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1st chain fire

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Whitworth

Whitworth

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I was shooting one of my favorites today, Uberti 1851 Navy made in 1965. On the second cylinder full I had 1 chamber, the top left one let go. Big flash on left side of the pistol and strange 2nd boom. I knew what happened and immediately threw the gun as far away as possible in case it went off again :eek: . Just kidding didn't throw it, just a late April Fool joke. Other than the wedge being slightly dislodged by the ball no harm was done. I have fired this revolver hundreds of times using Remingtons and this was a first. I'm going to blame it on the slightly loose fitting RWS 1075 caps I was using, been saving my Remingtons for a rainy day:thumb:
 
After taking a shot in a Remington 1858, I’ve seen cast balls of what I thought was .454 dislodge and move forward far enough that the cylinder wouldn’t turn for the next shot.
I stopped using those balls, thinking all discussion about where chain fires are likely to start aside, this seemed like an accident waiting to happen and I wouldn’t be surprised if this could be a cause of a chain fire. I went back to balls I knew were tight fitting.
 
Rfp10000 said:
After taking a shot in a Remington 1858, I’ve seen cast balls of what I thought was .454 dislodge and move forward far enough that the cylinder wouldn’t turn for the next shot.
I stopped using those balls, thinking all discussion about where chain fires are likely to start aside, this seemed like an accident waiting to happen and I wouldn’t be surprised if this could be a cause of a chain fire. I went back to balls I knew were tight fitting.
Click to expand...
 
smoothshooter said:
WOW !!!
You had “ THE DREADED CHAIN-FIRE ! And lived to tell the tale!
No lost or mangled hands, arms, or other body parts?
A surprising and disappointingly large number of people seem to think that is just not possible.
Click to expand...
Mother Whitworth raised no fools, my fingers are always in the clear :thumb: . I was surprised that I didn't get any lead splatters from the ball hitting the wedge but I guess the velocity is too low to cause the ball to splatter. Shame my brother wasn't filming this one but he would have been on the wrong side for the best picture anyway. He commented it did make quite the flash even in the bright sunshine.😎
 
Flint62Smoothie said:
I had heard chain fires were always ‘cap’ related and not from poorly or not greasing the cylinder mouths … is that true???
Click to expand...
I'm going to go with poorly fitting caps in this case. Each ball shaved a ring when seated and then had a drop of my oil lube over top each ball to serve as both a lube and for preventing flash from propagating an ignition. The load was 20 grains 3F and .375 pure lead ball. YMMV
 
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Alway have found hearing about chain fires interesting. I understand they happen. I know fellow match shooters that say they have seen one or had one. Only from a lower class shooter. Never from a Master or High Master class shooter. Not blaming anyone. Just my experiences over matches and practice shot since 1995. Over 40,000 rounds of ball at a minimum of revolver BP shooting. The old champions who helped me start out warned me to always have a tight fitting ball with lube on top and to fit my nipples by peening them more open or turning them down to make a tight fit. The most likely problem will come from a loose cap falling off next to the chamber being fired. I have always eyeballed the caps before each shot just by habit and it`s part of my match checklist protocol. Good news is I`ve never heard of anyone being hurt or guns damaged by any chainfire stories told...ccc
 
Flint62Smoothie said:
I had heard chain fires were always ‘cap’ related and not from poorly or not greasing the cylinder mouths … is that true???
Click to expand...

As you may have read from the thousands of posts on this subject over the years, opinions differ. However, I have always used close-fitting caps, going around afterwards with a pencil end to make sure they are firmly in place, and I've never had a chain-fire. I'm shooting BP revolvers since 1968, and the same one since March 1986, at least once a month.
 
Whitworth said:
I was shooting one of my favorites today, Uberti 1851 Navy made in 1965. On the second cylinder full I had 1 chamber, the top left one let go. Big flash on left side of the pistol and strange 2nd boom. I knew what happened and immediately threw the gun as far away as possible in case it went off again :eek: . Just kidding didn't throw it, just a late April Fool joke. Other than the wedge being slightly dislodged by the ball no harm was done. I have fired this revolver hundreds of times using Remingtons and this was a first. I'm going to blame it on the slightly loose fitting RWS 1075 caps I was using, been saving my Remingtons for a rainy day:thumb:
Click to expand...
Have fired hundreds of rounds from Colt and Remington reproduction pistols, never had a chain fire. It's not luck, it's paying attention to the loading process. Though somewhat time consuming, I always wipe the cylinder face, then lube the chambers, or use pre-lubed patches. It's not like I have an attacking enemy and must rush to load. Lately, have been using premade paper cartridges. Not too much chance of loose powder finding it's way onto the cylinder face. Plus, it cuts reloading time as much as 2/3s. And since I don't do that much shooting any more I purchase them already made. Pricey, perhaps but so much more convenient.
 
Flint62Smoothie said:
I had heard chain fires were always ‘cap’ related and not from poorly or not greasing the cylinder mouths … is that true???
Click to expand...
I have had chain fires from poorly fitting balls. Even a heavily greased with Crisco cylinder mouth did not prevent chain fires. It was not until I went to the 0.380" cast balls in my 36 Navy revolver, that the chain fires were eliminated.
 
I had built a kit 1849 revolver that I purchased from Dixie in the late 60's and was using #11 caps and had many multiple discharges sometimes one and sometimes two others than the one in line with the bore. My problem was the #11 caps and there fit on the nipple:doh:;)
 
smoothshooter said:
WOW !!!
You had “ THE DREADED CHAIN-FIRE ! And lived to tell the tale!
No lost or mangled hands, arms, or other body parts?
A surprising and disappointingly large number of people seem to think that is just not possible.
Click to expand...
I've never heard of anyone being harmed from a chain fire event but have not personally had it happen yet. I'm not sure folks can always ascertain for certain which end of the cylinder caused the event.
 
Has anyone used the nipples sized for #11 caps on their revolvers? I can find 11’s the 10’s not common around me.
 
M. De Land said:
I've never heard of anyone being harmed from a chain fire event but have not personally had it happen yet. I'm not sure folks can always ascertain for certain which end of the cylinder caused the event.
Click to expand...
The cap on the chain fired cylinder didn't go off which surprised me a bit.
 
I’ve never had a chain fire… until last Wednesday… had TWO !!
Both with tight fitting #10 caps.
A friend gave me an old EIG ‘51 Navy .36
With .375 balls some would shave a ring of lead, some a crescent some nothing.
After several uneventful loads of 15 gns 3f and cream O wheat I tried 20 gns no filler.
BOOM!! 3 chambers fired, top and 2 to the right. A cap drew blood from my trigger finger.
Next I used same load with lubed felteads over powder and let the friend who gave me the pistol shoot it. BOOM!! Same 3 chambers, same cut on his trigger finger.
I always assumed caps were the culprit but now I’m convinced 90 percent of chain fires come at the chamber mouth.
The consensus of the club is that there was a LOT of fire/ heat at the front of the cylinder and there’s a big gap which allowed that heat to set off the powder right behind the adjacent ball if not sealed tightly, like a flintlock fires from the heat in the pan.
This gun needs a LOT of tweaking. There’s way too big a gap between cylinder and barrel. Someone has filed the wedge slot so wide it’s unsafe.
I’ll make a new wedge and set the gap to spec.
Has anyone ever seen a brass hand? I can’t imagine it will last long, I’ll be replacing that soon.
Like Grenadier, I’ll be using .380” balls from now on… probably grease over them too!
Not something I want to repeat!!
 
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