cap and ball pistol

[Bill J.]

Hi guys, I recently came in touch with a cap and ball revolver. I have a good idea on how to load it.
Powder, wad, ball. A couple of things i'm not sure about that mabe someone can help out. How many grains for 25 yard target? Do you lube the ball or wad or put any kind of lube over the top of the ball in the chamber? its a 44 cal. any ideas will help.
thank you bill j

 

[Stumpkiller]

A safe service load for a revolver is half a ball diameter of FFFg, so 22 grains is a "normal" load. Anything in the 18 to 22 grain range would be ducky. A target load could be less, of course, but I find that the 'jump' the ball takes to the rifling in a short load (it sits farther down in the cylinder) makes up for any advantage in lower recoil, etc.

My revolver is a .36 Navy, so I can't give you insights into a good .44 target load.

I put lube OVER the ball. Plain ol' Crisco, "Spit Ball", or a beeswax/Crisco oil mix. Any of the solid, wax/grease lubes used for a conical bullet in a rifle will work ahead of a pistol ball; stay away from the liquid lubes. That small of a powder load will soak up oils from the lube quickly in a cylinder. The lube over the ball keeps the fouling soft and, more importantly, prevents the cylinder being fired from igniting the cylinders around it - a chain fire.

 

[cayugad]

Bill I have a .44 caliber cap and ball. Mine is the Remington 1858 Army model. My max load is 30 grains of FFFg but it shoots perfect with 25 grains of FFFg.

Like you were saying, I dump the powder put on a wad, then an unlubed .451 ball is pressed into the cylinder. I was told that with the wad you do not have to fill the ends with Crisco. Well don't believe that line. I saw my friends identical loaded revolver, chain fire. Thank goodness only one other cylinder went off and nothing serious happened and no one was hurt. Fill the ends of the cylinder over the ball with Crisco Vegetable Shortening. ::

I hunt rabbits in the winter and shoot at (notice I said at : them little pine squirrels with this load. It sure makes hunting them a challenge and a pleasure.

When you shoot, some advice. Pull the cylinder each time you shoot it out. Then wipe all the fowling out inside the frame area and on the cylinder rod, and back against the hammer area. I also wipe off the outside of the cylinder also. If you don't after about the third time you fire out a cylinder, you will have a :curse: terrible time pulling the cylinder rod back to release the cylinder.

Have fun with your revolver. Gosh I think I want to go shoot mine soon.... ::

 

Cap and ball revolvers are not intended to be used with wadding of any kind!!! The ball seals the chamber sitting directly on top of the powder. Check your manuals. None of them call for wadding of any kind in any secquence! The only manuals that will call for wadding are the ones written by wadding manufacturers!!!!! The wadding alone will cause chain fires!

powder (whatever amount shoots good, I fill mine nearly up)
pressed in ball (should shave a ring of lead from the ball)
heavy grease (crisco, tallow, lard, axle grease)
cap and fire---that's it!!!! no wadds!!

 

[hirocker]

With my Rodgers & Spencer .44, I use 25 grains of Swiss 3FG, and then fill the cylinders to within 1/4" of the top with corn meal or Cream of Wheat. I then seat the balls flush and finish with a bead of WL around the ball, dispensed from a glue syringe. The corn meal acts as an inert filler and also seems to help scour fouling. With this load (off of a good rest), the pistol will reliably hit a quarter at 25 yards every time. As a rule, don't use too much powder, and make up the cylinder volume with an inert filler. Experiment with various loads, both off of a rest and offhand to see what works best for you. Of particular importance is to make sure yu use a large enough ball. I found that a .457 worked much better than the recommended .451. When you press home the ball, you should shave off a nice even ring of lead.

And most, most importantly - have fun!

 

I shoot an 1860 Uberti. 25 gr FFFg, a Wonder Wad, a .457 ball and Remington caps. I think you will find that the slightly larger ball is more accurate and I do not believe it over stresses the loader - especially the creeping type found on the streamlined Colts. My home brew lube is 25% Murphy's Oil Soap, 25% beeswax and 50% Crisco (by weight). I put a bit over each ball to help soften fouling. I get very good accuracy for about 18-24 shots depending on the temp and humidity, then I pull the barrel and push a couple of wet patches thru the bore. Very good accuracy as defined by me is 1-2 inch groups at 25 yds. The only problem is that most of these pistols shoot high and mine is no exception at about 18 inches above point of aim. I plan to install a higher front sight but for now, I just hold off...

 

[Zonie]

As was said, the .44 cal pistol takes a .451 or .457 dia ball so it is a tight fit into the cylinder.
I would recommend using a blob of crisco or equivalent over each ball, to both lube the ball, and assure it is a flame proof seal (to prevent chain fireing).

The caps you use will most likely be #11. Some of the C&B guns nipples are made for #10 caps (which are a little smaller) so the #11s are a loose fit.
If their loose, they can fall off during firing. This is not good because not only is the chamber now unprimed but the flash hole thru the nipple is open. If another chamber is fired while it's neighbor is uncapped, the powder flash out of the rear of the fired cylinder can find its way into the uncapped nipple. This of course results in multiple cylinders firing at the same time (chain fire).

The answer to this, is if you use #11 primers, and they fit the nipples loosely, pinch the mouth of them shut with your fingers and then install them. They should be a nice tight fit.

Load her up and have some fun. IMO firing a cap and ball pistol is absolutely Great!!

Oh, by the way, almost all of them shoot about 6 inches high at 25 yards, so aim a little low, at least for your first shots.

 

[Ohio Joe]

Here is the load I like for my 1858 Remingtom .44... 28 grains 3fg Goex, .454 Hornady round ball,(and shave a ring of lead), Hodgdon Spit Ball Lube for sealing each loaded chamber, and #11 RWS Caps... I like to make mine into paper cartridges using cigarette papers... More times then not I have to fish out the paper from each chamber after firing before reloading, but I'm just plinking and don't mined getting my little pin knife out... I too shoot high, I just try and compensate for it... I seldom shoot over 20 yards, 15 yards usually... Now single shot pistols are a different matter...

 

[2172]

I believed those magazine articles that said that chain fires "always" came from the cap end of the cylinder, right up to the chain fire I had in my Ruger Old Army...2 extra chambers went off...luckily they were on the right side of the gun, and, as a lefty,my hand was on the other side. I use wads, don't know if I need 'em or not...Now I make sure I shave a ring of lead as I load a ball, and I use a sealer: I've used Crisco, but the smell of it burning made me hungry, water pump grease...a little messy, and now have one of those patented lubes...I haven't tried bore butter yet, but think it'd work. Hank

 

[Zonie]

Hank: I had not seen the article which said the chain fire always came around the back end.
My reason for mentioning the loose/gone cap is because I have always heard people talking about putting some form of thick grease over the ball to prevent chain fires, but almost never do they mention the exposed nipple when a cap falls off.

As long as a person knows the potential dangers, shooting a Rev. War revolver is Great Fun. Click,click..BOOM click,click..BOOM, click,click..BOOM, click,click..BOOM, click,click..BOOM!

Oh, note there were only 5 BOOMS. Never trust the hammers half cock notch. Load 5 chambers and rest the hammer on the unloaded, uncapped 6th chamber if your not going to shoot the gun right after loading.