I've had time to get to the range and try out the new SLiX-Shot nipples. My experience is rather middle of the road. One thing that I can say is that absent filling in the groove in the hammer it does not solve the problem of the caps getting sucked off the nipple. I have found it does relieve the problem somewhat though. I fired about 25 shots and had a few cap jams. The nipples do tend to blow the caps apart into a nice cloverleaf pattern (using #10 CCI caps). The nipples are just a touch too long as well so the caps seem to sit a bit higher although they still clear the frame as the cylinder rotates, but not by much. Ignition was very consistent, I never had to hit a cap twice which was an intermittent problem as my reproduction 1860 got fouled a bit with the old nipples.
My only real complaint is that occasionally the SLiX-Shot nipples will throw a piece of hot cap back on my hand. The old nipples did this occasionally as well but with lower frequency. I was shooting on a windy day so that might have something to do with the problem.
Overall I wouldn't say that these nipples are a must buy but if you're in the market for replacement nipples they certainly aren't overpriced or an inferior product.
I just got my slix nipples this week, I put them on, but they looked to long, and I didn't like how close the caps came to the recoil shield. I put in my Treso's, caps stay put, but hammer looks like it gets too close to the nipple for comfort.
ReplyDeleteThe joys of cap 'n ball.....
That's pretty much what I observed as well. I took a close look at the nipples after I'd used them at the range. There was no mushrooming or cracking and no marking on the hammer. I may take them to my brother-in-law and have him machine them down to match the nipples I replaced.
ReplyDeleteI will say though that once the caps are on I had no problem with the caps clearing the shield, the clearance was tight but it didn't dislodge any caps when I spun the cylinder (slowly) on half-cock.
I'm pretty ambivalent about the SLiX-Shot nipples overall.