subsonic
11-25-2011, 11:14 PM
I've been thinking about getting a cap and ball revolver lately to hunt with during the muzzleloader season here in Missouri. But until yesterday I had never fired one.
My FIL was given an un-named .31 cal 51 brass frame copy in rough shape a while back and I thought it might be fun to take it for a "spin".
He had some old Pyrodex and old cci #11 caps and a while back I bought him some hornady .380"(?) balls and .31 wonder wads. We were set. Sort-of.
Well, since neither of us had any idea of how much powder to use, we guessed that 20gr looked about right. After seating wads and balls, there was still a lot of room left. He loaded up his 6 and what seemed like half an hour later proceded to fire them off. Very underwhelming. He said recoil was like a .22 and i'm not sure my earplugs were needed, and at least one ball came out slow enough that I was worried it was stuck in the bore.
Now it was my turn. My stepson was shooting his Lyman GPR and we had 777 in the powder flask, so I checked to see how much powder the nozzle on it would dispense. About 28gr. Well if 20gr is mouse-fart, 28gr should work, right? So I dumped 28 in and it overflowed the cylinder. I shook a little out and seated a wad then a ball which barely cleared the barrel as I rotated the cylinder. I tried 25 gr for the other 5 and they fit better. As I seated the first cap, it was very hard to seat and I used the end if a nipple wrench to force it on all the way and split a little as it bottomed out. All the other caps went on about the same. I indexed the first ball that was sitting nearest the mouth of the cylinder and had the most powder so that it would be the one I fired first and cocked the hammer.
Lining up the bead and groove in the hammer, I squeezed and figured for a miss regardless at the paper plate looming at 50yds.
And my very first cap and ball shot was chainfire. Both cylinders nearest the one I was actually trying to fire went off, hitting the wedge that holds the barrel on and breaking the spring in it. I didn't notice the broken spring, but inspected the revolver and myself otherwise and after a few seconds not finding imediate danger or blood, went ahead and fired the other 3 shots. They felt more like .38spls than .22s and the 777 definitely had more zip. At that point we noticed the broken wedge spring and decided to call it quits. I really expected more dammage and carnage, but both outboard balls seem to have exited in a manner that didn't harm anything but that spring due to the narrow barrel.
My best guess on WHY the chainfire happened is that those tight caps that split allowed for sparks to enter the rear of the cylinder.
My FIL was given an un-named .31 cal 51 brass frame copy in rough shape a while back and I thought it might be fun to take it for a "spin".
He had some old Pyrodex and old cci #11 caps and a while back I bought him some hornady .380"(?) balls and .31 wonder wads. We were set. Sort-of.
Well, since neither of us had any idea of how much powder to use, we guessed that 20gr looked about right. After seating wads and balls, there was still a lot of room left. He loaded up his 6 and what seemed like half an hour later proceded to fire them off. Very underwhelming. He said recoil was like a .22 and i'm not sure my earplugs were needed, and at least one ball came out slow enough that I was worried it was stuck in the bore.
Now it was my turn. My stepson was shooting his Lyman GPR and we had 777 in the powder flask, so I checked to see how much powder the nozzle on it would dispense. About 28gr. Well if 20gr is mouse-fart, 28gr should work, right? So I dumped 28 in and it overflowed the cylinder. I shook a little out and seated a wad then a ball which barely cleared the barrel as I rotated the cylinder. I tried 25 gr for the other 5 and they fit better. As I seated the first cap, it was very hard to seat and I used the end if a nipple wrench to force it on all the way and split a little as it bottomed out. All the other caps went on about the same. I indexed the first ball that was sitting nearest the mouth of the cylinder and had the most powder so that it would be the one I fired first and cocked the hammer.
Lining up the bead and groove in the hammer, I squeezed and figured for a miss regardless at the paper plate looming at 50yds.
And my very first cap and ball shot was chainfire. Both cylinders nearest the one I was actually trying to fire went off, hitting the wedge that holds the barrel on and breaking the spring in it. I didn't notice the broken spring, but inspected the revolver and myself otherwise and after a few seconds not finding imediate danger or blood, went ahead and fired the other 3 shots. They felt more like .38spls than .22s and the 777 definitely had more zip. At that point we noticed the broken wedge spring and decided to call it quits. I really expected more dammage and carnage, but both outboard balls seem to have exited in a manner that didn't harm anything but that spring due to the narrow barrel.
My best guess on WHY the chainfire happened is that those tight caps that split allowed for sparks to enter the rear of the cylinder.