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No fuss Black powder chainfire preventer?

3K views 13 replies 9 participants last post by  Begemot 
#1 ·
Hi fellas.

I made this little wooden proof of concept piece for an old replica confederate blk pwdr revolver I no longer have. I think it was called a Griswald & Gunnison. It looked like a '51 navy but with a half round barrel. That revolver is long gone but I kept the wooden piece I made. It almost but not quite fits my Pietta replica colt. But it fit good enough for me to take some pics to show you my concept here. The main idea is to be able to load powder and ball without having to use greased felt wads or in the alternative, to have to use grease over the outside of the ball after it is chambered. My idea was to make this piece out of wood first and then later make one out of very hard plastic, just in case it ever failed that would be better than making it out of metal, so the ball could just shatter the plastic and go down the side of the gun rather than be trapped behind a metal disk and blow up the cylinder. Of course there would be nothing that could be done to prevent the very bottom cylinder round from hitting the lower barrel frame either with this chainfire preventer, or if your bottom cylinder hole chainfired without this preventer.

Anyway, I imagined a piece like this with the side facing the cylinder covered with a felt type of material that would be greased and the cylinder would rotate over this greased felt every time the cylinder turned. The tight fitting greased felt would take the place of greased wads or greasing over each seated ball.

I never got past the original wooden proof of concept wooden piece and I never attached any felt to it or made one out of hard plastic, nor did I ever try firing with it. But I just wanted to ask opinions here of the concept and if you think it would work just as well as using greased wads or greasing the ball after seating.

If it did work, it would enable you to load MUCH faster with only having to use powder and ball, and without using any greased felt wads or having to grease over the seated ball.

Here's the pics. (sorry they are a bit blurry from my lousy camera, but hopefully you can tell enough to see the concept). The wood at the very top of the wooden disk broke off from being so thin. But in another one I could make, that thin circle would not even be on the top anyway and the top would be open. I would not be worried about fire coming out of the TOP of the topmost chamber because that would not cause a chainfire anyway. I am just concerned with keeping the flame from the barrel to cylinder gap away from the other cylinders.

What are your opinions? Positive? Negative? Dangerous? Safe if made properly? Tie it to a tree and use a pull string and a less expensive revolver to test it out? I'd like to hear what you think.





It fits over the cylinder pin and the barrel's forcing cone keeps it from rotating and is cut to allow the loading of a ball as regularly and requires no modification to the revolver in any way.







 
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#2 ·
Well, I'm not an expert, but my layman assumptions would be that you have constructed a device which probably aids rather then prevents the traveling of hot powder gasses into the adjacent chamber(s). Besides, I can't see how this device should speed up reloading. My assumption would be that it has the exact opposite effect.

For my own peace of mind and integrity of my limbs, I rather stick to the "old fashioned" method of loading a cap 'n ball revolver.
 
#3 ·
I appreciate your opinion (that's what I posted asking for). But I am confused by your answer and think perhaps you didn't understand the concept fully.

The back side of the (for now wooden) disk, would have a greased felt disk on it, that the cylinder would rest tightly against and rotate over. The greased felt would serve to cover all the cylinder holes (except the bottom most hole on the cylinder that is used to load). This would serve to keep any fire from coming out of the fired cylinder and then entering into the holes of the unfired cylinders (except for the bottom hole that is left for loading). That SHOULD prevent most chain firing.

The way it would speed up loading is this.....Many shooters use corn meal on top of their powder charge, that is an extra thing to have to load in each cylinder along with the powder and ball. also some shooters load a greased felt wad either under or over their ball. And some also dab a blob of grease on top of the ball after loading. By not having to use any of those, and just rely instead on the greased disk on my concept, that is how it would speed up loading. Does this help you understand the concept better or change your opinion in any way?
Bill.
 
#4 ·
Ok, with a greased felt on the inside it might work. Nevertheless, I'm not sure it will seal the adjacent chambers tight enough to prevent the traveling of gases. I'd rather suspect your disk needs to be squeezed against the drum with such a force, that the resulting friction will hamper the rotation of the drum sufficiently to quickly wear out the drum transport.

Regarding reloading, the single hole under the press is a rather awkward position for loading powder into the chamber of a C&B revolver. It's better done from the side if you are not willing to extract the drum for reloading. Secondly, your disk will make it more difficult to dispose of the lead shavings and you will be no longer able to load conicals with the same ease as without your disk.
 
#5 ·
I don't see how it'll help as most chain-fires can be traced to the nipples & caps not fitting correctly?
I also can't see the greased felt surviving the first firing.
Great idea, but I think the concept is flawed as the greased wad in the cylinder & correctly-fitted nipples do the job better & easier.
 
#7 ·
Oops! You are exactly right. The same barrel to cylinder gap flame that will put powder grains and shaved bits of lead into a left hand wrongly held under the cylinder gap, would of course destroy the felt disk. I totally overlooked that! Well that's why I asked for opinions. Two or more heads are usually always better than one. It was just an idea, maybe not my best Lol.
 
#8 ·
And - in fact if not legend - the purpose of either lubing the charge-holes over the projectile or using greased wads is NOT to prevent chain-fires, but to help keep fouling soft so you can (a) shoot more before stopping to clean things and (b) make clean up easier. A properly fitting ball will fully seal the front of the charge hole against flame penetration - but loose caps will allow flash to get down the nipples to set off adjacent charges.
 
#12 ·
I agree with Clyde here - there is overwhelming evidence to support the theory that 'chain-fires' start from the nipple end of the cylinder, not the front.

Think about it you have just swaged a ball/bullet into a chamber in a way that is so tight-fitting that it actually removed all the lead that did not fit. Show me, please, how a flame can get round that, and 'back' into any adjacent chambers.

1. Make sure that the percussion caps are a tight fit on ALL the nipples.

2. Do it again.

tac
 
#14 ·
I'm with the consensus here that this particular devise is unlikely to perform as you've envisioned, but I can see that you've put a lot of thought into it and you've turned out a nice prototype. Best of luck with your next idea. By the way -- google has a patent search feature that works pretty well, the USPTO has its own search engine as well -- both draw from USPTO records, though I have seen some mis-spellings in the Google results. There's a decent how-to video on youtube on filing a provisional patent application, which allows you to openly discuss your idea and get help with making it work -- and use the "patent pending" statement legitimately. Costs 110.00 USD currently. Downside is that the provisional patent application only acts as a kind of place marker. You'll get one year to file a standard patent, and that'll probably set you back about five grand from what I've read. Go over your year, and your invention is in the public domain without a patent. Good luck!
 
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