Wad or Grease

[bhornjr]

I am looking at a .44 Army.
I have been told to follow powder with wad. Also put grease (Crisco) across hole in cylindar to protect against chain firing.
Is it an either/or or do you suggest both, or neither?

[napp]

I haven't been around here long enough to make suggestions. All I can do is say what has worked for me. I use lubed wads over the powder and under the ball...nothing over the mouth of the cylinder. I've had no problems thus far.

[rdstrain49]

I find the best accuracy in all of my revolvers to be lubed felt wad over powder followed by the ball. I've tried various combinations and keep coming back to the above method. Others have found ball over powder topped off with grease to be most accurate. You will have to find what works best in your weapon. BTW, yesterday after firing a good many rounds at 25 yds. with my Uberti Rem. Navy, Just for fun I backed off to 100 yds., held a bit high and let her speak. At 100 yds. all 6 shots were in the A zone on an IPSC target. Works for me.:)

[wogpotter]

Wad.
Grease is just too flippin' messy & slippery to reload the second cylinder.:D

[Bill Akins]

There is another alternative. Sometimes I will not use lubed felt wads nor grease over the chambers. Instead I will load the powder and then cover over the powder with corn meal and then seat the ball. That covers the black powder so even if fire went around the ball, all it would encounter would be corn meal so it wouldn't chain fire. This works for a cylinder or two but then the cylinder starts to get stiff because of fouling around the arbor shaft because I haven't been using any lube or grease. That's the only downside. Easily fixed though by quickly removing the cylinder and doing a quick brush of the cylinder's arbor hole and wiping and lubing of the arbor shaft. Which you would have to do anyway after another cylinder or two of shots even if you were using lubed felt wads or only grease.


.

[Fingers McGee]

Wad.
Grease is just too flippin' messy & slippery to reload the second cylinder.


+1. That plus a liberal lubing of the arbor with Bore Butter will keep Colt style revolvers running for 10 or 12 stages without any other maintenance.

[arcticap]

Is it an either/or or do you suggest both, or neither?

Some folks use a dry wad or over powder card and only put a tiny amount of grease over the ball of 2 chambers or sometimes 3, but not all.
It depends on the type of powder and the residue that it's producing and how much grease is being used.
A very small amount of lube can help to soften powder fouling, with the wad and burning powder clearing out almost all of the tiny amount of lube being used.
If employing a wad or over powder card then the little bit of lube isn't really being used to prevent chain fires, but to help soften the residue so that it can be partially cleared out of the barrel by the wad passing through it upon firing.

[Razor740]

I've only been back with C&B for 'bout 3 er 4 yrs. (this century):D
Never have used a wad..Just grease over the ball.
Never had a problem so far.
Other fellers is right tho, messsssy !
Can't speak to accuracy issues or anything else..
I always go with the idea in mind to do some serious testing and evaluating
but it/we quickly degenerate into a fun blasting session..
Even got some old felt hats for wad mat;'l and punches, but...well..mebbe
I'll get around to cutting some wads tomorrow..:rolleyes:

[Hylander]

All I can do is say what has worked for me. I use lubed wads over the powder and under the ball...nothing over the mouth of the cylinder. I've had no problems thus far.

+1 :)

[poppa59hd]

A lot of re-enactment events will not allow you to use 'Wonder Wads' over the powder. The wads can actually become projectiles. I've always just seated the ball directly on the powder (not at re-enactments! No live firinf allowed........darnit) when live firing and greased above the ball. Worked for me. I always managed to hit what I was aiming at. Perhaps not exactly where I was aiming, but I always hit the target. If you're shooting targets, you need to grab some powder, balls, wads and grease and go to where you shoot and experiment. What works good for one fella and his gun might not be the best plan for yours.
Always Remember...............
Yankees-1 Confederates-0 Halftime

[Noz]

Either/or or none. If your balls are very soft and are over sized (cut a nice ring) for your chambers then you can get away with no wad or lube.
If not then one or the other.
I prefer a lubed wad. I punch felt wads with a harbor freight 11mm punch from durofelt.com felt and soak them in hot homemade lube. I think the best of both worlds. A little lube for the cylinder and a little security against multiple discharges.
I can run 10 or more stages with no problems.

[wogpotter]

Always Remember...............
Yankees-1 Confederates-0 Halftime
I heard it was:
Damnyankees WIN
Confederecy PLACE
Canadians SHOW
:)

[CHM]

Lubed wad for me. No problems so far and not a huge mess.

[ClemBert]

Avoid the mess...use lubricated felt wads. If you make them yourself then they a cheap.

[Foto Joe]

A lubed wad "might" give you some chainfire protection, grease or crisco, not so much. The first time you fire with grease over the ball, 90% of it is going away. Your best chainfire protection will be a proper sized ball and a proper sized nipple.

Since chainfire really isn't an issue with regards to this, your choice is simply what lubrication if any would work best?? Pretty much all of the above, including none. It's just a matter of what you will have to do to the gun during your shooting period. I use cornmeal as a filler and crisco as a bullet lube. But keep in mind, I seldom see temperatures above 80 degrees. I figure that I'm going to clean the gun anyway and besides, the crisco is supposed to be good for your comlexion isn't it??

Us old farts will try anything to keep from getting older.

[jimbob86]

Lead is expensive, so I cut costs where I can: crisco is cheap, works to prevent chain firing, and keeps black powder fouling soft.

Messy? Yes. Rags are cheap, too.