Once more with feeling...fillers in revolver chambers

[J-Bar]

Those of you who use corn meal or Cream of Wheat/Farina to separate the powder from the ball... how do you do it?

I mean, after measuring your powder charge and putting it into the revolver's chamber, how do you get the right amount of filler in there? Do you use a powder flask filled with the filler material and a calibrated spout? When I tried this, the corn meal seemed to hang up in the spout and it did not pour into the chamber easily.

What is your method?

 

[MCgunner]

A Lee powder scoop of the proper volume. I load my cylinders on a press. I'll sometimes use a Lee scoop for the powder, too, but I do have a flask. It's old, had to order a new spring for it a while back as the old one snapped.

If you don't have a set of Lee scoops, you need one. They're cheap and come with a really NIFTY chart that shows what each scoop holds, though it tends to under estimate. FFg and FFFg are on that chart. As BP is measured by volume, the Lee scoop assortment seems like a no brainer to me.

 

[pardiniman]

Good question!
I'm new to BP revolver shooting and have tried corn meal. I tried to measure it out and quickly gave up,it just didn't "pour" out. The corn meal clumped together and wouldn't come out of the container or a large lump would fall out spilling all over. I did the rest of my shooting with filling the cylinder to the top up striking the excess off into the next cylinder and filling that one too,striking it off into the next- and so on till -all were filled level and ramed the ball home compressing powder and corn meal. It worked but there has to be an easier way. I haven't tried cream of wheat yet but that is next on the list,next will be store bought wads and than homemade.

 

[J-Bar]

I have Lee dippers and use them to load black powder cartridges, but I want something fast and easy to use in CAS matches, and I load my revolvers intact, I do not use a separate loading apparatus.

 

[[email protected]]

I use a brass round flask. It has a spout that I cut down to throw the right
amount of filler to place the ball about a 1/16 from the front of the chamber.
I and all the people I shoot with use creme-of-wheat. It pours just fine.

 

[Skinny 1950]

I use corn meal and pour it in with a modified .45ACP case which has a spout bent into it and a chunk of copper wire soldered onto it so the it stands upright firmly.

 

[rondog]

Ok, forgive me as I'm still ign'ant about many BP revolver things, but what on Earth is the cornmeal for????

 

[Prairie Dawg]

"Mustard squirter" type plastic dispenser with a spout is what I use to dispense corn meal.
Just squirt some in.
The ball will compress it.
National Champion Frontiersman, Split Rail, fills the chambers to the top & spins the cylinder fast with the gun held vertical.
Some of it flies out when he does this and then he seats the ball.
It's not rocket science!
--DAwg

 

[faustopph]

It is used to fill the space a short load of powder leaves so the ball is at the mouth of the chamber.

Sent from my SGH-S959G using Tapatalk 2

 

[rondog]

It is used to fill the space a short load of powder leaves so the ball is at the mouth of the chamber.

OK, thanks! Why exactly do the balls need to be at the mouth of the chambers? I have three of these things and I don't want to hurt them, or me! I haven't shot them much, mainly because I'm not terribly sure I know what I'm doing.

 

[Hellgate]

I have used a spare powder flask to dispense COW (Cream of Wheat) as a filler. I found that COW doesn't compress very much. I've never tried corn meal. I've also never tried fillers in the rain. I prefer to buy 1/2" fiber filler wads from CircleFly.com which can be lubed and split to fit your need.

I also noticed the COW scrubbed the bore out pretty good.

 

[faustopph]

Keeping the projectile closer to the chamber mouth will usually give the best accuracy

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[EljaySL]

OK, thanks! Why exactly do the balls need to be at the mouth of the chambers? I have three of these things and I don't want to hurt them, or me! I haven't shot them much, mainly because I'm not terribly sure I know what I'm doing.

People feel like it increases accuracy. You might try it sometime and see if you can tell the difference versus setting the balls on the powder or using a wad between the powder and ball to take up some space.

Safety-wise the thing to avoid is leaving a gap between the powder and ball. The pressure does weird/bad things.

Update: That's what I get for being wordy - a perfectly good answer got slipped in before mine.

 

[bothenook]

I've been playing around with this myself, since C&B revolvers are pretty new to my experience with guns. I have 2 ROAs and a Euroarms Bresia 58 Remmie.
I've found 20 grains 3f with a 38 special case of cornmeal and a lubed 1/8 felt wad is almost perfect. I haven't seen much difference with and without the wad, to be honest.
Same load for all the guns. gets me 3 to 4 inch groups at 25 yards, shooting center of the target. the Remmie will shoot 30 inches high loaded with 30 grains, and the ROAs have the rear adjustable sights bottomed and still fire way high with anything more than 20 grains. My guns, my results. yours may vary....

 

[FreddyKruger]

I use two flasks. one with bp and another with polenta/corn meal.

filler is also good for taking up space in the cylinder in light loads where seating it with the rammer won't seat the ball on the powder.

 

[4v50 Gary]

I do what Skinny does. I have a cartridge case glued to a stick.

 

[Curator]

Having tried many different fillers and wads in my cap & ball revolvers, I came to prefer Cream O Wheat (original, not microwave) I use two brass flasks with spouts one trimmed to dispense the correct charge of FFFg (22 grains for my 1858 Army) and a differently colored flask to throw 18 grains (volume) of COW. This combination allows me to seat the ball just flush with the cylinder face while compressing the powder charge slightly to burn cleaner. Cream of wheat is not very compressible which aids in this. A small amount of 50/50 bee's wax/lard lube is smeared into the recess around each ball before firing. This load leaves little fouling and is very accurate. The COW compresses into a hard wad upon firing, sealing the bore against any blow-by and scrubbing the barrel. This "wad" disintegrates upon leaving the barrel. This load also produces the most uniform velocity from shot to shot.

 

[Foto Joe]

Skinny has the hot set-up although "making" the gadget isn't something I'd have the time or inclination to do. As Prairie Dawg does I just use a small mustard squirter type bottle from China-Mart and an adjustable powder measure.

The trick is finding what works for you in your particular situation.

 

[J-Bar]

OK thanks for all the replies; and they lead to another question:

Normally I put powder in the chamber, seat the ball, then go to the next chamber. I was concerned about filling material slopping into the awaiting chamber and plugging the nipple before the chamber was charged with powder. Don't need that during a competition.

So maybe it is better to put powder in all the chambers, then top them off with filler, then seat the balls?

 

[rondog]

OK, I see now. I usually put 30gr. in my .44 1851's and 60gr. in my Walker, then a lubed felt wad, and the ball. Never really paid much attention to where the ball ended up in relation to the chamber mouth, now I know what to watch for and I'll have to get some cornmeal or cream o' wheat for the kit.

 

[Noz]

Some people believe that the guns perform better if the ball is close to the face of the cylinder. So, rather than putting an excessive amount of powder in the chamber they put a reasonable amount and fill the rest with an inert material, such as cornmeal, grits, cream of wheat etc.

 

[Foto Joe]

The thing is that most BP Colts pattern revolvers aren't necessarily more accurate just because they're maxed out on powder, ergo lighter loads can be much more accurate. As a case in point my pet load for my "Fake" Navy is only 16gr with about 25gr of cornmeal. That load is perfect for smacking golf balls suspended from strings at 10-15 yards. Play with your powder charges and see where each gun prints, more than likely you'll wind up saving a LOT of powder.

 

[BCRider]

So maybe it is better to put powder in all the chambers, then top them off with filler, then seat the balls?

That sounds like a reasonable way to go to me.

A little hint for you. If you're shooting a .44 a .38Spl casing slipped case head up into one of the chambers as a first step makes for a handy marker to avoid dumping powder or filler or ball into that 6th chamber when you're only allowed to load 5. Once done just turn the gun muzzle down with the casing at the side to let it fall out into your hand.

For my CAS competitions I just shoot with enough powder that I can still ram the ball onto the charge. There never seems to be enough time to get more carried away than that. For my .44's this seems to work out to 30gns of powder which leaves the balls about 1/4 inch or perhaps a hair more below the front of the cylinder.

In terms of accuracy one of these days I'll have to try out the filler idea to move the ball forward. Up to now I've just seated it on the powder and applied a drop of Canola oil over the ball to seal any leaks and provide some ball lube for the bore. Even with the 1/4 inch or slightly more recess to the ball nose the guns can still shoot about 2 inch or so groups at 15 yards if I'm having a good day. And that's pretty much what I can do with any handguns, cartridge OR black powder. So it would appear that the guns are already shooting as well or better than I can hold even without the filler.

 

[rondog]

Hmmm, less powder, dang things might not shoot so high either.....

 

[Foto Joe]

Rondog,

Here's something to consider when choosing filler....Cornmeal compresses easily which in my mind makes it easier when using it. Cream of Wheat on the other hand does not compress as readily which means if you get too much in the hole you might wind up using your pocket knife to trim the top off the ball to get the cylinder to rotate, don't ask.

Either one works equally as well in my opinion, I just prefer the corn meal and use more in shooting than I've ever consumed at the dinner table in the form of muffins with good ole artery clogging butter. If your wife cooks with cornmeal I suggest you get your own supply, I've found the less I irritate mine the more guns she tolerates.