Question About Round Balls

[Battis]

I've had two chainfires in two different .36 cap and ball revolvers. The common denominator was a damaged, out of round mold that produced balls with uneven surfaces. Crisco does blow off after the first shot, but it does leave behind a film that can be useful. With that in mind, I started going right to the "film," using the vegetable spray PAM over the balls, and on the cylinder pins of my Remingtons and Colt Paterson (they do not have grease grooves on the pins). PAM works, but you must completely clean the gun after shooting.

[Springfield]

The lube isn't there to prevent leading, it is there to keep the fouling soft so you can shoot more than 15 rounds without getting so much carbon fouling that your accuracy goes to pot. Same thing with BP cartridge guns. I personally put some soft bullet lube over the balls, stays in place a bit better and I never get a fouled bore, at least not during a normal match of 30 rounds or so/pistol. Never had a chainfire, so I can't comment on that. For those who tell me that my lube gets blown off after the first shot, how do you know your lube under a ball isn't just blown out the cylinder gap after the first shot?

[Battis]

From what I've seen, the glob of Crisco gets blown off, blown up, burned off, or whatever, but the film it leaves, the residue, is still effective.

[indian joe]

From what I've seen, the glob of Crisco gets blown off, blown up, burned off, or whatever, but the film it leaves, the residue, is still effective.

use decent lube (same as you use on a boolit in a BP cartridge rifle) it will still be there on the last round fired of a full cylinder -- most of it will be anyways

[Castaway]

Lubed felt wad between powder and ball. I use Gato Feo’s recipe on the wad and a 0.457 ball. As mentioned previously, a lead ring is the best insurance against a chain fire. The lubed wad is extra insurance against a chainfire. Search “Geojohn and black powder” for the best run-down on percussion revolvers I’ve come across. I don’t follow his cleaning advice but I think he’s spot on regarding loading and shooting them.

[megasupermagnum]

use decent lube (same as you use on a boolit in a BP cartridge rifle) it will still be there on the last round fired of a full cylinder -- most of it will be anyways

Such as? Surely you aren't globbing SPG in there.

[Sven205]

I stiffen the crisco up a bit with beeswax, something like a 70/30 crisco to wax ratio and put it back in a container. Still use the popsicle stick method as usual to fill over the ball.

Also, lately have been cutting a lube disc out of harder lube (something like gatofeo blend with paraffin added) and pressing a disc on top of each ball after loading. I use a punch that fits the caliber i'm using them for, they're slightly under chamber size but pressing them down with finger pressure flattens them out enough to stick to the walls.

The plain crisco blew out after the first shot or two for me as well, even in cooler weather. Both of these other methods mentioned usually stay until the last shot is fired in the cylinder.