Excellent, only my opinion of course. Really appreciate your attitude about not expressing what you experienced as absolute, unquestionably true. Parrots lack that insight. My first C&B was a Replica Arms 1861 Navy (early Uberti I think), when I was 17 or 18, thought I was breaking ground, but you and others have made earlier tracks. That was sometime in the 60’s. Tried to make felt wads the way E. Keith described. Couple of cylinders and I could hardly get the gun apart. As far as accuracy, there wasn’t much. Thanks for taking the time and effort to make this informative available in a video. Again, great job. O.R.

@Everythingblackpowder

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

@chopsddy3

Жыл бұрын

“Parrots”. Good one! 👍

@donniegombel

Жыл бұрын

@@Everythingblackpowder is true black powder no longer sold???

@nonokodog622

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the ideas. I will try the wad on top of the chamber.

@dalesandblom1545

Жыл бұрын

Wonderful video!!! You just reinvigorated me to shoot my black powder revolvers again!

we need more paul harrel lecture type videos, you are supplying something very good my friend

DW I had absolutely no concern for your safety. The Paul Harrell impression is awesome, you must be fun to hang out with .

I've tried to make my Walker, and Remington Army, chain fire by loading up all six chambers with 3F real black powder and 200 grain bullets, and capping only every other chamber. That way I was able to fire three shots, reload three, fire three, reload three, etc. Never could make it chainfire from the back due to an un-capped nipple. I've never had a chainfire at all, and I've fired thousands of rounds from these guns. I think the "full lead ring" as proof of a tight seal is misguided though, and here's the important reason why; Many people ding their chamber mouths with the loading plunger. It happens almost by design in a Remington because of the mechanics of the loading lever and plunger. On Colts it can happen when seating without the cylinder being locked up, and so the chamber gets misaligned with the plunger. The plunger then hits steel on steel, and oops. I've seen original 1860s Colts with severely dinged chamber mouths. I wrote about these issues extensively, with photos and all, on the 1858 Remington forum before it went down several years ago. If your chamber mouth is dinged, the soft steel can be pushed over toward the inside, causing a place at the mouth that is effectively smaller than the chamber diameter (a burr of sorts), and thus deform the bullet or ball at that spot, causing a gas leak, even if you're getting a full 360 degree ring of lead. As you indicated also, a faulty ball, or sprue-to-the-side ball, could set up the same issue, where the ball is in there tight, but there's a gas leak there. Dixie GW years ago put up a lengthy explanation of how they prefer a chamber that swages the ball in, rather than cutting a ring. They recommend using a marble and some fine sandpaper to chamfer the chamber mouths until they no longer shave lead. I tried this on one of my Remingtons, and I like it. It's faster and cleaner to load, and in my opinion it makes for a more sure gas seal. And as you said, be sure you know your chamber diameter, so you can use a ball that's at least several thousandths larger. For conicals I prefer a bullet that's pretty much right at the same diameter as the chamber, and no more than a thousandth over, and the bullet will have greased grooves, and often a grease cookie (card, grease, card) between bullet and powder. All that grease is for exactly the reason you mentioned- soft fouling means you don't need to stop to clean the gun. You can just shoot. I size my cast bullets accordingly, and so I have several sizing dies to match the various Army and Navy revolver chamber diameters. Anyway yeah; I've seen people swear blind that a loose fitting cap is just begging for a chainfire, but I could never make that happen even when I did my very best trying to make it happen! My FAVORITE cap and nipple combo is a Remington cap on a Treso AMPCO nipple. Those caps fit those nipples without using a dowel or the hammer to shove them on, and they stay on until fired. That makes high volume shooting a LOT simpler, when combined with a snail capper that holds 100 caps. So I've swapped the factory nipples out on almost all my revolvers, so they all take the same cap, and I've modded my Ted Cash snail capper so it works on the Colts and the Remingtons alike. Chainfires (or "crossfires") simply don't happen on a properly maintained and properly loaded revolver. That's my rulin' and I'm stickin' to it.

My Granddad always said Do not mess with a man with common sense. Good content Jake .👍👍👍

@Everythingblackpowder

2 ай бұрын

Thank you

Fudds and Safety Rangers beware. You're doing just fine Jake. Keep up the good work, we are all blessed by it.

In my opinion, your conclusions are correct. When not using any lube, I encounter chainfires every now and then, in my percussion revolvers; but only, when not using any lube. When using lube, I have not had a single chainfire,EVER. This is over a period of 40 years of shooting. Its a clear indication to me, that chainfires come from the front and that lube is an excellent way of preventing them, apart from keeping the fouling soft. -Sure, my chainfires could probably be prevented by using a bullet with a very snug fit, but the bottom line is, that lube has for me, prevented chainfires with a success rate of 100%.

@Wayne72LEVRAI

Жыл бұрын

Never had a chainfire without using any lube or wad in thousands of rounds. Cap, powder, bullet. Nothing else. In this example you proven correlation but not causality. Shooting undersized bullets is a mistake from the user that he provoke itself. The lube have nothing to do in this. This is just a workaround.

@Everythingblackpowder

Жыл бұрын

I disagree. It shows that the chain fire is coming from the front due to the use of under sided balls and that the grease can prevent a chain fire if it originates from the chamber mouths. However, I do agree that this is easily remedied by using a lager diameter projectile. I too have shot a thousand some odd rounds through my 1860 army without any lube or wads and never had a chain fire and I had to pinch many a cap to stay on those cheap Pietta nipples. I started using grease to keep the fouling soft so I didn’t have to clean my pistol every 12 shots so what you call a workaround I call added protection. In short, I believe that the majority of chain fires come from the front due to undersized balls. Regardless of how easy it is to remedy or who’s fault it is for loading them.

@Bravo-Too-Much

Жыл бұрын

Never lubed, never greased, never waxed. I’ve never had a chain fire after several thousands of rounds in multiple cap and ball revolvers with many barrel lengths. I’ve used regular balls, minie balls on both smooth and rifled revolvers, hand made pellets, flat pressed spheres, pellet flachettes and wadded flachettes. Some are pressed in tight, shaving the projectile and some are damn near just dropped in where you could smack the back of the grip with your hand and they would fall out. Never used any kind of lube or grease outside of what’s used when cleaning and maintaining the revolvers. If you are having chain fire issues, you are a sloppy loader and/or you have poorly made, non uniform, or pitted projectiles. I mean, I guess you could be loading it too hot where the projectile is barely in the cylinder because there is so much powder. Outside of that, if you chain fire it’s because you loaded it poorly or the weapon itself is in poor condition.

I shoot conical paper cartridges only. I don't even have a powder flask. When loading loose powder and ball some powder can get stuck between the ball and chamber causing a powder trail to the main charge. The leftover grease in the chamber will increase the chance of the powder sticking to the camber wall and at the front of the cylinder. There was an article on the Facebook cap and ball pistol group about this a while back.

Great video. I learned a lot, and I am still learning. And for those who make negative remarks...Where the heck is your video????????

I agree with on bore butter and crisco being too runny, good lube helps with fouling and may prevent a chain fire from the front, I have experienced a chain fire from the rear with worn nipples and loose caps. Like you, I have shot them a lot also. I may also say that I was in Germany and shooting German caps. Their was a test done with slow motion cameras. It showed that like you are saying under sized balls, with no grease they mostly came from the front, with grease, no chain fire. This was back in the eighties, I don't know how many tries it took for them to get a chain fire from the back, but it did happen and they showed it. Loose powder on the outside, loose balls and no grease and or loose nipples I think are the main reasons for a chain fire. You did a great test about grease. Good grief, some people think they have to be a RSO to everyone. In closing on this what turned into a damn book, I personally think that chain fires happen because people get into a rush, or fudge in the loading or maintenance of the gun., Like not replacing really worn nipples and filing them down and putting on really hot oversized caps( what I did), using a ball of two small diameter and not greasing, or not greasing and being a sloppy loader and having spilt powder left on the gun. In my 40+ years of shooting and building cap and ball guns, I have seen a lot of different things go wrong, not just with wheel guns, but long guns also. Keep up the good content, my kids and GF keep wanting me to make videos, but I cuss to much and as they used to say, have a good face for radio 🤣🤣🤠🤠

Good job. BP shooter in the UK here. Good common sense video. Keep it up

@Everythingblackpowder

Жыл бұрын

Thank you

Absolutely love your sarcasm. It's just one more free service you have to offer.

Common sense in action Jake, you deserve a lot of respect for that. I learned more with a few videos from you than from pages of Internet Forum reading. Some other sites are also worth listening to, but a lot and a lot of bla bla on forums are just that, bla bla. Thank you very much for doing that much work and sharing it with us.

@Everythingblackpowder

Жыл бұрын

Thank you

Got a cheep and easy recipe for cylinder grease. Use equal parts reg candle wax and axle grees. Use a been can to heet mixture and stir it with a pop cycle stick. Works well in hot or cold weather. You can very the ingredients to make it thicker or thinner as needed. I have never had a chain fire and I love to shoot. Keep up the good work

@Everythingblackpowder

Жыл бұрын

Thank you

great vid thank you. according to the people i learned from about 55 years ago you need to put a small chamfer on the edges of each chamber. we did not use wads only corn meal as a filler and yes Crisco on top. we all shot in black powder comps. shot off hand and always had high scores. 15 gr. powder 15gr. corn meal ball and Crisco. it did not matter if the Crisco melts it would seep in around the edge and seal the chambers. we would always pinch the caps and make sure they were down all the way. we shot Rogers and Spencer's and Remington's and when ruger came out with the old army we all switched to them. i still shoot the same load at this time and still can hit what i can see.

I'm late to the party on this one, but I have to say I can't agree more with your conclusions here. When my grandfather taught me to shoot black powder he could not be more adamant about greasing the firearm after loading it. He would grease the chamber mouth then wipe the exess on the cap. He was born in 1912, he'd been shooting cap and ball his entire life. according to him, he never had a chain fire using this method. I don't know what his formula for grease was, he died before he taught me that, but it never ran no matter how hot it was outside. I really enjoy your content.

@Everythingblackpowder

Жыл бұрын

Glad to hear it. Thank you

I agree with your findings completely. I had purchased an original Remington new model Army years ago and it had a spare loaded cylinder. It noticed some red colored material and saw there were no caps on it. After getting to my shop, I picked the red colored wax out of one of the chambers. They were carefully covered with what appeared to be sealing wax as was in common in the old days. I believe it was known that the chamber openings were a risk for chain fires. Thanks for the great video and posting your test results.

I sorta feel bad. After about 30 years of slathering my own grease (Crisco, beeswax and paraffin combo) on each and every cylinder-full, I've yet to experience a chainfire. I think I'll keep on keepin on. Thanks for a good common sense video.

I never really believed a chain fire was plausible until last week..... startled me a good bit when it happened.

Congratulations on the 10,000!! WooHoo! Good stuff Jake. Keep 'em coming. Mike.

@Everythingblackpowder

Жыл бұрын

Thank you

Two video requests! Could you do a video on your process for casting bullets? Could you also do a video on conical bullets in cap and ball revolvers? Advantages? Disadvantages? Tips and tricks? Great content as usual! Thanks.

@lorenray9479

Жыл бұрын

I have never seen a mention of conical 450-200 lee conicals in 1851 piettas cutting partial ring only to get stuck curls around the loaded ballets. What accuracy? Would the 457-220 ish conical still fit? But carve enough to be a ring to remove? Near subject as sloppy in chamber that was polished and chamfered. The 454 balls seat securely and have a perfect ring.

Out of all my black powder revolvers, all different makes & models, all different kinds of caps even homemade, the walker was the only one (so far) that has ever chain fired. I want to say it was the lack of lubrication (bore butter) in front of the ball but MAYBE, a cap fell off in the firing sequence & a little bit of fire coming out the back hit another chamber. The extra shot hit the frame in the tip of the loading lever & stuck in there. No damage of any kind

EXCELLENT! I think you covered all the basics and show conclusively that the grease is the major factor in preventing chain fires. I have been a BP enthusiast since 1979, my first BP gun was a Navy arms Rebel, I use pure lead .451 round ball and automotive general purpose grease in every cylinder. I live in South Africa, at 6000 ft above sea level, average daytime temp in the high 38 deg C, so yes the grease gets blown all over the show by the first firing, and I don't regrease, that being said I have NEVER had a chain fire.

I very much appreciated how you channeled your inner Paul Harrell on this one.

I had to chuckle the first time you said in my opinion. You made all the funds and safety rangers heads explode

I always top the load off with a cap of corn meal before seating the ball,I'm 76 and thats how my grandfather taught me.

Much like you, I feel that one some occasions the chain fire can come from either end of the cylinder, I use grease (bore butter usually) to both lube the balls in the barrel, to prevent chain fires, and to keep the founding as soft as can be. I have fired well over 5,000 rounds from BP revolvers in my time and, luckily, have yet to have a chain fire. I have been present with several chain fires to go off and of them, about half were from loose balls and no lube and twice when I watched it happen from the rear. The 2 times, one had drilled the nipples to "ensure reliability" and the second had nipples that were well being their use date and we're just about as worn and the one who had drilled the nipples.

An observation..... At one time I always loaded all 6 chambers for SASS events but only capped 5, at the time I was using 1/16" lubed felt wads with no front end grease. In some thousands of rounds I had no chain fires. These days I am using pre-lubed conicals with paper cartridges. No chain fires yet.... Remington revolvers... If thousands of rounds with one loaded but uncapped chamber caused no chain fires it points more to the front end being the culprit. On buying a new pistol I have always measured the groove diameter of the barrel and reamed the chambers to .001" bigger than that and balls around .003 - .005" bigger than the chamber mouth (accuracy is improved by doing this). This not only ensures a good fit all around but also that the chamber mouths are perfectly round..... Sometimes they are not, sadly... I did measure an ASM that was a bit remiss in that regard... So.... It would seem most likely that chain fires happen at the front end... Due, I would guess, to imperfections in the chamber mouths not taken up by the balls being seated. Having said all that, in 35 years and thousands of rounds I have not had a chain fire. I wonder if my treatment of new guns to make sure that everything fit perfectly had something to do with it..... Food for thought at least.... :-)

Great video ! I enjoy your humor mocking the comment trolls.😃 I've noticed they are also zero KZread content keyboard commandos.

On a slightly different angle, i have noticed no real difference in accuracy between round ball and conical at hand gun distances

Super interesting videos. I got into black powder shooting from my town's local cowboy reenactment weekend. I picked up an ASM navy replica for 30 dollars and finally found percussion caps for it. Haven't been able to get out to the range to figure everything out, but I'm excited to put some fire through it. Thank you for the very informative videos

@Everythingblackpowder

Жыл бұрын

Happy to help

I also use my homemade lube over the cylinder chambers. My lube I make is Beeswax and Pork lard. Good video.

I love this channel. Ive never actually seen a chain fire happen before and this documented it very well.

That opening section about all the fuds and the safety rangers in the KZread comment section reminds me of some of my comment sections on some of my videos LOL

Good video. And yes, a lot of these things need prefaced by "in my opinion". Having said that, I will state UNEQUIVOCALLY that chain fire occurs from BOTH ends of the cylinder. Somewhere on yt, there's a slow-mo video showing this. However, I can state from personal experience that that slo-mo is correct. Personally, I've only had one chain fire. I was using #12 caps on #11 nipples and pinching them in place. Voila! Chain fire. I was present when a shooting buddy loaded his sprue "off center" and got that partial lead ring. Voila! Chain fire. I can also state that a bare nipple on either side of a capped chamber WON'T fire (I've tried it too, as have several others, so it's not just your six shots. It's several hundred showing the same thing). HOWEVER, a "too large" cap WILL ignite. It occurs in the same manner as flintlock ignition. Flame from the fired chamber ignites the CAP on the adjacent chamber in the same manner that the pan Flame ignites the main charge of a flintlock through the touch hole. Takeaway, therefore, is that BOTH the caps and the balls need to be correct size and fit. Do that, and no issues. Personally, I love bore butter, but I will freely acknowledge that it isn't the best choice for hot climates. It's best use in hot climates is for rifle patches, and to lubricate the cylinder pin of both Colt and Remington revolvers. It helps keep fouling soft, and THAT is the central point - i.e. keep your fouling soft, and you can shoot all day. Otherwise, plan on taking some cleaning breaks. Again, good video. 👍

No matter how many times I point these videos out, old ranger and yours, I get run over with the same thing do the same experiment 1000 times and get different results for different days, temperatures blahs blahs blahs I appreciate you for solidifying it

@Everythingblackpowder

4 ай бұрын

Thank you

On my Pietra 1858 I always just used Vaseline over round ball. Cheap and easy to get. And helps lube the cylinder pin.

I have experienced one, and it was definitly a front-of-the-cylinder issue.

great video ,great sherlok holmesing effort ,i was convinced chain fire was from bad fitting caps and large modern nipple holes ,but your video has me thinking your evidence stacks up better than my theory , theres clearly much more blow over on the other chambers as evidenced by your showing the grease moving after each shot ,,well done

@Everythingblackpowder

Жыл бұрын

thank you

Great Paul Harrell impression.

Very informative, good job!

Thank you for your hard work on this video. I love Black powder guns, but they do come with safety concerns. I think you have done a great job showing us just how effective chamber grease can be. And I thought it was kool to see the pressure that is generated at the front of the cylinders when firing.

@Everythingblackpowder

Жыл бұрын

Thank you

New as of today; VERY HAPPY as of today! THANKS! Took my Walker to the range last weekend; 60 grains of 777/fffG with a .454 ball..no Chrony but a slightly high 4”” group at 20 yds Ka-Boom!!🤠🤠🤠 BZ for all your hard work!!

I have witnessed four chainfires, and in one instance I know for a fact there was grease ahead of the balls (I was working the loading table at a CAS match and watched the lube go on), so I feel safe saying they CAN come from flame escaping into adjacent chambers at the front or rear. I do believe however, that chamfered chambers on a well-machined pistol (proper chamber dimensions with no taper or wide spots) and properly-sized balls reduce the odds of them occurring from the business end. I have a couple C&B pistols, and although they have chamfered chamber mouths and my balls are plenty big (...pause for comedic effect), I still use a mix of Crisco and beeswax in the chambers to keep fouling soft so they will run longer and be easier to clean. Even if it did nothing to prevent chainfires, it's just a solid practice. I installed quality aftermarket nipples also, which hold caps tightly, just to hedge my bets against a boomboomboom.

Outstanding and level headed video. Really enjoyed the "let's test it" approach

I had one chain fire in my ASM stainless steel calvary model 1860. Since then I cut an over the powder felt out of an old flannel shirt. I have a set of hole punches so I make a bunch at a time. I have 6 black powder revolvers of various brands CVA, Pietta , ASM, Ruger Old Army, a pepperbox and a Uberti Walker. For the pepperbox I use .36 caliber roundballs, THe Walker .454 round balls and the rest ,440 roundballs. I measured my guns so I know what round balls they need. My loading procedure is that same for ALL of them. Over the powder charge I place one of my home made felts and ram it in place. Next I seat my roundballs and then I seat an Oxyoke felt over the top of the roundball. Once I have the Oxyokes firmly in place with a Qtip or stick I put a ring of Bore Butter around the outside edge of the over ball felt. When I put on the nipples I pinch them and then use a stick to press them in place. I have inadvertantly dropped several of my charged BP revolvers in the creek when I was getting camp water. They fired just fine. A Calvary model black powder revolver has an attachable stock. ASM made Calvary models as did Pietta. One can still order Pietta stocks.

granted i cant afford a cap and ball i dont have one yet i agree the front seems most likely and your idea works

As usual another great informative video. For some reason your video are more addictive then ice. Can't seem to get enough.

Awesome videos man. Great information. Thank you for posting.

Great test, lube, sealer aka grease whatever you want to call it is good insurance. Oh and congrats on breaking the 10K barrier!

@Everythingblackpowder

Жыл бұрын

Thank you

Your chain fire to adjacent chambers is caused by black powder dust on the front of cylinder . Wipe your cylinder front face with a damp rag after loading the chambers .when you use grease it seals the chambers to keep the burning embers from entering other chambers. Be sure to check front cylinder gap and shim to minimum clearance .

@308dad8

Жыл бұрын

“Shim to minimum clearance”. How does one do that? I thought we need a cylinder gap.

@Fuzzybeanerizer

Жыл бұрын

Commercial corned black powder is not very dusty. If anything, it is glazed with graphite or something and actually a bit hard to ignite with a smoldering "slow match" or an electrical spark. Home-made, unglazed black powder can easily be ignited with a slow match or electrical spark.

Here's the grand take away: I have learned more about black powder and black powder firearms in the last 2 months of being a subscriber from your channel than I've ever learned from any book or magazine in my life I think I need to go get me a black powder weapon and start playing with it maybe even make my own black powder thanks! 👍 Will pair nicely with an my smokeless powder burners

@Everythingblackpowder

Жыл бұрын

Thank you. I’m glad to hear it

@BigBeavrSlayer

Жыл бұрын

@@Everythingblackpowder thanks for all the videos and information, and that awesome tag line at the end of every video 😂

@ChicanoSteve

Жыл бұрын

@@BigBeavrSlayer well said brother! Couldn't said that better myself 😂😂😂

This was very interesting.... Never too old to learn something new.... Great Video!

I’ve had had good luck loading powder, a thin vegetable fiber wad, a pea sized chunk of similar lube to yours, then ball. Haven’t noticed an accuracy difference for the first cylinder, but the barrel definitely stays cleaner, so I do notice a smaller loss of accuracy after a couple reloads. Don’t lose any lube to the hot gas of neighboring cylinders, and I think the fiber wad scrapes out more fouling than a felt one.

@robertakerson7186

Жыл бұрын

Mr. Maxwellian-This is how I load too except my wad is a very thin felt one (1/2 of a store boughten one). Only problem is that my pea sized chunk of lube may not be of a consistent volume each time although I try to make it so. I do think that the lube blowing out behind the ball seems to almost aerosolize and keep the revolver barrel and chambers coated and easier to clean.

Awesome demonstration.

Shot hundreds thru my 1858 and 1851. Not had a chain fire ever. No wad and Lard on top of a conical. (Which does not produce a ring). So I will keep on keeping on. Great video by the way.

Agree, Can't say you can never, ever get a cap side flash over, but it flies in the face of common sense that it's usually that way. Been shootin cap-n-balls for 50 years and all my flash overs directly correlate with no or not enough grease over the ball. Used crisco mostly, and I agree that its sub optimal. There should be little or no flash coming out the nipple hole. Then it has to get around the other fresh cap. Gee, where does the fire come out of, anyhow? - the ball end. Showing how even the robust grease you use gets affected by the blast reaching it it very instrumental. Those chambers are lucky they are only next to the blast once! -What a great design those revolvers are!

I agree with all of it, especially the part about “No Absolutes” . Don’t let them get you down. I don’t care if you wear safety glasses or not, as long as you are wearing pants.😂

This was a very informative video. Exactly what I like to see. You're not just parroting everyone else which seems to be the trend on YT. Can you tell us how you prevent cap jams in your Colt revolvers? It seems like you never have that problem while others can't get through a single cylinder without an adjustment.

@Everythingblackpowder

Жыл бұрын

Thank you. I make sure my caps are pressed on firmly and unusual tilt my revolvers about 45 degrees to the right while I cock the hammer. I’ve found this to be very effective in avoiding cap jams.

Thanks Jake, another excellent video. 👍

A very good experiment test! When I was 22 years old a coworker asked me if I ever shot a black powder pistol and would I like to try shooting one! Well two days later we were out in a field with his 1851 36 cal. Navy. BANG!!..I was hooked! About two months later I bought my own 1851 Navy because my coworker was tired of me begging him to go out shooting his gun. Now every weekend and Holladay I was out shooting that pistol. Since that wasn't enough I bought books and black powder loading manuals and between shooting that pistol I had my nose in those books and manuals. I used Cresco over the balls as that was what my coworker did and I thought that was for lubrication and keeping falling down. I had read about the possibility of chain fires in these pistols but thought as long as I had a tight fitting ball that couldn't happen to me. Well about three years later, on a hot some day, and on my third or forth string of shooting I had three chambers go off at once. I didn't know what happened at first because it just sounded funny and much more smoke. Since everything looked ok I fired my next shot. Bang! The cap went off but no boom. Thinking I might have have a ball stuck in the barrel I disassembled the pistol. Nope! ..no stuck ball in barrel. Checked the cylinder and found three chambers emty. Checked the nipples and found four unfired caps. Like a idiot I thought I had missed loading a chamber! Put the pistol back together and fired it again. Funny sounding bang again! Took the pistol apart again. No stuck ball in barrel but no loaded chambers in the cylinder but two live caps on the nipples. That's when I remembered reading about chain fires. Thinking that's not good I better find out what's going on and how to fix it. For months I tried all kinds of different loading techniques and didn't get a chain fire untill I loaded a cast round ball I had cast myself from a new bullet mold I got. I did notice on my cast ball's that the sprue cut was cutting to low on the ball and if loaded with the sprue cut on the side of the chamber mouth it didn't cut a complete ring of lead off and I had a chain fire in that chamber once in a while. Thinking that was it I got another ball mold and loaded them and got perfect cut rings of lead and no chain fires. Then a few years later I had a chain fire again but this time all 6 chambers went off. No real load bang but a giant fire ball and a large cloud of smoke. When the smoked cleared my two friends that were behind me calling my shots for me had eyes opened as big as salid plates and after a moment asked if I was ok. I had fired a third model Dragoon with 50 grains of Swiss 3f black powder and a 454 round ball. My friends side that if I planned on shooting it again that I would have to wait till they left the state. The bottom chamber shit its ball right into the loading lever plunger face jamming it up. Had to take it off and use a knife and screw driver to pick it out. Luckily no one was hurt and the Dragoon was not damaged! Thumbs up UBERTI!!! SO BACK TO FIGURING JUST WHAT WAS CAUSING CHAIN FIRES! USEING MY 1851 NAVEY AND MY 1860 ARMY I spent probably three hundred rounds of ammo and seven months of testing different loading techniques, different powder, balls and conicals,powders, lubes and wads and no lubes and wads. In all that testing I had only 5 chain fires. All chain fires were three chambers going off. The chamber being fired and the ones to the left and right of the chamber being fired. All chain fired chambers were loaded with no wads and no lub over ball or conical bullet one chamber to the right of the fired chamber did have borebutter over i and on examination I found that all but the 6 O'clock chamber didn't have it's lub over the ball blow out. I believe the lack of a felt wad under the ball or conical bullet and or a lack of a good heavy lube over the ball or conical bullet can allow a chain fire to accure! On all chain fires the caps on the nipples were unfired but some had loose caps indicating there was some backward pressure exerted to the rear of the chamber but no fire blast.

I just subscribed. I've been shooting BP for 40 years.

Ive got chainfire 3 times in my life. First 2 times occurs in one day, in a row. I was testing then my very first, home made caps, wich they have too much exposed priming compound - chainfire goes from nipple of fired chamber and sets off 2 caps on the sides (Colt Pocket Police .36, .380 round ball and grease on top, no wad). Third time occurs when I forgot to take on range grease, so I shot without it, after couple of cyliders, BAM, chainfire (round ball, no wad).

I thought this was a good video and pretty much in line with what I thought. I've shot a fair amount of cap& ball since mid sixties off and on. I used to drum for civil war reenactments when I was 10 and we used to use news paper wad over powder and capum off. I never had a chain fire but I'd seen it. When I got back into it in the 80's, cowboy action, I always used large enough balls to shave a ring and homemade lube over. To this day I don't recall a chain fire out of any of my guns. I've had misfires caps fall off, jammed up and fouled up guns, but (knock on wood), no chain fires. Thanks for having the kahonas to do it on purpose to show us all.

Simply outstanding video. I shoot BP almost every weekend, have shot BP for 22 years, and only had two chain-fires. Both in the 1862 police. First time, a cap had fallen off and it sparked there, or so I thought. Second was no wad or lube, and a home cast ball of questionable size. Now I'm thinking maybe the spru mark was located poorly on the first chain-fire. Thanks for that! I never would have thought of it. I could have laughed watching your video: if I was going to make a video on this subject, I think I would have said everything you said verbatim! Thanks for this and keep up the great work. Just my humble opinion of course ;-)

@Everythingblackpowder

Жыл бұрын

Thank you.

I enjoyed your commentary. I tend to believe like you said it comes from the front. The only exception in my opinion is the Remington closed frame. I just can’t see a open frame having a spark jump around nipples. That is unless something else is wrong cracked cylinder maybe. Personally I’ve never had a chain fire. My gun is a 51 sheriff model. That’s all I have that fires other then a Naa 22 . My Remington is in bad shape one day I’ll fix. I believe fit of balls is the answer at least in my opinion. Great video.

Great video, I agree with your logic, I have a couple of chain fires my self, the first scared me the second one made me laugh.

I agree with you, I make my own bullet lube/bore butter and I use it to lube my black powder 45 Colt cartridges when I am reloading. I also use it in my cap and ball percussion revolvers, I put it over the cylinder chambers, it really helps keeping the fauling soft. I do not use wads in my cap and ball percussion revolvers. I sometimes do use them in my 45 Colt cartridges along with using my own bullet lube in the grease grooves in the bullets. Great video, thank you.

It's an interesting problem. I doubt we'll ever know for sure how or why it happens, but we know it's been happening for a long time. If you look close at the guns, you'll notice tapered barrel breeches and chamfered chamber mouths in almost all of them. That's to prevent damage to the gun when it happens. Sam Colt solved that problem the best he could early on. I've never seen a chain fire in my entire life, but I've known people it's happened to. All I can say is, when shooting a revolver, stay behind the gun. Much safer! And ignore trolls, safety rangers, and fudds. I think mostly they just have nothing better to do than to criticize someone elses work. Great video!

@dalesandblom1545

Жыл бұрын

Well said good sir

I’m so glad you cleared up the safety glasses issue. Now I can go back to wearing mine knowing that they will still work even if you’re not wearing yours. I’m out happily loading my Colt pocket pistol and I ain’t using any lube or wads.

Great video! My experiance has been very similar. I go with grease over the prohectile all the time now. Ive had no chain fires thus far with grease over.

I like Bore Butter. On patches. If I plan to use it on a revolver, I put some in a small metal cup and set it on the coffee plate until it melts. Then I add beeswax. About 60/40 beeswax to butter. I also use that same mixture in BPCR reloading. Works great.

I do; powder, wad, ball, and top off with grease. I think it works wonderfully.

Corned, glazed, commercial lack powder is funny stuff. It can be set off so easily by the metal shaving sparks from a flintlock or the flash of priming in a flintlock pan, yet is rather difficult to set off with a smoldering "slow match" or a thin electrical spark. Or, consider the Lindsay Civil War musket that was designed to shoot two charges out of one barrel -- two loads loaded one atop the other. There were many other guns that used this same principle, back in flintlock days, such as multi-shot guns with sliding lockplates, and even a 4-barrel "machine gun" where one barrel fired one load, which near the muzzle had a gas port that ignited a powder train completely filling a second barrel, which burned back like a fuze and (through many more gas ports) set off a burst of additional shots loaded "Roman candle" style in the remaining two bores. It really seems amazing that at full firing pressure the fire does not get around the projectile and ignite the next charge behind it. Though I imagine special steps were taken to prevent it, such as greased wads or specially-shaped bullets. I always assumed most "chainfires" in revolvers were caused by "wormy" balls... balls with major defects from being cast too cold. Crisco definitely sucks as a bullet lube with black powder, it lets fouling build up very fast in the bore, but I think it is very effective at stopping chainfires. In fact I used to shoot revolvers a lot when I was a teenager, and don't recall EVER experiencing a chainfire. Even though my balls were never big enough to shave a solid ring of lead off. The grease melts and blows all over from the first shot, but something like capillary action spreads it and draws it into the tiny cracks where it is needed most. I have not shot so much in recent decades, but now prefer conical bullets and real bullet lube over round balls and Crisco.

@0neDoomedSpaceMarine

Жыл бұрын

Whenever I think of people using Crisco for cap & ball guns, I remember Duelist1954's annoyed tone response to being asked about it *"Don't do that."* Mixing your own lubricant from tallow and wax seems to work the best, in the words of people who do that.

@williamnye478

Жыл бұрын

That's something I hadn't thought of. Defective balls might allow a bit of flame to get through to the powder. The balls and bullets I cast are carefully inspected and weighed, and any that don't measure up are rejected and melted down. Maybe that's why I've never had a chain fire in forty years of shooting a Remington, and they're supposed to be very prone to it. Interesting!

@0neDoomedSpaceMarine

Жыл бұрын

@@williamnye478 I'm thinking some people buying ready made projectiles may not always examine them that closely, so that could be a cause for chainfires if they don't notice a shoddy ball and don't use any grease.

@williamnye478

Жыл бұрын

@@0neDoomedSpaceMarine Highly possible. And a lot of these ready-made projectiles could stand to be a bit higher quality.

@Fuzzybeanerizer

Жыл бұрын

kzread.info/dash/bejne/Z5uBzbNyhtiadNo.html Here is a guy talking about chainfires in the context of the oddball Walch revolver, which used stacked double loads in each chamber. Incredibly he has not read the patent or even looked closely at the patent diagram he included in his own video. He says grease was not used, when the patent clearly specified a special deeply-grooved bullet packed with grease. He seems like a nice guy, but I find his lack of research and lack of attention to detail absolutely mind-boggling.

Yea I used bore butter on my brass frame because it's all I had. It was a really hot day and that stuff was so damn runny! It was like snot...

My experience with chainfire was with an original remington 1858 army. Using both wads and grease. The nipples were rather small. I had a 3 round chain fire. Examination of everything afterwards led me , as well os other, more experienced witnesses to the event to conclude recoil had caused lose caps to go off.

Lot's of bs on KZread. You'r vids are very much aprreciated. Thank's.

@Everythingblackpowder

11 ай бұрын

Thank you

I really enjoy your videos,,you are inteligent , with common sense,and some comedy thrown in,,lol , thx !

@Everythingblackpowder

Жыл бұрын

Thank you

Thanks for the great video!

Well Partner I have been shooting a. Cap and Ball revolver. Since 1980. We in our club In Northern Ireland all load the same way we shoot 21 grains 3f. We compress with semolina a ball that shaves the ring and grease the chamber mouth ,we over here have NEVER ever had a chain fire , so mate you are on the money. IN MY OPINION lol 👍🤘

watching you from Poland :) stafs are grete !! Thank you I get a lot of knoladge from this chanel ! :)

i gotta admit that intro was pure gold! wow im still smiling and laughing. thumbs up for the intro!🤣

Once again a great video.

Awesome video thank you.

I have a Spanish New Army replica, that I have shot without chain fire for over 40 years. I have never used wads, but I have used grease over the mouth of the cylinders even if I have a solid ring of lead when I seat the ball, and yes, the commercial grease, and Crisco, is messy! I don't use grease when the bullet is not a ball, but something like a miniball or Lee REAL bullet, but as you say, that is my opinion...

I enjoyed the video, very informative.

I've been shooting cap and ball revolvers for over 50 years. I've only ever used grease, never wads. I've never had a chain fire. I do admit that 75% of the time, the grease was crisco. But, its cool where I live.

I use 7gr corn meal between the powder and ball with a skim of bore butter over the ball when charging. And a butter smearing over back to clean any powder residue

Good stuff, I'm glad I found your channel.

@Everythingblackpowder

Жыл бұрын

Thank you

Well done! Very interesting results.

@Everythingblackpowder

Жыл бұрын

Thank you.

I have been shooting B-P a long time. A little common sense can go a long way and not just shooting. Damn good video. I enjoy them quite a bit, keep'em comin.

Great information

Great video! I enjoyed the little clips you added lol. Thanks for the tips. I just picked up a pistol at the local flea market.

@Everythingblackpowder

11 ай бұрын

Thank you.

A very informative video thank you.👌🏼

@Everythingblackpowder

Жыл бұрын

Thank you

Thanks for the video. Good stuff. Subscribed. I have a Pietta 1858 and have not had a chain-fire. At the range I use lubed wads. They are easy convenient and not messy. I never use bore butter or crisco. Its a mess in my opinion, especially in the Texas heat. When loading the pistol for in between range visits. I do not use lubed wads. Powder-ball- 60/40 beeswax/talo or oxy-yoke revolver wonder seals on top. #10 Caps. These wonder seals have never melted and I've had the pistol loaded in the truck all day in August heat.

You can stop the loading lever from falling down on the walker by using a wire tool on the spring. The tool will put a band in the middle of the spring and tensions it. I had a walker and this is what I did. My dragoon drops the lever on occasion, so that is not perfect, but the lever stars up more. Good video, I leaned a lot.

Good honest review,,,, thanks

I have made the breech of the cylinder on my revolvers slighty conical so the bullet get compressed when pushing them in there. I never had a chain fire, but i also always lube after pushing down the bullet.

Great video, the sacrifice of your noble Walker (which lived) was most appreciated. I've always used cornmeal instead of a wad. Works great and is super cheap in my Old Army Ruger. as to caps, wow is that a kettle of fish. Like you I will test which caps fit snuggly without pinching to achieve that rear seal. And to those poo-pooers I too seal the front with a good quality grease.

In my opinion, I really like your style and agree...😊 I'm shooting cap & ball revolver in Germany for some years now.. using grease on the cylinders is the most important thing we are taught here.. from my experience..😄