BP Revolvers....What Am I Doing Wrong??!?!

[Gene L]

I use white lithium grease. You can get it at an auto parts store.

 

[Zonie]

When I first started with pistols I bought a Rogers and Spencer. A friend had a New Army 44. He was always having to fight with rotation and to get the cylinder pin out regardless of lube. My Spencer was a breeze...

One of the prime reasons your Rogers & Spencer revolver didn't have a problem is because of the way the gun was designed.

Rogers & Spencer added a small protrusion at the front of the cylinder which covers up the cylinder pin and extends forward to meet the frame.
The Colt's and Remington's don't have this feature.
This round protrusion deflects the blast of flame and fouling that comes out of the gap between the cylinder face and the rear of the barrel rather than allowing it to go directly onto the cylinder pin and the center hole in the cylinder.

It was a great improvement and probably would have been adapted by the other makers had cap & ball revolvers remained in production for long.

 

[bang]

Not loading so much powder the ball scrapped durring rotation helped. LOL Just glad he wasn't shooting a brass frame. Think it would have come apart.

 

[Billy Boy]

What Smooth Shooter said. The lube behind the ball keeps the crud soft; the lube on top of the ball just makes a mess. Where I live a bylaw prevents me from having or storing explosives, (as defined by NY Fire Code) so I shoot replica powder, never had a problem with ignition, buildup or cleanup.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Every body has there own opinion about where to place the lube. Some are afraid of getting their gun a little greasy. (So why shoot a black powder gun at all. Seems a lot easier to clean off greasy soot than dry soot.) Shot a lot of replicas over the years. Many years ago, I got a case of something called "Pistol Patch" sold by Blue and Gray Products. It was still on the market a few years ago, but had become too expensive. It was a pastel colored grease that I put sparingly on top the balls after loading. It really improved the number of shots I could take before having to strip and clean the gun. One afternoon on a "Lets See" I shot over ten cylinder loads through the Ruger before needing to wipe things down. The same routine worked in my Remington reproduction, but not as well in the little 1862 Colt police. Only about five cylinders in the little colt, although the 1860 did almost as well as the Remington. The consistency of pistol patch and it's faint odor to me is a dead ringer with the white lithium grease sold at auto parts stores. It does not have that real heavy petroleum smell that cartridge grease has. Since I ran out of pistol patch, I use the white lithium grease. There is not tarring or pitch residue in the barrels. I think probably to short to build the temperatures necessary to convert the grease to a pitch. Yes some of the grease is blown away by the first and second shots from the cylinder. especially if you load the front of the cylinder with grease. Some still remains ahead to the ball to coat the bore as the ball moves forward. Some designs are far more prone to having a cylinder lock up due to fouling. Keeping the fouling soft with grease helps prolong shooting before the lock up happens for many people. All that being said. I was never a good shooter with a black powder revolver. But at matches, I would pop the cylinder out of the Remington and give it a quick wipe down and run a oily swab through the pin hole and then grease the cylinder pin between relays. It only took a few seconds and kept everything fairly consistent from shot to shot. Just like many match shooters swab the bore between shots.

 

[aeatwood]

1) use a proper sized ball - at least as big as mfg recommends, and up to .003 larger. I like .454's in my Pietta's, and .457 in ROA.

2) 2F powder in .36's and .44's.

3) lubed felt wad under the ball.

4) do not put so much powder in the ball will not center itself in the chamber mouth.

5) a good BP lube is essential.

2F prodices more fouling than 3F. It is also softer. I pull the cylinder/pin every 4-5 cylinders and wipe it with a spit patch and re-lube the pin. You can back down a bit from the max charge to see if you get better accuracy. And 2F wants a bit more ramming pressure than 3F, but not as much as Pyrodex.

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

I use either white lithium or wheel bearing grease on the arbor. I can shoot pretty much all day without any problems. If the cylinder does get sticky, I pull it off to clean the arbor and lube again. I also put a dab of grease over the loaded chambers. At the end of the day, the whole revolver is broken down for a thorough cleaning. No problems.

 

[bigted]

I have shot hundreds and hundreds of revolver percussion rounds and i will just say that 99 percent have had plain ol crisco OVER the balls. I started doing this in the 70's (as directed by others already shootin them) and not only cheap, but effective in accuracy and cleanup. A towel along and a swift rub down between cylinders kept and keeps my revolvers in action.

I have recently experimented with different lubes both below and above the balls. Also used lubed wads but never got along with them and always got leading and poor accuracy with them.

My favorite thus far tho has to be the paper cartridges i am playin with.

I get a kick outta reading of folks not liking crisco or any over ball lube. It works and this along with an old tooth brush to keep the cylinder face brushed off, keeps my revolvers runnin just fine.

I did do an experiment tho. I ran 55 rounds of paper cartridges dry with the exception of synthetic grease on the arbor and keeping the cylinder face brushed off in my old Peitta sheriff model 61 colt.

There seems to be a route for every shooter to attain what they need from these fun revolvers. Nobody has the all correct route but many gather to do the historic methods. I myself like playin with the "old days methods"

I am very intrigued with the paper cartridges. I have gotten them down to rollin them with 25 grains 2Fg old E powder and dunkin the ball and 1/8th inch of the paper in my homemade melted lube consisting of bee wax and vasoline and a smidge of olive oil. These are fast, reliable and accurate.

Still yet tho, when i just have a hankerin to blow some steam off , i grab balls, powder, caps ... and yep, CRISCO.

 

[bang]

Been using mix of wax and veg oil melted together. Makes good patch lube and cylinder sealer/bore lube. Sticky enough to hang in there in cylinders. Melts at low enough temp you can dip patches in stacks and ring out without frying the fingers. I like it for pistol cylinder because the wax seems to absorb and carry off quite a bit of the soot. Doubling for patches makes it versatile.

 

[BeoBill]

I use a dab of lithium grease from the auto parts store on my arbor. A small tube costs a couple of bucks and will last you a LONG time. I shoot 777 and Pyrodex pellets and never had a binding problem.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Very nice! Now that you’ve found grease, ditch those Colt’s for a truly reliable percussion revolver, a Remington!

 

[Heelerau]

I grease the arbor with water pump grease and use 1/8 greased hard felt wads over powder, no lube over the ball. Lube the wads with what I grease my minnie's with, 5parts by volume beeswax to 1 part unsalted lard. I have shot most of the day with no cylinder binding. I also grease the inside of the lock works with plenty of water pump grease so when a cap gets into the hammer groove it stays in a place I can clear it out with my pocket knife, this is for my colts, the Remington does not suck caps and is more reliable that way.

 

[Bad Karma]

Very nice! Now that you’ve found grease, ditch those Remingtons for a truly reliable percussion revolver, a Ruger Old Army!

Fixed your typo...

 

[scrubby2009]

I own and shoot a Remington NMA. For extended playing at the range, I will put a few drops of Kroil on the arbor, front and rear. Sometimes up to 50 or 60 rounds. I shoot paper cartridges, (as these guns were designed for), about 25 to 27 grains of 3f by volume under a 200gr Johnston and Dow bullet in pure lead. I dip the finished cartridges in wax/lard mixture for bullet lube. This round has proven reliable and simple. I stopped using Pyrodex years ago, too messy. Here's a picture of a couple paper cartridges I made next to handloaded BP 44-40 rounds for size comparison.

 

[Rich]

Well personally I would be using grease over the ball as a safety factor, to stop chain firing. I have never used Pyrodex, only 3FG Black Powder, & I never had any problem with the cylinder sticking.
Keith.

Chain firing does not come from the open end of the cylinder. It is a problem on the cap end of the cylinder. A ball pressed in to a cylinder can not and will not allow burning powder to get behind it. The problem is always at the cap end of the cylinder.

 

[Grenadier1758]

When I was very young and there was very little information about black powder revolver shooting, I bought a 36 caliber brass framed replica. Lead ball was not available in suitable sizes so I bought a bag of buckshot in what was supposed to be the proper size. With these irregular shaped balls, I could not get a good ring as I seated the ball. I would get chain fires occasionally. I stopped using the buck shot very quickly.

Once I got the correct sized balls, the chain fires ceased. Yes you can get chain fires across the chamber mouth.

This was also a very good lesson on learning to do the correct research. It was also a lesson to measure the diameter of the chamber mouth in order to determine the correct size for the lead ball. Ordered a ball mold for 36 caliber and they sent me a 0.360" sized mold instead of the 0.380" that I needed.

Ah, the lessons that I learned when I was young. Surprising that I am still here to share such old information.

 

[Carbon 6]

Very nice! Now that you’ve found grease, ditch those Colt’s for a truly reliable percussion revolver, a Remington!

 

[MiddleJohn]

When I was very young and there was very little information about black powder revolver shooting, I bought a 36 caliber brass framed replica. Lead ball was not available in suitable sizes so I bought a bag of buckshot in what was supposed to be the proper size. With these irregular shaped balls, I could not get a good ring as I seated the ball. I would get chain fires occasionally. I stopped using the buck shot very quickly.

Once I got the correct sized balls, the chain fires ceased. Yes you can get chain fires across the chamber mouth.

This was also a very good lesson on learning to do the correct research. It was also a lesson to measure the diameter of the chamber mouth in order to determine the correct size for the lead ball. Ordered a ball mold for 36 caliber and they sent me a 0.360" sized mold instead of the 0.380" that I needed.

Ah, the lessons that I learned when I was young. Surprising that I am still here to share such old information.

I had exactly the same experience back in 1962.
Bought the brass replica at SF Gun Exchange and they threw in a bag of buckshot.
My first shot ever with black powder and all 6 lit off!
What an intro!!!!!!!

 

[FishDFly]

+1 re Deputy Dog's mention of white lithium grease on the arbor/cylinder pin. In conjunction with a proper under-ball lubricant you can get 90-100 full load shots before the cylinder begins to bind (and meanwhile any foweling buildup in the bore will stay soft).

"+1 re Deputy Dog's mention of white lithium grease on the arbor/cylinder pin."

Again, I read a lot and folks talk about using grease on the arbor/cylinder pin. I have been using 3 in 1 oil and the cylinder spins just fine, I like oil over grease as it is thinner. Thinking of going to pure teflon, it slick no doubt.

 

[skyhigh315]

Bite your tongue! Open-top Colts are sexy. Those Remmies must've been designed for people with skinny middle-fingers