Grease or no grease?

[DaveJW]

Although still a bit of a novice with my Ruger Old Army I am slowly improving. I use 777 FFFG with a wad and am now back on round balls (Lee bullets were hopeless) coated in Liquid Alox.

My club has now introduced some new safety regs which state that all BP revolvers MUST now have the cylinders greased over after loading to prevent chain-fires. I haven't done this in the past because I seem to remember reading on here it's a waste of time and pretty messy to boot.

Have I got this wrong; is greasing a must to prevent this chain fire business? Has anyone actually seen a chain fire casued by not using grease?

[harricook]

Hi There was an article (which some say is flawed in how it tested) - which still makes a good read.

The closing paragraph I think ist the most important - It's all about your balls - not your lube in relation to chainfires !

quote "Remember: If you have loose fitting balls in your percussion revolver grease over the chambers will do nothing to prevent chainfires. The grease is blown away at the first shot anyway and if the ball combo is loose enough for a spark to pass it, well, no grease will prevent it from doing it. Use proper fitting balls!"

The full article
http://www.svartkrutt.net/articles/vis.php?id=13

Cheers

Roy

[DaveJW]

I think that's pretty conclusive, if I wanted to seal a tube I would prefer a lead ball wedged in place over a smear of grease every day of the week. Many thanks Harricook for pointing me at that feature - really interesting stuff.

[harricook]

Hi Dave

I had a Pietta colt years ago (late 80's) when I first started out - bought some "44" cal balls from the supplying **cough** 'dealer' (no I have no idea what cal they actually were) - but they were a b*stard to get in

Second time of using it - had 3 cylinders go off at once - one down the barrell & two out sideways.

Took it to a guy & told him the problem - yep - undersized balls - which I queries in disbelief as they were so hard to ram home...

They were in hard lead - no wonder I could not get them in !

I binned them & bought soft lead in 454 cal & never had a repeat of the chainfire - I VERY pleased to say.

I have had Pietta NMA since then & now a Ruger Old Army which I have to say is the dogs danglies !

I now load 18gns of Swiss TS2 in my ROA with a 457 cal ball - & at the mo am experimenting with wads instead of an inert 'filler'

I'm trying between 1 and 4 dry (unlubed) 1/8" 100% hard wool wads to bring the ball up the cylinder.

Doesnt seem to make much difference in grouping/accuracy if I use 1 or 4 !

So I will probably settle for using less as it keeps the cost down !

All the best

Roy

.

[spartan]

regarding the grease over the chambers, as you say normal grease generally goes after the first shot, the best grease i have used is castrol water pump grease, it is that stiff and sticky its still in place until the last shot, the only downside is you have to put it in the chambers with a lolly stick, its way to stiff to use in the grease gun dispencer

[John Bedford]

Only chain fire I've ever seen was as a result of a dislodged cap - not from sparks entering the front of a cylinder.

My load is powder, filler, wad then .454 ball - can't see a spark from the front getting to the powder past ball wad & filler.

[tim56]

To Lube or not to Lube. Seems to be personal choice. I once forgot my lube and after 2 round of 6 in my Rogers and Spencer the thing was spitting em all over the place as the barrel clogged up with powder residue and was a right old devil to clean. Iv tried water pump grease which was ok but still prefer wonder lube to cover my balls. Keeps the fouling soft thus aiding cleaning, doesnt gunge everything up like grease does and it smells good too. (If you like the smell of germelene.)

[lilguy43uk]

When the cap and ball was in common use in the good old US of A and the shooter was under pressure from some rather angry ethnic American barber type chappies, I rather think that they wouldn't have had much time to use grease.

In any case, after following some discussions on this board, I don't use it and have never had any problems.

Mind you, I do use a semi greased wad between ball and powder.

[slowcoach]

I've found that using the 777 FFFG negates almost all the fouling issues certainly no where near the amount of muck that traditional BP leaves. I also use a thick wad ( multi use indoor range that's not keen on constant sweeping to remove semolina and other fillers etc).
After casting the balls I place them in a can with a good dessert spoon of Barbour wax/ thornproof dressing, gently heat to melt this and swirl it all over the cast batch and allow to cool. Leaves a good slippy coating that does not rub off easily, remains after the preceeding shots of a cylinder and doesn't blast all over the side screens when fired.
Not exactly spirit of the 1800's, but plenty good for modern indoor use with minimal cleanup of the range and pistol after shooting.

[harricook]

Although still a bit of a novice with my Ruger Old Army I am slowly improving. I use 777 FFFG with a wad and am now back on round balls (Lee bullets were hopeless) coated in Liquid Alox.

My club has now introduced some new safety regs which state that all BP revolvers MUST now have the cylinders greased over after loading to prevent chain-fires. I haven't done this in the past because I seem to remember reading on here it's a waste of time and pretty messy to boot.

Have I got this wrong; is greasing a must to prevent this chain fire business? Has anyone actually seen a chain fire casued by not using grease?

Hi Dave

Just had a thought ..... drop Smokeless Coal a PM - I think his club in Hastings have done the OPPOSITE & banned grease due to fire hazard

Cheers

Roy

.

[lilguy43uk]

There was a thread on here and I've been trying, unsuccessfully, to find it. It carried a link to an article written by a chappie who had tried his best, with several guns, to cause a chainfire and had been unsuccessful.

His research (valid or not, I don't know) led him to the conclusion that chain fires are not caused by flashover at the front of the cylinder but by loose fitting or missing caps at the rear.

If you think about it, the act of ramming the correct size of ball into the cylinder swages it to an interference fit anyway and it would take a very, very tiny spark to get past the lead seal.

I think that Tac may be the most experienced of us on this subject, perhaps he would give us his opinion if he reads this.

[harricook]

Hi

The only article I found with 'tests' was the one I posted the link to in Post #2 above

Cheers

Roy

[lilguy43uk]

Hi

The only article I found with 'tests' was the one I posted the link to in Post #2 above

Cheers

Roy

Now you know why I can't hit anything Roy, I'm as blind as a bladdy bat. I totally missed the link but that's the one.

[Jim McArthur]

Hi Dave

Just had a thought ..... drop Smokeless Coal a PM - I think his club in Hastings have done the OPPOSITE & banned grease due to fire hazard

Cheers

Roy

.

I remember that message: seems they had "fire in the tube" (literally) down the pipeline they used for BP pistols.

Jim

[LeeH]

never had a chain fire, never seen one either. Don't want to

I make grease up from melting 1/2 lard, 1/2 Beeswax together and splitting off into little tubs. Into the freezer until a day or so before being needed.. Doesn't go runny in the summer, not too hard in the winter, cleaner and cheap. Smells like chips too.