I much prefer a greased, felt wad between the ball and powder, to any lubricant over the ball. My revolver shoots cleaner, and longer, with much less mess and trouble.
See my post, "How to Properly Use a Cap & Ball Sixgun" for specifics, but I'll briefly note:
Felt wads with dry lubricant, such as the Wonder Wad, are not nearly as effective as a greased wad. And the most effective grease I've found to lubricate a felt wad is an old recipe of mutton tallow, paraffin and beeswax.
I believe that the paraffin stiffens the felt wad somewhat, making it an effective fouling scraper as it goes down the bore.
Recovered wads have shown a negative impression of the rifling, indicating that each wad got down into the grooves and helped to remove fouling.
I rarely use lubricant over the ball, in conjunction with a greased felt wad. An exception is when the weather is very hot and dry. Here in the Utah, I've seen 110 degrees and 6 percent humidity. Grease over the ball helped in that instance but in retrospect I should have just stayed in my air conditioned home and avoided such heat altogether.
The use of wads is much cleaner, though not faster than using grease. Placing grease over the wads is faster, if you use a small squeeze tube. If you use a small container of grease, use a Popsicle stick to smear it over the balls.
I push the wad into a charged chamber with my thumb, until it's slightly below flush. Then I seat the wad with my rammer.
I do all chambers I intend to shoot this way,
then begin ramming the balls down. If a filler such as corn meal is required, I put the filler atop the seated wad before ramming the ball.
Why ram each wad as a separate operation? I get a better feel for how much pressure I'm applying. Also, should I ram a felt wad in an uncharged chamber, it's a heck of a lot easier to remove a felt wad than a tightly jammed lead ball.
How do I get the wad seated correctly over the powder? If the wad is tilted a little, it will be straightened out by the rammer. But if it's badly tipped, I simply tip it back to level with a small wooden dowel.
If you wish to go to the trouble, you can thumb the wads into each chamber, then remove the cylinder and push the wad straight into the powder with a short length of dowel: 3/8" for the .36 and 7/16" for the .44 and .45 calibers.
After seating the wads straight onto the powder, return the cylinder to the revolver and finish ramming them firmly onto the powder, using the rammer.
This is a lot of bother. Frankly, I haven't found any advantage to it, but it's an option.
Crisco works well. Don't let anyone tell you different. I started using it in the early 1970s when it and axle grease were all that was available. I still like Crisco for greasing teh cylinder pin, sides of hammer, bolt and hand. It will keep parts moving smoothly.
However, I'm not fond of it for smearing over the ball. While it works fine, it's messier than Hell. It also melts quickly and runs out of the chambers.
I doubt that this loss affects accuracy much, but it sure makes a mess in a holster! It also makes a greasy mess of your revolver.
You may buy wads, or punch your own. Keep them in an easy open can, like an Altoids Sour Tangerine or Sour Apple can, or an old shoe polish can with the little easy opener on the side. Tight fitting lids are very difficult to open with greasy fingers!
A couple notes of warning:
Never, EVER use
Preparation H hemmorhoid ointment as a grease. I heard of a fellah that did and by the time he'd finished shooting, his .44-caliber Walker was shrunk down to a .31 Pocket Pistol!
Conversely, I heard of a guy that accidentally sprinkled some Miracle-Gro fertilizer into his homemade bullet lubricant. After just a few shots, his bullets would no longer fit in the chamber!
Gatofeo (ugly cat) might know.
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