Lubricated Wads and Greasing the cylinder?

Elmer Keith believed that chain fires were the result of ill fitting caps. Putting grease over the cylinder mouth is supposed to keep the fouling soft.

OK, that's the theory. No soldier in the Civil War ever did that.
 
The real cure to avoiding chain fires is to get old, be short on patience and just load one chamber.
That's so you can get on with the shooting part, instead of the loading part.
By the time ya' load all six chambers, yer too tired to shoot.
See how simple life can be.
 
you can do both but no need to be redundant
Also bore butter is really too soft for over ball lube.
First shot will blow most of it off the others, especially on a hot day. But it does work
Back in the 70's all we had locally was dry wads
Back then CVA made a patch grease, real thick but could be smeared
load powder, then dry wad, squeeze a bit ontop of the wad, load the ball
CVA doesn't make it anymore.
You can use the bore butter on top of wad, then your projectile, or make your own lube easy enough
I shot a long time with no lube just powder and tight fitting ball never had a chain fire.
lube is primarily to help keep the fouling soft so you can shoot longer without cleaning
 
Ill fitting primers have been accused of causing as many or even more chain fires than from the other end.
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I would think this would be easy to test by shooting a revolver with only one cap on one cylinder. If vent gasses were a culprit perhaps this would make chain fires happen "on demand"?

Steve
 
I would think this would be easy to test by shooting a revolver with only one cap on one cylinder. If vent gasses were a culprit perhaps this would make chain fires happen "on demand"?
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I've done that. No chain fire.
 
I use the lubed wads. Not a whole lot of lube to ooze. A little doesn't hurt unless it is petroleum based.
I had a cross fire in the 1858 using triple seven. I don't remember the size of the ball but it could have been .452.
I use two wads over the powder and .457 balls mostly. The cylinder shaves off the excess but it give a little more bearing surface, in the bore and slightly heavier projectile. Haven't had cross fires since.
The nipples were questionable and generally disintegrated the caps so changed them to vented style nipples.
I have fooled with Crisco and it is a mess. In muzzle loader rifle, in the cavity and in grooves it was supposed to keep powder residue soft, and easier for the next minnie ball to scrape to the bottom of the barrel for next shot. maybe the Crisco gave a boost in velocity from the dieseling effect. :)
The lubed wads might b thee best option now for black powder, or even triple seven.
Maybe unlubed wads will work just as well.
Someone do some testing and report back, maybe?
 
Couple of weeks ago I loaded my 1860 Pietta with powder (Pyrodex P), lubed wad and ball but didn't shoot for about a week. Capped it and shot it in the back yard and got six "poof" loads. Enough heat in the house to melt lube and foul the powder. One ball was left in a chamber, never made it to the forcing cone. These wads were commercially available, not my own.

Did this same operation last winter without such incident. Lesson learned: No pre-loading with greased wads til I shoot, in the good ol' summertime.
 
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Back 100 years ago when I used my T/C Hawkins - powder + patched ball - then a drop or two of oil on top of the ball ----- never had a problem --- right or wrong - it worked for me :D

With my new pistols -- powder + wonder wad + ball -- whatever lubrication there is - its behind the ball ?

What I'll probably do is -- either drop another wad on top or just a bit of bore butter -- :confused:
 
Just enough to let slip out E-Z-er --

Would slathering it into the whole cylinder opening make that much of a difference ---- everybody keeps saying / posting -- cover the ball with butter -- to stop chain fires ?
 
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Would slathering it into the whole cylinder opening make that much of a difference ---- everybody keeps saying / posting -- cover the ball with butter -- to stop chain fires ?
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All that does is make a mess. All you need is a little dab around the edge of the balls but if you use wads under the balls you don't need anything over the balls.
 
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