Revolver loading techniques

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Malamute

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Has anyone done a comparison of accuracy and number of rounds able to be fired when using the various loading methods? Plain naked ball over the powder, ball with grease over it, ball with treated felt wad under ball, etc?

Also, has anyone messed with trying to load revolvers with patched balls? (like .440" balls in common revolvers) Someone was posting about this elsewhere, saying it was the correct method, and the "oversize" ball sizes normally used and recommended by the manufacturers was abusing the guns, cracking cylinders, and stretching frames etc. In googling it, I saw one reference that some target shooters had used it some, but it was generally not thought to be worth the trouble. Sounded rather odd to me.
 
You do not shoot a patched ball out of a revolver, just imagine what happens when the ball goes through the forcing cone.
Colt's loading instructions don't mention grease or wad but we use them to make life easier especially to keep the powder fouling soft. (I ain't going to get in to discussing chain fires)
 
I use either commercial wonder wads, or my own made from Duro-felt brand thick plain felt for wads.

I soak sheets of the felt in a hot mixture of sheep's tallow and bee's wax, then let them drip dry. If there's too much residue on the sheets, I pop them in the oven to re-melt the lube and let it drip off. Next, I cut wads with some hollow punches.

Works darn well, cushions the ball and deposits a nice layer of lube between each layer of powder fouling. This REALLY makes it easy to clean at the end of the day. Plus, the wads smell really good. They have a meaty kind of smell from the tallow, which is very nice.
 
There's one more option. A drop of cooking oil over the ball instead of all that grease being troweled on.

It's a method I picked up off You Tube and one I've used exclusively now for around 6 years and hundreds of shots.

It's easy to do, FAR cleaner than the grease, cheaper than lube wads and the oil keeps the fouling nicely soft and even "greasy". And a drop of oil on the base pin or arbor to cylinder joint with each reload keeps the cylinder spinning freely all day long.

My cooking oil of choice based on its use in steam valves in the old merchant steamers is Canola or "rape seed" oil.
 
I guess I didn't word my first post well. I'm not just asking what techniques people use, but a side by side accuracy comparison of bare naked balls compared to other methods. In other words, how much does it help, if at all, in sheer accuracy or how long the gun will keep shooting without actual cleaning.
 
I guess I didn't word my first post well. I'm not just asking what techniques people use, but a side by side accuracy comparison of bare naked balls compared to other methods. In other words, how much does it help, if at all, in sheer accuracy or how long the gun will keep shooting without actual cleaning.
Not sure.

When I get my Colt's Navy back, I'll try some loads with bare balls and ones with wads under ball and report back.

I'll see which one my gun likes for accuracy.
 
You do not shoot a patched ball out of a revolver, just imagine what happens when the ball goes through the forcing cone.
Colt's loading instructions don't mention grease or wad but we use them to make life easier especially to keep the powder fouling soft. (I ain't going to get in to discussing chain fires)

Yeah, that was my feeling when I read it, but apparently it works, just sounds weird and unnecessarily complicated without any real benefit. I don't think it would seal the chamber mouth and keep the remaining balls tight as well after several shots have been fired either. The question wasn't "should this be done", but does anyone have knowledge of it.
 
Not sure.

When I get my Colt's Navy back, I'll try some loads with bare balls and ones with wads under ball and report back.

Thanks. I'm interested to see how much it helps.
 
I did it several years ago with Pietta New Model Army and New Model Belt revolvers and posted the results online.

Groups were best when the ball was seated as close to the chamber mouth and forcing cone and better still when using a lubricated felt wad over greasing the chamber mouths over the ball.

The old slow twist .44 liked 35 grain charges best, it's groups over an inch smaller than using 15 grain charges with cream of wheat as filler.

The .36 shot Kaido conicals to the same point of aim whether using 15 grains of Swiss 4fg or 20 grains of Schuetzen 3fg. This sixgun also shot its smallest groups with 24 grain charges under a lubed felt wad with round ball. The Kaido conicals were not far behind either.
 
There's one more option. A drop of cooking oil over the ball instead of all that grease being troweled on.

It's a method I picked up off You Tube and one I've used exclusively now for around 6 years and hundreds of shots.

It's easy to do, FAR cleaner than the grease, cheaper than lube wads and the oil keeps the fouling nicely soft and even "greasy". And a drop of oil on the base pin or arbor to cylinder joint with each reload keeps the cylinder spinning freely all day long.

My cooking oil of choice based on its use in steam valves in the old merchant steamers is Canola or "rape seed" oil.

Interesting, hadn't heard of that method. It sounds applicable to range shooting, but perhaps not loading the gun and leaving it for extended periods or carrying it.

Has anyone had trouble with greased felt wads being left loaded for long periods affecting the powder? I often just load mine after cleaning, and it may be some time before they are fired again. Its been a couple years a time or two.
 
Interesting, thanks for the heads up. I wondered if it would cause trouble or not.

Whats the preferred over-ball grease or goop today? I've used Crisco, and Spit-Ball (may be an antique substance now, that was in the 80's). I guess a bit of beeswax melted and dripped over the balls, or beeswax bullet lube mix may work. I've had Crisco melt a bit in the summer when it was in the 90's and 100's.

Mostly my guns live a safe and calm life hanging on the wall, but I carry one or the other around the yard at times when feeding the birds or changing sprinklers and such. So far have only slew a few rampaging bunnies with the Navy. Always on the lookout for skunks or snakes, though some other larger stuff inhabits the neighborhood.
 
I would just use some grease cookies over the balls, tightly fighting balls, if you plan to keep the gun loaded for any amount of time.
 
I don't really "plan" to leave them long, sometimes it just works out that way. One reason I load them right after cleaning is I don't have to worry about oil killing the caps or powder. After drying them from cleaning I just load them.
 
I keep one loaded at all times. I clean and blow out the nipples with compressed air, load powder, card wad, lubed wad and ball then keep it in a shoulder holster ready to go.
Never had any contamination of powder.
I had one loaded, not caped, in a case for over a year, other wise I shoot and reload every couple of weeks.
 
Card wad, good idea.

The Uberti Navy was loaded about 2 years I think. It had a couple fast click/bang hangfires, but all fired. Usually a year is about all they go staying loaded. Like to keep them fresh and all that. :)

Have a 3rd Dragoon I loaded right after buying it NIB, but for some reason have never fired it. I really should. Its been maybe 6 years on that one.
 
Whats the preferred over-ball grease or goop today?

There are as many concoctions as there are shooters when it comes to this.

For the last several years, our standard grease over the ball lube was:

6 Parts Mutton Tallow
1 Part Beeswax
2 Parts Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Pretty stiff but able to use plastic knife to smear over chambers and it does not melt off all the chambers after the first shot during Florida summer heat.
 
I just cobbled up a 50/50 mix of beeswax and Crisco. Poured the molten mix into a cake pan & used a cut off .45 auto case as a cutter.....Dust the results with a bit of baby powder and store 'em in a plastic can.

Cut to the proper width and seated on a ball over powder I get good accuracy and easily as much shooting as with either wads or sloppy runny grease on top of the load.
 
I use wads lubed with Gatfoe #1. I once shot my Goonerized 1851 Colt Navy 2nd Gen. 8 cylinders worth, loaded it and left it overnight and shot it 4 more cylinders the next day without lubing anything. I cleaned it after that because I knew I wasn't shooting it for a while.
 
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Genreally Speaking....

In general the optimum load for a particular model may not duplicate in an 'identical' piece. In my 1860 replica it seemed to like round ball ( but I only had one type conical on hand and only pyrodex 2f ) and cylinders full with just enough room for the ball.
I started off with a .44 mag 33 years ago so this was not a recoil issue, another shooter who was not inexperienced had better results with 30grains of Goex 3f and a wonder wad otherwise similarly set up. He specifically mentioned that he like the 'push' of the 30 grain load better than the max load.
Short answer, each shootist will have to experiment to find their own sweet spot with a given gun, which is most of the fun IMO. Most BP shootists I have seen and read about going for small groups use light loads and filler with wonder wads. Some also put a wad over the projectile in lieu of filler.

I know that with modern guns a fellow that beat me time and time again couldn't get anything out of my pet .45 Colt handloads, we both ran Smith 25-5s'. The only way I could beat this man at 25 yard slow fire was to get him to use my loads. ;)
 
I've found a mixture of beeswax and tallow to be mighty fine. Mighty fine, and smell meaty and tasty. I quite love it! :D
 
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