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What type of corn meal can i use? Also a question about chainfire. /Paper cartridges

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max loads are the most real BP you can fit in the chamber and still get the ball to sit deep enough to turn the cylinder.
 
Never measured them. I’ve never seen a chamber that wouldn’t shave a ring on a .457 so never felt the need to measure.
Ooh got ya. Originala got larger chambers. My chambers might be .457. Replicas got smaller chambers
 
Hopefully this might work. It's candle wax, coconut oil, olive oil mix, 20 grains pyrodex and corn meal with a conical lee. How good is candle wax for this purpose? I will get the beewax soon. My friends knows a beekeeper so i talked to him. But isn't candle wax as good for sealing?
 

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The problem with candle wax is you don't know for sure what that particular candle is made with. A lot are made with soy wax which works pretty well.
 
The problem with candle wax is you don't know for sure what that particular candle is made with. A lot are made with soy wax which works pretty well.
Oooh got ya! Thank you....i just lubed my cartridges.....with candle wax and i have no clue what type of wax that was...doubt it's anything vegetable. Hope i didn't destroy my cartridges by that? Made several cartridges and lubed them with that. What happens if it's not soy wax?
 
Woah. What kind'a corn meal? Why, Martha White of course. Let me dust off my ol' Lester Flatt personality for a bit.

"Now you bake right(Uh-huh!), with Martha White(Yes ma'am!)"!

"Goodness gracious sakes alive it's Martha White".

"For the finest cornbread you can bake, get Martha White Self-rising Cornmeal, the one all-purpose cornmeal for goodness sake"!
Get the corn meal, not the corn bread mix which has soft wheat flour, some sort of leavening and a few other unnecessary ingredients.
 
With all the ill-fitting caps on import repros It’s certainly possible to get a chain fire from the nipples but I’m thinking the majority of chain fires come from the cylinder mouth.
Think of a flintlock- it’s not the flash in the pan but the heat from it that sets off the main charge.
There is a LOT of heat at the cylinder face every shot.
Conicals, wads, fillers all put main charge further back from the cylinder mouth.
A round ball on top of loose powder puts the powder much closer to the opening.
A tight fit that shaved a ring of lead increases the distance the heat must travel to ignite main charge.
Now with a loose fitting ball there’s very little insulation from all that heat. A little grease might stop a chainfire, until the first shot melts it all away.
Add in some loose powder on top of a loose ball, with or without crisco and that seems like a recipe for chainfires.
I’m speaking of black powder, I think the subs have a higher flash point?
(Not my Walker pic, not sure where I got it, maybe this forum. If it’s your photo, thanx! The check’s in the mail)
NOW THAT IS FIRE & AWE!!!
 
Get the corn meal, not the corn bread mix which has soft wheat flour, some sort of leavening and a few other unnecessary ingredients.
If you live in a civilized part of the country ( below the Mason Dixon line) use plain grits.
As a bonus using bacon grease for lube makes shooting smells like breakfast time in Georgia.
Respectfully
Bunk
 
Hello! I just recetly got lee's .456 conical bullet mold and made some bullets. My guns are production of 1860s so they are chambered larger then piettas and uberti etc...i don't really shave a ring with my conicals but i get to push alot to get them in. That gun is supposed to be .457 and the bullet .456. if i lube the bullet do you think it's safe to shoot without any grease in front of it? I mentioned i get to push pretty much for them to get into the chambers even tho they don't leave a ring.


Also i have so far been using corn meal to fill out the air gap etc while making my cartridges with round balls. The corn meal i'm using is like fine powder. I heard i'm supposed to use corn meal with larger grains as the black powder instead of powder form of corn meal? Is it dangerous to use it like fine powder? Don't want to blow up the guns...but so far it has been working fine and i haven't been blowing myself up at least with the round balls. Haven't tried with the conicals yet.


Here is a cartridge i just made with fine/powder form of corn meal
25 grains of black powder
And the rest is corn meal. What's the process really when there is fine powder in chambers like that? More pressure? Is it safe?

Also with a conical like this if i use no wad and no corn meal at all, wouldn't the holy black still get compressed enough so that it leaves no air gaps with 25 grains?
"MUFFIN MIX" has wheat flour that can be ignited. I use cream of wheat, no super fine powder... if you don't shave lead sinking a round, lube on top of it. Make sure the caps fit the nipple tightly & correctly..
 
"MUFFIN MIX" has wheat flour that can be ignited. I use cream of wheat, no super fine powder... if you don't shave lead sinking a round, lube on top of it. Make sure the caps fit the nipple tightly & correctly..
for people south of Mason Dixon line use grits.
however you frost bitten Yankees can use malt-o-meal or corn meal. Something course. Mice got into my grits so I used used spent tumbler mix and it worked pretty well.
Bunk
 
I'm new to the forum, but not to BP revolver shooting. I've shot in cowboy competition with my '51 Navy since 1986... By rule we can only load (cap) 5 chambers, but not a word said about charging. Since day one, I've charged all six and shot my stages. On rare occasion, I've needed that sixth chamber to make up for a dry hole. (Can't claim to be perfect ;)). My loading is done with 3F Goex, (have never tried subs in my pistols), a lubed wad and a round ball that cuts a small ring of lead as it's rammed home. I've probably made every mistake known and maybe created one or two in the intervening years, but have never experienced a chain fire. One reason might be that I'm using fairly light charges, 15-17 grains in the main, sometimes as high as 21 with a conical if I know a knock-down targets are in the mix. Even that depends on whether the KD target is known to fall with my RBs.

In the mid-'90s the cowboy action crowd went to two revolvers, so I picked up a second '51 Navy, this time a 2nd Series Colt. Turn out that as was claimed when I bought the 1st revolver from EMF in 1986, it was made with Uberti parts left over from the Colt contract. Assembled by ASM. Internal parts interchange with like parts in the Colts. Spare Uberti cylinders work in all (now 6 1851's) guns. 4 Colt 2nd Series, both "C" & "F" productions, a Colt "Signature" series and the ASM. Four of the guns use Ruger plunger & hand springs as well a narrowed hammer & hammer channel to prevent caps from getting in the action. Two simply haven't been converted yet as the previous gunsmith has retired and I haven't picked a new one. About 10 or so years ago, I went to SliX-Shot nipples, no more falling off using Remington #10s. It does take a little push with the backside of the capper to fully seat them.

"Manhattan" conversion:
capshield 007.jpg

Mine actually have the slot in the hammer face filled in.
 
With all the ill-fitting caps on import repros It’s certainly possible to get a chain fire from the nipples but I’m thinking the majority of chain fires come from the cylinder mouth.
Think of a flintlock- it’s not the flash in the pan but the heat from it that sets off the main charge.
There is a LOT of heat at the cylinder face every shot.
Conicals, wads, fillers all put main charge further back from the cylinder mouth.
A round ball on top of loose powder puts the powder much closer to the opening.
A tight fit that shaved a ring of lead increases the distance the heat must travel to ignite main charge.
Now with a loose fitting ball there’s very little insulation from all that heat. A little grease might stop a chainfire, until the first shot melts it all away.
Add in some loose powder on top of a loose ball, with or without crisco and that seems like a recipe for chainfires.
I’m speaking of black powder, I think the subs have a higher flash point?
(Not my Walker pic, not sure where I got it, maybe this forum. If it’s your photo, thanx! The check’s in the mail)
The pic is certainly a very graphic argument.:thumb:
 

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