Oh God, this is going to get me flamed!
First, let me say that I am a “Self taught” black powder shooter and I work for the world’s largest consumer of smokeless powder. I didn’t take it up yesterday so I really don’t care how long the “experts” out there have been shooting. Come out and beat me I’ll be more impressed with you…..talk about it and I’ll be less impressed. I’ve also shot around two dozen CAS matches with C&B pistols and finished as high as second doing it (see my profile picture to see me shooting a 1858 in a match), I’ve competed in muzzle loading rifle matches and successfully hunted wild boar with a .54 Cal Plains Rifle….using a round lead ball.
That said, I don’t always agree with the rank and file, when it comes to C&B shooting. And, I don’t here……
I just went through this with a local guy I drug over to the dark side……….
First, put the standard nipples back on the gun. After 100 rounds, 98% of your problems will fade away. The hole in the standard nipples is smaller then in the after market, “Hot” nipples and causes less back blast. Yea, I know, that big old hole gives you better ignition, Not what I’ve seen. What it gives you is more back blast.
The standard nipples are steel not stainless steel. They take a while to “rough up” the surface and then they shoot great: Be patient all will come to you. My first few times shooting my (Pietta) C&B pistols, I got allot of cap jams too. Now, I use a small screw driver to kick the caps off the nipples after shooting.
I don’t use wads, I put all the BP I can into the cylinders and still be able to seat the ball, then, I squeeze in Bore Butter to cover everything up. I you shoot CAS, you’ll find that you have to load your cylinders as soon as your done shooting the stage and then have them sit around with the lube from the wads migrating into your powder. That’s not really good. If it’s really hot, I mix Bees Wax with Bore butter to thicken it up. Does it drip some? Yea! Your shooting black powder…..you’re going to get dirty….if you don’t like getting dirty…don’t get into shooting….take up doll collecting. I hear it’s cleaner.
I know you’re not that close to Reno, but, if your ever out here, let me know and we’ll go shooting. The same offer holds for anyone else who wants to see how I handle C&B guns or could careless how I do it but just wants to shoot one.
Bruce