Getting back to the OP's original 'tips and tricks', I quit greasing the top of the balls in my percussion revolvers some twelve years ago. Always hated the mess of doing so, after the first couple of shots as Bunk penned, that grease was all melted and sprayed all over the gun and hands. Always carried a rag stuck in my belt when shooting, just to wipe grease on, whether just shooting at a range or walking along my favorite river area plinking at targets of opportunity. My jeans always looked as though I had been working on some car or machine. Started buying lubed felt wads by the 1000 back when I started using them, but would soak them with a mix of sheep tallow and/or beeswax/paraffin. Used various ratio's depending on what temperature I was going to be shooting. Bought a big chunk of felt from Durofelt sometime back and will start punching out wads sometime when my other wads are gone (both 36 and 44). A lot better shooting with them, ie. "A more harmonious outcome"! Don't have to mess around with fillers, just use 20 grains of black with 36 caliber, 30 for 60' Army 44, and 42-43 for Dragoon 44's. My Walker gets around 45-46 grains. Powder, wad , and ball fill the cylinders, pleasant, accurate shooting. No need for Big-Lube bullets, not saying they're not good, just prefer powder, wads, and balls. I do use a Mav Dutchman 44 and 38 Snakebite for cartridge guns, 'Very Good' "Harmonious Outcome" with them.
As far as clearing nipples, back in the early days of my shooting (early 70's) when we bought caps for around .60 (cents) a hundred, never thought anything about the high cost of doing so. At what they cost today and at times when not to plentiful, esp for Remington #10's which I prefer, I'm to cheap to waste caps blowing out the cylinders before loading up that first round of six. Not sure how long I've been doing it, has been at least 10 yrs probably, but I just use my air compressor. I do keep it and the lines free of moisture. When loading a cold gun, I take a long stemmed Q-tip with some denatured alcohol and wipe out the interior of each chamber, do the same with a pipe cleaner on the nipple interiors, then blow the air into each cylinder and nipple. Cleans, dries, and clears perfectly. I put the revolver on half cock, hold the gun to a light, and peer down each chamber from the business end. You can tell if any nipple isn't cleared by its either blocked or by the size of the opening your looking at. I think there has only been a handful of times where I had to redo a cylinder/nipple. Have never had a cylinder fail to fire due to a plugged nipple orifice doing it this way. Canned air will work to, air compressor if ya have one is cheaper.
Reference GeoJohn's website---a lot of interesting reading there.
Now here's a tip for ya all, don't know if it's ever been tried or posted, but after shooting a bunch of 38 Special's last weekend in a Colt Richard/Mason conversion revolver (Uberti) loaded with 18.5 g of FFF black topped with a big lube Snakebite bullet, I had all of those dirty lookin brass cases that had been a nice shiny yellow brass color before shooting them. I've always after shooting any brass cartridges tossed them in hot soapy water using anything from dish detergent, brass cleaner, or using Potassium Bitartrate. Potassium Bitartrate if yer wondering is Cream of Tarter. The same stuff used for cooking. Using it in a soulution, then rinsing the brass does work, but I quit after the wife disciplined me for using all of her supply from the kitchen cabinet and having to resupply figured the cost was to high. Back when ya could buy a big tin of it for less than a buck, wasn't so bad, did work well. Anyway, I had those dirty 38 cases, was in the basement and thought I'd try a product the Mrs. uses for clothes washing. It's called "Oxi-Clean", used for getting tough stained and greasy clothing clean-sold everywhere. I put probably a tablespoon in a plastic ice cream pail, ran hot tap water in, and 'swished' the caes around for a bit, rinsed 2-3 times, and set out to dry. Using the other methods always took the crud off and cleaned them, but using the Oxi-Clean, they were basically spotless. Had some tarnish to them, can reload as is or tumble to bring back the brass shine, but they were the cleanest I think I've ever gotten any cartridge brass used with black powder. Have to use again, just passing on in case never before reported.
OK, got windy today, just bored this afternoon, to late to start anything, cold moisture laden wind outside, didn't feel like doing anything else but give ya all some reading material. Take care all. Crow Choker