Lube for cap & ball revolvers?

[rodwha]

And by the way, if you have a Remington and you've used it a lot, you have dinged chamber mouths, almost guaranteed.

I've seen the Remington twitch where it goes maybe 2/3 of the way in an ice lateral direction but then juts upards with my own. And I've wondered now how this alters things. But then it seems there are far more competition shooters using a Remington model over an Army model by far.

And that brings me to the .36 cal Pocket Police vs Navy model as I like the older school lines of the Navy but prefer the Police cylinder. And I've read the ratchet style loader is much more preferred, especially with a conical.

[rodwha]

SWMBO is sleeping so I'll have to check my chambers but they were chamfered by Fly when he reamed them. It may not readily show.

[Josh Smith]

I purchased some lubed felt wads.

Left the revolver loaded and when I fired it, it fizzled. The lube had migrated. So no more lubed wads for me.

Now, I make and use this:

1 part beeswax
1 part lanolin
1/2 part canola oil
1/2 part olive oil

It goes on top of the balls, lubes the arbor and all internal workings.

No petroleum near my black powder stuff.

This is also used as patch lube and as lube on my cast .45acp bullets.

Josh

[rodwha]

I recalled having the ram catch on the rim of the chamber once in awhile prior to having Fly fix it up for me. I don't recall it afterwards. Checked and I do have a little burr on the chamfer edge near the base pin area. As I recall it was catching on the other end/outer edge. I'll need to smooth that out.

[Texas by God]

I used Carmex one time on a 3rd model Dragoon. Worked perfectly and the gun smelled better with no cold sores....... Not kidding. Best, Thomas.

[Texas by God]

I've always been skeptical about the whole chain-fire thing. After seating a soft lead ball into the cylinder and shaving off a ring of lead in the process, I don't get how a spark could get past that ball. The possibility of a chain fire occurring from the cap end of the cylinder seems more likely. To that end, the lube is really only there to keep the fouling manageable. I've shot with lube on top of the ball and with lubed wads seated under the ball and with no lube at all. I far prefer the wads under the ball to manage fouling. Lube on top of the ball is slightly better than no lube at all, but only slightly and it makes a huge mess.

I was skeptical as well until it happened to me. I loaded my .44c&b without felt wads or lube and it fired 3 chambers at once. One down the barrel, one along the right side of the barrel and one dead on the ram of the loading lever. No harm to me except a stinging hand and the revolver survives to this day. Since then I tumble lube the balls and use commercial felt wads. Once is enough of that business. Best, Thomas.

[swathdiver]

Now, I make and use this:

1 part beeswax
1 part lanolin
1/2 part canola oil
1/2 part olive oil

You don't need both of those oils. You could pick one and double up. On the other hand, is their a reason you use both? Lanolin works but I think it's expensive unless you have sheep walking around your yard.

We use the US Army's 1855 mixture of 3 Parts Tallow and 1 Part Beeswax. This is pretty hard, though not as hard as their 1861 recipe of 1 Parts Tallow and 8 Parts Beeswax! When hot and in liquid form, you can easily lube your wads and conicals and fouling a load is unlikely unless your sixgun was left out of the shade.

[rfd]

i use good ol' basic gato feo for everything from bpcr greasers to patch strips for muzzleloaders, and now melted into 1/8" hard felt for c&p revolver (felt wad over a .025 milk carton wad, to stifle lube mitigation into the powder charge).

[Texas by God]

The argument about front or back ignition on chain fire can rage on but somehow it only happens when no grease or lubed felt is used. Things that make you go hmm.

[rodwha]

The argument about front or back ignition on chain fire can rage on but somehow it only happens when no grease or lubed felt is used. Things that make you go hmm.

Except that my father always uses a wad and had one while we were at the range together... Hmmmm indeed.

[Dbtk44]

My experience...Before I started making paper cartridges, it was pretty much a given that my first shot from the Walker (50+grains 3f ) would be a chain fire...but only the first shot of the shooting session, and always the chamber to the left (#6 chamber? EDIT: DOH! meant #2). I got to thinking that maybe it had something to do with a forcing cone/cylinder clearance gap, and after the first shot the fouling bridged the gap sufficiently to prevent further chain fires. I always cut a nice ring off the .457 balls when I loaded them, and on the rare occasions when I had to manually remove a ball, it was quite a task. So, the balls were seated very tight.

But I started making paper cartridges with a lube pill under the ball ( no felt wad ), and haven't had a chain fire in years. The lube pill gets smashed and expands quite a bit, and I have a feeling it completely seals the chamber and fills in any irregularities or ever so slight gaps the chamber and ball might have. I think it might negate the "cylinder gap" issue I suspected as the culprit for the chain fires...never took the time to measure the clearance, but probably should one of these days.

Anyway, that's my take. I also shoot a pair of Pietta 1858 NA's, and never had either of them chain fire on me...but then, I used paper cartridges with a lube pill from the get-go on those.

[Dbtk44]

Except that my father always uses a wad and had one while we were at the range together... Hmmmm indeed.

Hmmm, Interesting. Lubed wad, or dry lube? Be curious to know, because like I said, I seem to have cured my chain fire problem with just a lube pill, but never tried a wad. Every piece of equipment is different though, and could well be a cap related issue.

[archangel2003]

Maybe we should discuss the "machinery" of percussion ignition.;

Ever heard of a "fire piston"? If not, please look it up and read about how it works, then come back to the conversation. In short, it's like a Diesel engine-- compression alone leads to the high temperature that initiates combustion.

A percussion cap works very much the same way. The cylinder is packed tight with powder, and the end is plugged with lead. It's a blind hole, so "fire" isn't just going to "blow" into the chamber like wind. The caps's "fire" may help, by mainly it is the intense spike of high pressure that lights up the atmosphere, inside the flash hole, and between the tiny air spaces between granules right at the back of the chamber. We tend to think of it as a "spark" lighting the powder, like the spark in a cigarette lighter as at actually touches the thin zone of vapor/air mix at the wick, lighting it directly. But it's not really quite like that. It's more like Diesel ignition.

Leaving a nipple open, beside a fired one, may let in a teeny bit of heat and light through the pin hole, but it doesn't provide for that intense compression.

A flintlock by contrast relies mostly on the direct radiant heat from the flash in the pan. There's a little bit of compression there, but not near enough. The idea of a "whoosh" of flame entering the flash hole doesn't make a lot of sense, because it's a blind hole. There's no accommodating volume of air inside to make room for such incursion. Getting the main charge closer to the flash, by counter-boring the flash channel, is a we-ll known way to improve ignition time. Still, it is common enough to get a flash in the pan and still not ignite the main charge.

You could try lighting a small charge of black powder using a fire piston. If you do, and once your wrist is healed up from the amputation of your blow-up hand, then report back here and tell us that "sparks" are not needed to set off black powder, that compression of a small air space does a great job of it.

Former Diesel engine tech here and designed more than a few engines in my time.

That whole "Diesel" nonsense sounds well intended, but if you knew of the truly high pressures needed, you would know your theory was not valid.
The chamber is not as solidly full as you think, and you need a large volume to compress into a tiny volume, and that cap will not serve the same purpose as a piston.
There is more than enough room for the VIOLENT flame generated by the cap to get through the nipple, that is a tiny pin hole that accelerates the flame like a ventury, and pushes well into the black powder with more than enough force and heat to ignite it.
But it sure as hell is NOT diesel ignition!
If it were, you could fill the cylinder with black powder wetted down with ATF, veg oil, Diesel or Kerosene, and the gun would still fire, but it wont, because wet powder like that WILL fire in a true Diesel, but NOT your BP gun!
Try it.

[Boaz]

Been shooting revolvers bout 45 years . I have used Crisco , wool fat , mutton tallow , beeswax , tolitbowl rings , spit wad ,bore butter , different oils and combinations there of . I find felt wads with olive oil left a couple of days on paper towels to draw out the excess oil work great and little mess and very easy . If your sealing the chamber with Crisco you better take a couple of cotton rags to wipe em down or the pistol gets so greasy you can't hold it , lol .

All the lube does is keep the fouling soft which is nice . No accuracy is lost using dry wads .

[SSGOldfart]

Lamb tallow beeswax and paraffin I'll have to look up the recipe later my book is in the shop. I've used salt free Crisco with Vaseline and beeswax for years, making lube cookies is just too much trouble for me I'm a bit lazy now....

[rodwha]

Lamb tallow beeswax and paraffin I'll have to look up the recipe later my book is in the shop. I've used salt free Crisco with Vaseline and beeswax for years, making lube cookies is just too much trouble for me I'm a bit lazy now....

Sounds like Gatofeo's #1 lube. If so it's (by weight) 1 part paraffin wax, 1 part mutton tallow, and 1/2 part bees wax. LOVE the stuff and use it on my pistol boolits, rifle conicals, and wads, but also hear it works for patches too.

[SSGOldfart]

Sounds like Gatofeo's #1 lube. If so it's (by weight) 1 part paraffin wax, 1 part mutton tallow, and 1/2 part bees wax. LOVE the stuff and use it on my pistol boolits, rifle conicals, and wads, but also hear it works for patches too.

Yes Sir that's the same.you can make it little softer,by increasing the beeswax,and it's great on patches as well.

[toot]

years ago it was CRISCO smeared over each cylinder with a pop sickle stick and no body complained, it was the lube of chose. if it ain't broke don't fix it. as they say too each his own.

[rodwha]

Lube over the projectile is rather messy. It ends up everywhere. That's what I would call broken...

Lubed grips and hand(s) doesn't sound good to me.

[bigted]

Sounds like some have not seen the value of a good towel. Crisco all the way always have a nice lube star on the muzzle as well. Only as messy as you make it.