The good news is that there is a simple way to transform hard fouling into a soft, greasy substance that does not build up in the bore and cover the rifling.  This method actually works and is much less messy than the traditional method of plastering grease on the outside of loaded chambers.  In this article I present three simple and convenient loading techniques and by using any one of them, you can easily achieve what I call "good fouling management."  If you practice good fouling management, you can make it so that your revolver’s precision is limited only by your ability to hold it on target, not by the fouling that builds up as you shoot.  You will also notice some other advantages besides improved precision if you use my loading suggestions, but I'll mention them later.

     I have recently added a new essay on shooting techniques that I recommend you try at home and at the range.  This page, fouling management, is all about improving your REVOLVER'S native precision, which is a vital first step, but the new essay contains suggestions about improving YOUR precision and accuracy which is a much more advanced topic.  There is a link at the end of this article to those shooting techniques, but it might be a good idea to wait until you have read this and all the other articles first.  I mean, let's take it a step at a time and learn or review the basics first.

     This is a long article with a lot of points that I think are important for people to think about.  As long as this article is, I hope you will find it easy to read and entertaining.  You may find that I repeat myself a lot, but that is intensional because I firmly believe that repetition (and practice) is a key to learning.  Scroll down and read the headings if you wish to know what this article contains.

     The revolver was a very useful and highly effective combat weapon, but because its was not expected to shoot that many rounds at any one time, fouling was not much of an issue.  During those rare times when the revolver was used extensively in skirmishes and firefights, the soldier simply removed the cylinder and then poured water out of his canteen over and into the barrel then shook it dry.  He didn't care if the revolver rusted, he could take care of that later.  I think that's why today, the period pieces that were used in combat, look so bad, with rust and deep pits everywhere including inside the bore.  Let's face it, during mid 19th Century, weapons were government issued tools that had to work in combat, but were not something that the soldier owned and certainly were not carried for fun.  A soldier's revolver functioned properly or it was exchanged for one that did and it was not regarded as a prized posssession as it is today.   Firearms wore out in service in a year or two, not like our well tended revolvers that will stay new looking and new shooting after 50 and more years.

     Today things are very different and people expect to shoot 25, 50 or even 100 rounds during a single session.  People are also very concerned that their revolvers keep looking new, with no rust or pits anywhere, especially in the bore.  The shooting techniques of the wartime past are totally inadequate to the needs of today's shooters.  Modern shooters today know that shooting more than 12 rounds at one session without stopping and cleaning and re-oiling their revolvers would be impossible using the techniques of the past, BUT if you use my Fouling Management techniques (outlined below), you will be able to shoot nonstop during your entire shooting session and your revolver will maintain its native precision without stopping to clean (or pour water down the barrel from your canteen).

     OK, let's now get into the meat of this article.

     What I am about to suggest is very controversial because every "expert" will tell you that you MUST coat the outside of the loaded chambers with grease to prevent chain firing and to "lube the bore".  Believe me, Glomming Crisco absolutely will NOT prevent chain firing (see first article on chain firing).  As for lubing the bore, after the first shot, all the grease is blown out of the remaining chambers and subsequent shots get little or no "lubrication."  Next time you load the conventional way, just look at your cylinder after your first shot --- is there any grease remaining?  No, it was all blown away and the subsequent shots will do nothing but build up hard fouling in the barrel.  Don't bother with greasing the outside of a loaded cylinder.

     To keep fouling soft, your revolver’s bore needs a residual of grease after the bullet passes. What the bore really needs is grease behind the bullet.  Grease on top or on the sides of the bullet is pushed out as the bullet leaves the muzzle, doesn't  mix with the fouling already in the barrel and does nothing to soften the fouling left behind as the bullet passes through the barrel.  I have experimented over and over with this and my results can not be argued with.

Just lately it has come to my attention that the inexpensive brass framed .44 Pietta revolvers have undersized rammers that don't fit the chamber diameter and so they can not seat the wad squarely on top of the powder.  If you have one of these pistols, I suggest you make yourself a wooden dowel of the right diameter so that you can use it to seat the wads properly.

Grease Behind the Slug Method No. 2
     At a hobby store, buy a 15/32 inside diameter brass tube and a roll of sheet cork.  Sharpen the end of the brass tube and punch out some cork disks.  Load the revolver as described in Method 1 above only using cork disks instead of felt pads.  This method also sweeps the chamber wall free of any grains of powder and it gives room for excess grease that might otherwise contaminating the powder.  This method will not be so forgiving if you use too much grease.  Again, if you are shooting very light loads, you may want to add some corn meal or Cream of Wheat filler to each chamber after seating the wad.  People have suggested using old wool blankets and felt hats and my response is "gee, what a great idea."  Black powder revolvers are for experimenting with and finding out what works best for your kind of shooting.

A cross section of a revolver chamber showing the recommended
 loading technique using a commercial or home made wad.
Notice that there is no grease on top of the slug.
Notice that the amount of grease is not excessive or squeezed past the wad and into the powder.

Grease Behind the Slug Method No. 3
     The cheapest method I have found to reduce the bad effects of fouling is to pour about 10 grains (by volume) of "Cream of Wheat" or dry corn meal into each chamber on top of the powder.  Use more if you are shooting light loads.  In fact, this is an excellent technique if you are shooting light loads with or without a wad.  This method is only to provide a space for excess grease so it doesn't contaminate the powder, but it does not "sweep" the chamber walls for loose powder grains that might be there like the wads do.   However, if you were careful, there shouldn't be any powder grains sticking to the sides of the chamber anyway.  This is a good method because it gives you just that much more space between the bullet and the powder so that if you use too much grease it has a place to go.  

     Be aware that sometimes a wad of smoldering meal lands in front of the shooter and if there is anything down there that can catch fire, it will.  I came within seconds of burning down my local shooting range's building when a smoldering wad of meal caught the old rugs in front of me on fire (true story!).  They don't call these things "FIRE arms" for nothing.  Be sure the space in front of you is not covered by a rug or dry grass that can catch fire.

A cross section of a revolver chamber showing the recommended loading
technique using a filler and when loading for light loads without a wad.
Grease may be forced into the top portion of the filler material, but there it can not affect the powder below it.
Because of ignition failures, I strongly recommend using only real black powder in light "squib" loads.

When you have all the chambers loaded, regardless of what method you used, here's what you do next:
Please keep in mind that if you use too much, there is a danger you will contaminate your powder with grease
(not a good thing) so be careful and use common sense when applying shooting grease.

     Smear a small AND I MEAN A SMALL amount  of beeswax blended with Crisco, Bore Butter, lard, tallow or a similar kind of grease on the tip your index finger and then wipe it across the top of a chamber so as to leave a small (and I mean SMALL) amount of grease clinging to the side of the chamber.  Use shooting grease not blended with beeswax only in cool/cold weather and only if you are sure it won't get runny inside the chambers.  Do this until all six chambers are "lubed" in this manner.  Note:  If you use too much grease, it will get past the spacer and contaminate the powder when the ball is rammed down and you might get a misfire or the resulting shot might be weak.   I write more about this later, but for now, watch out how much grease you use and how runny it is.

 

A cross section of a revolver chamber showing the use of too much grease or very runny grease and the grease being squeezed down into and contaminating the powder.  This will result in a weak shot and should be avoided.

     Speaking of rammer force, it has come to my attention that one of the factors (besides overloading) that causes Colt style brass framed revolvers to become loose over time is accumulated strains put on the cylinder arbor that tend to pull the arbor out of the brass frame.  These strains are caused by excessive rammer force pulling on the arbor.  Excessive rammer force is in turn caused by using oversized slugs, unchamfered chamber mouths and squeezing too hard on slugs that are already rammed in.  If you have a brass framed revolver, I suggest you be mindful of the rammer force you are applying and do whatever you can to minimize it.  Remember, brass is only marginally strong enough as a frame material under ordinary stress situations, but if over-stressed, it will yield and over time the revolver will become ruined.  

Ignition failures due to too much grease or small charges of hard to light powder (like 777)

A very important safety consideration

      Lately it has come to my attention that some people are having problems with ignition failures.  I know I will be largely repeating myself with what I'm about to write, but this is so important that it bears repeating in more detail, so please bear with me.

     When a cap goes off, but fails to ignite the main charge properly or at all, it can be due to heavy contamination with grease or grease that is too runny or it may be due to using too small a charge of a hard to light powder like Triple Seven.

     When one of these things happens, sometimes the ball is left sticking half way out of its chamber (which is bad enough) and the cylinder won't rotate (the revolver is "jammed").  If the ball sticks out of the cylinder, you will have to push it back in with your cleaning rod (Remington style) or take the barrel off (if you have a Colt style).   Remove the cylinder, unscrew the nipple and with a nail or thin rod of some kind, push the whole mess, powder, grease, wad and bullet, out the front of the chamber.

A cross section of a chamber after a cap fails to ignite the main charge.
Wad displaced, grease and powder mixed together and the slug part or all the way out of the chamber.

     Many times the slug clears the cylinder, but gets stuck in the barrel.  This can lead to very serious consequences because the cylinder will still rotate to the next chamber and the shooter might be tempted to take another shot.  This is a real bad deal and you should NOT take that next shot.  If a cap goes off without properly setting off the main charge, ABSOLUTELY DO NOT TRY TO FIRE THE NEXT CHAMBER UNTIL THE BARREL IS CHECKED FOR AN OBSTRUCTION.  If an obstruction is there, a follow on shot will create a dangerous overpressure in the barrel and it will balloon or crack open as mentioned earlier.  The obstruction may be removed simply by removing the cylinder and use the cleaning rod to push the obstruction out of the back of the barrel.  Once the slug has been removed from the chamber or the barrel, wipe out all the mess in the chamber.

An actual Pietta .44 "Confederate 'Navy'" barrel that had an obstruction.
It's unlikely that anybody was hurt, but the pistol was destroyed.

 
    If the problem is caused by using too much grease, reduce the amount of grease to just enough to keep fouling from building up and use an unblended grease only in cold weather.  For warmer weather, you should use a stiffer grease that contains beeswax and scoop it out of a jar instead of squeezing it out of a tube.  From a safety perspective, I can't emphasize enough how important it is that you do not contaminate your powder with grease when loading, but really, there is no reason this should be a problem if you use common sense and use only the minimum amount of shooting grease and a grease that is stiff enough for outside temperature conditions.  In my opinion, it is better to use a grease that is a bit too stiff than one that is just a little too runny.

       If the problem is due to really small loads of Triple Seven, you might try slightly larger loads and, of course, never so much runny grease that it gets down into the powder.

     It is always advisable to bring your revolver tools with you when you go to the range, especially if you are experimenting with new loads and new techniques.  Once you have settled into a system that you know is reliable, you may not need all that stuff, but when you need something, it's really good to have it in your "possibles bag" rather than at home.  

     The next page contains my thoughts on cleaning the black powder revolver and why you should never use soap and water to clean your revolver.  If you are hesitating getting into black powder shooting because of the undeserved reputation regarding the "terrible mess" involved in cleaning black powder revolvers, please read on.