Cap and ball flame cutting

[charlie b]

I can't say how many rounds I fired through my Remington, but, it was thousands. The flame cutting happened, but, it seemed to reach a point and then not progress much more. Same with my smokeless revolvers.

I would stay with the felt wads if you need some filler. I have always disliked using fillers. My Remmy was loaded with enough powder so the ball was near the mouth of the chamber.

[LAGS]

I too would suspect the Semolina filler is contributing to most of your cutting.
I watched a show on how they made Semolina Pasta.
They said that with Semolina Flour they had to use Special Hardened Pressing / Extrusion Dies because the grain is so abrasive that it wore out regular steel dies quickly.
And that would be with a Damp mixture.
So I would think the dry Semolina would be working like sand or bead blasting when it comes out under pressure

[bigted]

All my Colt style revolvers have been flame cut on the arbor. Have not shot my navy Remmy enough yet to see how it gets cut.

I have an old brasser remmy that the cylinder pin has been flame cut but this old mule has seen some hard times from yours truly.

So here is something to contemplate ... the old ORIGINAL revolvers were not fired nearly as much as we do today. Shooting for fun was not a thing generally. Lotza carrying and hardly any shootin. Mostly damage from not cleaning and lubing them rather then shooting damage.

[Winger Ed.]

I don't shoot revolvers much any more, and no open tops.
But when I saw a S&W 586 getting the cut way before I though it should,
I considered gluing a small strip of a 2-4 thousandths feeler gauge under the top strap over the cut with JB weld.

It would get cut too, but I could change it out and protect the frame.


I'd think the cutting on the arbor will slow down the same way it gets harder and harder-
until you reach the half way point cutting through a solid cylinder with a hacksaw.

[CeeHoo]

Finally had a chance to try 11.5mm (.453") wads. They worked fine and it was possible press them against the powder with brass dowel and moderate force. Interestingly, when ramming balls home it was necessary to keep the rammer down a while to let trapped air to escape. I had two balls plopping up after raising the rammer too quickly. I don't think it was due to undesized balls. Mine are from Lee .457" mold and measure .456-458". Chamber mouths shave them pretty good and these two plopped balls below only measure .448". It seems Uberti chambers can be really tight.

As to gas cutting, round count is still too low to tell whether wads vs. semolina make a difference.

[indian joe]

Thanks for the tips, gentlemen.

Yes, I've considered replacing semolina with felt wads. However, finding thick felt, especially made of 100% wool, has been difficult for me so far. To replace "30 grains" of filler would require several wads anyway. I wonder if wads cut from undyed veg tanned hide could work or would this material cause extra wear to rifling? For what it's worth, tanned leather tends to dull cutting tools surprisingly fast.

I have not been able to get the B/C gap of this revolver smaller than 0.006" even though the arbor is too short. Have I not just punched heavily enough? I've seen some videos where they tap the wedge very lightly and still get the barrel rear touching the cylinder.

Its a Walker ----fill it up mate!! 60 grains of the good black stuff and a wad - we make the wad from egg carton material soaked in melted boolit lube
You might loose a little accuracy (until you get the load worked out) but if you shooting at a club you will gain a crowd of onlookers - nothing like a fully loaded walker for spectator value.