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KenF · June 3, 2002, 06:19 PM

A few months ago, I bought one of those Pietta replica .44 Colt Navy revolvers from Cabela's. It recommended a 20 grain charge, and that's what I've been shooting, using Pyrodex.

This only seems to fill up the chamber about 1/3, but I was just seating the ball on top of that. Of course, it makes spreading the grease around sort of difficult, since the ball is so far below the surface of the cylinder.

Saturday I bought a nice, old, but unused Ruger Old Army - a much stouter gun. The instructions with it (from 1976) also recommend a 20 grain charge, but say to fill up the chamber with something, such as corn meal so that the ball is seated only about 1/16th inch below the face of the cylinder.

So, I tried that, and it worked fine and made the grease thing easier. But of course it means extra time to charge the cylinders. I ended up buying an extra powder flask to keep the corn meal in. A 20 grain spout on one and 30 grains on the other add up just about right. I ended up switching them, so that now I'm loading 30 grains of Pyrodex (by volume).

I'm interested in finding out if you-all use the filler or not, and if so, what you use, etc.

Thanks in advance for any help and advice,
Ken.

June 3, 2002, 06:19 PM	#1
KenF Member Join Date: April 29, 2002 Location: Texas Posts: 29	BP Revolvers: is filler necessary ? A few months ago, I bought one of those Pietta replica .44 Colt Navy revolvers from Cabela's. It recommended a 20 grain charge, and that's what I've been shooting, using Pyrodex. This only seems to fill up the chamber about 1/3, but I was just seating the ball on top of that. Of course, it makes spreading the grease around sort of difficult, since the ball is so far below the surface of the cylinder. Saturday I bought a nice, old, but unused Ruger Old Army - a much stouter gun. The instructions with it (from 1976) also recommend a 20 grain charge, but say to fill up the chamber with something, such as corn meal so that the ball is seated only about 1/16th inch below the face of the cylinder. So, I tried that, and it worked fine and made the grease thing easier. But of course it means extra time to charge the cylinders. I ended up buying an extra powder flask to keep the corn meal in. A 20 grain spout on one and 30 grains on the other add up just about right. I ended up switching them, so that now I'm loading 30 grains of Pyrodex (by volume). I'm interested in finding out if you-all use the filler or not, and if so, what you use, etc. Thanks in advance for any help and advice, Ken.