MilsurpShooter
Member
Well recently I've been reading up on black powder shooting, cap and ball revolvers mainly. So far my only Blackpowder experience is in some .45-70 reloads for a family heirloom Springfield Trapdoor and a few shots from a 3 band Enfield at the range from a gentleman who wanted to shoot my Winchester Trench Gun (He carried one in Korea).
The sticky thread in this forum has been invaluable and has given me many an hour of reading. However, after reading here, reading a number of various google links, and a few other forums google has directed me too, I've gotten myself confused. Now I know I'm over thinking it and that's probably the problem, but the question pretty much boils down to the chamber grease in an effort to prevent chainfires.
Seems the standard method I read is to load the powder, seat the ball, cover the cylinder face in grease. I've heard nothing but good things about a "gatofeo" lube. Beeswax and tallow is available at Dixie Gun Works so as soon as I find canning paraffin I'll probably cook up a version of that (unless that lube isn't intended to be used as such and I should be using something different over the cylinder face?)
Everything seems simple enough until I started reading about wonder wads and theories about chain fires coming from loose fitting percussion caps as opposed to the cylinder face. Read some information with regards to just using wonder wads between powder and ball and nothing else. Then another place I visited said to use lube over the wad but under the bullet this way the cylinder gap on firing doesn't blow the lube away from the other cylinders and more of it travels down the barrel to soften the fouling. This method also lowers mess on the chamber face where particles of black powder could become stuck and increase the risk of a chain fire supposedly.
I'm just trying to figure out the safest method and perhaps the least messy of the alternatives. I've got some ox-yoke wonder wads (pre-lubed with Wonder Lube 1000 plus) so theoretically with this method all you have to do is load powder, seat the wad, seat the ball, cap and done? Or is this in itself flawed, will this offer sufficient lubrication to prevent fouling or would it still be served best with some liquid lube over the ball, or under the ball and over the patch?
Same problem I had when I started reloading, I'm probably over thinking the simple stuff but when it comes to shooting I'd rather be too cautious when it comes down to it.
Thanks in advance for any advice you guys can give. I'll be sure to update this with pictures of the Trapdoor.
The sticky thread in this forum has been invaluable and has given me many an hour of reading. However, after reading here, reading a number of various google links, and a few other forums google has directed me too, I've gotten myself confused. Now I know I'm over thinking it and that's probably the problem, but the question pretty much boils down to the chamber grease in an effort to prevent chainfires.
Seems the standard method I read is to load the powder, seat the ball, cover the cylinder face in grease. I've heard nothing but good things about a "gatofeo" lube. Beeswax and tallow is available at Dixie Gun Works so as soon as I find canning paraffin I'll probably cook up a version of that (unless that lube isn't intended to be used as such and I should be using something different over the cylinder face?)
Everything seems simple enough until I started reading about wonder wads and theories about chain fires coming from loose fitting percussion caps as opposed to the cylinder face. Read some information with regards to just using wonder wads between powder and ball and nothing else. Then another place I visited said to use lube over the wad but under the bullet this way the cylinder gap on firing doesn't blow the lube away from the other cylinders and more of it travels down the barrel to soften the fouling. This method also lowers mess on the chamber face where particles of black powder could become stuck and increase the risk of a chain fire supposedly.
I'm just trying to figure out the safest method and perhaps the least messy of the alternatives. I've got some ox-yoke wonder wads (pre-lubed with Wonder Lube 1000 plus) so theoretically with this method all you have to do is load powder, seat the wad, seat the ball, cap and done? Or is this in itself flawed, will this offer sufficient lubrication to prevent fouling or would it still be served best with some liquid lube over the ball, or under the ball and over the patch?
Same problem I had when I started reloading, I'm probably over thinking the simple stuff but when it comes to shooting I'd rather be too cautious when it comes down to it.
Thanks in advance for any advice you guys can give. I'll be sure to update this with pictures of the Trapdoor.