A cap in grandpa's eye

[lupaglupa]

My great-great-grandfather, Julius Caesar Sims, served in both the 9th Mississippi Infantry Regiment and the 43rd Mississippi Infantry Regiment. In his pension application in 1907, he explained how he had been wounded in the Battle of Corinth: "Cap stuck me in the eye." By 1907 he had lost that eye and had poor vision in the other, which he said had been damaged. Now, being a person without a lot of knowledge when it comes to military hardware, I first thought Grandpa had been hit in the eye by his hat. My, husband, however, told he he was certain this had been a rifle percussion cap, which would have been much more likely to cause such serious damage. He explained what a cap was and that made sense, in a theoretical way.

Yesterday my husband and I went out to Schoharie, New York to see the Revolutionary War re-enactment at the Old Stone Fort. In addition to visiting with a lot of excellent re-enactors, we toured the local museum. Being one of those "if they want to donate it, we want to display it" collections, there were several cases of Civil War paraphernalia, including (picture below) CAPS! So now I can really imagine what hit Grandpa in the eye. Ouch.

 

[Zella]

Ouch indeed! I bet that was painful!

 

[lupaglupa]

I'm still wishing someone could explain to me how this could happen!

 

[JOHN42768]

Guessing only way to get hit in the eye might be by prying spent cap off with a knife and letting it fly in your face

 

[DixieRifles]

Most of my experience has been with firing rifles and pistols that use the smaller No. 11 Size caps. The No. 11 caps will burst apart but they are usually contained by the shape and design of a revolver's cylinder & frame or by the hammer of a rifle. I have fired some rifles with these larger caps. I would think the larger cap would be stronger with the flange on the bottom and less susceptible to blowing apart.
The only time I reenacted, I used a borrowed rifle which was a little used. In the first skirmish, the Nipple busted. I've never heard of that before or since. My only explanation is that the owner really mistreated his rifle.
So I guess a bursting cap could cause injury to the shooter or another soldier in his rank.

 

[lupaglupa]

Most of my experience has been with firing rifles and pistols that use the smaller No. 11 Size caps. The No. 11 caps will burst apart but they are usually contained by the shape and design of a revolver's cylinder & frame or by the hammer of a rifle. I have fired some rifles with these larger caps. I would think the larger cap would be stronger with the flange on the bottom and less susceptible to blowing apart.
The only time I reenacted, I used a borrowed rifle which was a little used. In the first skirmish, the Nipple busted. I've never heard of that before or since. My only explanation is that the owner really mistreated his rifle.
So I guess a bursting cap could cause injury to the shooter or another soldier in his rank.

And revealing my true ignorance concerning all things gun-related - if the cap did blow apart, would it be likely to fly into your face?

 

[DixieRifles]

And revealing my true ignorance concerning all things gun-related - if the cap did blow apart, would it be likely to fly into your face?

Thanks for asking----I didn't make myself very clear.

This is a Springfield rifle. Note how the hammer has a recessed cavity such that it fits over the Nipple. The Cap would fit snug on the Nipple---this photo does not have a Cap installed. IF the cap ruptured and came apart, most of it would be contained or at least the Hammer would hold it down against the Nipple. The cap would have to split and probably have to split into 3 or more pieces for it to escape the hammer.

 

[DixieRifles]

This is a Colt revolver rifle that uses the No. 11 size caps.
The caps are smaller and you can see how contained it is. It is actually hard to extract them.
But they do explode or fall off and can slide down the curve of the hammer and get inside the Frame of the pistol.
This is because these caps are very thin brass and it is easier to bend and crush them.