Quote Originally Posted by Abasmajor View Post
Another advantage with the conversion is the ability to use 209 shotgun primers which are not only easier to fit, but cost less than conventional percussion caps.
Brian
This is why I think the cost of percussion caps and top hats are over priced.

209 primers and centrefire primers are half the price but during manufacture, apart from having more components than a percussion cap, they also have to be within a tight tolerance of 10th's of a thousandth of an inch or they will not go in the primer pocket, or they will fall out.

Percussion caps and top-hats must be a lot easier to produce, and the tolerances do not have to be as precise, so they should not be any dearer than centrefire primers.