Chain fire through the nipple?

[wpjson]

If I carry my revolver around without a cap on one loaded cylinder am I asking for a chain fire? Can a spark enter the nipple?

 

[ZUG]

My opinion -- yes - don't do it :nono: .

 

[wpjson]

I meant chamber. But, most folks would figure that out. So your advice is to carry it with one chamber empty and the hammer sitting on it?

 

[Cpl. Ashencheeks]

For safety sake leave one chamber completely empty and uncapped.

An uncapped loaded cylinder can potentially catch a stray spark and ignite.

Five loaded chambers for a six shooter, four loaded chambers for a 5 shot pocket pistol.

If you want convenience of more loads, carry either uncapped extra cylinders or have a cartridge box with homemade paper cartridges.

Both of those methods for extra shots should also be protected and cased in some manner also from stray sparks or glowing embers.

 

[Zonie]

Chain firing because of exposed nipples has been recognized as a cause of chain firing sense the first percussion pepperboxes and Colt revolver was made.

When either of these guns fires a great deal of flame is blown out of the rear of the firing chamber thru the nipple. This flame can easily ignite a uncapped chamber resulting in the chain fire.

 

[Steve Grentus]

Good info for all......thank you!


gh

 

[Blizzard of '93]

search this handgun section for 'chainfire'.
a post I put up few months back shows the fire a'flying from a '51 colt fired at dusk.

 

[Bear Rider]

This "one chamber empty" advice is a mixture of hollywierd western and the "good old boy" network. Both Colt and Remington PERCUSSION revolvers were designed to be carried with six loaded and the hammer resting between the chambers. The Colt 1873 and its many copies had no such provision, and with six loaded the hammer hovered above a live cartridge, held back only by a "safety" notch. A blow on the hammer could shear trigger or notch and blow a hole in you. You could break the hammer spur off a properly-holstered percussion revolver without setting off the cap.

 

[norwood]

I have always loaded all six in my rem 1858 lowering hammer into slot between chambers ,carried in holster with flap.Always too ashamed to admit this, maybe I am not that stupid after all

 

[tenngun]

This "one chamber empty" advice is a mixture of hollywierd western and the "good old boy" network. Both Colt and Remington PERCUSSION revolvers were designed to be carried with six loaded and the hammer resting between the chambers. The Colt 1873 and its many copies had no such provision, and with six loaded the hammer hovered above a live cartridge, held back only by a "safety" notch. A blow on the hammer could shear trigger or notch and blow a hole in you. You could break the hammer spur off a properly-holstered percussion revolver without setting off the cap.

:hmm: "they couldn't hit an elephant at this dis..."Last words of General Sedgewick 1864 before St Petersburg :haha:

 

[wicket]

Makes me smile to see fellows daubing grease all over the mouths of their chambers and then pinching their caps.

 

[Billnpatti]

Actually, neither practice is without merit. Putting grease on the top of a loaded ball is not that bad of an idea unless you are using too much grease. The grease acts to keep the fouling soft and provides lubrication to your ball. Not all that much different from greasing your rifle patch. Pinching a cap on the nipple is not really necessary if you have properly fitted nipples and caps. A cap of the proper size on a properly sized nipple is not likely to come off but if you are unfortunate enough to have to try to use #11 caps, because that's all you can get, on a #10 nipple or because you have one of the metric nipples on which a correct size #10 cap won't fit properly, you are stuck with the need to pinch your caps or stay at home. Me? I'll dab a small amount of grease on each chamber after loading and, if necessary, pinch the caps. I see no great sin in either practice. But, that's just me.

 

[crockett]

That's a good point, if you are having to pinch caps to keep them on the nipples- potential trouble. get new caps and/or nipples that match up correctly.
It's now been maybe two years since the big talk on this but at the time everyone who had ever had a chain fire related their experiences. There was a statistically out of place occurrence on the first loaded cylinder for the day. In other words if you shot 60 rounds you would shoot 6, then reload 9 more times. Most folks will shoot a lot more than 60 rounds in one day. Theoretically the time a chain fire ought to occur would be divided evenly amongst all those reloadings, not 70% of them happening when you came to the range, loaded the first 6 rounds of the day and then started to shoot.
Those who had experienced this were asked if before loading they routinely snaps capped on nipples of an unloaded gun to burn off any grease and add a little fouling to the nipples. None or maybe almost none did so.
Well, it is one of those things no one can definitely prove one way or another but it may be that caps on "slick" greasy nipples got knocked loose and the chain fire occurred. After the first cylinder was shot the grease on the nipples would be burned off and fouling added to the nipples and the occurrence of a chain firing much reduced.
On the load 5 or 6-lots of historical support on 5 for a peacemaker and nothing ever mentioned on the percussion but do as you please just don't have a loaded chamber without a cap on the nipple.

 

[wicket]

The only people i know who pinch caps do it because they don't fit tightly enough to stay on, i doubt they'd pinch them if the caps fit correctly. I prefer lubed wads under the ball to smearing grease on top,accomplishes the same thing as greasing the chamber mouths but neater and quicker.Do whatever floats your boat though, it's a free country.

 

[crockett]

I agree, if the cap fits correctly the rim of the cap comes down evenly around the nipple but if you have to squeeze the cap into an oval shape, the sides of the cap are now sticking out away from the sides of the nipple. Seems like it might be a potential problem.

 

[wicket]

Not to mention that pinching caps is a pain in the neck. I did it all of last year thanks to a local shortage of #10's,over squashed some, lost others in the dirt, and took a healthy bite out of my shooting time.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

replica '51 colt .44 being fired

near as much fire flying at nipple end of cylinder as chamber mouth end.

 

[wicket]

Cool picture Blizzard. I've been testing a lot of caps lately, sometimes by firing the unloaded but capped revolver at a large mirror and watching the flash inside the barrel. It's surprising how much of the cap's energy is dissipated outside the chamber.

 

[Bear Rider]

It's interesting that the camera captured the hammer still drawn back.

Short flash and relatively long exposure time?

 

[curator]

The hammer on a cap & ball revolver is moved rearward with the ignition of the chamber being fired. The picture caught this perfectly.