Percussion Cap Wristband

[Evil Dog]

Ran across this while mindlessly web-surfing. Looks to me like it could either be worn on the wrist (as the name implies) or strapped to the buttstock of a carbine or musket.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/bebloomster/509.jpg

Just wondering if any of you use this thing and how you like it.

http://www.dlwleathers.com/Pages/ProductDetails.asp?ProductID=509

[trainwreck]

I could sure use one of those! I've been getting a bad case of 'the slippery nipple' lately and this would make putting on a second cap on while on the march just before firing easier than just holding two extra in my hand. :lol:

[Rob Weaver]

The originals were made of metal and strapped around the wrist. Several are pictured in Lord's. I'd buy one if I found an accurate reporduction.

[bill shack]

My question is are they safe? What would happen if your wrist accidently hit some thing hard and severval of them went off at the same time?

[Pvt Schnapps]

I've seen them in use and have the following observations:

Although there's something like this in Lord's, I have yet to find an account of anyone actually using them. They weren't produced by the Ordnance Department and would have to have been privately purchased.

They don't seem to speed up the loading process much.

There's not much point in reenactor's speeding up the loading process, since you're not actually hitting anyone anyway. There wasn't all that much point in the real soldiers speeding up the capping process, since it's one of the least time-consuming of the steps in loading.

That aside, I have seen far more injunctions in period texts against rapid firing than for it. "Aim low, fire slow," as Sir Garnet used to say.

One of the great ironies of reenacting is the sight of a Berdan Sharpshooter with a speed loader whose Armi-Sport Sharps persistently misfires.

But, as the Great Philosopher once said, other's mileage may differ.

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

They're simply farbilicious....

[harley_davis]

IMHO, the device's usefulness seems sorta like a spare cylinder pouch. Cool to look at but marginally useless.
Respectfully,

[agrnbrt]

I've seen them in use and have the following observations:
There's not much point in reenactor's speeding up the loading process, since you're not actually hitting anyone anyway...
One of the great ironies of reenacting is the sight of a Berdan Sharpshooter with a speed loader whose Armi-Sport Sharps persistently misfires....

I couln't have said it any better. My hats off to you good sir...bravo, BRAVO!

[Rob Weaver]

Well, the particular example is not historically accurate and doesn't look much like the originals, but the originals did exist. I've read about hunters using them in our time-period. I'm pretty sure they were the kind of thing that soldiers bought early in their careers before they figured out that the army already gave them an adequate container for percussion caps. I can't vouch for the safety issue. As I said, I think they're cool and would get one if someone made one like you see in Lord's.

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo!

I tried being a Speed Loader once, but after I sold my Garrett Sharps it just took forever to get those copper Sharps pellet primers centered on the cones.

;) :) :)

I have watched lads wearing cap wristbands. It seems they needed more practice as they did not seem much "faster" than lads using a capbox.
IMHO, they do look "strange" on Berdans as well as everyday line infantry.

:)

CHS

[Silas]

But they're very kewl looking.

[7thNJcoA]

they look like one of those punk rocker spike bracelets. If you have a full cap pouch it is pretty darn easy to get a cap out quickly if you really feel the need. The price of powder these days you will not see me burning powder.

[Evil Dog]

Thanks guys... you saved me a few bucks.

[Green Minnesota SS]

I have one of these wrist cappers that I used with my sharps. I was a fast loader and hardly stumbled. But the main reason why I got one is when I would be lying on the ground and firing that many of us USSS fella's do. It was easier to reach for your wrist then stumble and have caps fall out of the pouch. Now these where some of my reasons and it worked for me. Could be different for you guys tough

[Busterbuttonboy]

Looks like they'd be great for this weekends Goofysburg reenactment.

[johnerys]

Heres one being at Hale Farm in Ohio a few years back.

[agrnbrt]

I have one of these wrist cappers that I used with my sharps. I was a fast loader and hardly stumbled...

Ok I gotta ask...how many you hit with that fast loadin' son?
What was yer shot to kill ratio?

[bob 125th nysvi]

Ok I gotta ask...how many you hit with that fast loadin' son?
What was yer shot to kill ratio?

too bent out of shape over anybody's 'shot to kill ratio' please remember that the US Army in WWII expended about 10,000 rounds of small arms ammunition for every casualty (WIA & KIA) it inflicted.

Despite what we'd all like to claim when shooting at targets with no danger of them shooting back, in the real war we wouldn't do anywhere near what we do on a target range.

Just as the boys didn't 61-65.

Personally, I just think the thing looks about as farby as anything I've ever seen pawned off on the bottom end of sutler's row.

Just do without and go PEC.

[Pvt Schnapps]

Heres one being at Hale Farm in Ohio a few years back.

With no offense intended to the gentleman in the photograph, it seems incongruous at best, and more than a little ridiculous at worst, to use a quick-loader cap bracelet with a scoped target rifle.

The real "heavies" required individually measured charges and bullets loaded separately with a starter and a false muzzle. Even without that paraphernalia, capping the piece -- as I said earlier -- is probably already the fastest part.

The whole point anyway is to take your time and score the hit, not to blaze away as quickly as possible. Having the child there to share in the perversion just kind of ices the cake.

I know I've done some silly things myself. I just hope no such photographic evidence survives ;)

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo!

"With no offense intended to the gentleman in the photograph, it seems incongruous at best, and more than a little ridiculous at worst, to use a quick-loader cap bracelet with a scoped target rifle."

IMHO, true...

But in this case, it would appear to be the deadly Richmond Skirmisher Sniper Rifle-Musket, aka "Yankee Killer."

If it were the same lad, or just another Confederate with wrist band, this year he had a Sharps Rifle to compliment the wrist band.

Different Mental Pictures, just like the Berdan Sharpshooter Living History at Gettysburg with a Berdan presentor with a brass mechanical capper suspended from his neck.

CHS

[Jim of the SRR]

In my opinion, for infantry anyways, the cap pouch on your belt is in a specfic place for a specific purpose to be used in conjunction with the manual so you could load your weapon quickly and safely. Notice the position of prime has the musket braced against your body and the nipple is very close to the position of the cap pouch. You also can maintain control of the piece with your left hand. Using this contraption does not seem safe and would mean your you would no longer follow the manual to load your weapon.
Just my 2 cents.

Jim Butler

[Silas]

Admit it, Jim. You want one. Heck, one for each wrist and one around your neck.

Stop being in denial. Let go of you inhibitions. Let your true, speed shootin' warrior. Start bein'. Start goen. Just sayin'.

[Rob Weaver]

I don't think they were originally designed with speed shooting military personnel in mind. I think they were designed for a civilian market. Civilians didn't tend to wear things on their belts like military personnel, but carried everything in a hunting bag. A cap box often went in a pocket. Now if you're used to fishing around in your pockets for caps, or feeling around the bottom of your hunting bag for the tin, having it on your wrist starts to sound like a good idea. When you're done hunting, you drop it back in the bag and you don't have something else to look after. I don't think the purpose of the gadget was speed at all but rather convenience.

[flattop32355]

Admit it, Jim. You want one. Heck, one for each wrist and one around your neck.

Stop being in denial. Let go of you inhibitions. Let your true, speed shootin' warrior. Start bein'. Start goen. Just sayin'.

Jim's lusting after a double bandolier to carry extra cartridges in, too. With that and the wristband, he can rival the boys with the Henry's in firepower. ;)

[tompritchett]

I have one of these wrist cappers that I used with my sharps. I was a fast loader and hardly stumbled. But the main reason why I got one is when I would be lying on the ground and firing that many of us USSS fella's do.

This is probably the best (and only) justification that I have seen for such a device. For the purists, remember all the accouterments and drill manuals were designed for formations of infantray who primarily fought standing up (yes, I am aware the manuals do have a procedure for loading while prone) and they definitely were not designed for sharpshooters. Also remember that the premier sharpshooter rifle of the entire war was a civilian rifle, the Whitworth, which was never designed for war but instead was built for match shooting. So for the speciality impression of a sharpshooter, I could see the use of such a wristband with the caveat that the soldier bought it himself because of the convience. But IMHO it would have no place in a standard infantry impression.

[Pvt Schnapps]

This is probably the best (and only) justification that I have seen for such a device. For the purists, remember all the accouterments and drill manuals were designed for formations of infantray who primarily fought standing up (yes, I am aware the manuals do have a procedure for loading while prone) and they definitely were not designed for sharpshooters. Also remember that the premier sharpshooter rifle of the entire war was a civilian rifle, the Whitworth, which was never designed for war but instead was built for match shooting. So for the speciality impression of a sharpshooter, I could see the use of such a wristband with the caveat that the soldier bought it himself because of the convience. But IMHO it would have no place in a standard infantry impression.

Tom, I know you're just trying to be reasonable (don't you know us better yet? :) ), but I'll go back to my first comment and suggest that the only real justification for using one is documentation that an actual soldier used one, not that they existed and might have had some marginal value in some circumstances.

The army issued both Sharps and equipments for riflemen such as separate powder flasks and bullet bags (you can see them listed in the Ordnance Department's Instructions for quarterly returns, available at most sutlers across the spectrum of authenticity). But it never issued cap bracelets.

I would further add that the use of the Sharps as a rapid fire weapon is a bit of an anachronism. How do folks blaze away without taking themselves out of the action in half the time of the reenactor with a muzzle-loader? Do they carry two cartridge boxes or, as I've seen some fellows do, take out their tins so you can dump 90 cartridges in a single box? How satisfying is that little rewrite of history? Do they slay that many more foemen?

It would be nice if someone who actually thought the bracelets saw use would dig up some evidence. If they existed, someone made them and someone sold them and there ought to be some evidence in Google Books, Google Patents, journals, letters, or some other source.

Research is easier now than it ever has been, so it's past time we based impressions on hearsay and a few photos in Lord's.

"Educate, don't speculate." :)

[Pvt Schnapps]

I couldn't stand it so I looked it up myself. Google Books has a single mention of a device resembling the wristband, which I found by searching for "percussion cap" and either of the words "bracelet" or "wrist."

It appears in "The American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal" By Stephen Denison Peet & J O Kinnaman, dated 1886, on page 283, in an article on the Apache-Yumas and Apache-Mojaves, both of whom came into contact with the U.S. government the hard way in the 1870's:

"The men wear a bracelet from two to four inches wide, around the left forearm, to protect it from the recoil of the bow string. It is made of heavy otter or deer skin, and is ornamented with paint, beads or brass buttons. Those who have muzzle-loading guns wear one made of leather, in which little tongues are cut to hold percussion caps."

It would thus appear to be Indian Wars, used by men who customarily wear kilts and have not yet received cap boxes from the Apache Ordnance Department.

A similar search in Google Patents turned up nothing.

I hereby propose that all such devices currently in use be condemned by the inspectors, surplused, and transferred to the nearest Native American reenacting groups.

[44thGa]

I've got one for each wrist and each ankle. I have even converted the leather piece on my barrel into a place to hold caps. Sometimes the barrel gets too hot and sets off the caps though. Oh well....

[Blair]

"leather piece on my barrel" ?
Oh yes. The Sharps & Hankins Navy Carbine. How totally stupid of me?

[Spinster]

Mistah Schaffner,

What a capital idea!!!!

When you implement it, please expand the order to include those fellers I saw a few weeks ago with caps on a piece of leather hanging on a string around their necks---with their names on the leather!

You know, we don't even take children's groups out and about with nametags on anymore

[44thGa]

It was a joke, Mr. Taylor. I was referring to the leather wraps people put on their rifle barrels to keep from burning their hands as a consequence of too much powder burning. But if they'd a had 'em they'd have used 'em! :rolleyes:

[Silas]

You mean the leather wrap thing around blazing hot steel barrels that are so common in some circles are bogus, too? Say it isn't so! What will Jim Butler do when he learns about this?

[Spinster]

Silas,

Your face is gonna freeze in that position.

Bernie's too.

MyMama sed so.

[Stonewall_Greyfox]

I don't think they were originally designed with speed shooting military personnel in mind. I think they were designed for a civilian market. Civilians didn't tend to wear things on their belts like military personnel, but carried everything in a hunting bag. A cap box often went in a pocket. Now if you're used to fishing around in your pockets for caps, or feeling around the bottom of your hunting bag for the tin, having it on your wrist starts to sound like a good idea. When you're done hunting, you drop it back in the bag and you don't have something else to look after. I don't think the purpose of the gadget was speed at all but rather convenience.

Umm...that'd be some serious shooting on the civilian market, considering this is in the days before rampant school school shootings...


Paul B.

[Jim of the SRR]

I've got one for each wrist and each ankle. I have even converted the leather piece on my barrel into a place to hold caps. Sometimes the barrel gets too hot and sets off the caps though. Oh well....

I got one for my hat strap and jock strap also.

Jim Butler

[Rob Weaver]

No - I don't think you were supposed to shoot the whole thing up at once. It does give you a good idea at a glance how many caps you have left. Here's a less than ideal picture of an original. Lord's Encyclopedia, Vol III, p. 138. According to the caption it was captured at Donelson, and the capturer was killed at Shiloh. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that given these fairly early dates, they were available before the war.

[Pvt Schnapps]

No - I don't think you were supposed to shoot the whole thing up at once. It does give you a good idea at a glance how many caps you have left. Here's a less than ideal picture of an original. Lord's Encyclopedia, Vol III, p. 138. According to the caption it was captured at Donelson, and the capturer was killed at Shiloh. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that given these fairly early dates, they were available before the war.

Yes, Rob, it stands a good chance of pre-dating the war, if we can accept the entry in Lord's.

But the provenance is a little shaky, given that the alledged captor left this earthly vale a couple of months after coming across it and sending it home.

A more interesting question at this point is how this single object, described by Lord as "unique," captured from the Confederates at Donelson, then kept apparently as a curiosity and never used again, became a fetish object for northern sharpshooters.

I mean, it's sort of like putting zouaves in jaguar skin trowsers. We know the Confederates had at least one pair, and zou-zous had a kind of fashion thing going on, so why not?

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

Ran across this while mindlessly web-surfing. Looks to me like it could either be worn on the wrist (as the name implies) or strapped to the buttstock of a carbine or musket.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/bebloomster/509.jpg

Just wondering if any of you use this thing and how you like it.

http://www.dlwleathers.com/Pages/ProductDetails.asp?ProductID=509

And this whole time I thought it was a belt feeder for percussion caps for the Gatling gun that keeps coming to Florida events guarded by all of the Berdan's Sharpshooters.....

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo!

The original Civil War version of this has been misinterpreted by modern reenactors.

The original device was not a "speed capper" but a convenient version of an abacus used for keeping count of how many Yankees or Rebels one had killed through speed firing. It is also the ancestor of the modern baseball "pitch counter" device.

I could be wrong, though, as I read this on Wickedpedia, or EBAY, or on an on-line Civil War board somewhere.

:)

CHS

[Spinster]

Silas,

Your face is gonna freeze in that position.

Bernie's too.

MyMama sed so.


And so is Curt's :mrgreen:

[plankmaker]

I seem to remember that US Grant had something like that to do inventory on beaver hats when he was in the haberdashery biddness prior to the war.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

[Mint Julep]

Ran across this while mindlessly web-surfing.

I feel it is important to bring up the fact that this item was found mindlessly. That may be the most important skill needed for its use, as well.

[GreencoatCross]

A friend of mine gave me one of these about 9 years ago. Tossed it in the garbage immediately. I haven't seen much historical precedent for it, nor have I felt the need to use it for any of my impressions.

As for my U.S.S.S. impression, well, it's a fact that there are no events to attend if you have a proper impression (outside of interpretive talks, etc.). The orignial Sharps rifles had the Lawrence pellet primer system anyway, allowing a man to fire without use of percussion caps....if they didn't use caps, they would have used the Lawrence, and vice versa. Historically the Sharps rifles have a naturally higher rate of fire due to the breech loading design; they could still load, take deliberate aim, fire, and start the process over again without going ape. If they ever had to fire as quickly as humanly possible they were probably on the verge of being pressed by way superior numbers, and pressed hard (see 2nd Regt., Slyder Farm, Gettysburg and Cos. D, E, F, I, Pitzer's Woods, Gettysburg).

Off the ol' soap box now.

[Blair]

Brian,

You might also want to mention and note that the model Sharps used before the Lawrence pellet primer system was addopted was the Maynard tape primer Sharps M-1855 Rifles and don't forget the "Carbines".
Also "civilian" firearms do not use "winged" Military "Musket" Caps.
How do these work with out the "wings"?

[Artyman]

I can tell you where one of those wristbands would help...ME! Being a one armed shooter causes me a lot of "fumble time" when trying to get into the cap pouch. At Bedford I resorted to holding a few in my cartridge box to save some loading time. Still dropped several, and ran out of caps before I ran out of cartridges. I could put it on my belt and make things much easier.

But, thar goes the authenticity part, dang it!

Where do you get these?

Harry

[Blair]

Harry,

http://www.dlwleathers.com/Pages/Pro...?ProductID=509

[Rob Weaver]

A more interesting question at this point is how this single object, described by Lord as "unique," captured from the Confederates at Donelson, then kept apparently as a curiosity and never used again, became a fetish object for northern sharpshooters.

Now that's a good point. Nowhere in this item's backstore is there any indication that it's a sharpshooter's. Even more, weren't a number of the Donalson regiments poorly equipped? The original owner may not have ever been issued a capbox. Interestingly, the provenance would point toward Confederate and not Federal use. Good point.