Product Review SliX-SHot Nipples

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.

New Nipples!

No I didn't get a breast augmentation done, get your mind out of the gutter!  I bought a set of SliX-Shot nipples to replace the nipples on my reproduction Colt 1860.  The nipples have three disadvantages that I can see one cosmetic, another is practical and the last is price.

I personally don't like the look of Ampco or stainless steel nipples on cap and ball revolvers.  From everything I've read on the Colt 1860  ampco bronze and stainless steel weren't used as material for the nipples </sarcasm> and I prefer a more authentic look.  However, as an engineer I have to be a bit practical and recognize that bronze and stainless are more durable in the application than hardened steel.

Practicality cuts both ways though, SLiX-Shot nipples are only available for #10 caps.  As I have observed in prior posts the #10 caps are very scarce.

Price is a minor nit, the SliX-Shot nipples are six dollars each while more conventional stainless steel nipples are four dollars each and the Ampco bronze nipples are one cent less than the SliX-Shot nipples.  At an extra two bucks I'm willing to give it a try if it proves to be a superior product.

What are the advantages of the SLiX-Shot nipples?  The nipple's firing chamber is larger with two diametrically opposed holes in addition to the touch-hole (for lack of a better term).  These features should lessen the back pressure in the hammer on the Colt 1860's and  reproductions thereof.  The lower pressure in turn will hopefully lower the chance that the caps are forced into the groove on the hammer that seats over the cylinder pins.  This should mean that the hammer won't extract the cap off the nipple thereby reducing the incidence of cap jams.  The two holes may blow the sides of the cap off as well, we'll see once I get it out to the range.

I expect I'll get out either this weekend or sometime in the first week of May so stay tuned for a follow-up post.

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I've installed the nipples on the revolver and as you can see for yourself the stainless steel nipples aren't too glaringly apparent.  I did notice that the older nipples where visibly shorter than the SliX-Shot nipples when installed in the cylinder.

Close-up of the original Nipples.

Before installing the SliX-Shot Nipples

New SliX-Shots.

Old nipples.

New SliX-Shot Nipples Installed

Compare the old & the new.

Close-up of the SliX-Shot Nipples

The New SliX-Shots were installed using Traditions EZ Clean Breech & Nipple Thread Lube.  It's probably just bore butter in different packaging.  The EZ Clean has been doing the job on my Tradtions Vortek since I bought it and it seems to work well on the nipples of the Colt reproduction.

Since it looks like it's going to rain all weekend I won't be installing the new steel on the roof so I may mosey out to the range to give my refurbished revolvers a chance to make some smoke.

Norinco 1911 A1 Clone

At our biweekly IDPA practise I had a chance to try out another fellows Norinco M1911-A1.  For under $350 CDN this is a sweet gun.  I found it to be quite accurate in the hands of someone who can shoot it would be undoubtedly very accurate.  The finish was quite good.  It's not the equal of my STI Spartan (9mm) in terms of how tight the tolerances are but the gun was fairly tight and both guns have about 2000 rounds through them.  I didn't find that the recoil was any better or worse in the .45ACP than in my 9mm.  I was a bit slower to get back on target but not too much.  The time on the course of fire using each gun was within a little over half a second on 7 rounds.

Considering that the Norinco was less than half the price of my STI and about a quarter of the price of the STI Trojan I think that it is great value for the money.

Taurus 66B6

This was an IDPA Practice weekend and one of the guys brought out a Taurus Model 66B6.  This is a medium frame .357 Magnum revolver, blued with a seven shot cylinder.  It's a great shooter, my groups at ten yards were consistently about 2" shooting from a two handed isosceles stance in both single and double action.  The fit and finish seemed very good and the trigger broke cleanly when I was shooting in single action.  We shot .38 special and .357 Magnum loads.  Unloading the spent .357 brass was quite a bit harder than the .38 brass and the owner indicated that he generally used a bit of lube on the .357 brass to ease unloading but hadn't on the factory ammo he and I had shot.  My course of fire times were so much better even with the never-sufficiently-damned speedloaders that I may have to convert to shooting a revolver for IDPA.

The down side is that it kicks quite a bit more than my 9mm automatic.  Also feeding the pig would be considerably more expensive, especially when your shooting four to five thousand rounds a year. The cylinder rotates counter-clockwise which I find subtly wrong since I'm used to my Colt 1860.    Overall I really liked the gun and I may consider buying one after Mrs. McBugbear returns to work and there's a new roof on the house.