Revolver chain fires

[JimCunn]

Tig and laser welding.

 

[wb78963]

all my revolvers (too many) are equipped with Slixshot nipples and cap rakes. That setup makes them almost reliable as a cartridge gun and a lot more fun to shoot.

 

[JimCunn]

Woodnbow, I've forgotten - does the Centaure use standard nipple threads?

 

[Bad Karma]

I seem to remember that they use standard nipples. It’s been a day or so since I’ve replaced any... seems like they used the shorter standard nipple .285 or something like that.

 

[Commodore Swab]

Most of what I work with is 1600's or early 1700's I don't deal very much with caps. Having said this I do have one revolver and when I move to a place where I can shoot it I will but back to offering my $.02

In an effort to save on reloading time many nations built early guns with superimposed loads. That is powder wad ball, powder wad ball in one barrel with 2 or more locks. This actually carried thru to the percussion era. I find it difficult to believe how this system could have been employed with gases working past the ball being common. It is an experimental/uncommon method but I believe that is more due to cost and and loading effort than disasters as it was an idea played with for well over a century.

 

[Stantheman86]

I think the Russians adopted a superimposed smoothbore pistol at one point but it was never widely used or made in great numbers for the reasons the previous attempts failed too.

Knowing the Russians there's probably 4000 of them quietly rusting away in a forgotten warehouse somewhere.

 

[wb78963]

Let's get back on track here gang.
In years of shooting cap guns I know of exactly two occurrences of a chain fire. One was back in the early '50's when a friend had an original 1860 Army have a complete chain fire. Then we knew very little about shooting the old ones, stuff in powder, stuff in a ball and slap Crisco on top. Stick on a Remington foil lined cap, that did not fit properly on the original nipples, and let go and GO they did.
The second was last year on a Uberti 1851 Navy of one cylinder. The gun has Slixshot nipples and Remington #10 caps well seated, lube wad and hand cast ball. I believe a mal-formed ball was accidentally used that did not seal the chamber and the wad was not firmly seated. All my fault.
I was in a hurry to get off another round before a rain storm and did not check the hand cast ball.
My personal opinion is chain fires are usually a shooter induced because of carelessness or ignorance. Not sealing the chamber with a proper ball, insufficient lube in the load and ill fitting caps. If I am shooting with some one that"pinches" caps to make them fit I am packing my plunder and getting as far away as I can.
There is a lot of good information on video such as Duelist1954 to be sloppy or careless with a gun.
Of course it is your life, eye sight or hearing so
"man ought to do what he thinks best" Hondo Lane gunman
WB

 

[rodwha]

Let's get back on track here gang.
In years of shooting cap guns I know of exactly two occurrences of a chain fire. One was back in the early '50's when a friend had an original 1860 Army have a complete chain fire. Then we knew very little about shooting the old ones, stuff in powder, stuff in a ball and slap Crisco on top. Stick on a Remington foil lined cap, that did not fit properly on the original nipples, and let go and GO they did.
The second was last year on a Uberti 1851 Navy of one cylinder. The gun has Slixshot nipples and Remington #10 caps well seated, lube wad and hand cast ball. I believe a mal-formed ball was accidentally used that did not seal the chamber and the wad was not firmly seated. All my fault.
I was in a hurry to get off another round before a rain storm and did not check the hand cast ball.
My personal opinion is chain fires are usually a shooter induced because of carelessness or ignorance. Not sealing the chamber with a proper ball, insufficient lube in the load and ill fitting caps. If I am shooting with some one that"pinches" caps to make them fit I am packing my plunder and getting as far away as I can.
There is a lot of good information on video such as Duelist1954 to be sloppy or careless with a gun.
Of course it is your life, eye sight or hearing so
"man ought to do what he thinks best" Hondo Lane gunman
WB

How could the felt was not been firmly seated and sealing the chamber?

 

[Stantheman86]

The solution to chainfires

 

[JimCunn]

I also know of two complete chainfires. Both within a month on the same pistol, but in different cylinders with different nipples. At the time (late 60s), it was pretty much impossible to purchase caps that fit well, so I don't really attribute that to user sloppiness or ignorance. I retired that pistol after the second chain fire and have never had a chain fire on any of my other four.

 

[wb78963]

I was loading on the gun and sometimes the wad would go in crooked. usually a dowel straightens it out, but I was in a hurry, it was about to rain and the wad was not straight. The ball, I guess, did not seat it properly and the ball was bad.
Combination of hurry careless and not checking the ball.
Normally I shoot .44 snubbies and load the cylinder with a press so everything goes in correctly.
My fault, my surprise nothing was hurt but I would rather not do that again.
Now that is a real snubby beautiful!
WB

 

[USMA65]

WB wrote: "There is a lot of good information on video such as Duelist1954 to be sloppy or careless with a gun".
My question: Are you saying that Duelist1954 is sloppy and careless? If so, I have to respectfully disagree. I find his body of work to be very informative, safe and well presented, never rushed or careless.

 

[wb78963]

OK sorry about that it was a poorly constructed sentence. Mike Beliveau (Duelist1954) is a fountain of good information. Every time he shoots a hand gun he carefully goes over the proper loading process.
There are a lot of "experts" that have a lot to learn and there are constructive comments made by Bunk Stagner indicating that they are all wet.
I am NO EXPERT!! but I do have some experience since my first 1851 Colt Navy in the early 1950's was a cased set made in Hartford Ct.USA with a mold and package of cartridges. Gun Powder came in oval shaped Du Pont cans and caps were what ever you could find and were corrosive as all get out.
One of these days i may learn to express my thoughts more clearly.
WB (AKA Bunk Stagner)

 

[JimCunn]

I remember those DuPont cans

 

[Stantheman86]

There's a lot of YouTube "pros" that have no idea what the hell they're doing.

Mike Bellivue is good, I watch his stuff all the time.

I just watched one with a kid with a brass frame. 44 who tells you "this isn't a firearm" and then puts wadded patch material under the ball .

I get that he's maybe trying to say that it's not an ATF ruled "firearm " but ok, then dude loads it in the most painfully awkward , wrong way possible.

I'm like please, if you're going to try to instruct people , learn what you're doing first.

 

[JimCunn]

Got an email today. The Centaure website has been permanently closed.

 

[nkbj]

The way you make sure not to have chain fires is to use wet powder.

 

[Grenadier1758]

The way you make sure you don't have chain fires is to make sure the chamber mouths are round, the ball is soft lead, perfectly round, sized to shave a ring of lead as the ball is rammed into position and you have properly fitting caps on the nipples. Added prevention measures include a layer of corn meal between the powder and ball or a wad. The drop of oil or other lubricant may help with the fouling but not really in preventing chain fires. A chamfered chamber mouth should be checked by pushing the ball out using a small rod through the nipple hole to verify that the ball is touching the chamber walls all the way around its circumference. On loading, make sure all the powder is in the chamber with none around the mouth of the cylinder.

My chain fires were always related to the odd sized balls (swaged shot) I bought when my pistol was new.

 

[Bad Karma]

Well I wondered how long it would be up... (how to put this nicely.) Y’all are a bunch of old guys, and there’s not much recruiting going on. Still sad to hear that. In twenty years there might not be anyone left alive who knows what a Centaure is.

 

[JimCunn]

I'm not old; haven't hit 80 yet.

I suspect that most of the Centaures will still be with us in another fifty years.