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/bb...cgi?read=50267