What Lube for Revolver if Any

[54cal]

Having just picked up an 1858 Pietta I need advice about lubes for it. I've read a lot about using crisco, axel grease, etc. to prevent chainfires. If when seating the ball you shave a ring off and you use a lubed over powder wad, I would assume the cylinder is sealed. Did our forefathers go through all that hassel, I think that carrying around a pistol loaded with grease would pick up a lot of dirt etc.and jam when they needed it the most. I think that this is a modern idea to use grease. Are there any recorded events of chainfires happening a hundred + years ago? I believe that they knew more about this than we do as their lives depended on these weapons. What do you all think, or am I over anylizing all of this? Thanks. Roger

 

[SAJones]

Well, there's been a passel of palaverin' over this subject. As far as historical notes, I believe it was Mark Twain discussing chain fires w/ a "small Colt revolver" while at Virginia City. Pepperboxes were notorious for blasting all barrels at once.

I personally don't believe grease over the ball was a common practice "back then", for a lot of practical reasons. I've shot hundreds of rounds w/o lube with no problems (that was back before I knew anyone did that & well before websites). I do use lube over the balls nowadays, mostly to keep the fouling soft. I use Rig gun grease applied through a large horse syringe. Keeps thinks a bit cleaner.
A properly made revolver with a good tight ball should not suffer chainfires from the front of the cylinder. However, many surmise that chainfires actually occur from loose or missing caps on the nipples. personally, I've only suffered two chainfires, both from a cheap Italian 1851 Navy repro, which I quit shooting after the second occurance when 3 chambers let loose at once. Traded it to some other poor unsuspecting fool.

Welcome to the site, & hope we can answer all your questions. Back when I started burning black powder, there was no one around to correct all the mistakes I was making, & made probably more than my share.

 

[bkovire]

welcome i too have the rem 58 mine is brass framed, as to your question what to lube with, some old books make reference to bacon grease, wagon grease, now for us in the present time some do some don't i am one that dose and i use tc 1000, you can pre lube them, or at the time of loading, i load at the range, it dose slow the loading and shooting but after all it is no speed match :rotf: after i load the cyl's i put my oil on top of each ball using a wad, no need for a big glob or a frosted muffin looking, just enough to seal the ball, i have tried pre lubed worked fine till i for got the plastic box now to find me another box. ps melt lube in box a spear lead ball box is what i used, a bead of tc 1000 length wise works mic wave 10 sec put in rb's stir do ten at a time use box to keep them in can do same with wads less tc though a dab gose a long ways for wads :thumbsup: :hatsoff:be safe make smoke!

 

[mazo kid]

I think your question has been answered pretty well. I would add that you shouldn't use any petroleum based lubes in the cylinder while shooting; it makes a gooey mess. I do use synthetic grease on the arbor pin as it seems to hold up better and keep the action moving freely.

 

[smoothshooter]

I have been using 1/8" thick felt wads cut from an old felt hat soaked in a melted mix of 2 parts cooking oil and 1 part bee's wax loaded under the ball for a couple of years now with very good results and no chain fires. Beats the heck out of coating the ends of the chambers with grease and having such a mess all along the sides of the barrel and forward frame area even after just one shot. I don't even worry about the wads filling the inside diameter of the chambers- .375" to .400" wad diameter in a .44 caliber works fine. Their only purpose is to keep the fouling soft. Chain fires are more than likely caused by loose fitting caps. The grease over the chambers thing seems to be a relatively recent development that does no actual harm, it just makes an already "messy" pastime a lot "messier(?)". None of the period Colt factory literature that I've ever come across ever mentioned geasing the chamber mouths, and their loading instructions were very specific; however, they were adamant about the importance of using properly fitting caps. - Smoothshooter

 

[Blizzard of '93]

snug fitting caps are essential. a 'smear' of grease over the ball/slug is a good idea.
myself I use hand-cut felt over powder it tightens groups when target shooting.

 

[54cal]

Thanks for all the replies, I appreciate all the info you all have provided. I'm use to B/P in my Hawken I'm just new to B/P revolvers. I wanted to get as much info as possible as I sort of like keeping all my fingers. I think I'll try the lubed overpowder wads and see how that goes. Thanks again. Roger

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

Having just picked up an 1858 Pietta I need advice about lubes for it. I've read a lot about using crisco, axel grease, etc. to prevent chainfires. If when seating the ball you shave a ring off and you use a lubed over powder wad, I would assume the cylinder is sealed. Did our forefathers go through all that hassel, I think that carrying around a pistol loaded with grease would pick up a lot of dirt etc.and jam when they needed it the most. I think that this is a modern idea to use grease. Are there any recorded events of chainfires happening a hundred + years ago? I believe that they knew more about this than we do as their lives depended on these weapons. What do you all think, or am I over anylizing all of this? Thanks. Roger

Right on :thumbsup: .

I've shot thousands of balls through my revolvers and always used pre-lubed wonder-wads along with tight-fitting caps, and NEVER a chain-fire, so I must be doing something right!

If that's a steel-framed '58 try 27 grains of 3Fg Goex, a wonder-wad and a .454 Hornady ball.

Dave