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Greased wads vs sealing the chamber
Before you have Crisco splater all over you and have it staining and melting all over the place, Google info on sealing chambers and chain fires. This is just a sample:
Greased wads vs sealing the chamber
I've pondered the multiple ignition problem for years.
I'm believe that the discharge of unintentional chambers originates at the rear of the cylnder, with flame getting into the nipples, somehow.
I just don't see how flame can get past a properly oversized ball, even if the chamber is out-of-round. After all, if the chamber is out of round, the ball will be swaged to that shape as well.
That is, if the ball is large enough. Another reason why I use .380 inch balls in my .36s, and .454 or 457 balls in my .44s.
The recommended ball sizes of .375 and .451 inch barely shave off any lead when seated.
Some folks have their chambers slightly chamfered to avoid producing the ring of lead. I don't see any problems with that, and some claim it enhances accuracy. Not so sure about that, as I don't have a revolver with chamfered chambers.
I've experienced multiple ignition on three separate occasions, back in the early 1970s when I first began shooting cap and ball revolvers. Mine was a cheap, brass-framed 1851 Navy in the inauthentic .44 caliber.
I used DuPont FFFG black powder, .451 balls, Crisco slathered over the balls and Remington caps, unpinched.
The third incident wrecked the rammer and bent the screw upon which is hinges. I gave the gun to a gunsmith for parts.
Later, I began using hard felt wads soaked in a mix of lard and beeswax, per the instructions of the late gun writer Elmer Keith. Somewhere I picked up the tip to pinch the caps into an elliptical shape, giving them a springiness that helped them cling better to the nipple.
I also began using balls of .378 and .380 in my .36s, and .454 or .457 in my .44s. Since doing so, I have never experienced another multiple ignition.
Interestingly, Colt's vintage instructions merely advised to use an oversized ball. No lubricant or greased felt wad was mentioned. The earliest printed reference I've found to the use of a greased, felt wad is a 1928 American Rifleman.
I've never found any evidence that shooters of the 19th century used greased felt wads in their cap and balls. There are incidental accounts of beeswax and similar substances being pressed in over the ball, and around the caps, but this clearly for waterproofing and not lubrication.
Getting back to your original post ...
Lubricated felt wads are, most folks agree, less messy to use than grease over the ball. Grease over the ball can create a mess in a holster too, if it runs out or is dislodged from activity.
The heat of weather or firing from adjacent chambers may cause the lubricant in felt wads to soak into the powder, affecting ignition or combustion. At the range, for me it's not an issue because I load six chambers and fire all six within a minute or two.
However, if you're storing the revolver for a length of time or hiking, and using a greased felt wad under the ball, you should probably seat a wad made of waxed card (punched from a milk carton) on top of the powder, as a barrier to contamination. I've done this occasionally and had no problems with ignition or combustion.
The only time I put grease over a projectile in my revolvers is when I use an older style conical bullet that has no grease grooves (like the modern Lee design) or if I shoot in weather of high temperature and low humidity. The extra grease seems to keep the fouling softer in this weather extreme, than a greased wad alone.
But I dont' often shoot when it's 100 degrees or more, and the humidity has dropped to 6 percent or so. Just too darned hot! Best to stay inside and keep the air conditioner company.
The greased, felt wad is always placed between ball and powder, not over the ball where it may create a bore obstruction upon firing and raise pressures.
You can make your own felt wads quite cheaply, far cheaper than the cost of those sold commercially.
Go to the Durofelt site at http://www.durofelt.com/
In its Products you'll find, about 3/4 of the way down, listing for various Felt Materials and Closeout Felt Materials. Buy the 1/8" thick, hard sheet felt for most uses. I also use the 1/4" felt to make wads that take up room in the chamber with light target loads. It's easier to use than corn meal.
But the 1/8" felt is preferred and will hold ample lubricant to keep fouling soft all the way down your revolver's bore.
As I write this, Durofelt's closeout section has hard, 1/8 inch wool felt scaps for sale. You can get one piece 6 inches wide, and 36 inches long, for $6. Figuring on four .36 or .44 wads per square inch, that's 6X36X4= 864 wads. For six bucks!
The last I checked, Wonder Wads were about $10 for 100.
Durofelt also has free shipping for U.S. customers, so you save on that as well.
No, I make no profit from Durofelt but it's a good, reputable company and many other shooters have reported excellent service and products from it.
Incidentally, I've never liked the dry lubricant on Wonder Wads. It always leaves the last few inches of the bore heavy with fouling, as if the lubricant exhausted itself. A moist lubricant is needed.
I grease all of my wads with the lubricant named after me: Gatofeo No. 1 Lubricant.
It's not commercially made, but you can make a batch by melting together 1 part canning paraffin (Gulf of Parowax), 1 part Mutton Tallow (sold by Dixie Gun Works) and 1/2 part beeswax (the real stuff, not the synthetic sold for toilet seals for the past dozen years or so). All amounts are by weight, not volume.
A kitchen scale to measure 200/200/100 grams of ingredients works well, or 100/100/50 or whatever weight you want.
Substituting any of the above ingredients will result in an inferior lubricant.
But if this is too much trouble, buy a stick or two of SPG or Lyman Black Gold, both are lubricants designed for use with black powder.
Allow the lubricant to harden at room temperature after you've melted and mixed the ingredients. Put a clean tuna or pet food can on the stove at very low heat, add a couple Tablespoons of lubricant, then add about 100 wads. Stir them into the melted lubricant with a clean stick until they are well-soaked. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
For storage and transport to the range, simply snap a plastic pet food lid over the can. Write the caliber and type of lubricant on the side of the can.
When you run low just put the can back on the stove and replenish with more lubricant and wads.
This simplifies making and storing the greased wads.
For pocket storage or hunting, keep the greased wads in an Altoid Sour Candy tin or shoe polish container. An airtight container that may be opened with greasy fingers is required. Or use a Zip-Loc if you only need to carry a few wads.
A 3/8 inch punch will create .36 caliber wads. Or use the sharpened mouth of a .38/55 or .375 H&H case. Before use, drill out the back of the case so you can put in a thin bolt or dowel to push out the wads you make.
For .44 wads, use a .45-caliber case with sharpened mouth, such as .45 ACP, .45 Long Colt or .45-70. Of you can buy a .45-caliber wad punch from Buffalo Arms for about $20.
Though called a .44, cap and ball revolvers are closer to .45 than .44 caliber.
The 7/16ths punch in sets is too small, but just right for .44-40, .44 Special and .44 Magnum. The 1/2" punch is too large, but just right for .50-caliber rifles.
On cold, winter days I punch out wads while my keister is parked in front of the TV. A scrap of 2X8 across my lap, and a short length of 8" log to strike the wad cutter against (end grain) works fine.
I modernized my outfit by affixing the short log to the 2X8 with wood screws, and then epoxying the top of the log with a scrap of self-sealing, plastic cutting board. This avoids woodchips in my felt wads. The cutting board is remarkable stuff; I've cut perhaps a couple thousand wads on it, of various sizes, and it still looks new.
Another benefit of wads is that you can experiment with different lubricants without lugging a bunch of jars, tubes and bottles to the range. If you pre-lubricate the wads at home, as you should, the few wads you need for experimentation are easily carried in Zip-Loc baggies, and their contents labeled with a wide marker.
Wads or grease over the ball? Clearly, I'm in favor of wads. And I favor the Gatofeo No. 1 lubricant with these wads. I haven't found a lubricant that works as well, and I've tried a number of different types.
But SPG or Lyman Black Gold are darn close, so you can purchase those lubricants and be assured of having a good product.
Some folks use vegetable oil, such as olive or canola, on their wads but I find it too readily contaminates the powder.
A drop or two of oil over the ball is nothing new and it works okay, but it's another step to my use of wads.
I believe, but cannot prove, that a hard felt wad scrapes fouling from the bore it goes down. I've recovered such wads with a reverse image of the rifling on them, indicating that the wad was down deep in the rifling.
This, I suspect, accounts partly for why a hard felt wad works so well.
I gave up on Crisco over the ball long ago, after I discovered Keith's recommendation to use a hard felt wad with a proper lubricant.
Try both methods and decide for yourself. But I believe that once you've tried lubricated wads between the ball and powder, you'll forego grease over the ball.
And look into making your own wads, too. It's much cheaper and there's a lot of satisfaction from doing so.
I've been shooting cap and ball revolvers since about 1970. I don't know it all, and I'm still learning. It's a fascinating hobby.
Have fun and be safe.
Before you have Crisco splater all over you and have it staining and melting all over the place, Google info on sealing chambers and chain fires. This is just a sample:
Greased wads vs sealing the chamber
I've pondered the multiple ignition problem for years.
I'm believe that the discharge of unintentional chambers originates at the rear of the cylnder, with flame getting into the nipples, somehow.
I just don't see how flame can get past a properly oversized ball, even if the chamber is out-of-round. After all, if the chamber is out of round, the ball will be swaged to that shape as well.
That is, if the ball is large enough. Another reason why I use .380 inch balls in my .36s, and .454 or 457 balls in my .44s.
The recommended ball sizes of .375 and .451 inch barely shave off any lead when seated.
Some folks have their chambers slightly chamfered to avoid producing the ring of lead. I don't see any problems with that, and some claim it enhances accuracy. Not so sure about that, as I don't have a revolver with chamfered chambers.
I've experienced multiple ignition on three separate occasions, back in the early 1970s when I first began shooting cap and ball revolvers. Mine was a cheap, brass-framed 1851 Navy in the inauthentic .44 caliber.
I used DuPont FFFG black powder, .451 balls, Crisco slathered over the balls and Remington caps, unpinched.
The third incident wrecked the rammer and bent the screw upon which is hinges. I gave the gun to a gunsmith for parts.
Later, I began using hard felt wads soaked in a mix of lard and beeswax, per the instructions of the late gun writer Elmer Keith. Somewhere I picked up the tip to pinch the caps into an elliptical shape, giving them a springiness that helped them cling better to the nipple.
I also began using balls of .378 and .380 in my .36s, and .454 or .457 in my .44s. Since doing so, I have never experienced another multiple ignition.
Interestingly, Colt's vintage instructions merely advised to use an oversized ball. No lubricant or greased felt wad was mentioned. The earliest printed reference I've found to the use of a greased, felt wad is a 1928 American Rifleman.
I've never found any evidence that shooters of the 19th century used greased felt wads in their cap and balls. There are incidental accounts of beeswax and similar substances being pressed in over the ball, and around the caps, but this clearly for waterproofing and not lubrication.
Getting back to your original post ...
Lubricated felt wads are, most folks agree, less messy to use than grease over the ball. Grease over the ball can create a mess in a holster too, if it runs out or is dislodged from activity.
The heat of weather or firing from adjacent chambers may cause the lubricant in felt wads to soak into the powder, affecting ignition or combustion. At the range, for me it's not an issue because I load six chambers and fire all six within a minute or two.
However, if you're storing the revolver for a length of time or hiking, and using a greased felt wad under the ball, you should probably seat a wad made of waxed card (punched from a milk carton) on top of the powder, as a barrier to contamination. I've done this occasionally and had no problems with ignition or combustion.
The only time I put grease over a projectile in my revolvers is when I use an older style conical bullet that has no grease grooves (like the modern Lee design) or if I shoot in weather of high temperature and low humidity. The extra grease seems to keep the fouling softer in this weather extreme, than a greased wad alone.
But I dont' often shoot when it's 100 degrees or more, and the humidity has dropped to 6 percent or so. Just too darned hot! Best to stay inside and keep the air conditioner company.
The greased, felt wad is always placed between ball and powder, not over the ball where it may create a bore obstruction upon firing and raise pressures.
You can make your own felt wads quite cheaply, far cheaper than the cost of those sold commercially.
Go to the Durofelt site at http://www.durofelt.com/
In its Products you'll find, about 3/4 of the way down, listing for various Felt Materials and Closeout Felt Materials. Buy the 1/8" thick, hard sheet felt for most uses. I also use the 1/4" felt to make wads that take up room in the chamber with light target loads. It's easier to use than corn meal.
But the 1/8" felt is preferred and will hold ample lubricant to keep fouling soft all the way down your revolver's bore.
As I write this, Durofelt's closeout section has hard, 1/8 inch wool felt scaps for sale. You can get one piece 6 inches wide, and 36 inches long, for $6. Figuring on four .36 or .44 wads per square inch, that's 6X36X4= 864 wads. For six bucks!
The last I checked, Wonder Wads were about $10 for 100.
Durofelt also has free shipping for U.S. customers, so you save on that as well.
No, I make no profit from Durofelt but it's a good, reputable company and many other shooters have reported excellent service and products from it.
Incidentally, I've never liked the dry lubricant on Wonder Wads. It always leaves the last few inches of the bore heavy with fouling, as if the lubricant exhausted itself. A moist lubricant is needed.
I grease all of my wads with the lubricant named after me: Gatofeo No. 1 Lubricant.
It's not commercially made, but you can make a batch by melting together 1 part canning paraffin (Gulf of Parowax), 1 part Mutton Tallow (sold by Dixie Gun Works) and 1/2 part beeswax (the real stuff, not the synthetic sold for toilet seals for the past dozen years or so). All amounts are by weight, not volume.
A kitchen scale to measure 200/200/100 grams of ingredients works well, or 100/100/50 or whatever weight you want.
Substituting any of the above ingredients will result in an inferior lubricant.
But if this is too much trouble, buy a stick or two of SPG or Lyman Black Gold, both are lubricants designed for use with black powder.
Allow the lubricant to harden at room temperature after you've melted and mixed the ingredients. Put a clean tuna or pet food can on the stove at very low heat, add a couple Tablespoons of lubricant, then add about 100 wads. Stir them into the melted lubricant with a clean stick until they are well-soaked. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
For storage and transport to the range, simply snap a plastic pet food lid over the can. Write the caliber and type of lubricant on the side of the can.
When you run low just put the can back on the stove and replenish with more lubricant and wads.
This simplifies making and storing the greased wads.
For pocket storage or hunting, keep the greased wads in an Altoid Sour Candy tin or shoe polish container. An airtight container that may be opened with greasy fingers is required. Or use a Zip-Loc if you only need to carry a few wads.
A 3/8 inch punch will create .36 caliber wads. Or use the sharpened mouth of a .38/55 or .375 H&H case. Before use, drill out the back of the case so you can put in a thin bolt or dowel to push out the wads you make.
For .44 wads, use a .45-caliber case with sharpened mouth, such as .45 ACP, .45 Long Colt or .45-70. Of you can buy a .45-caliber wad punch from Buffalo Arms for about $20.
Though called a .44, cap and ball revolvers are closer to .45 than .44 caliber.
The 7/16ths punch in sets is too small, but just right for .44-40, .44 Special and .44 Magnum. The 1/2" punch is too large, but just right for .50-caliber rifles.
On cold, winter days I punch out wads while my keister is parked in front of the TV. A scrap of 2X8 across my lap, and a short length of 8" log to strike the wad cutter against (end grain) works fine.
I modernized my outfit by affixing the short log to the 2X8 with wood screws, and then epoxying the top of the log with a scrap of self-sealing, plastic cutting board. This avoids woodchips in my felt wads. The cutting board is remarkable stuff; I've cut perhaps a couple thousand wads on it, of various sizes, and it still looks new.
Another benefit of wads is that you can experiment with different lubricants without lugging a bunch of jars, tubes and bottles to the range. If you pre-lubricate the wads at home, as you should, the few wads you need for experimentation are easily carried in Zip-Loc baggies, and their contents labeled with a wide marker.
Wads or grease over the ball? Clearly, I'm in favor of wads. And I favor the Gatofeo No. 1 lubricant with these wads. I haven't found a lubricant that works as well, and I've tried a number of different types.
But SPG or Lyman Black Gold are darn close, so you can purchase those lubricants and be assured of having a good product.
Some folks use vegetable oil, such as olive or canola, on their wads but I find it too readily contaminates the powder.
A drop or two of oil over the ball is nothing new and it works okay, but it's another step to my use of wads.
I believe, but cannot prove, that a hard felt wad scrapes fouling from the bore it goes down. I've recovered such wads with a reverse image of the rifling on them, indicating that the wad was down deep in the rifling.
This, I suspect, accounts partly for why a hard felt wad works so well.
I gave up on Crisco over the ball long ago, after I discovered Keith's recommendation to use a hard felt wad with a proper lubricant.
Try both methods and decide for yourself. But I believe that once you've tried lubricated wads between the ball and powder, you'll forego grease over the ball.
And look into making your own wads, too. It's much cheaper and there's a lot of satisfaction from doing so.
I've been shooting cap and ball revolvers since about 1970. I don't know it all, and I'm still learning. It's a fascinating hobby.
Have fun and be safe.
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