• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

Lard over/on revolver bullet?

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Jul 24, 2018
Messages
4,497
Reaction score
5,606
I read that the Texas Rangers put a layer of pure Lard on the Pickett bullet for the Walker or a layer over it?

Doubtful this was done in combat but maybe was a wistful post-war "assumption"?
 
If they put lard over the bullets that the piece was designed to shoot it was probably because
a) It was what they had.
b) It worked.

If you think about what you would have done in their place, that might have been grease from salted side meat.
 
Just curious. Any particular reason you are using Pickett bullet?

I just got one of the Pickett Bullet molds from a man who sold me the entire set of Colt branded Walker stuff that came with a cased set. I plan to buy (another) Walker soon and had hoped to cast Pickett bullets.
 
If they put lard over the bullets that the piece was designed to shoot it was probably because
a) It was what they had.
b) It worked.

If you think about what you would have done in their place, that might have been grease from salted side meat.

I have a 5lb jug of Tallow that I bought to use as a Minie lube ingredient but probably will never use for this since buying sticks of lube is much easier.

However. Putting a dab of Tallow on or over the bullet or ball should work when I don't feel like making cartridges.
 
I read that the Texas Rangers put a layer of pure Lard on the Pickett bullet for the Walker or a layer over it?
Doubtful this was done in combat but maybe was a wistful post-war "assumption"?

I highly doubt it. It may, however, be something true that has increased in error over the years...

See back in the 1970's Civil War reenactors using blanks often tried to use lard or Crisco to seal the faces of the chambers in their revolvers. This was because with only a blank in each cylinder, they often got chamber fires as the sparks would bounce back a little from the forcing cone on the barrel. So I can tell you with first hand knowledge that lard or Crisco in summer heat will liquefy, making a mess of the handgun and holster, and messing up the powder. IF I had been in Texas in the summer heat I'd be amazed that the tub of lard wasn't already liquid when it was opened. ;)

Now, it's a bit different, of course when you jamb a bullet into the chamber, as far as fouling the powder, but the stuff would still be liquefying and running out of the cylinders if you loaded your Walker, then covered over the ball or bullet with lard...and would be gone in very short order if you then holstered that revolver with the muzzle toward the ground.

I think it's more likely that they cut beeswax with lard to make the wax a bit softer, and used that for bullet lube. Beeswax can handle the heat. Over time I suspect the detail that it was a mixture of the two was lost and your source merely said or wrote, "lard". That would be my guess. I've seen a similar situation with folks relating history, who started out with a book on natural dyes in New England which said that yellow wasn't very colorfast, and would fade easily in sunlight. Folks over time then assumed the book applied to all of the East Coast of America, and failed to note the Maryland flag of the time period had a lot of yellow in it. (The error was taking what applied to New England, and then applying it to all 13 colonies) o_O

LD
 
I read that the Texas Rangers put a layer of pure Lard on the Pickett bullet for the Walker or a layer over it?

Doubtful this was done in combat but maybe was a wistful post-war "assumption"?


Could you please state where you read this? I have numerous books on the Texas Rangers and have been to the museum in Waco and have not seen mention of which you quote.
 
Went looking for examples of the original bullet design for the Walker. Interesting design. By appearance it would have just about the same length of engagement with the rifling as round ball. Would use a little less powder due to its overall length. If the chambers were chamfered to help with maintaining alignment during loading and you were careful about it that might have been a pretty good bullet at distance.
 
Went looking for examples of the original bullet design for the Walker. Interesting design. By appearance it would have just about the same length of engagement with the rifling as round ball. Would use a little less powder due to its overall length. If the chambers were chamfered to help with maintaining alignment during loading and you were careful about it that might have been a pretty good bullet at distance.

They look neat, it's the same mold Dixie sells except mine has the little "Samuel Colt" signature from the cased set.

Historically the issue was the bullets were loaded canted or even backwards.

I think , without having to worry about Mexican troops shooting at me, I can carefully ram the Pickett bullet and not cant it.

People say they use 40 gr of 2f with the Pickett bullet.

Historical reports I read are full of "period enthusiasm " like how troops in the Mexican War said the Walker had just as much range and power as a Mississippi because one Ranger hit a Mexican at 100 yards. It's completely possible no doubt but the Walker took on almost a supernatural mystique with the Mexican Army like it will kill a man at 1 mile and drop a horse instantly.

The use of Lard , you're right most likely the details got filtered out over time.

The internet also states that Nessler balls were loaded bare when in fact they were paper patched....
 
A few years back I test fired my new .44 mag snubby with Bear Defense loads from just inside my parents barn because it was raining.......even with ear plugs that's on my "things never to do again" list. It went pretty much like "BLAM!!"
Ears- bleeeeeeeeeeeeeee
2 hours later -bleeeeeeeeeeee
 
Screenshot_20200226-154508_Chrome.jpg

Wikipedia gives the "Lard over the bullet" thing but Wikipedia is often wrong. I stand by my original theory that putting lube or grease on chamber mouths started in the 1950s when cap and ball repros caused a "revival" in their use.

20200226_125818.jpg

Still, I've got a bunch of .44 Johnston & Dow bullets and .454 roundballs, and 5 lbs of Beef Tallow. Worth a shot if for nothing else a lube for the bullet lube ring.

fullsizeoutput-74b6-w1920.jpeg

These Dragoon bullets have no lube ring and I guess were loaded in the nitrate cartridge with no lube.

3picketloads.jpg


This isn't my picture but that's the mold I got. The Picket bullets seem to do ok.
 
Wikipedia gives the "Lard over the bullet" thing but Wikipedia is often wrong. I stand by my original theory that putting lube or grease on chamber mouths started in the 1950s when cap and ball repros caused a "revival" in their use.

It would not be surprising. I've come across folks who think chamber fires were from sparks somehow getting past the bullets in the chambers causing chamber fires, even though the bullets were swaged into the chambers when loaded.

LD
 
It would not be surprising. I've come across folks who think chamber fires were from sparks somehow getting past the bullets in the chambers causing chamber fires, even though the bullets were swaged into the chambers when loaded.

LD
I wouldn't be surprised either.
Chain fire's were common even back on the original Colt Patterson pistols and troops and military personal remembering those incidents wouldn't be unexpected. Doing anything to prevent chain firing makes good sense.
Colt went to great lengths to eliminate chain fire's and although his instructions on how to load and use his Colt revolvers doesn't say anything about covering the ball or bullet with lard or wax, I know it was a concern of his.

IMO, it isn't a stretch of the imagination to find that some people put lard over the front of the chambers after their guns were loaded. It also isn't much of a stretch to envision troops putting lard or melted candle wax over the caps on a loaded cylinder.
Protecting the caps from rain, even in a saddle holster with a covering flap could be a good idea if you wanted a revolver that would fire reliably when it was needed.
 
Historically, most chain fires on revolvers occur at the rear of the cylinder due to loose fitting or missing caps. The grease/lube over the bullet helps to alleviate BP fouling of the barrel/arbor. It also makes a real mess to clean up after a firing session, but really has nothing to do with chain fires.
 
Back
Top