[fusil22]

Well this is the first time I’ve ever posted a message on a forum. So please be gentle with me!!!!!!!
I am an ex-pat who moved to France a few years ago. I’ve applied for my ‘Permit de Tir’, French Firearms Cert., and you have to be a member of a club for 6 months before you can buy centre fire handguns. You are allowed to use a 22lr rifle or a BP weapon till your 6 months is up.

SO……I’ve bought my first BP pistol, it’s a Pietta 44 Remington. I’ve looked at lots of other sites (not as good as this one) and I’m after some advice.

So I’ll get to the point.

When you load is it best to pre-lube the ball with something?
Any words of cautions with cleaning products?
Is any one powder better than another?
Any words of wisdom greatly appreciated.

[DogBonz]

Sorry, I can't help you with your BP issues, but there was a great thread about gun ownership in France here not too long ago. Check it out:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=297651&highlight=dogbonz

[bigbadgun]

fusil22 as far as cleaning use hot water and dish soap then make sure you dry all parts very well and lube with bore butter not a petrolium based oil.
Personally I use a wonder wad between powder and ball. As far as powder real black powder is best but try Pyrodex p

[Eric F]

So long as you use a ball no wad or patch ect is necessary as when it is seated a small ring of lead should be cut off of the bullet. Make sure the ball seats on the powder firmly. read the sticky note at the top of this forum. Oh yeah and apply a dab of grease over the seated ball in the cylinder.

[Mark whiz]

I have a Pietta, brass-bodied, .44 Rem 1858 so I'll gladly pass on my experiences for ya:

1. Don't do anything to the ball itself, except load it. However you do need to either use a lubed wad between the powder and ball or fill the top of the cylinder with a lube of some sort after you've loaded the ball over the powder. This to done to help prevent a spark from igniting more than 1 cylinder when the hammer falls on a cap.

2.Cleaning is easy with black powder - soap and water is all that is required. I usually use a 50/50 mix of Simple Green and water, but any decent cleansing soap will work. Make sure you remove the nipples from time to time and clean them out very well with a pipe cleaner. When reinstalling them, make use to use a dab of some sort of grease on the threads to prevent them from siezing. One thing to remember is that it is best to stay away from any type of petroleum products for cleaning - as petro residues don't play well with black powder residues.

3. You probably don't have too many choices for powder there on the other side of the pond. A true black powder (Goex, Elephant, Swiss, etc) tend to work better, resulting in more consistent loads. You will need to use the fffg cut rather than ffg for best results. I also use Hodgdon Triple Se7en fffg powder too in my pistol - but you have to be real consistent in how you compress the load into each cylinder or else target grouping will suffer.

Hope this helps

[Pancho]

At the top of the blackpowder forum is a sticky that most just miss. It is a great primer for cap and ball pistol shooting. It is very complete and well written.

[Pancho]

The most common belief today is that crossfires are caused more from ill fitting caps. The 100% lead ball when pressed into the chamber should leave a lead waste ring at the top of the chamber. It's hard to imagine that that kind of seal would allow a crossfire. On the other hand #11 caps fit so badly on some revolver nipples that it is recommended that one pinch the cap before pushing it onto the nipple that's why a lot of people use #10 caps on pistol nipples.
The crisco or lard on top of the round still is a good idea to keep fouling soft. Some on this forum have suggested topping off only two or three chambers to cause this advantage

[dwave]

The most common belief today is that crossfires are caused more from ill fitting caps.

Not a belief for me, but a fact. The ONLY chainfire I ever had was from the back of the revolver when a cap fell off on me. The 11 and 12 cylinders went off at almost the same time. It didn't do any damage, but unfortunately I only hit the target once! :D