Conicals in revolvers

[MCgunner]

Here's a question I've sort of assumed for myself, but what do the cap and ball guys think? I have been loading conicals in my old .44 Navy that I wore out and my two ROAs for years, 220 grain from a Lee mold. I lube 'em with beeswax/alox generally and do NOT put crisco over 'em like I do with round ball. I nave NEVER had a chain fire doing such. My reasoning is that the bullet's lube combined with the added surface area of the bullet's contact with the chamber should be all the protection I need from chain fire and for 30 years I've seemed to be right, never had a chain fire. Am I right on this or am I just pushing my luck????

I've never known another guy with more BP revolver experience than me to ask this and I just thought of it and figured here was the time and place to put forth the question. All my friends think I'm nuts for even messing with cap and ball. So, I shoot alone and in total bliss in a cloud of sulfurous smoke. They don't know what they're missing.

 

[StrawHat]

Like you I do not use grease over the projectile (round ball or conical).

I depend on shaving a ring of lead when loading.

I also have used a felt wad under the projectile.

Been shooting black powder since the early 70's and so far never had a chain fire.

I also make sure the caps fit tight on the cones because I believe the chain fire starts there, not at the front of the cylinder.

 

[drdirk]

same here. No lube on conicals. Never a problem. And like the previous posts, my theory is that the lead shaved off is enough of a seal.

As far as accuracy, I prefer round ball however and use grease on them when loading in the field. When I load at home, under very clean and controlled conditions I don't use lube either.

Happy BP shooting!

 

[hildo]

Used conicals from the Lee mold, with lube pill below the conical. Shoot the same way with roundballs. Never experienced a chainfire.

Conicals just have a top ring that is larger than the chamber, therfore I do not think the conical has more surface area contact to the chamber than a roundball. The distance is a bit longer to the powder since the conicals are longer. Possibly that would make conicals a little better in preventing chainfires.

Overall I think roundballs are a bit more accurate.

Hildo

 

[mykeal]

First of all, contact area has no effect on the probability of a chainfire. All it takes is one open path between a spark or flame front and the powder and you get ignition. All the contact area in the world won't help if that happens.

Second, the "I do this and it's never happened to me" is the old, post hoc, ergo proctor hoc argument, which is a logical fallacy. The fact that it's not happened before does not prove that the action is effective.

What does matter, and what is effective, is to eliminate that open path between the spark or flame front and the powder. And you need to do it at both ends. Grease, lubed felt wads and shaven lead rings, individually or in concert, are effective at the front end (assuming the chambers are true cylinders). Lubing your conical bullets with beeswax/alox certainly seems to be another form of the grease method of sealing off the open path from the front. Well-fitting caps are effective at the back end (assuming they are not way oversized and deformed by pinching).

Keep up the good work.

 

[sixgun MAK]

I tried 125 grin conicals in my '61 Colts, not very accurate. I'm gonna stick with roundies. Best of luck.

 

[pohill]

I have had two double-chamber firings. Both times, two chambers went off together. This was in two different guns, both .36 caliber. And each time the caps were in place, unfired, unmoved, untouched. I pinch the caps in place as the Colt phamphlet suggests. Every ball loaded shaved a ring. I used a lube over the balls. The powder was FFFG black powder Goex. And it was no big deal - a little extra smoke and flame and the balls exited the left side of the gun at a 45 degree angle and rolled away.
I know what the problem was - I had cast a batch of .380 roundballs and some of them weren't perfectly round, but I used them anyways. Dimpled balls, out of shape balls, etc are a problem.
I have a theory that Pryodex will never chainfire because it is not as tempermental as black powder, but I don't use Pryodex, so I can't test that theory.

 

[Donny]

Pohil,

You might have something there about pyrodex vs bp. I have only used pyrodex in my revolvers and never had a chain fire. I wonder if the heat transferred through the steel between chambers is enough to touch off BP in the chamber next to it? Just a hypothosis. Wouldn't that be something though. All the talk about caps and lube and wads would suddenly be moot.

Don

 

[pohill]

I read that Sam Colt, during a demonstration, sprinkled loose powder all over the cylinders to show that chainfires did not occur. But they do happen. I think it could be from the cap end, the ball end, maybe, like you said, from heat, maybe from concussion. Has anyone ever had one with a Ruger?