Patched RB in .36 1851?

[MiltonBradly]

Hey all,

I have a Euroarms 1851 navy BP revolver that has got me into BP shooting...

The chambers of it seem to have a slight taper to the mouth resulting in no lead shaved off of .375 round ball. I have been shooting it with lubed felt wads (cant remember the brand) to good results but am wondering about a less expensive alternative. I have found I can load round ball with a ~1/2" crisco impregnated cotton patch. I haven't fired it as such... just dry loaded a few to see if it would work. It does take a reasonable amount of pressure to seat them and the balls are deforming slightly with the cloth pattern clearly embossed on the ball.

Am I way out of line pursuing loading up this way? I haven't found any references to patching balls in a revolver. The cotton sheeting I have is too thin to use as a wad with any success but seems ideal to use as a patch... I'd prefer to use wads and would like to locate a material appropriate to produce my own... In the mean time, what do you think?

Thanks
MB

P.S. I suppose I should get a front stuffer so I can use this nice patching material I have

 

[bdft]

Why do you want to shoot patched RB in a revolver? You are already shooting a .375 down a .36 barrel. How much tighter do you want it to fit? If you are concerned about a chainfire, use a wad behind the ball or grease over the ball.

 

[vagrantviking]

A friend of mine has a pair of the same pistol and found he same thing with the cylinders not shaving any lead on loading. We even tried some larger balls that are .379 and they didn't shave either. He's also using the felt wads. It doesn't seem to be a problem for accuracy or anything else. The balls feel good and snug on seating and don't fall out.

Shooting with a patch, I wonder if they would go down the barrel or if there would be issues at the cylinder gap getting full of threads and crud. If your results have been good with what you are doing I don't see a reason to change. For cheaper wads you can go to Princess Auto or where ever and buy a set of punches so you can cut your own wads out of felt or other material. I use .060 cork wads in my BPCR and can't see why they wouldn't work in a revolver if you lube after seating the ball.

Sealling the cylinder mouths with bore butter or crisco as the last step will give you a little added protection against the chance of chain-firing too.

 

[tiriaq]

I think you would be better off to get a mould that casts a slightly larger ball.

 

[tula]

I agree, I'v never heard of or seen anyone load a revolver with a patched ball...unheard of.

 

[BCRider]

Apparently it's not unheard of. When I got my own 1851 it came with a supply of undersize balls and prelubed cotton patches. I figured that this was why the guy had less than ideal results and sold the gun. I said as much on another blackpowder forum and learned that it was a technique used at one point by precision pistol shooters.

But one thing for sure it would be a PITA to load them unless the gun was broken down and the cylinder loaded in an accessory press. If the patches sit at or below the rim of the cylinder chambers then the patch SHOULD move forward into the forcing cone and the gun shoot just like it would if it were a patched muzzle loader. The key is cutting the patches off cleanly with no threads sticking out or sizing them such that they definetly fit down below the chamber edge.