three questions

docwharden1881

docwharden1881

member
Joined
Apr 17, 2024
Messages
79
Location
midwest
I have been enjoying cap & ball shooting as of late. Always black powder and light loads to boot. With that comes with questions for the more experienced shooters in this field.
1. What is your preferred grease/lube to prevent accidental chain-fire as rare as it is?
2. Is it safe to use a piece of cloth/shirt to use as a patch/wadding if the ball still feels loose?
3. In your opinion what is the preferred powder charge for a Walker reproduction? 60 grains seem like a lot to me but 30 g seems too little.

(I still shoot & enjoy cartridges just not as much lately).
 
1. I use beeswax/Crisco 1:3 mix
2. No wadding should be used as a patch on the ball or over the ball in a revolver, though grease wads of felt or similar material under the ball are safe
3. 40 grains is sufficient in the Walker - this is the original load in the .45 Colt cartridge, and gives good ballistics

PRD1 - mhb - MIke
 
I make my lube from tallow, beeswax and candle wax, it's rolled into little pills and stored in a plastic container. Check out Ugly Sauce posts on lube pills. Using patches in a revolver can be be done but you need to get the right size ball or conicals that press fit into the chambers. A few thoughts on the Walker, first thing is to fix the short arbor. The big horse pistol replicas need the arbor to bottom in the barrel lug. Shooting full house loads with the short arbor will cause the frame to stretch. There's gonna be a few guys out there that will tell you it's not an issue. It is a great way to turn the gun into a paper weight. The Walkers will handle 60 grains of powder but 40 to 45 grains works well with a conical bullet. The heavy loads can make the loading lever drop from the recoil. I have a fix for that problem. I offer tuning and repair services on these pistols as does 45 Dragoon. I am currently running a $20 off special on a full tune if you're interested.
 
Lube pills rule. SPG is the right consistency if you don't want to mix your own. The lube pills will also leave your bore so clean that one or two swipes of a patch will restore it to clean. No kidding. No, patching a revolver ball might not work too well. Could get jammed in the forcing cone? Don't know, would not try it.
DSC07656.JPG
 
1. Although not really required, I use a mix of Crisco and beeswax. Hotter weather means more wax. I wouldn't mix this specifically just for revolvers but I use it for musket lube as well. A lot of this blows out on the first shot, but is a rule in the discipline of shooting I participate in. Proper fitting balls and caps prevent chain fires. Not really much more to it.

2. This is not common practice with a revolver and I would not recommend. A piece of cloth having to jump into a forcing cone could have a failure and jam up your cylinder or maybe even create an obstruction. Get bigger balls if yours aren't shaving rings upon seating.

3. None of my walkers have the same accuracy load. One is 38 grains 3F and the other is only 27 of the same. My plinking load that makes enough flash and bang to be fun, but not abusive on the gun (or me) is 45 grains. All round ball loads. Going back to ball size, my walkers require AT LEAST a .457, I use a .460 mold.
 
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1) I'm not convinced that lube is necessary or helpful in the prevention of chain fires, assuming the gun is in good condition. A properly fitting ball and properly fitting caps should be all that is necessary. Lube in the chambers serves only to lube the gun - and I do mean the entire gun, along with the holster, your hands, and pretty much anything within several feet.

2) Likewise, I see no reason for patching. Just use the correct balls.

3) I prefer 50 grains with a Walker.

Having written all that, I will note an article I came across some time back wherein the author argued that one cause of chain fires might be granules of blackpowder "smeared" between the ball and chamber wall, creating a "fuse" into the packed powder. I'm not completely convinced, but unless the author was making up data, he presented a fairly good case. Among other things, he suggested that lubricated felt wads served not as a "gasket" to prevent flame from entering the chamber (I agree with this completely; if the nearly air-tight seal of the ball in the chamber does not prevent it, how can a loose-fitting disk of wool?) but rather "sweep" the chamber of any loose powder granules prior to seating the ball.

At any rate, I believe far too much is made of chain fires. Unless something is wrong with the gun or loading components, they should be extraordinarily rare - and even when they do occur, they almost never cause any real harm. Or, put another way: I have been shooting these things for decades, and as long as I use properly-fitting caps, balls large enough to seal the bore, and a gun with nothing wrong, I never have chain fires - and even when I cause chain fires by violating those rules, no harm is caused other than an occasional smear of lead on the outside of the gun.
 
.38 Special said:
Lube in the chambers serves only to lube the gun - and I do mean the entire gun, along with the holster, your hands, and pretty much anything within several feet.
Click to expand...
Ha ha, not so with lube pills, of stiff mix. If they are solid enough to not be "smearable", but soft enough to scrape up and roll into balls or "pills", they will not make the crisco mess.
 
SlowFuse said:
A lot of this blows out on the first shot, but is a rule in the discipline of shooting I participate in.
Click to expand...
As I said to 38Special, if the lube is stiff enough to be rolled into pills, and pressed over the ball or bullet, it will stay in the other chambers. If the lube is too soft, and can be smeared over the chambers with a knife, popsikel stick or whatever, then it is too soft and will indeed be blown off the adjacent chambers. SPG works well as is. Bee's wax and wonder lube 1000 works well, and is my go-to or favorite. You can also use paraffin mixed with whatever you like, or a paraffin/bee's wax/oil mix.
DSC07655.JPG
 
I prefer a lubed felt wad over powder rather than a blob of anything. My Walker seems to prefer 45-50gr of 3F or equivalent. 60gr makes a nice muzzle flash because the power is burning as it flies out the muzzle...a waste of good powder IMHO. I agree with previous posts about patches. If the balls don't fit go up a few thou.
 
Ugly Sauce said:
As I said to 38Special, if the lube is stiff enough to be rolled into pills, and pressed over the ball or bullet, it will stay in the other chambers. If the lube is too soft, and can be smeared over the chambers with a knife, popsikel stick or whatever, then it is too soft and will indeed be blown off the adjacent chambers. SPG works well as is. Bee's wax and wonder lube 1000 works well, and is my go-to or favorite. You can also use paraffin mixed with whatever you like, or a paraffin/bee's wax/oil mix.
View attachment 1208222
Click to expand...
The great thing is, everyone can create their own secret recipe, possessing mystical powers! What could be better than this?
 
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If you like chainfires keep loading without lube at the cylinder mouths. If you like cylinder jams keep loading with chambers that shave lead. That lead ring can cause lots of aggravation by getting caught between the barrel and cylinder. None of my revolvers cut lead off a ball. My chambers are chamfered to compress the ball into place without shaving lead. I have never seen anything in original loading instructions about shaving lead off a ball when loading. I went through a spell of loading with no lube until I had a chainfire in a pistol that had never done it. Now I lube the chambers.
 
Jackrabbit1957 said:
If you like chainfires keep loading without lube at the cylinder mouths. If you like cylinder jams keep loading with chambers that shave lead. That lead ring can cause lots of aggravation by getting caught between the barrel and cylinder. None of my revolvers cut lead off a ball. My chambers are chamfered to compress the ball into place without shaving lead. I have never seen anything in original loading instructions about shaving lead off a ball when loading. I went through a spell of loading with no lube until I had a chainfire in a pistol that had never done it. Now I lube the chambers.
Click to expand...
Lubed chambers also make the chambers very waterproof, although tight fitting caps are more-so the key to that. With tight fitting caps, and lubed chambers I can immerse a cylinder under water for over a minute (have not tried longer) without miss-fire, or only one miss fire per 12 shots at most. For a field gun that's a big plus. Hey, I could fall in a stream/crick when they are running hard in the spring. Never have, but ya never know. I've had to walk across some pretty sketchy slippery skinny logs.

Even though Lube-Pills don't blow lube all over the gun after the first shot, it seems that some does go down on the cylinder pin or arbor, and keeps that lubed. I have never fired enough shots at one sitting to test that out, but when I do clean the pistol there is very little to any fouling on the pin/arbor.
 
Jackrabbit1957 said:
If you like chainfires keep loading without lube at the cylinder mouths. If you like cylinder jams keep loading with chambers that shave lead. That lead ring can cause lots of aggravation by getting caught between the barrel and cylinder. None of my revolvers cut lead off a ball. My chambers are chamfered to compress the ball into place without shaving lead. I have never seen anything in original loading instructions about shaving lead off a ball when loading. I went through a spell of loading with no lube until I had a chainfire in a pistol that had never done it. Now I lube the chambers.
Click to expand...
You kind of explained your own chain fire there. But I don’t imagine logic will come into it, so carry on regardless.
 
44 Dave said:
If kept loaded over time, lubed wads will effect powder.
There are cleaner when loading and shooting as range shooting.
Click to expand...
Wads will contaminate the powder and I leave my revolvers loaded for long periods of time, so I had to find something different.

The lube pills are clean when loading and shooting. You just pick it out of the tin, and press it over the ball. No smearing. Perhaps the slightest bit of lube on just your thumb. Wipe it on your pants, one swipe and it's gone. One does have to experiment with the mix, and get it just right for perfect results. And get the size of the pill just right. But the results are worth it.
 
Captain*kirk said:
A lubed wad works as well as a blob of grease IMHO. Never had a chainfire using them. And a lot more convenient than trying to hold onto a greased eel.
Click to expand...
You gotta put them eels in the freezer for a bit to stiffen 'em up then slice 'em into 1/8" sections. Probably better to use young eels - smaller in diameter. :rofl:
 
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