doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Colt Revolving Shotgun

Well, yea.

Reloading a cylinder is painfully slow, and the correct procedure involved a tightly patched ball, well lubed, with beeswax sealing the nipple holes under the cap. Wild Bill Hickok religiously fired every cylinder when he called it a day, and reloaded the next day, hoping to avoid misfires and the chain fire phenomenon, but, I don’t think it helped him at the end.

Best,
Ted

Ted, in my long experience with muzzleloading arms I've never known that to be the case, the loading procedure I mean. Nothing would have ever been used to plug the nipples. Had that been done the cap couldn't possibly get fire through the nipples to the powder chamber. Wax was used to plug the individual chambers ahead of the ball to prevent hot gases from blowing back past the ball and reaching the powder, in chambers adjacent to the one being fired.

Patches weren't normally used in revolvers. A lubed wad went in between the powder and the ball, which was seated "naked". Thus, the ball didn't fit tightly enough to prevent hot gases getting by it.

My mistake, Stan. The beeswax is used to seal the seated nipples, not the hole. The nipples are lightly seated with the hammer, and then sealed with beeswax.

I found a historical post that describes the procedure ONE individual used, attached below. I had an interest in those doings as a kid, if not the finances to pursue it. I’d bet there were differences in technique, and some guys got better results than others. That said, a 10 gauge percussion revolver shotgun might be a bit more of a hazard than a revolver.

Best,
Ted

Wayne, Mr. Handcock of Richmond Va. of whom father served in the War for Southern Independence had shown him how to load the revolver showed me. First place a cap on the nipple and seat it tight using the hammer to flush it up. When all the nipples are charged primed then take bee's wax and melt it around the cap and nipple to seal the nipple and and the area under the nipple. Use the hammer to be sure the hammer wil contact the cap and nipple for clearence. Then charge the cylinders with the most accurate charge and use a light ring of bee's wax to seal the bullet into the chambers. "Tend to the bee's wax if needed in cold weather and repair any cracks with soft neaded wax and CAREFULLY use the hammer for proper clearence". It works and I use a like method to seal my carry pistols.

I get the idea of the wax to seal the nipple as per described when one is going to load the revolver to be carried for perhaps days in unknown weather to prevent inclement weather from rendering the cap inert. Sounds reasonable back in the day when C&B revolvers were the only option. I don’t know anyone doing do today, when we load and shoot, not load and carry. While chain fire can be an issue, if the ball is properly sized, it should fit tight enough to leave a small ring of lead shaved off by the mount of the chamber. Even still, chain fires have been reported. I personally don’t believe that a cylinder loaded thusly can chain fire but claim it to be so. Most that I know put some sort of grease over the ball for insurance but, in my experience that has not a great solution as after the first shot all the grease melts out of the subsiquent cylinders and just makes a mess. I seriously doubt that chain fire would be if any concern with the shotgun in question. In order to have a chain fire, a spark would have to breech the entire shot column including over powder and over shot wads, not just a few thousandths of lead ball that is touching the cylinder set walls. That being said, jump flash(the flash made from the sparks and hot gases escaping when the charge jumps from the cylinder to the barrel) would be concerning in a rifle format but don’t see how this would be any different that the Colt revolving rifle.

While we're on the subject I wonder what Hickok depended on to protect himself after the chickens went to roost, if he fired his revolvers empty every evening. I personally think he did not do that with both revolvers (he was known to carry two most of the time) but may have swapped out every other night.(?)

Ted, it is my understanding, and my experience, that sealing the caps on the nipples was done for the sake of weatherproofing, not prevention of chain fire. Just my take on it all, however.

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