cap'n ball question

Yep. I was reading a picture of the instructions printed on a cased London Colt from the 1850's and it made no mention of any sort of grease or wad in the chambers, which leads me to suspect that it may be a more modern innovation. But like SIGP2101 said, better safe than sorry.
 
It all depends on whether you want to experience a chainfire or not. :) I used to put lube over the ball on my 1858 Pietta replica but I hated the mess it made. After extensive research on the subject, I decided I was all bull#### and loaded up without anything over the ball. The first shot cooked off the round to the right of the one being fired.:eek: I heard it go a split second after the one in the chamber and thought, "That sounds odd. :confused: " The ball missed the side of the revolver and left a huge scorch behind. Being the moron that I am I then fired another 30 rounds without lube and never had any problems. like the man says, better safe then sorry.
 
Lube Cap and Ball

Most people lube the front just in front of the ball. But think about it, the ignition would have to come from the back of the cylinder, around the nipples. Most shooters usually use No 11 caps, but if they are loose fitting the ignition will jump from one nipple to the other. I belong to a black powder club and the older members say to use the No10 caps, they are tight and reduce the chances of chain fire. Also the need of lube is unnecessary if the caps are tight.
That's my view on the subject.

Albayo
 
I agree with you 100% Albayo. I cannot for the life of me see how a spark could get around a ball squeezed in the cylinder. On one web forum in the US they discussed playing a propane torch around the mouth of a properly loaded cylinder with no effects. I use # 10 caps and I doubt one would have fallen off. Maybe I forgot one. An empty nipple would certainly produce a chainfire.
 
The stock pietta and uberti nipples are junk too. Put in some good aftermarket nipps like Tresos and the No.11's work much better. No.10 is still the way to go though.
 
I've noticed that the first shot blows away a lot of the grease from the other chambers. Using the lube may soften fouling, and help reduce leading in the bore, and keep the cylinder revolving a bit longer. May help maintain accuracy over a longer string. Some shooters use a lubed felt wad under the ball. Original Colt instructions, catridges, cased sets, etc. do not suggest that lube was used.
 
I was reading SASS rules and they talk about being able to load 6 rounds but only capping 5, that way if there is a reload it can be capped on the fly. If this were so then the 6th nipple would be exposed to a chain fire. Material I've read from Keith talks about greasing the front of the cyl. not quite sure if he mentions chain fire but he does mention that rounds loaded this way would last a long time (he was carrying the firearm loaded for extended periods).
 
The ball should be big enough so that a ring of lead gets shaved by the chamber mouth when it gets seated. I have a tube of crisco that I dab on each ball after I load it. Use an undersized ball and you will get a crossover and discharge without grease.

If you use a corn meal filler with a reduced load, you don't need the brease.
 
The Original loading instructions for the old Colts did not mention "grease" at all, but then they didn't shoot thier Pistols 10 rounds a stage all day either;)
Lubing the cylinders is a "Modern" practise and allows for alot more shooting before things bind up. They really did not shoot thier sidearms much back then so it wasn't really an issue. True a proper fitting ball should negate any chainfires from occuring upfront, grease just guarantees this.
I always greased mine up....guns didn't foul up as quickly, the grease tends to blow out around the cyclinder front and really helps to keep the works from stiffening up after a 50-100 round day.
I always shot 51 Navies and they worked without fail ALL day long.
Standard practise for SASS matches I would say Yes everyone greases thier cylinders. At least I never seen anyone that didn't.
I had a seperate "Lube" that was abit "stiffer" then my regular lube for Warm weather Matches so when one had his guns "charged" in the holsters on a hot day the lube didn't run down your leg when thier was alot of waiting around :D
Worked well enough to win me a SASS BP champion Plaque once or twice too:)
 
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