Had a chain fire today

OK -I ain't a rocket scientist. I know from years ago, that chain fires were caused by flash hitting the front of adjacent cylinder w/ enough to ignite that charge. YES -a lub wad over powder under ball should keep that from happening. Actually that is their main purpose--the other is to also keep barrel lubed better after firing. As far as promoting accuracy, I am not sure except that it might help compress the powder tighter and the ball seats more closer to the mouth of the chamber with a lesser load. You might want to get some other senior members to comment on that one before I get hung! But I think it is so.

I am now convinced about amco nipples. I hear alot about chain firing coming from the nipples. I have seen Rems throw off caps after a fire. Especially pietta nipples. w/ #11 If the adjacent cap falls or knocked off -yes a fire can explode that chamber. What is so funny--I see these guys use #10,s all the time but they never worked well in my hand. Either I don't seat them properly because they always fire after the second pull. I have seen some caps that are 10.4 size but don't remember the name. Amco supposedly will seat #11's perfectly:D
WBH
 
Hardy, you're not getting them fully seated. They're not pressure sensitive so you're not going to set one off seating it with a dowel or gently letting the hammer down on it and using the hammer to seat it with thumb pressure.
 
Be Kind

I have fired my black powder pistols approximately 100 times, and I have not experienced a chainfire despite the fact that I used lubed wads but no grease. There is no rule that gun butter or mazola oil must be applied.
Be kind to the poor guy who must have been shaken up by his mishap!
TallRay
 
Hardy, go to the Possible Shop on line and they have a "look up" section which will tell you exactly which nipple will fit your gun perfectly.

The lube in the wad under the ball should be very solid so that it does not migrate into the powder. Mine are so hard that in sub freezing temps it is very difficult to get them into the chambers.
 
In National competion in 20 years that I've been going, I have never seen
or heard of anybody using wads in their revolvers. In the excellcent book
"Muzzleloading Shooting & Winning With The Champions" the chapter on
revolver shooting by National record holder Peter Allen, he does not say
anything about using a wad in a revolver. I think they are OK for just informal
shooting, or hunting, but not serious target shooting.
 
FWIW, I have been shooting C&B revolvers since 1996, and I have never used a wad, only occasionally use grease over the ball, and always pinch the caps. I have had exactly ONE chain fire. That's how I learned the importence of properly sized round balls:o. If you read the instructions that came with the original Colt C&B revolvers back in the 1850s and 60s, it says nothing about wads/grease at all. It pretty much says put the proper powder charge in, ram a ball on top of it, and cap. Look at a military issued revolver (paper/skin/foil) cartridge from the civil war. It was a conical ball, with the paper wrapped powder charge glued to the bottom. No lube, grease, or anything else. In my OPINION, the most important part of loading a C&B revolver, is to use the proper size round balls. Make sure that when you ram the ball into the chamber, that a good ring of lead is shaved off of the ball. This will insure a proper seal of the chamber mouth (unless the chambers are not properly formed). The MOST important things about shooting a BP revolver are, do what works for YOU and your comfort level, enjoy yourself, and be safe.
 
600 shots or so in the ol' Walker with no bad luck, but I'm a wad AND grease guy. (unless it's just half charges when plinking cans, then it's corn meal under ball and grease over) But I do always pinch the #11 caps or before I get to 6 shots, there will be one missing when the nipple spins into view.
 
I'm glad someone here has something ELSE for the mind to work on instead of the tangible only known through science and logic. Umm -very interesting and thought provoking, Gatefo.

WBH
 
FWIW, I have been shooting C&B revolvers since 1996, and I have never used a wad, only occasionally use grease over the ball, and always pinch the caps. I have had exactly ONE chain fire. That's how I learned the importence of properly sized round balls.
Click to expand...

I've been shooting them since 69 and it don't always work out that way. Some guns are just persnickety.
 
Nuttin Like A Bunch of Chain Fires....

A couple of years ago, a buddy of mine showed up here at the farm with a replica .36 caliber percussion Whitney Revolver he had owned for years. He hadn't fired it for about a dozen years, so was anxious to shoot it again.

So, he loads the revolver up, aims across my Sight-In Bench and KER-BOOOOOOOOOooooommmm! I was standing a bit behind him and we were both were amazed because neither one of us were expecting the little pistol to chain-fire.

My friend said some unkind remarks about his pistol and reloaded it. He sighted on the target and KER-BOOOOOOOoooooommmmm! [Another chain fire.] Every time he reloaded it and aimed at the target, I found myself dropping further and further back fro him.

One thing about my friend, he was not the sort to "Give Up Easily" even though after the fifth or sixth "Chain-Fire" the loading lever latch on his little Whitney went to parts unknown.

Suddenly, I came up with a BRILLIANT INSPIRATION! We could carry my friend to a N-SSA Skirmish and sign a pistol team up in the Revolver Team Matches. Then the "trick" would be to "farm him out to another team." The theory being after one or two of his "Chain Fires," in the match,he would have the rest of the teams so freaked out, we could easily win the match!

Finally, after 8 or 9 Chain Fires he decided to quit shooting the revolver for the day. His target was so peppered with bullet holes, he had trouble figuring out exactly WHICH bullet hole in the target came from the bullet that actually traveled down the barrel!

In the mean time, he has renamed his revolver "Ole Multi-fire." I am thinking about calling it: "Ole Hell and BYE THUNDER."

I am now thinking about writing a "Hollywood TV Western" about an Old West Gun Fighter that had TWO Whitneys that always Chain-Fired! What a scene, our hero would walk down the Western town street "Matt Dillon style" facing 12 "Bad Guys." The Bad Guys would try to draw first, Our Hero would fast draw and shoot both of his Whitneys [which, of course, would Chain-Fire.] At the other end of the street, all 12 bad Guys would fall down!!!!

Our Hero would be known as "Kid Dirty Dozen" because every time he drew and shot his Whitney's, a dozen, dirty "Bad Guys" would get shot!!!!

Hollywood....Here I come!!!!
 
How much real world danger is there with a chain fire?
I've experienced a few and not much happened other than the extra bullets left the cylinder.
And not with much power, it seemed.
Guess the gases behind the bullet escape out of the chambers fast and don't provide much velocity??
 
"G"

I have had only one chain fire and that loosened the arbor on the revolver.

It was a previously fired C.O.M. Sheriff's .36. brass frame.

Let me qualify that.

After the chain fire I noticed the arbor was loose. It was tight before the chain fire so I assume that the extra force loosened the arbor.

Even considering the lower velocity I would not want to get hit by what comes out of the chamber.
 
I had one happen. This was in 1971. I had just started shooting in competition and I had a 1851 brass frame 36 which I had accuratize. I was
very serious about shooting good scores. I had loaded my revolver with 5
shots. Took careful aim and when it went off I thought I heard a ka-boom.
I looked at it and two chambers had fired. I noticed then that I had forgot
to put any crisco over the front of the balls. What really bothered me was
where the balls went on the target. We were shooting on standard NRA
pistol targets. I was afraid to look thru the spotting scope. I knew the one
shot would be good, but where would the one be that went off right next to
it? I remember thinking if I'm lucky it won't even be on paper and I will get
another shot, worst it would be on paper outside a scoring ring. Well I still
have the target. Let me tell you when I looked thru the scope I saw two
little holes side by side about a inch apart in the "10" ring. Talk about luck.
I was so shook up I dropped a few 9's and wound up with a 96 I think. Boy
would that little Navy 36 shoot. Ex wife stole it in 1976.
 
For those of you anti greasers do a Google search on “loading cap and ball guns” and see if you can find one reputable gun expert that recommends not using some type of grease of pad. Then compare to the number that say that they must be used.
I have been shooting cap and ball revolvers for over 35 years and right now I own 7. I have never had a chain fire on any of them and for 4 years I used two for SASS matches.
I use grease and have never used pads. In my own humble opinion, any one that recommends shooting a black powder revolver without grease or some type of pad is giving dangerous advice.
If you do a search on how they loaded them during the civil war, even when they used paper cartridges they still used grease.
Grease can be messy, but a lot less messy than a multiple fire and a whole lot less dangerous. And I don’t understand the concern about the mess that grease makes. Let’s face it, your shooting black powder, which in itself is messy, dirty and smoky. You have to clean the gun afterward any way.
http://www.hackman-adams.com/guns/capandball.htm
http://www.gunfighter.com/cgi-bin/bbs/cowboy-a/cowboy-a.cgi?read=50267
 
If you do a search on how they loaded them during the civil war, even when they used paper cartridges they still used grease
Click to expand...
Not everyone.
This is confederate guerrilla George Maddox. He rode with William Quantrill.
george-maddox-medium.jpg


Notice the projectiles in his revolver. Clearly visible. Nothing on top of them.
Copyofgeorge-maddox-medium.jpg


This is a typical CW cartridge.
44-cal-pistol-revolver-cart.jpg

Except for lube in the grooves of the bullet, no grease. They were issued in packs of six, with six or seven percussion caps. Thats it. Nothing else in the pack. Just cartridges and caps.

Typical cartridge pack
tw1-3.jpg

Not everyone did/does things the way you might do them. That doesn't make them wrong, or you right. As I said in my earlier post, the directions that came with Colt revolvers in the 1850s-1860s said nothing about grease. Just fill the chambers, leaving enough room for the ball, then ram the ball and cap. Do as you wish, but understand that others may not do the same.

And as far as "gun experts" go, I never cared for them. What exactly makes them an expert? There always seems to be plenty of experts around, but never enough people that know what they are doing. Just watch the "experts" on the (used to be) History channel.:rolleyes: I've seen experts have accidents too. I try to learn from the old timers. Weather it's talking to people that have done what I'm trying to do, or reading first hand accounts from those that are long gone. I don't need some self appointed "gun expert" telling me that what worked for folks a hundred and fifty years ago doesn't work now.
 
Last edited:
Granted I'm still a NOOB, and have only shot my ROA 30 times (no grease, just lubed wads) now with that said I can't for the life of me understand how any ignition is going to get around a properly sized ball. My ROA with .457 (the ones called for) shaves a beautiful ring of lead and it takes some ummph to press them in. My vote is on ignition form the back side those percussion caps explode and I did notice once that it knocked the cap off of the next cylinder (no chain fire but lucky I guess). So loose caps or caps not pushed on tight enough is my VOTE
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top