Easy Semi - this is above board....
The other day there was a discussion on the different nipples that a person might use. I have through the process of elimination chosen the nipple that seems to work best for me in a side hammer. I have cosen to use the very
short TC or equivelent nipple.
Here are my reasons... or prcesses of elimination...
The first side hammer that I started with was a Lyman Trade Rifle - it came with a very short nipple - I really never understod why and if you ordered replacement nipples from Lyman you got the short stubby ones.
The next side hammer I got was a TC with what I call the standard nipple installed. As soon as I got that I did the same thing I did with the Lyman switched a "Hot Shot" or a "Red Hot" - they worked great, for the most part. I also tried some of the hollow base "Spit Fire" nipples but abanndoned them after a couple of incidents. I am basically cheap - so I do not regularly replace nipples - I use them as long as they will function. I believe I must have metal fatigue a couple of the hollow base type nipples as I blew the tops off of two of them - blow-back - leaving the threaded portion in the bolster. So I do not use hollow base any longer...
think about it how much metal is there in a hollow base to hold the blow-back??? In fact that is what the whole in the stack of the "Hot Shot" is for to relieve blow-back to take pressure off the hammer...
A conversation with Doc White is what convinced me the short nipple was the way to go... I called him to order a 209 BP for my White - in the conversation he told me I really did not need one because the #11 work so well. I suggested that I have had problems getting T7 to ignite in really cold weather with a #11. The secret he says "is the length the flash has to travel before it reaches the powder" the shorter the distance the better chance the flash will still have enough heat to ignite T7. The distance in a White is "3/8th of an inch" - the powder will go off.
So how do I reduce the distance in a side hammer... DUH! shorten the nipple... This has really worked well for me in the cold, wet, weather here in Idaho...
If you have no concerns about cold and powder - disregard this whole message...
Nipple Talk
). I've never had ignition problems in my caplocks with standard CCI #11s. Maybe it's because we don't have extreme low temperatures. Maybe because I've always used the short nipples. Either way, I'm a short nipple fan. You can take that any way you want. 
