few left) in my Second Model Maynard. The Sharps thing is a whole nother kettle of worms. I found a 1" fire cracker fuse with a drop of nitroglycerine at the tip most effective in getting a Sharps to fire.

[Hal]

I've used both. My loads were worked up using Schuetzen, so I have little desire to do that all over again for a new cap. I have used RWS on occasion, as I got some in a trade. As mentioned above, I've read where the RWS burn through more patches, etc, but I've never had much problem with Schuetzen going off or burning through paper cartridges in Sharps, Starr, or Merrill carbines. The only times have been when I forgot to pop some caps prior to shooting and residual oil soaked the paper cartridge. I've read where other people could not get Schuetzen to work worth a dang, but they seem to do fine for me.

[Jim_Burgess_2078V]

All I know is the Schuetzen caps are a little less expensive and work well in my Shiloh Sharps while the RWS caps are not so reliable in the Sharps any more. Both work fine in muskets. RWS caps used to work in my Sharps but I started getting misfires soon after they started coming in less than air-tight plastic tins. This forced me to adopt the hot 6-wing CCI caps but since they are no longer available, I found the Shuetzen caps are now what works best.

The cap's hotness might be affected by their storage environment. To keep my Schuetzen caps dry I remove them from their plastic trays and put them in old metal cap tins before going to the range.

Jim Burgess, 15th CVI

[gemmer]

I have been using Schuetzen caps for a while. I've only had one instance of a failure to burn through the curler paper end on a Sharps/Hahn tube. I do think they misfire more often than the RWS caps. I had two out of 23 shots yesterday.