Ugh 1860 Missing Notes

[Half Dog]

I have an 1860 Uberti 44cal pistol that I remember enjoying. I recently brought it out of the safe and began getting excited to shoot it. That’s where the fun stopped. I apparently wasn’t good at writing notes when I was shooting it and now I need help getting back on track.

1) I’ve seen where people load; powder, card/wad, lead ball and powder, ball, and wad. Which sequence is your preference?
2) What size wad to use. I have some I. 0.50” and 0.437” and I don’t remember which I used.
3) I have a strip of felt that was soaked in a mixture to lubricate it. I’m not sure the mixing ratio but I have Crisco and beeswax in the supply bucket. What ratio would you use of the beeswax and crisco to lubricate a wad?
4) The strip of presoaked felt is pretty stiff. Is there a way to revive it and be more playable or should I toss it and begin again with a fresh piece?

For now, I believe that will get me restarted.

Thanks in advance for your time and effort.

[Battis]

When I was mostly shooting cap and ball revolvers, I made an over-the-ball lube of beeswax, Crisco, maybe some paraffin, then plugged the muzzle of the barrel and poured the hot mixture into the breech end. When it cooled, I pushed out the lube sticks and cut plugs off the ends that fit perfectly over the balls in the chambers. I brought the lube sticks to the range and cut as needed.
Just another option.

[Mk42gunner]

I think people make it way more complicated than it needs to be to shoot a cap and ball revolver.

The easy way is to load powder (don't forget this step) then ball. Smear a bit of whatever lube you desire over the ball; this really isn't to prevent chainfires, properly fitting caps and cones take care of that. Cap it, shoot and start all over again.

What the over ball lube does is 1. lube the bore before the bare lead ball gets shoved through it, and 2. gets blasted into all the nooks and crannies to keep fouling soft so you can keep shooting more than three or four cylinders full.

A slightly less messy method is to load powder, an Ox Yoke lubed wonder wad, then the ball. If you go this route, be sure to apply lube to the cylinder arbor pin generously.

Keep in mind, my C&B revolvers are mainly used for plinking. I have never shot a target for score with any of them.

Robert

[Maven]

Battis, That's a brilliant idea. Thanks for sharing it!

[Battis]

The lube sticks do work, and they are convenient, but I agree with Mk42gunner when he said that sometimes we make it more complicated than it needs to be. Most of the time I just slather some Crisco or Bore Butter over the loaded balls. And when I'm really lazy, I spray a little PAM vegetable spray over the balls or down the barrel (that's about what's left of the Crisco or Bore Butter after the first shot). But be warned - if you use PAM (or the cheaper store brand) you must completely wash every part of the gun after shooting, which is what I do anyways. I also use PAM in muzzleloaders, and basically any barrel where BP is used. But, it has to be washed off completely.
I also used PAM on the cylinder pin of a Paterson repro I had, and on Remington NMA cylinder pins (they don't have grease grooves). Works great but must be washed off.

[ogre]

Apparently others are assuming that you will be only shooting a round ball. Is this true or will you be also be shooting conicals? What about paper cartridges: will you make those up?

[Hellgate]

I buy two sacks of 1/2" thick .45 cal fiber filler wads from Track of the Wolf, lube them (50/50 lard and bees wax or 1 part beeswax and 2 parts lard), split them in half. Now I've got two thousand wads for about 4 cents each instead of 500 wads @ 8cents each.
Plain old Crisco smeared onto the charged chamber mouths still works well enough but is messier.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I used to load powder, ball, wad, and grease. I used high temp bearing grease after I found that all the Crisco melted away after the cylinder started to warm. I experienced some chain fires and just couldn't figure out the cause. Then a fellow forum member, IndianJoe in the land down under said that perhaps the caps weren't seated as far as they would go on the nipples, and that when the revolver was fired a high cap would ignite from the recoil against the recoil shield. Hmmm....I checked a couple of revolvers that I keep loaded and found one or two high caps on both of them. So, when I get back to BP revolver shooting I'll just use powder, ball, and grease.

DG

[Walks]

I shot a pair of 1860's for a couple of years in Cowboy Shooting. I did it simple. Ox-Yoke wad, ball, grease*. And then cap with
NUMBER 10 Percussion CAPS. I field stripped and used a loading device every stage and cleaned the nipple out at the same time.
It might be a pain to yo it that way. But I had no misfires in a 10 stage match.
At the end of the day I pulled the grips off and put both revolvers in a plasticbox with a Tight lid, poured a Murphy's Oil soap concoction over them and sealed up. By the time I got home the Revolvers were clean.

* whatever lube you want; Crisco, Bore Butter or home made mix.

[indian joe]

I buy two sacks of 1/2" thick .45 cal fiber filler wads from Track of the Wolf, lube them (50/50 lard and bees wax or 1 part beeswax and 2 parts lard), split them in half. Now I've got two thousand wads for about 4 cents each instead of 500 wads @ 8cents each.
Plain old Crisco smeared onto the charged chamber mouths still works well enough but is messier.

What is the trick you use to split 500 wads in half and get two thousand ?

[dondiego]

You can only do that north of the equator...............

[Hellgate]

I just sit there watching TV with a cutting board and a box knife in my lap and stab into the edge of the wad with the blade. It tends to cleave on its own or one can give a slight twist to the blade and they split apart. It is no big deal if a few are larger than the other. I will sort them if needed.

[T-Bird]

He didn't get it!

[Hellgate]

OOPS! By buying two bags of 500! (which I do)