Pistol loads
 

Anyone have a good starting load for .44 cal blackpowder revolver? any other tips would be helpful. Thanks

RE: Pistol loads
 

I have a 1858 New Army .44 caliber revolver made by F.L. Lippita. The revolver uses a .451 round ball. .44 caliber wonderwads. And the charge weight is no more then 30 grains of 3f powder. I personally use 25 grains of powder because that is most accurate.

First thing before loading is put a swab on a rod and spray it with alcohol. Then swab the cylinders. Some pop a cap through each cylinder, I do not. I load the powder. Then a wonderwad, then the roundball, then I take Crisco Shortening and cover the cylinder. Even though they claim with the wad you do not have to Crisco the cylinders, if you ever had a chain fire, you would understand why you do not want to do it over..... After that, cap the nipples and shoot them off.

After you have shot the revolver, pull the cylinder. Take a cloth with some solvent and wipe the inside of the revolver frame out, especially the cylinder retaining rod, and the back of the revolver. This will help when you reload the cylinder and shoot it again. If you do not clean between shots, the revolver gets really dirty and finally it gets almost impossible on my revolver to pull the cylinder....

When I clean the revolver, I disassemble the revolver. Pull the handles. Then clean every single part of the revolver metal. A soap and water bath is the easy way to clean the revolver.. Then I brush the cylinders and bore, and solvent the cylinders and bore. Then some dry ones, oil it all back up and put it back together....

RE: Pistol loads
 

What cayugad said. :D

Except I usually use patch grease over the ball...............but that's mainly because I bought a ton of it for 70 cents a tube.

RE: Pistol loads
 

I use 25grs. in the 1860 Army. A full charge doesn't do anything but shake everything loose, caps included. I use wonder wads between powder and ball, used grease before they came out. Got to have something to keep it from cross-firing. They will, trust me. I also carry a little bottle of windex with vinegar and some cleaning patches in my belt possibles bag for cleaning the cylinder when it starts gumming up. Need something, cause like was said, they'll gum up to the point you can't cock your revolver. At home it gets a good hot soapy bath just like my rifle.