Mizar
Member
A disclaimer first - I don't intent to bash on other people, fellow members and etc. but just to offer some thoughts on the subject.
I just read a recent thread in another gun forum in which the OP was discussing his chain fire experience. Nothing out of the ordinary - both the shooter and the gun are fine. It was a .36 cal 1858 revolver. So, the OP mentioned some (for me at least) crucial information - he was using pinched Remington #10 caps. Apparently the nipples are undersized and he had to squeeze those caps a little bit so they can fit without falling off. The problem with this is that you will always get a portion of the cap's skirt not in contact with the nipple - i.e. not a real tight fit, an empty space between the cap and the nipple.
Now, here comes the fun part - for two pages everyone is ignoring that fact and the talk is only about ill fitting balls, crooked chambers, powder particles embedded in the lead projectile and etc. If you refer to the pic bellow, one instantly sees the amount of flash and hot gasses at the rear of the cylinder, not only at the front, as the revolver fires. Isn't it logical to assume that the ill fitting caps were the actual culprit that led to that unfortunate event? I mean, how hard it is for those hot gasses to "sneak in" into that little space left and ignite the next cap? And no, chain fire is very less likely to happen with unprimed nipples just because of the simple fact that the powder charge is about .4 inches away and the hot gas must travel straight down to a very narrow tunnel. Now, compare that to a literally exposed priming compound sitting right next to a hot explosion. I believe that the second is much more likely to cause a chain fire. And also I believe that the vast majority of chain firing events are happening because of ill fitting caps. Not all, but most of them. No matter what the owner said, if those caps can be shaken off the nipples, or they require pinching, they are of no good fit. So, what say you?
Picture shamelessly stolen from "Cap & Ball Revolvers, Pistols and Rifles" Facebook group:
I just read a recent thread in another gun forum in which the OP was discussing his chain fire experience. Nothing out of the ordinary - both the shooter and the gun are fine. It was a .36 cal 1858 revolver. So, the OP mentioned some (for me at least) crucial information - he was using pinched Remington #10 caps. Apparently the nipples are undersized and he had to squeeze those caps a little bit so they can fit without falling off. The problem with this is that you will always get a portion of the cap's skirt not in contact with the nipple - i.e. not a real tight fit, an empty space between the cap and the nipple.
Now, here comes the fun part - for two pages everyone is ignoring that fact and the talk is only about ill fitting balls, crooked chambers, powder particles embedded in the lead projectile and etc. If you refer to the pic bellow, one instantly sees the amount of flash and hot gasses at the rear of the cylinder, not only at the front, as the revolver fires. Isn't it logical to assume that the ill fitting caps were the actual culprit that led to that unfortunate event? I mean, how hard it is for those hot gasses to "sneak in" into that little space left and ignite the next cap? And no, chain fire is very less likely to happen with unprimed nipples just because of the simple fact that the powder charge is about .4 inches away and the hot gas must travel straight down to a very narrow tunnel. Now, compare that to a literally exposed priming compound sitting right next to a hot explosion. I believe that the second is much more likely to cause a chain fire. And also I believe that the vast majority of chain firing events are happening because of ill fitting caps. Not all, but most of them. No matter what the owner said, if those caps can be shaken off the nipples, or they require pinching, they are of no good fit. So, what say you?
Picture shamelessly stolen from "Cap & Ball Revolvers, Pistols and Rifles" Facebook group: