Loading Cap and Ball Revolvers

In this article we will examine how to load a cap and ball revolver using both paper cartridges and loose powder and round balls, relying on both cavalry manuals of arms from the period and on Sam Colt’s original loading instructions.

Remington and Colt revolvers with cartridge packets, loose combustible cartridges, and a period-correct reproduction cap tin.

To Load the Pistol
These instructions come from Cooke’s 1862 Cavalry Tactics (pp. 93-94) and cover loading the revolver while mounted.  Cooke also gave instructions for loading when dismounted, however, they differ only in saying that loading should be done sitting on the ground when doing so (p. 57).  Note that although earlier manuals (e.g., Pointset and Congdon) said that troopers should be able to load from horseback while moving, by this point in the War they had learned that doing so was extremely impractical, which is why Cooke says it should be done from a standing horse or sitting on the ground.

            177.  The horses must be quiet; at the position of raise pistol, the instructor commands:

Load at—WILL
1 Time.

            At this command, let the reins rest on the pommel, half cock the pistol, take it by the stock with the left hand, the guard to the right, and lower it until the hand rests upon the inner side of the left thigh, the butt of the pistol touching the saddle, the hand and cylinder resting against the side of the pommel, the pistol being inclined to the front and right; with the right hand take a cartridge and place it in the chamber, turn the cylinder and force in the ball; repeat this until the cylinders are loaded.  Then hold the pistol against the right side of the pommel, pointing downward, to the right and front, and put on the caps.  Take the position raise pistol.

Return—PISTOL
1 Time.

            178.  At the command, PISTOL, place it in the holster, and button the flap.

Loading a Cap and Ball Revolver with Combustible Cartridges
This is a more detailed version of the loading procedure described above to help a modern shooter who is new to the hobby understand how to load his weapon.  We will assume that the shooter is dismounted and that he sits down on the ground (or at a shooting bench) to load.  It is easy to load standing up, but when doing so it is awkward to manage the cartridges and percussion caps during the process unless they are carried loose in the pouch.

1.      Remove a cartridge pack and use the string to tear it open.

2.      Draw the revolver, place it on half cock so that the cylinder spins freely, and take the grip in your left hand, muzzle facing up and to the right front with the back of your left hand against the inside of your thigh.  Ensure that the muzzle is not aimed at anyone.  Fig 1.

Fig. 1.

3.    Take a cartridge with your right hand and insert it into the chamber adjacent to the loading port, pushing it firmly into place with your fingers. Fig. 2.

Fig. 2.

4.      Rotate the cylinder so that the bullet is directly under the rammer, then pull down firmly on the lever with a steady, smooth pressure until the bullet is firmly seated in the chamber.  Ensure that the nose of the bullet is below the mouth of the chamber or else the cylinder won’t be able to rotate. Figs. 3 & 4.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

5.     Repeat steps 3 & 4 for each of the other chambers.  Ensure that the cylinder spins freely; if not, any protruding bullets will need to be rammed more deeply.

6.      Take out a cap tin and remove a cap. Fig. 5.

Fig. 5.

7.     Holding the grip in your left hand, place the revolver over your right thigh, the muzzle pointed down and to the right front.  Make sure to keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.

8.     Press the cap fully onto the nipple, ensuring it is well set by pressing on it with your right thumb or, if preferred, with a small piece of wood (do not press on it with anything metallic) so that if the cap goes off accidentally—an unlikely but not impossible event—your thumb will not be damaged. Figs. 6 & 7.

Fig. 6.

Fig. 7.

9.      Repeat step #8 for each of the loaded chambers.  Ensure that the cylinder spins freely; if not, check that each cap is seated fully.

10.  Taking the grip into your right hand, rotate the cylinder with your left hand so that the hammer is between chambers.  Placing your right thumb on the hammer and your right index finger on the trigger, pull the hammer back to full cock and pull the trigger while your thumb prevents the hammer from falling.  Rotate the cylinder until the notch or pin is directly under the hammer with the fingers of your left hand and use your right thumb to gently lower the hammer into the notch or onto the pin.  The weapon is now safe and ready to shoot or to be returned to the holster. Fig. 8.

Fig. 8.

Notes on Loading
Check to be sure that a small ring of lead has been cut from the sides of each bullet as they went into the chamber.  This guarantees that the bullet is seated properly and that the chamber has been sealed so that hot gases cannot enter another chamber to cause a chain fire.  Note that it's not the cutting a ring of lead that does so, it merely demonstrates that the bullet is large enough to seal the chamber; if the mouths of the chambers are chamfered there will be no ring of lead cut off but the chamber will still be sealed if the bullet was of the correct size.  A chain fire occurs when a chamber or chambers other than the one aligned with the barrel discharges as the weapon is fired; these are alarming and potentially quite dangerous, but as long as the bullet is the correct size and is seated properly chain fires will almost never happen from the front of the cylinder.  The rings of lead will also have grease and paper mixed with them, so take care to remove them from the front of the cylinder so they don’t clog the action.

Some modern shooters prefer to load only five cylinders rather than six in order to be able to rest the hammer onto an empty chamber for safety.  This practice, called the “cowboy load” today, is an artifact of modern shooting clubs (e.g., the North South Skirmish Association or the Cowboy Single Action Shooting groups) and really derives from metallic cartridge revolvers which had no safety notches on which to rest the hammer, so it was common to only load five cartridges for safety when carrying them.  Most cap and ball revolvers, however, do have either pins between each chamber in the case of Colts or notches between each chamber on Remingtons, and the hammer can be rested on these in order to safely carry the weapon with all six chambers loaded.  Each shooter must decide for himself how he feels about the safety of doing so, and should, at a minimum, experiment by handling his revolver roughly (unloaded, obviously) to see whether the pins or notches on his specific piece are sufficient to the task before deciding.

Some modern shooters prefer to use capping tools to apply their caps.  These are brass devices which hold percussion caps, dispensing them one at a time into a spring-loaded clip from which the cap can be placed onto the nipples.  Although cappers did exist in period (Colt sold them with the early Paterson revolvers), they seem to have gone out of favor early, and were certainly not part of military issue, nor does there appear to be any mention whatsoever of them in documents from the War.

Make sure to use caps which fit the revolver nipples correctly.  The various brands of percussion caps differ in size, and some work better or worse on the various nipples by different suppliers.  If the caps are too large they can fall off during firing or if they are too small they may not seat fully, thus making it difficult to get them to discharge, and may stick up too far to allow the cylinder to rotate.  When caps are slightly too large people often recommend pinching them slightly before putting them on, however, it is possible this may lead to chain fires from the back of the cylinder, a far more common occurrence than chain fires from the front of the cylinder.

Loading Loose Round Balls
Although all military revolver ammunition issued during the War came in the form of paper cartridges with conical bullets, it was also true that some soldiers carried round balls and loaded them with loose powder.  Elmer Keith wrote that he knew two Civil War cavalrymen who had seen a tremendous amount of fighting in the Civil War; Major R. E. Stratton fought in the Confederacy’s 1st Texas Regiment and Samuel H. Fletcher fought in the Union’s 2nd Illinois Cavalry.  He related their experiences with round balls and conical bullets:

            “Maj. Stratton said that for a man stopper he preferred the round ball with a chamber full of FFg to the pointed conical bullet.  Sam Fletcher also told me he preferred a pure lead round ball in his Navy Colts with chamber full of black powder, to the issued conical ball load.

            “Fletcher claimed the round ball dropped enemy cavalrymen much better and took all the fight out of them, whereas the pointed bullet at times would only wound and leave them fighting.  Fletcher stated, however, that when foraging and shooting cattle for meat, the pointed bullet was the best for body shots that had to be taken where penetration was needed. But that on all frontal shots on beef, the old round ball was plenty good and would reach the brain—even on bulls.”  (Keith 1992.)

Presumably, round balls had a better effect because they tended to stay in the body while pointed conicals, with better penetration, tended to pass through, meaning that not all of their energy was expended on the target.  Regardless, this suggests that round balls with loose powder were certainly in use during the War despite not being common and never being issued that way, so we should consider how to use them here. 

We are fortunate in that we have extant copies of Samuel Colt’s original loading instructions for his revolvers, the relevant portion of which is quoted here:

Directions for Loading Colt’s Pistols
            First explode a cap on each nipple to clear them from oil and dust, then draw back the hammer to half-cock, which allows the cylinder to be rotated. A charge of powder is then placed in one of the chambers, keeping the barrel up, and a ball with the pointed end upwards, without wadding or patch, is put in the mouth of the chamber, turned under the rammer, and forced down with the lever below the surface of the cylinder, so that it cannot bind in rotation. (Care should be used when ramming down the ball not to shake out the powder from the chamber thereby reducing the charge). This is repeated until all the chambers are loaded. Percussion-caps are then placed on the nipples on the right of the lock-frame. When by drawing back the hammer to the full-cock, the arm is in condition for a discharge by pulling the trigger; a repetition of the same motion produces the like results with six shots without reloading.

            N.B.: It will be safe to use all the Powder the chambers will hold, when loading with the flask, leaving room for the Ball whether the Powder is strong or weak. Fine grain Powder is the best. Soft lead must be used for the balls. The cylinder is not to be taken off when loading. The hammer, when at full cock, forms the height by which aim is taken.

            To carry the arm safely when loaded, let down the hammer on one of the pins between each nipple, on the end of the cylinder.

            —>The arm should be thoroughly cleaned and oiled after firing, particularly the home pin on which the cylinder turns.

Loading with Loose Powder and Ball

1.  Use a powder flask to pour the powder into a powder measure set for the appropriate volume of powder. Fig. 9.

Fig. 9.

2.  Pour the measured charge into the first chamber. Fig. 10.

Fig. 10.

3.  Place a greased felt wad over the powder in the chamber and push it into place, using a wooden or brass rod to seat it firmly on the powder.  Skip this if you plan to put grease over the chamber mouths (see below). Fig. 11.

Fig. 11.

4.  Place a loose round ball into the chamber.  Fig. 12.

Fig. 12.

5.  Rotate the ball under the rammer and ram it home as shown above with the paper cartridges. Fig. 13.

Fig. 13.

6.  If desired, and if you haven’t used felt wads, scoop up some hard grease to seal the chamber. Fig. 14.

Fig. 14.

7.  Add the grease to the chamber over the ball, filling the entire space between the bullet and the mouth of the chamber, then scrape away the excess.  This is completely unnecessary if you have used a felt wad.  Repeat steps 1-7 for all chambers. Fig. 15.

Fig. 15.

8.  Add caps and place the hammer on a safety pin or safety notch as described above with combustible cartridges.

Notes About Loading with Loose Powder and Ball
Note that Colt’s instructions do not mention grease at all, neither on the balls nor over the mouths of the chambers.  This may be surprising to modern shooters who recognize that grease is essential for good shooting with black-powder weapons, but it must be remembered that Colt did not envision his revolvers being used for dozens of shots before being cleaned as we might in a modern range shooting session.

Note, too, that he did not call for measured charges, saying only that the chamber should be full of powder with only enough space for the ball to rest in it; remember that black powder is highly compressible so it is possible to fill the chamber almost to the top and the act of ramming it will compress the powder enough for the ball to be fully seated.  Loading in this way will use significantly more powder than the government-issued cartridges, which used approximately twenty-five grains for .44-caliber revolvers and seventeen grains for .36-caliber models (MacDonald 1972 p. 35).

Loading loose powder and ball is not tremendously different from loading combustible cartridges.  The biggest difference lies in measuring out the powder; it is best to use a powder flask rather than loading directly from the can so that there is no way that an errant spark can set off an entire can of powder at one time, and flasks are much more convenient to handle.  Although it is possible to fill the chambers as Colt suggested, and doing so occasionally can be interesting from a historical standpoint, modern shooters will rarely need or want that much powder.  If you don’t want to fill the chamber you should get a non-ferrous graduated powder measure for loading.  Although one of the advantages of loading with loose powder is the ability to easily test different charges for accuracy, a good starting point is to use the government loads mentioned above.

Another issue when loading with loose powder and ball is that of grease.  Although Colt’s instructions do not call for grease, note that all military bullets were greased with a mix of tallow and beeswax (see the link at the end for my article on making cartridges which includes information about making grease) for  the simple reason that it really does work by softening the fouling which accumulates in the bore so that when a bullet passes through it will remove some of that fouling.  It also helps reduce lead buildup in the bore.

Dipping round balls in grease is not easy and they become difficult to handle, but there are two ways to use grease with loose round balls: greased wads and applying grease over the chamber mouth.  Greased wads are available from several suppliers, but are also very easy to make:  Simply soak a piece of heavy felt (of a natural fiber) with hot grease, allow the grease to cool, and use a punch to punch out wads of the correct size for the revolver chambers.  These wads should be stored in plastic bags to help prevent them from drying out.  To use them, first pour a measured charge of powder into a cylinder, then push the wad down over the powder, seating it with a small wooden dowel.  The loose ball is then inserted into the chamber and rammed home.

Greasing the chamber mouths is messier and less sure.  Make a batch of grease and allow it to harden in a convenient container for taking to the range.  Load a measured charge of powder into the chamber, add the ball, and ram it home.  Then use a small knife (one with a rounded tip is best) to scoop some of the grease out of the container and use it to pack the mouth of the chamber until it is completely full, scraping off any excess.

Some modern shooters use soft materials such as Crisco shortening or Bore Butter for this purpose, but they are drastically inferior to purpose-made bullet grease.  Because they are soft, in hot weather they tend to simply run out of the chambers, especially if the chamber is hot from being fired.  In addition, they tend to “splatter” out of the chamber, with much of the grease being wasted and not going down the bore.

Of course, it is possible to load a revolver without any grease at all, and it will shoot just fine for a time.  It would be best, however, to run a brass bore brush followed by a wet patch and several dry ones down the bore after every cylinder of fire, otherwise accuracy will drop off rapidly.

Note:  To learn how to make combustible paper cartridges, read the article HERE.

Works Cited
Cooke, Phillip.  Cavalry Tactics, or Regulations for the Instruction, Formations, and Movements of the Cavalry of the Army and Volunteers of the United States. New York: J. W. Fortune, 1864.

Keith, Elmer.  Sixguns by Keith.  1961. New York: R and R Books, 1992.

Macdonald, K. Dale. “M1860 was Colt Most Used by Civil War Combatants.” The American Rifleman, February 1972, pp. 33-35.