Primitive arms question

[Old Dude]

Not sure where I should ask this but thought this was as good as anywhere. I know very little about firearms...so little, in fact, that I threw away last month a find that I have only come to realize was a spent percussion cap. It was very small and resembled a brass cartridge from a very small bullet. The open end was split down the sides and peeled back into 4 sections, curled down toward the base. I didn't know what it was and threw it away. I have seen pics since and now know. I looked online and saw they are still in use today, so my question is how do you determine the age of one? Would it be rare that a 19th century one be found intact? Thanks for your replies.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Upgraded Night Vision Monocular Digital Infrared Monocular Telescope for 100% Darkness with 8X Zoom - Grab it through Amazon!

[releventchair]

They can turn up. Some areas produce numbers of them in recognizable condition. Copper the primary material. There are also larger musket caps, (top hat style) on occasion. While some still used today they will likely be in pretty good shape if recent. Most I discard show burns that being carbon would seem to linger quite awhile yet bright copper..never heard or saw carbon stains from firing left on real old ones. They start out bright as a new cent. By intact I'm guessing you mean not disintegrated. They should hold up well over time. Pretty sure civil war era ones get recovered often.

 

[azdave]

I have found many. They typically represent a location that is dating early/mid-1870's and BEFORE. By the mid 1870's, metallic cartridge firearms took over, especially in places that were still "wild".....like the territories. Most people spent the little money they had to arm themselves with the "latest and greatest" when their life relied on it.

So muzzleloaders and cap-and-ball revolvers took a back seat after the wide spread use of more modern guns, but they still were in use by people, just as they are now.

As stated above, you could usually tell an "old" one from a "newer" one.....as well, use other things found in the area to date the cap. I have found percussion caps in the same location as 44 Rimfires and Spencer casings, along with 36 and 44 caliber lead for the percussion guns.... because there was a crossover period starting for the most part with the CW, where the first metallic cartridges were in use, but percussion still dominated.

When you find several caps in the area, it is common to find cap tins also...once empty, they often tossed them. I have several marked Eley-London...they were a big supplier back then to meet the demands in the US.

I get excited to find them, because I know then that I'm at a location here in AZ that involves the earliest "easterners" for the most part. The white man didn't start arriving in this state until right before/after the CW in large numbers, so finding caps often indicates a spot that those earliest pioneers visited.

 

[Old Dude]

Thanks guys. This field has produced many round balls and one toasted old Large copper as the oldest coin. Just across a creek bordering it and in another field, I have found colonial coins, so I know the area has some history. I guess the cap is just another page.