I'm not completely new to ML firearms.
Had a Pietta Cattleman a year or 2 ago and today picked up a new Uberti 1858 New Army.

The club I belong to insists on lubing the front of the chambers resulting in mess and a slippery firearm.

I'm using .454 diameter balls and there's a nice ring of lead left over after seating the ball.

From my experience the lube mostly gets blown out of the remaining 5 cylinders upon firing the first shot anyway.

I was under the assumption that chain fires are generally caused by oversized percussion caps not seating well.

Am I correct thinking this and if so can anyone supply a link from a trusted source confirming so.
I'll pass it on to the club to rethink their policy if need be.

Thanks.

No, chain fires come from ill fitting caps/ nipples.

Sorry don't have a specific link, go to the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Assoc. website. We learned that becoming certified instructors.

See if they will approve wonder wads.

Allot more fire comes out the front end,  many more bends for the ftiney spark from cap spark to make a few U turns from one cap, around a cylinder, to get under another cap, on another chamber.  My experience from actually having one after I did not grease the front end, is the the fireball at the cylinder gap Is the culprit.

They were happy with me using lubed wonder wads.

The grease in front just makes a mess. I use a hip flask funnel I got on amazon. This keeps powder off cylinders walls. I shoot a brace of Pietra 1858's for CAS. My load is 1 cc of powder and 1 cc of grits on top of powder, .454 bal, no grease of any kind. I have shot this load in 8 stage matches with no problems. The grits fills the chamber and prevents chain fires. Wipe with Windex (with vinegar) is things get sticky.

Sadly, despite the source, that information is in error.

You'd be surprised how hard it is to write training materials and standards in any field.  Egos, biases and an unwillingness to admit a prior belief may be wrong all get in the way and anything that flys in the face of those things ends up in the wastebasket.


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Consider it logically and look at the sequence of events that has to happen for one chamber to ignite an adjacent chamber via loose fitting caps.  The hammer falls on the cap, smashing it against the nipple, the cap ignites and the flash would have to:

1. do a 180 degree turn,
2. go back up the nipple,
3. unseat the cap against the pressure of the hammer,
4. do another 180 degree turn around the nipple,
5. travel down and around the cap,
6. run back up the recess in the cylinder,
7. do a 90 degree turn and travel across the gap between cylinder recesses,
8. turn 90 degrees,
9. run back down the adjacent recess in the cylinder,
10.  do another 180 degree turn,
11. run up between the cap and nipple,
12.  do another 180 degree turn,
13. run down inside the nipple,  and then
14.  have enough heat to ignite the black powder charge in the cylinder.

Now here's the thing - I have an 1859 sharps and even with a musket cap, it has problems igniting anything other than black powder and all it has to do is travel down the hole in the block, make a 90 degree left turn, travel to the center of the block, do a 90 degree right turn and ignite the powder charge.

In contrast, let's look at the front end of the cylinder where we have not just the flash of the cap, and maybe a little back pressure from the charge but instead the full blown pressure and heat of the burning powder charge being deflected by the forcing cone through the cylinder gap and across the front of the adjacent cylinders where the expanding gas will be actively seeking any gaps or places to escape.

You tell me what is the more likely candidate to cause a chain fire.

Then lets consider about 30 years of cap and ball revolver shooting where I have never had a chain fire when using either a pre-lubed wonder wad (great for carrying in a holster where a grease like Crisco or spit ball will get warm and run in the summer),a filler on top of the charge,  or cylinders with the gap between cylinder and ball sealed with a grease like Crisco, some other brand of shortening, or a black powder lube like Spit Ball (which won't go rancid like shortening).  On the other hand I've had several chain fires when I didn't use a wonder wad or grease in the gap between cylinder and ball.

A filler like corn meal, grits or cream of wheat on top of a reduced charge functions much like a wonder wad, creating an additional barrier the flash would have to pass through to ignite the powder charge.  Between the physical barrier and the cooling effect of the filler on any flash, ignition doesn't happen.   Personally, I'm a corn meal guy but for a full charge carried in a holster I prefer a wonder wad.

For an extended range session however I prefer grease or spit ball, as it helps keep the fouling softer and will let you shoot more cylinders before you have to stop and either clean or at least dry brush the cylinder face and forcing cone to ensure the cylinder can rotate freely.  It also keeps the fouling softer in the barrel.

Is it messy?  Sure - but black powder shooting isn't exactly a clean sport.

Most chain fires are from poor fitting caps.  Sam Colt wrote about this in the 1850's it's not news.  There are reported cases of individual chambers being out of round and allowing a chain fire.  There are different techniques for lubing the front of the cylinder, not all of them are messy.  Personally I lube to keep the fouling soft, not to seal against chain fires.

You are over complicating it.  We are talking an uncapped but loaded chamber.  Ill fitting caps come into play by falling off under recoil before they get to the firing position.  In my pistol (1860 Colt) the caps are blown apart upon firing.  If the next chamber over is uncapped the fire just needs to make a 90 (which happens naturally under the pressure of blowing the cap apart) continue expanding and hit the open end of the exposed nipple and make another 90 to the powder charge.

Loose balls may also be a factor letting fire into the chamber.  Be sure that the ring is cut all the way around.

I have had two chain fires over the years during CAS matches so no way to diagnose.  Even though the #10 Remingtons are put on tight they can come off at the wrong time.

There is plenty of fire coming out of the nipple after the cap fires and falls off.  There are photos around of capguns being fired that show this, I just do not have one.