Chainfire, yay.

[Ginormous]

Well, I had my first BP multiple discharge with my Uberti 1848 1st Model Dragoon. Scared the heck out of me! Gun and shooter survived relatively intact.

Basically, I was shooting paper targets in the sis' back 40, and had fired one round out of a fresh cylinder when the lights went out in Georgia. To the best of my post mortem skills, I'm guessing a percussion cap simply fell off an adjacent nipple. The next shot was a humdinger! Wha-BAM! Two distinct discharges, one was a solid thump and the other occurred within milliseconds of the first. That one was well, warmish. The discharged cylinder was the second to the left of the cylinder in battery, leaving a perfectly good cylinder loaded up in between. No damage to the gun, although the wedge appeared whacked by the ball. Never found the ball, but I wasn't looking very hard either. I was just glad to have all my parts intact, save for a few minor burns.

Loads were warmish, with 35 gr Swiss BP, RWS 1075 caps seated (or so I thought) with a wooden dowel, lube pill over powder and under a .457 144 gr Speer swagged round ball.

Gun still looks like new, wedge was pushed forward slightly, and the lead ball residue cleaned right off the bluing.

Hand didn't clean up quite so well, but given time, it will return to its' normal well used appearance. Singed finger hair and some tender medium rare flash burns were my only marks. Bonus points given for correctly guessing which hand I shoot with.

 

[AdmiralB]

I bought a couple packs of the RWS caps...I love the performance, they seem a LOT hotter than CCI or Remington...but they don't really fit any of my guns very well. I have to pinch them pretty severely and I've still had some fall off.

The woeful consistency of nipple sizes on my guns doesn't help. I've gone back to Remington #10s, for use after the RWS are gone, and I'll probably get some aftermarket nipples.

 

[Ginormous]

Tresso Ampco nipples seem to be all the rage. Cheap insurance if it prevents this from happening even once to anyone. Not to mention, allegedly improved ignition, more durable bronze construction, as well as another reason to play with and fondle my guns.

Anyone know the thread count and diameter for these nipples to fit a Uberti 1st Model Dragoon, and a Uberti 1858 Remington? They are definitely different sizes.

 

[AdmiralB]

http://www.possibleshop.com/nipples.htm

11-50-166 is the set for the Rem/Colt Ubertis...11-50-136 for the Walker/Dragoon.

My Walker has the tiny nipples, but my Dragoon fits the RWS *reasonably* well...and they're supposedly the same things.

My 1860 has small nipples, but the spare cylinder I bought has bigger ones...go figure.

 

[Ginormous]

Thanks AdmiralB! Approx $50 plus shipping for both guns is cheapish. Heck, it's not that much more than what I spent on aloe gel, Solarcaine, Second Skin dressings, and a couple of other items to cool the burn. The only things that really helped were the Solarcaine and generic OTC lidocaine ointment. The rest was to keep the darned burns hidden, with healing a secondary consideration.

I'd forgotten how much even mild burns hurt. Ouch!

 

[scrat]

Ginormous glad to hear you ok.

 

[Ginormous]

Thanks scrat, me too, heh.

Right after the discharge, I immediately laid the pistol on the ground, and backed up from it doubletime, expecting at any moment for it to erupt into something even more malevolent and painful.

From a distance I am sure it looked like I was retreating from a rattlesnake or some other unholy menace. I wasn't going for style points here at all. I only wanted to see that my 5 fingers were mostly still attached in the same configuration as before, or at least reattachable, and that there was no huge gaping hole in my foot or leg gushing my life away. Oh, that and someplace to hide if the Dragoon continued shooting on its' own.

 

[ClemBert]

Ditto that...glad to hear you are still with us. I guess your day of shootin' that sucker came to an abrupt end.

 

[DrLaw]

The photo shows the problem

You shoot left-handed.

All right thinking people shoot right-handed as if they didn't they'd be left.

You probably made some sort of left-hander mistake, like putting powder on top of ball, or wad over cap over ball over powder or over ball over powder follwed by cap then wad or bore butter or bore butter on bread with jelly or any of the other mistakes a left-hander could make.

Now just shoot right handed and everything will be okay!

The Doc is out and glad to help.

 

[Ginormous]

Thanks ClemBert. Yes it did, VERY abruptly.

Okay, that's +1 for Dr. Law for guessing correctly my left handedness. But I am detracting -2 for his blasphemy and defamation of those of use who know for a fact that the sinister side is the only right* side to shoot from. Those of the dexter persuasion are unfortunately handicapped, and really do deserve our pity and understanding.

*as in correct

 

[AdmiralB]

You probably made some sort of left-hander mistake, like putting powder on top of ball, or wad over cap over ball over powder or over ball over powder follwed by cap then wad or bore butter or bore butter on bread with jelly

I am reminded of the Tweety Bird cartoon where Sylvester is repeatedly shot while loading a rifle..."NOW I remember, FIRST the powder, THEN the bullet"....

 

[Ginormous]

"First the wadding, then the shots, then the powder. Packit down good and....BLAM!!"

"Wait! Wait! I know what I did wrong! First the shots, then the powder, then the wadding. Pack it down good and...BLAM!!"

Hahaha, that is a Looney Tunes classic!

 

[AussieTH]

To change the thrust a little, but still stay on topic, how many of you use gloves when shooting?

I use military surplus nomax flying gloves. They are not flame proof but are flame resistant. They give me protection to about a third of the way up my forearm so the coverage is good and would have prevented the burns that Ginormous received.

The gloves have very thin, soft leather ‘inners’ and the nomax fabric outers. They are skin tight and almost a second skin with non-slip qualities and a highly tactile feel that enables (by original purpose) handling small switches and buttons in cockpits plus enable you to keep functioning for a time in the event of fire in the cockpit.

They are not cheap but are good insurance plus enable you to do most things with the gun while still wearing them.

 

[mykeal]

Nomex is the registered trade mark of Dupont Co., the patent holder and manufacturer of the flame resistant fabric that is required as the material used in race car crew and driver clothing

 

[MCgunner]

Well, my home made caps seem to fit okay. That's pretty scary right there. I've been shooting over 35 years with cap and ball and, knock on wood, I've avoided this.

 

[Ginormous]

Nomex or Kevlar gloves might not be a bad idea. I'd prefer the percussion caps stayed put, but failing that, a suitable pair of gloves could provide a significant margin of burn safety.

A big plus would be if the gloves looked cool, and had a mid-19th century feel about them. Similar to cattleman's range gloves perhaps.

 

[bigbadgun]

Hey Gin glad to see you still have all your fingers after something like I bet you counted them. Glad your ok.

 

[Voodoochile]

Well at least you've left the situation with only minor wounding, some of which can be fixed up with some good 15 year single malt glenmorangie.

The last Chain Fire I had was in 1990 from my 3rd model Dragoon & outside of me having to check my pride behind a big tree I come out of it un-scathed.

 

[Smokin_Gun]

Bonus points given for correctly guessing which hand I shoot with.

Looks like it will be with the right hand for a spell :O)
Great report on Aft Chain Fire ...

 

[Smokin_Gun]

All right thinking people shoot right-handed as if they didn't they'd be left.

Sorry Doc but I gotta visit this statement... cause it ain't right.
It goes like this... The left and right lobes of the brain control the opposite sides of the body...so this means that left handed people are in their right mind.

 

[DrLaw]

SSShhhhhhhhh.

The Doc is sneaking out now.

 

[jim147]

A big plus would be if the gloves looked cool, and had a mid-19th century feel about them. Similar to cattleman's range gloves perhaps.
Try to find deer hide gloves. Not as much protection as Nomex but will save you from the smaller burns and are very soft. They have great "feel". My grandfather used to sell them but he has been gone a lot of years. I don't know where you can find any now. If you find some let me know. I'm on my last pair.

Glad to hear your OK.

jim

 

[husker]

glad your ok!! scary man. scary

 

[DrLaw]

Hey Gin glad to see you still have all your fingers after something like I bet you counted them.

If he counted them, he probably would go from right to left, and chances are, being a lefty, he would get a wrong number. That might scare him, so I bet he did not count them.

I don't know about gloves, unless they are pretty thin, as those trigger guards can be pretty small (at least for my fat fingers).

The Doc is out now.

 

[Ginormous]

Darned right I started counting right to left! I always start counting from the most important to least important where fingers are concerned. Fortunately, it's not too often that I am concerned as to their current location.

If it had been my right hand, I imagine the count would have been left to right!

Priorities, mein guter juris Rechtsanwalt, priorities.