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When I used my smooth bore musket years ago, I would take the barrel to work to clean. After all it was just a steel tube with a tang and a touch hole. :shock:

I would put it in a vice over a bucket with black powder solvent, hot water and a mop. The water heated it up nicely so it dried quickly and just a quick run through with a little oil and it was sorted.

I wouldn't dream of doing anything like that now!

Saw this thread a little late.

I enjoy BP revolvers. I should do, I have 6!!!

Most are Uberti. Excellent quality and on the S/H market, very reasonably priced, with little use. That's exactly the thing, just about every cartridge pistol shooter ran out and bought one and just couldn't get on with the palaver.

True, they are not as accurate as cartridge pistols, but they can come close. Dromia is right as far as I'm concerned, the .36 cal do seem to have the edge in accuracy with run-of-the mill revolvers. That said, the best all rounder is probably the Ruger Old Army, but in truth, I would stay away from this at the minute as because Ruger have stopped making them, some owners reckon this turns them immediately into valuable collectors are wanting what it cost them new!

Uberti do some lovely Remington 1858's in either .44 or .36. It gives you a solid frame with a permanant sighting plane, which does change every shot with a colt as the rear sight is in the hammer nose. Again, a good all rounder, reasonably priced and available in a number of finishes, barrel lengths and sight options.

There is of course the other end of the spectrum. There are some outstanding accurate B/P revolvers out there. One of them being the Pedersoli Rogers & Spencer. They win world medals and set world records with such guns and they are now over £1000 new!!!.......... I got a really good price on mine, from a friend! LOL!

Real B/P was becoming a real pain in the backside to source locally, so I switched to Triple 7. Got to say, at my skill level, I have not noticed any notible depreciation in performance. And cleaning is a breeze! Just before I leave the range, I give them a wipe over with a baby wipe. Get home, drop the cylinder out and put it in the sink. Then run fresh cold water through the bore and give it a wipe through with a rod and patch. Set aside and run the cylinder under the cold tap and use an old tooth brush around the nipples and a patch in each chamber. The wipe the outside and the cylinder window with a wet patch and give it a couple of minutes under an old hair dryer. Oil it all over and down the bore and chambers and put it way. 10 minutes tops.

Likewise, I don't use greese of any kind, I stick to over powder wads, but mainly to ensure the correct height of the powder tower and the right amount of compression. From what I've read, especially the research by Sam Fadalla and Garry James, is that chain fires are a possibility, but a rare one, and with the use of high speed cameras and "induced" chainfires (It took hundreds and hundreds of rounds before they got one), that the source of inginition is not at the front of the chamber, but the rear!

Good post SIM G. I have my name on Ruger and after initial deciding to use Pyrodex, I am going to use powdered coal.

Sim G wrote:
Likewise, I don't use greese of any kind, I stick to over powder wads, but mainly to ensure the correct height of the powder tower and the right amount of compression. From what I've read, especially the research by Sam Fadalla and Garry James, is that chain fires are a possibility, but a rare one, and with the use of high speed cameras and "induced" chainfires (It took hundreds and hundreds of rounds before they got one), that the source of inginition is not at the front of the chamber, but the rear!

I'm sure Fadalla and James know their stuff, but I go by what I see - and that is that I've only watched people fire BP pistol about a dozen times, and I have witnessed a 'chain fire'....

I think the incedent was due to the person being new to the gun, and making a mistake - but I don't see any reason why they aren't safe, if you know what you're doing.

Sim G wrote:From what I've read, especially the research by Sam Fadalla and Garry James, is that chain fires are a possibility, but a rare one, and with the use of high speed cameras and "induced" chainfires (It took hundreds and hundreds of rounds before they got one), that the source of inginition is not at the front of the chamber, but the rear!

They certainly are a possibility, happened to me a few years back although it was only three chambers went at once. In my case we're almost certain that the flashover was at the rear, caused by ill-fitting caps that needed pinching up a bit to stop them from falling off the nipples. It did make oi jump it did...

In short, that's what they found. Worn nipples and ill fitting caps and somtimes a little leakage of fine powder through the nipple is the cause.

It was reckoned by them that grease was used to one, try and weather proof the load of powder as the chamber mouths were a lot more exposed to the elements, as opposed to rifles and shotguns and secondly to keep the fouling soft. A propper sized ball, which shaves a thin ring of lead off as it's rammed home, seas the chamber enough to negate flash over at the chamber mouth.

Doz wrote:

Sim G wrote:From what I've read, especially the research by Sam Fadalla and Garry James, is that chain fires are a possibility, but a rare one, and with the use of high speed cameras and "induced" chainfires (It took hundreds and hundreds of rounds before they got one), that the source of inginition is not at the front of the chamber, but the rear!

They certainly are a possibility, happened to me a few years back although it was only three chambers went at once. In my case we're almost certain that the flashover was at the rear, caused by ill-fitting caps that needed pinching up a bit to stop them from falling off the nipples. It did make oi jump it did...

I had a .36 Uberti and had the problem with the caps being loose. Lovely little gun though, I even hit the target! Our club stopped allowing the use of black powder so I sold it.

Sim G wrote:It was reckoned by them that grease was used to one, try and weather proof the load of powder as the chamber mouths were a lot more exposed to the elements, as opposed to rifles and shotguns and secondly to keep the fouling soft. A propper sized ball, which shaves a thin ring of lead off as it's rammed home, seas the chamber enough to negate flash over at the chamber mouth.

Yes, that's what I was always told. We use a filler (Sainsbury's semolina!) between the powder and the ball rather than wads, then grease over the top - I would imagine the chance of anything flashing past all that lot at the front of the cylinder must be pretty much impossible.

Doz, honestly, drop the semolina and the grease and try a wad. You'll fi d your accuracy will improve massively! If you think about it, every shot you take will send hot powder gas and unburnt powder, burning semolina, semolina gas and unburnt semolina, then a lead ball and then a dollop of grease! And all of that sometimes after you've sent several loads of the same mix.... That's a lot of cr@p up the barrel when looking to obtain the best accuracy you can......

Makes perfect sense Sim, I really will get around to trying it one day. However I'm lucky enough (or something!) to shoot with two members of the MLAGB national squad that tell me to use semolina which is why I haven't tried it yet. Oh, and meaningful comparison is difficult when you're as shaky as I am!