- Location
- Vernon, BC
Merry Christmas All!!
I have been thinking of getting back into cap and ball shooting. I thought I might post the routine that I went through, and thought perhaps some of you more knowledgeable people might suggest how to fine tune it.
When I was shooting C&B a few years ago, my revolver was a very nice Uberti 1851 Navy square back in 36 cal. I used wads impregnated with bore butter, and Pryodex P, and that combination seemed to give me good results.
At the time I was shooting I wanted to use wads between the powder charge and ball, but finding Wonder Wads in 36 cal was almost impossible. So what I did was I went to a local cowboy hat manufacturer and secured some felt tailings. This was really nice felt to work with, and I still have a lot kicking around.
I then bought myself a standard punch set and punched myself about a hundred wads or so of the appropriate diameter. I then heated up some bore butter in a double boiler, added the wads, stirred it around and let them soak for about an hour while being heated. I then laid out the wad to dry on a cookie sheet, and once dry and firm, put them in a small cleaned re-sealable yogurt container to keep the dirt out and the wads soft.
At the time I was shooting, I was using wads and also putting bore butter/grease on top of the cylinder as well. I did this more to keep the fouling soft, and it seemed to work. I used a plastic knife, the kind used on picnic’s, to spread it on. Further I found it a good practice to pre-grease the face of cylinder before any shooting started as the prevented fouling from getting hard.
In hind sight, the grease over the ball may not have been required. At the time I was concerned with chain fire. Most of the cases that I have herd or read about were a result of sparks entering through the nipple. This is why a snug cap to nipple fit is critical, and is often overlooked.
It is now my opinion that if you are shaving lead off your seated ball, you are effectively "sealing" the front of the cylinder, and chain fires from the front should not be an issue.
Further, I have been considering getting a Remington style revolver. It seems that with this style, removing the cylinder for loading should be relatively easy, which facilitates quicker loading. As a mater of fact, I have seen loading stands like the following, which should work very well with Remington style cap and ball revolvers.
The brass piston should prevent the marring of the cylinder, yet this set up should allow very firm ball seating with out stressing the revolvers loading leaver. My problem is that I can not seem to remember where I got that picture or who sells this stuff any more. Any one know??
One issue that I was never quite able to resolve was spent cap debrey. I end up tilting the revolver to the side every time I cocked the revolver so that any loose parts of spent cap would fall out of and not into the revolver workings.
How are you guys working it out?
Further as stated above, snug cap to nipple fit is critical, and is often overlooked. How do you guys tune your nipples to ensure a good fit?
Do you guys prefer a particular brand of cap fro revolver shooting??
I found that cleaning of C&B to be really onerous and was spending 45-60 minutes to properly clean. Would some of you be so kind and share with me your routines. I don’t mind cleaning, but there must be a faster way. This was the main reason I gave it up.
I look forward to all responses and thank you all in advance for your time.
Regards and all the best
R
I have been thinking of getting back into cap and ball shooting. I thought I might post the routine that I went through, and thought perhaps some of you more knowledgeable people might suggest how to fine tune it.
When I was shooting C&B a few years ago, my revolver was a very nice Uberti 1851 Navy square back in 36 cal. I used wads impregnated with bore butter, and Pryodex P, and that combination seemed to give me good results.
At the time I was shooting I wanted to use wads between the powder charge and ball, but finding Wonder Wads in 36 cal was almost impossible. So what I did was I went to a local cowboy hat manufacturer and secured some felt tailings. This was really nice felt to work with, and I still have a lot kicking around.
I then bought myself a standard punch set and punched myself about a hundred wads or so of the appropriate diameter. I then heated up some bore butter in a double boiler, added the wads, stirred it around and let them soak for about an hour while being heated. I then laid out the wad to dry on a cookie sheet, and once dry and firm, put them in a small cleaned re-sealable yogurt container to keep the dirt out and the wads soft.
At the time I was shooting, I was using wads and also putting bore butter/grease on top of the cylinder as well. I did this more to keep the fouling soft, and it seemed to work. I used a plastic knife, the kind used on picnic’s, to spread it on. Further I found it a good practice to pre-grease the face of cylinder before any shooting started as the prevented fouling from getting hard.
In hind sight, the grease over the ball may not have been required. At the time I was concerned with chain fire. Most of the cases that I have herd or read about were a result of sparks entering through the nipple. This is why a snug cap to nipple fit is critical, and is often overlooked.
It is now my opinion that if you are shaving lead off your seated ball, you are effectively "sealing" the front of the cylinder, and chain fires from the front should not be an issue.
Further, I have been considering getting a Remington style revolver. It seems that with this style, removing the cylinder for loading should be relatively easy, which facilitates quicker loading. As a mater of fact, I have seen loading stands like the following, which should work very well with Remington style cap and ball revolvers.
The brass piston should prevent the marring of the cylinder, yet this set up should allow very firm ball seating with out stressing the revolvers loading leaver. My problem is that I can not seem to remember where I got that picture or who sells this stuff any more. Any one know??
One issue that I was never quite able to resolve was spent cap debrey. I end up tilting the revolver to the side every time I cocked the revolver so that any loose parts of spent cap would fall out of and not into the revolver workings.
How are you guys working it out?
Further as stated above, snug cap to nipple fit is critical, and is often overlooked. How do you guys tune your nipples to ensure a good fit?
Do you guys prefer a particular brand of cap fro revolver shooting??
I found that cleaning of C&B to be really onerous and was spending 45-60 minutes to properly clean. Would some of you be so kind and share with me your routines. I don’t mind cleaning, but there must be a faster way. This was the main reason I gave it up.
I look forward to all responses and thank you all in advance for your time.
Regards and all the best
R
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