CatalinaDave
32 Cal.
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2012
- Messages
- 5
- Reaction score
- 0
Been wonder'n, scratch'n, figur'n, why put the wad under the ball, why not put it on top?
I shoot alot of bp, which makes me wond'r, is it possible to shoot too much, or is that somethin' wives tell us to keep us under their control? But, thats a whole nother' thread, I'll start it if I ever finish this one.
Last summer I decided I wanted to be purist again, you know, makin' your own bp, own wads, lube etc. So I go to Wally's Frontier Trading Mart, the fabric section... figure to buy real felt, all natural, not polute the environment, like the days before flammable polyester.
So I trade for a full yard of 1/4" felt. Go home, mix up my usual brew of 3 parts vegetable oil, 1 part cookin' paraffin & 2 parts Jack Daniels. Soak my felt & figure now I'm good for another 10,000-20,000 shots without buyin' store bought wads again.
Head to the gun range with my Hawken 50 & a Pietta 1860 open top 44 copy.
All is great, i'm shootin' away just like I had good sense. Now, I'm loadin' the 44 as always, 28gr. FFFG, wad, ball maybe a little veggie grease over. Great, smoke, fire, smell of sulphur mixed with burning Jack Daniels! Perfect day . . . until . . .
I kept noticin' this stupid little fireball drippin' to the ground about 10' in front of my gun. It was really dumb lookin' well . . . I figure, no problem, just cut back on the Jack Daniels a little next time. Then, . . .
My last shot, ummm . . ., you've people talk about "hot loads" right? Well, this wasn't exactly what they were refirin' to.
Seems like that last wad didn't quite drop to the ground. It just kinda' stuck to the ball, burnin' all the way to the target . . .
Now this would have been fine if we were shootin' steel plates, but no, we were shootin' paper targets, stapled to cardboard on wood frames.
It might have been better if the target just burst into flames, but no, here in humid Florida, it just kinda' started smoulderin' real slow. . . ., pretty soon I heard people quit shootin', they were watchin' my target. Pretty soon someone said, "well, he got the 10 ring. All of it.", then someone else said, "now he's got the 9 ring", then someone else said, "there goes the 8." . . . Until the frame finally started charrin' black.
So here's my question, why load the wad undet the ball, except to move the ball closer to the end / front of the cylinder? My experience shows the cylinder gap is more important than how deep the ball is, as long as its firm on the powder.
Seating the wad on the powder only burns up the wad, but it burns up the lube too.
If you use enough powder, the ball will be close enough, but putting the wad with lube over the ball provides the same measure of safety against chain fires, cleans & lubes the bore before the ball passes thru it.
I'm ready, throw your hawks at me & tell me what yer thinkn'.
Which makes start wondern' "is it possible to have too many bp guns . . . . .??
Oh right . . . Thats a subject for another thread. . .
Then theres the question, do you think it would be better to smooth out my lube brew with Jack Daniels as always, or do you think I should try somethin' like Jim Beam or straight shine?
Keep chewin' powder
and spittin' lead
I shoot alot of bp, which makes me wond'r, is it possible to shoot too much, or is that somethin' wives tell us to keep us under their control? But, thats a whole nother' thread, I'll start it if I ever finish this one.
Last summer I decided I wanted to be purist again, you know, makin' your own bp, own wads, lube etc. So I go to Wally's Frontier Trading Mart, the fabric section... figure to buy real felt, all natural, not polute the environment, like the days before flammable polyester.
So I trade for a full yard of 1/4" felt. Go home, mix up my usual brew of 3 parts vegetable oil, 1 part cookin' paraffin & 2 parts Jack Daniels. Soak my felt & figure now I'm good for another 10,000-20,000 shots without buyin' store bought wads again.
Head to the gun range with my Hawken 50 & a Pietta 1860 open top 44 copy.
All is great, i'm shootin' away just like I had good sense. Now, I'm loadin' the 44 as always, 28gr. FFFG, wad, ball maybe a little veggie grease over. Great, smoke, fire, smell of sulphur mixed with burning Jack Daniels! Perfect day . . . until . . .
I kept noticin' this stupid little fireball drippin' to the ground about 10' in front of my gun. It was really dumb lookin' well . . . I figure, no problem, just cut back on the Jack Daniels a little next time. Then, . . .
My last shot, ummm . . ., you've people talk about "hot loads" right? Well, this wasn't exactly what they were refirin' to.
Seems like that last wad didn't quite drop to the ground. It just kinda' stuck to the ball, burnin' all the way to the target . . .
Now this would have been fine if we were shootin' steel plates, but no, we were shootin' paper targets, stapled to cardboard on wood frames.
It might have been better if the target just burst into flames, but no, here in humid Florida, it just kinda' started smoulderin' real slow. . . ., pretty soon I heard people quit shootin', they were watchin' my target. Pretty soon someone said, "well, he got the 10 ring. All of it.", then someone else said, "now he's got the 9 ring", then someone else said, "there goes the 8." . . . Until the frame finally started charrin' black.
So here's my question, why load the wad undet the ball, except to move the ball closer to the end / front of the cylinder? My experience shows the cylinder gap is more important than how deep the ball is, as long as its firm on the powder.
Seating the wad on the powder only burns up the wad, but it burns up the lube too.
If you use enough powder, the ball will be close enough, but putting the wad with lube over the ball provides the same measure of safety against chain fires, cleans & lubes the bore before the ball passes thru it.
I'm ready, throw your hawks at me & tell me what yer thinkn'.
Which makes start wondern' "is it possible to have too many bp guns . . . . .??
Oh right . . . Thats a subject for another thread. . .
Then theres the question, do you think it would be better to smooth out my lube brew with Jack Daniels as always, or do you think I should try somethin' like Jim Beam or straight shine?
Keep chewin' powder
and spittin' lead