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I am thinking of getting one of those 1851 Colt Navy reproductions and am confused about something. I've seen what appears to be two techniques to loading them. 1) Powder, lubed wad and then ball. 2) Powder, ball and then some sort of black powder grease to seal the cylinder. Are both equally correct and safe? Assuming a safe charge of powder, of course.
I have both in mine. I prefer powder lube ball. Some say lube on top prevents chain fires, others say that is not true. I think lube placed on top mostly evaporates and very little goes into the barrel where it's needed, but I can't prove that.
Either is satisfactory. Most important is having ball tight enough that you cut a slight ring of lead off it in seating, of soft lead so you don't bend or break loading lever, and powder charge must be compressed.
Powder, lubed wad, ball that shaves a ring. Good to go.
Some do use a lube "cake" on top of powder but most accepted practice is a "lubed wad". Fiber wads are available or you can make you won. I mainly shoot "Navy caliber" (.36) and have been shooting '51s for 50 + years. I currently shoot a Uberit '51. I do leather work so I save my scraps and use a 3/8" punch (.375) and punch out leather wads - then soak them in my lube that I make from Crisco/beeswax. That goes over the powder and then the ball and then I put lube on top of the ball. You need lube to keep the fouling soft. I can shoot many many cylinders full and not have an issue with the cylinder binding due to fouling on the cylinder pin doing it the way I do it.
While some do it, I have never felt that putting a "lube cake" on top of powder is a good idea. In hot weather, it will soften and when shooting, the cylinder gets hot and it can soften. A felt/fiber/leather wad will hold the lube in it and there is not much chance of it soaking in to the powder as here isn't enough in the wad to do it (so to speak).
Some smear Crisco over the balls and I have done that as well - works great in the right weather but it is warm, that Crisco softens and flows pretty easily - not only from the weather but from the heat of discharge in an adjacent cylinder. If you lube over the ball (and I recommend it), use a lube that is "stiffer" than just plain Crisco - a mixture of beeswax with the Crisco will "stiffen" it or you can use a commercial BP lube like SPG. etc.
My Uberti used a .375 round ball and when seated in the chamber, it cuts a nice lead circle which is needed to help avoid a chain fire. I've seen several but the ones I saw were due to a cap falling off a loaded chamber and it discharged with the adjacent cylinder was fired. There is a lot of argument if chain fires occur from the rear or the front of the cylinder.
Every revolver will shoot differently. Mine, a steel frame, likes 18 grains of 3F. An empty 38 Special casing throws that charge in 3F and so I use that as a powder measure - I shoot and load a lot of 38 Special so I am never short of measures for the '51!
A steel frame is more desirable than a brass frame revolver. While there are many brass frames out there that shoot very well and work just fine, you don't want to shoot a brass frame with heavy loads. Over time the frame will "stretch" - i.e. the steel cylinder pin can pull and loosen where it is secured in the brass frame. Heavy loads in a brass frame will also "peen" the recoil shield over time where the steel cylinder hammers in to it upon discharge.
The '51 Navy was on of Colt's most popular revolvers and production lasted until around 1871 or 72. Most Navies will also shoot "high" so don't get discouraged. You can adapt to it by either changing your sight picture as far as POA and POI or you can fairly easily replace the front sight with a higher one. Most have a "pin" front sight and I have used 1/8" brass basing rod to make higher sights that can be easily filed down so that your POA and POI tighten up. Some also remove the front sight and have a dovetail cut so they can put in a dovetail sight to adjust the POA/POI. Over the years I have examined and even shot a few originals that had that alteration made by their original owners.
Good luck and have fun. Just use enough BP lube to keep the fouling soft and it's a good idea to have an old small hand towel with you when you shoot to wipe your hands and the revolver down as it can get a little dirty/messy but that's all part of the fun.