Revolver loading sequence?

[Dave Rosenthal]

:thumbsup: Welcome to the forum!

What type of revolver do you have and what load(s) work for you?

Have fun - stay safe - did I say have FUN!!?? :haha:

Dave

 

:thumbsup: Welcome to the forum!

What type of revolver do you have and what load(s) work for you?

Have fun - stay safe - did I say have FUN!!?? :haha:

Dave

I always have fun. I have a few percussion revolvers. I have 3 Ubertis, a Walker, 1860 Army and a Remington Navy .36 and 3 Piettas, all 1851's, a Navy .36. a .44 and a 5" barrel .44 US Marshall. All good shooters and most enjoyable. The Walker is probably the most fun to shoot and works well with 50 gr. 3F and a round ball. The 1860 is dead on with 30 gr. and the .36's do well with 24gr.

 

[bingo1952]

i take the cylinder out of the pistol,
i cap the nipples,
measure out the 3F and pour the amount in each chamber 1 by 1,
i take the wad and start it in each chamber,
i take a unsharpened pencil and seat each wad on top of the powder,
put the cylinder back into the pistol,
place the ball into the starter,
then press it in,
then repeat this 5 more times,
then double check each chamber,
then you're ready to rock!

Capping would be the last thing I would do in this sequence before commencing fire.

 

[No Grease]

i take the cylinder out of the pistol,
i cap the nipples,
measure out the 3F and pour the amount in each chamber 1 by 1,
i take the wad and start it in each chamber,
i take a unsharpened pencil and seat each wad on top of the powder,
put the cylinder back into the pistol,
place the ball into the starter,
then press it in,
then repeat this 5 more times,
then double check each chamber,
then you're ready to rock!

Capping would be the last thing I would do in this sequence before commencing fire.

I wonder what he is capping with...Since he removes the cylinder to load, is he putting perc caps in place or is he just capping to prevent spilt powder. Seems like a logical question to me.

 

[nightwolf1974]

percussion caps to shoot it with.

 

[crockett]

Nightwolf 1974- It seems to me a lot of extra work to take the cylinder out of the frame. Is there any reason why you do it that way?

 

[nightwolf1974]

Nightwolf 1974- It seems to me a lot of extra work to take the cylinder out of the frame. Is there any reason why you do it that way?

i personally find it easier to load the revolvers that way. and i feel better too.

an old shooter, no longer with us, told me a story about his friend that was reloading an original Walker in the traditional way. he was pouring FFF into a chamber(uncapped) and something sparked, the powder in the chamber went off and ignited the powder in the container he was pouring from. it took his hand and most of his head off, and wounded three others ( including the guy telling the story) standing around at the range.

i saw for myself the scars left.

so,i load the cylinder out of the gun and away from the powder.

and no, i'd never load a capped "muzzleloading" rifle or pistol. figure i'd beat someone to that one.

 

[crockett]

Well now that is a good point- we (most of us) load cap and ball revolvers directly from the flask. If by some way an ember remains in the chamber it could ignite the flask.

 

[whitedog333]

Nightwolf 1974- It seems to me a lot of extra work to take the cylinder out of the frame. Is there any reason why you do it that way?

i personally find it easier to load the revolvers that way. and i feel better too.

an old shooter, no longer with us, told me a story about his friend that was reloading an original Walker in the traditional way. he was pouring FFF into a chamber(uncapped) and something sparked, the powder in the chamber went off and ignited the powder in the container he was pouring from. it took his hand and most of his head off, and wounded three others ( including the guy telling the story) standing around at the range.

i saw for myself the scars left.

so,i load the cylinder out of the gun and away from the powder.

and no, i'd never load a capped "muzzleloading" rifle or pistol. figure i'd beat someone to that one.

I don't know, after reading that, just thinking about loading a revolver from the flask that'd just been fired gives me the Willies. Holy crap! Now I'm reminded why I quit rigging dinomite for a construction company many years ago. Before I knew better, my job was to take a stick of dinomite, use a bronze awl and push it through the stick twice making two holes on both sides, take a blasting cap with a wire attached, push it carefully through the first hole, back around and under the entry wire, then up and into the second hole where it would sit while I would lower the stick by the wire into a big old hole that'd been drilled down into the rock. Then, I'd have to drop a series of other sticks of various size, 2 pound, one pound etc. on top of this and top it off by breaking in two a 3 ft. stick and dropping one of these into the hole. then, I'd have to personaly scrape a pile of gravel that'd been dumped next to the hole with a five gallon bucket, into the hole on top of the dinomite and using a long bambu pole, tamp the whole mess down into the hole firm. I had to do this Several dozen times a day, every day. My ass was puckered every moment doing this. I was allways afraid of the charge going off at any stage for any reason, resulting in my arms and face being blown off like from a giant shotgun load. I finaly quit when the company refused to pay me the extra $.48 (that's 48 cents) per hour for hazardous work that they were required per the union I was in who never enforced the mandate. Actually, I quit because I just didn't like the situation and the potential catastrophy that could've occured at any moment kept me on edge. $12.00 an hour wasn't worth it.

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

Well now that is a good point- we (most of us) load cap and ball revolvers directly from the flask. If by some way an ember remains in the chamber it could ignite the flask.

I not only don't load from a flask, I don't load powder from the measure any more either! I and most all of the black powder league here in NJ use those little red plastic tubes with the orange caps that we buy in Dixon Muzzleloading Shop in Kempton PA. I load the tubes at my kitchen table prior to going to the range, and transport & store them in a cigar box.

Using a custom-built loading stand, we pour powder from the red plastic tubes (made by RMC I believe) into each chamber, with powder, then wad, then ball, and then leave the loading lever in place and then continue the process by repeating the sequence.

At the firing line, we "clear" the revolvers by rotating the cylinders with the gun at half-cock, ensuring that all of the chambers were fired and that all cap fragments are removed. This gives each cylinder a better chance to "cool-down". We've never had a problem with a flash-off doing it this way, and there are 15 of us in the league and it's growing.

Better safe than sorry, I always say :thumbsup:

Dave

 

[mykeal]

+1, Dave! :thumbsup:

 

[whitedog333]

In my Colt Navies, I've taken cigarett rolling papers that are nitrated, wrapped them around a writing pen and licked them to form a cylinder, then twisted the end hanging off of the pen, pulled them off and filled them with the appropriate charge of powder. This is where the different sized papers come in handy for different charges. I'll then twist shut the opposite end and I can put six tubes of nitrated charges into a single small match box where they stay compact and dry. You can carry lots of the match boxes safely and conveniently without injuring the paper charges. When it comes time to load the chambers, I just drop each tube of powder into a chamber and seat a ball over it with the rammer. The tubes actually have a beveled shape at one end because of the beveled end of the pen that I use, and so they go into the chambers easily and completely with no hangups. When I cap and fire the revolver, There is only very occassionaly a slight delay when the flash from the cap takes a moment to ignite the charge through the paper. Most of the time the ignition is instant and there is no delay. I started using a very fine oxygen/acedalene torch tip cleaner that can pass through the flash hole of the npples and that allways opened up the nitrated paper for the flash. This technique of piercing the back of the self contained cartridge by the way was recomended by Colt when the old foil or combustable paper cartridges that came in packs were used in their cap and ball revolvers to insure ignition. It's quick reloading and it's certainly safer than charging the chambers with a flask. I suppose that if a person were to get and use the extra long rolling papers, they could also include the round ball or ogive bullet wrapped within the charge.

 

[AZ Muzzle]

Clint,

I know many people have commented on the capping before powder, wad, ball, grease, etc.. re truly speaking from a safety point of view. Capping first is extremely dangerous. It is not if a cylinder will prematurely misfire if capped first, it is only a matter of time before you get an accidental discharge capping first.

Be safe and it is no shame asking or getting clarification from experience BP shooters. BP is truly a fun activity if performed safely. Get into safe habits and enjoy.

 

[nightwolf1974]

Clint,

I know many people have commented on the capping before powder, wad, ball, grease, etc.. re truly speaking from a safety point of view. Capping first is extremely dangerous. It is not if a cylinder will prematurely misfire if capped first, it is only a matter of time before you get an accidental discharge capping first.

Be safe and it is no shame asking or getting clarification from experience BP shooters. BP is truly a fun activity if performed safely. Get into safe habits and enjoy.

i really value experienced advise. i am no fool, and i make every effort to be safe.

after engaging in this topic, i will the next i load a revolver try it the other way. i was just taught that way.