cap and ball revolvers

[doc25]

Another quick question. How do the remingtons come apart? Are they easy to dissasemble?

[eldeguello]

Do you guys put crisco in front of modern cap and ball revolver cylinders to prevent the other cylinders from going off or is this a thing of the past? I'm thinking about cowboy action shooting here.

I do sometimes, but generally put a Wonder Wad on top of the powder then the ball w/o grease....

[floodgate]

Doc:

Depends how far you want to take them down. For shooting at the range, I usually drop the loading lever and pull the base-pin forward to release the cylinder, wipe things down with a damp cloth, grease the base-pin heavily, roll the cylinder back in, easing back a little on the hammer to lower the cylinder stop and rolling the cylinder clockwise (as seen from behind) to engage the hand, slide the base-pin back in and snap the loading lever closed. I do this about every third or fourth cylinder-full, otherwise things get pretty "caked up" with BP fouling.

For complete takedown for cleaning, disassemble as before and put the cylinder to soak; remove the frame screw that holds the loading lever and slide it and the base-pin out of the frame. Remove the grips and loosen the mainspring retaining screw at the toe of the grip frame. Use a screwdriver blade and tap on it to ease the base of the spring out of its slot. Remove the screw that holds the trigger guard in the frame, then the screw that holds the trigger and bolt spring and remove these. Remove the trigger screw and trigger. Unscrew the hammer screw, slide the hammer down in the frame enough to remove the little screw that holds the hand to the hammer and pull the hand down out of the frame, and the hammer up and out to the top. Wash down the bore, cylinder (you can remove the nipples if you've got a good nipple wrench) and get them good, clean and dry. (An old-timer, who shot gallery BP loads as a recruit in the Marines in the early 1900's told me to do the fiirst cleaning with COLD water; it cuts the BP fouling better. Then warm, soapy water or BP solvent, and finish with boiling water to warm up the metal and speed drying.) After everything is clean, dry and lightly oiled, re-assemble the lockwork in reverse order. Reinstalling the mainspring can be eased by hooking its tip under the heel of the hammer, and laying a pencil or small dowel between it and the frame near the center of the spring; bow it enough to get it started into its slot and tap it home. Pull the hammer back a tad to free the dowel. Re-install the cylinder, cylinder pin and loading lever; wipe down with a bit of RIG or other gun grease, also the bore and the chambers in the cylinder (but don't forget to wipe them out with solvent before shooting again).

The whole thing takes almost as long to write up as it does to do it! Also, BP cleanup seems to go faster if you're doing it along with a couple of other BP shooters.

floodgate

[doc25]

Or with a couple of beers! So the cylinders of the remmys come out easily enough. I was wondering if they were more difficult than the colts to clean is why I asked.

[Gunsmith4570]

I have only ever seen 1 chain fire unfortunately it was in a gun that I fired. That one fired 1 down the barrel 2 down either side of the barrel and 1 into the rammer. When I started investigating, I found some results. First the gun was a brass frame .36 navy colt marked Eig, the maker was probably Pietta it was bought at a gun show used, but was clean and tight. it was loaded with 22 grains of pyrodex p with .375 round balls, Ox-yoke wonder wads between powder and ball. Caps were remington #10's. and the gun was inspected inside and out by me. All parts were found to be in good working order. After I got the gun back to the shop and took it apart,I finally discovered the problem, at least in this instance, after cleaning and inspecting again the cylinder was found to have a small amount of space to move backand forth on the base pin, that added to 3 over long nipples, only a few thousandths to long. This is what I beleived to be the culprit. After the inspection I found no permanent damage, so I replaced all the nipples with new Treso's and fixed the rammer with a new one and retested the gun, with the same load and lo and behold no chain fire. I sold the gun not to long after that, as it did not have the same accuracy as my Lyman navy colt and it was just to be a spare for CAS. I have shot BP revolvers for 34 years and this is the only Chain Fire I have ever seen. Do I still use wonder wads, yes. I have since found sources for .380 balls for the .36's as the .375 never shaved any lead on loading, and use .454 in most all .44's. To this day I still wonder if most chain fires are brought about in this manner?

Gunsmith4570

[Rangefinder]

As stated, I'm in the "tight ball tight cap" club. The way to prevent a chain fire is to close the gaps that any spark or hot gas could reach the charge in non-fire cylinders. If your caps fit tight over a clean nipple, most of the spark goes where it's supposed to and can't get under the others because they're clean and tight too. If the ball fits tight in a smooth cylinder, there's no way hot gas from a fired cylinder can push back through adjacent cylinders passed the ball, wad, and into powder. Chain fires occur when things are loose, dirty, or scratched enough to give gas passage. Clean, tight, polished BP Revolvers aren't going to have that problem---save the crisco for cooking and spend your time cleaning and polishing, then make sure everything fits tight and smooth.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
I tried the crisco route years ago..
I went back to beeswax & a bit of olive oil about a 80-20 mix. The olive oil just make the wax a bit softer I forget what dad used instead of olive oil.. But it is for Lubing the boolit. A tight fitting boolit that leaves a ring on the cylinder face will not permit a chain fire.

[Bull Schmitt]

Anyone interested in Remington type revolvers should visit www.scorrs.org !

[StarMetal]

I too have shot them for more years then I care to admit. In my earlier years I used the balls and Crisco and other lubes. I never seen the difference between balls that shaved a ring of lead and those that didn't. Never ever had a mishap. Fast forwarding I shoot my ROA solely now. I have the Lyman Remington conical hollow base bullet I shoot from it along with assorted 45acp target SWC's and 45 Colt bullets. On all them I use what ever current lube for center fire that I'm using at the time. So that means back years it was 50/50 Alox/Beeswax. All the conicals slip fit in the cylinder. I have had no chain fires and no problem with fouling. I have also used BP, Pyrodex, and 777 for propellants.

This has been my experience.

[Pistolero]

I found a product from New Zealand called Beaver Grease (I'm not kidding - you should have seen the look on the wifes' face when the package arrived!)

Works brilliant. Leaves no dribbly mess. I tried a Crisco equivalent - here in Aus most people cook with liquid oil - just left a horrible slippery mess all over my revolver. And it seems to me that in hot weather (alot of that here) crisco is useless as it becomes liquid. Dunno what beaver grease is made of but it dont melt.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I found a product from New Zealand called Beaver Grease (I'm not kidding - you should have seen the look on the wifes' face when the package arrived!)

Works brilliant. Leaves no dribbly mess. I tried a Crisco equivalent - here in Aus most people cook with liquid oil - just left a horrible slippery mess all over my revolver. And it seems to me that in hot weather (alot of that here) crisco is useless as it becomes liquid. Dunno what beaver grease is made of but it dont melt.

They ain't got no beavers (well the four legged buck toothed kind anyway) in NZ. I wonder where they get the grease from?

[Baron von Trollwhack]

It just isn't very hard for a pistol shooter to turn the nipples down in a drill or other to fit the # 10s or #11s as appropriate. Likewise,, once fitted and seated snugly on the cone (without a tool), with nipple threads lubed and nipples seated just snug, cap clearance is checked, so none stand proud. This is a good time to check wedge fit (Colts) and cylinder end shake. The last check is hammer strike. A nipple cone may need shortened too. Every hammer on every gun falls + or - the requirement.

Always buy or look at a dozen nipples of what size you really need. Then with tiny drills or wires select out the best 6 and a spare, concerning flashhole uniformity. Return the nipples with misfit holes. Or examine closely in situ. That's what happens when the shop lets serious shooters pick their own nipples out of the bin (flints too !). Some shooters don't need to do this of course, but serious ones do.

Make your own simple lube of beeswax and tallow to the consistency of lip balm for over the ball. It won't run on hot days and works on cold fingers' days. Reduce the BP load and use a filler for target loads. For full power loads, lightly compress the powder and lube over the ball. If woods walking, carry on an empty cylinder. Soft lead is best but Remingtons tolerate a little harder alloy if it is necessary for a better cylinder or barrel fit. Good Shooting.

BvT

[stubshaft]

I use Crisco with a little Ivory soap cooked into it to stiffen it up a bit. I put it on not to stop chainfires but to soften the fouling a bit out of my ROA.

[Multigunner]

Whatever you do don't use axle grease.
I've seen two brass frame .36 1851 pistols, one of them my own, crack their frames and pull out their arbor pins when axle grease was used instead of Crisco.
Both pistols had flawed frames but both had digested the same loads without any problems when crisco was used over the chamber mouths.

It may have been the specific type of grease used, Valvoline I think it was. Been awhile but I think this stuff had Lithium in it.
Anyway some greases act just fine under normal load conditions but loose all lube properties once the pressure level reaches a certain point.
Also I've read that some axle greases contain a superfine polishing compound that micro polishes the ball bearings when driving, and some sort of filler that fills in pits and scars on the bearings and races.

[Four Fingers of Death]

A lot of BP guys recommend Mobil One fully synthetic grease, maybe they are on the wrong track.