The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

Just wondering what you guys do on your cap and ball revolvers for patches.

I have not shot mine yet because I can't find black powder. I don't want the sub-suture stuff I want the real stuff so been hard to find it.

My question is do you put a patch between your powder and the round ball? Or do you just put the powder, ball, then cover with grease(crisco, lard, ...)?

I owned a Ruger Old Army in the past and had the most success with a grease patch (think it was Hodgdon "Spit Ball") or cover the ball with TC Bore Butter. I tried the Wonder Wads behind the ball patch and it just didn't work very well. These revolvers are best shot with FFFg Black Powder. It is hard to find a cap hot enough to light off Pyrodex P but I have had some success in the past with CCI #11 "Magnum" caps and Pyrodex P. I could only get about three cylinders worth of loads before I had to disassemble, unscrew the nipples and clean thoroughly to ensure continued ignition. My best load was 27 grains of FFG with cornmeal filler and a .457 round ball. Every revolver will be different in what it shoots well.

I've never tried using a patch - I do use bore butter over the ball.

Wonder Wads, they work very well, are easy to use, no mess all over the place from flying crisco.

Technicaly I use a wonder wad and not a patch. The idea of the revolver is to get a ball that is too big for the chamber and it sizes it when it is loaded.

The wonder wads fit nicely into a little bag that can be tucked into my bullet pouches, far less messy than grease.

desdem12 wrote:Technicaly I use a wonder wad and not a patch. The idea of the revolver is to get a ball that is too big for the chamber and it sizes it when it is loaded.

I agree. I have never seen or heard of a "patched ball" on a revolver. When you load the round ball, it shaves a small "ring" off the outside and seals the bullet. Then you put a "wonder patch" or crisco on it afterwards. That is just to lube the boar and keep a spark from setting off the powder around the ball when the others are fired. But a patch on the ball is not needed if you have the right size round ball.

This is why I tell people it doesn't matter what size .44 round ball they use .451, .454, .457 so long as they shave a ring of lead on the way into the chamber. You just need a strong arm to push the large .457's into a .451 chamber.