Size of Felt Wads?

[Dickydalton]

36 Cal shot from 1862 Pocket Navy into sand. I lost the ball on the left when I dropped that one in the snow. As you can see both balls were expanding a bit and the rifling grooves are visible on the wads.

 

[Dickydalton]

Before someone says it..............
the one in the middle was 15 grains of 3F and about 3 grains of C o' W and the one on the right was 18 grains of 3F w/no filler so it's black on the bottom. That's also why the one on the right was torn up more, but the wad was still on it.

 

[Mulebrain]

Felt wads?

Never used them, and never had a chain fire. With proper ball size, it will seal the cylinder. Make sure the ball leaves a nice cut ring after seating.

 

[M. De Land]

Well I made up a batch of .36 and .45 cal moose milk felt wads and when dry they look just as they did before wetting with MM. They did leave a film of oil on the milk carton side I dried them on.
I think tomorrow night I will melt some SPG in a double boiler and make some greased wads in both calibers and test them against each other.
I will be very surprised if the dry wads lube as well as the SPG grease wads do.
Had another thought about using a milk carton wad under the ball, on top the felt wad, to separate the greased wads from the ball base to prevent it from possibly sticking to it. Mike D.

 

[sail32]

I can guess why the WD-40, a petroleum product, is not a good idea.
Consider the amount of flash produced by the cap before the chamber ignites.
I would guess that the cap flash ignited the WD-40, which in turn ignited the caps on the remaining cylinders.
Spraying the pistol probable got WD-40 all over the rear of the cylinder and on and in the nipples ?

Scowl to the end of this posting for the flash of a cap.
http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,35696.25.html