I use a 3/8 inch hole punch to make .36-caliber felt wads.
I use the felt sold in a 17-foot strip as window seal. True Value hardware stores carry it, as made by Frost King of Nevada and New Jersey.
Or, I buy Wonder Wads by Ox-Yoke.
Either wad is soaked in an old 19th century bullet lubricant recipe made by melting together:
1 part paraffin (I use canning paraffin sold in grocery stores)
1 part mutton tallow (I buy mutton tallow from Dixie Gun Works)
1/2 part beeswax
All measurements are by weight. A kitchen scale may be used to measure 200/200/100 grams of ingredients. This will nearly fill a quart Mason jar.
Place the jar in boiling water for a double-boiler effect, to melt all ingredients safely. When thoroughly melted, stir with a clean stick or disposable chopstick.
Allow the lubricant to harden at room temperature. Hastening hardening by placing in the refrigerator may cause the ingredients to separate.
Some sharp-eyed shooters may spot paraffin and think, like othe petroleum products, that it will cause a hard, tarry fouling. This doesn't occur.
A chemist once explained the difference to me, something about hydrocarbons, but all I know is that while other petroleum products produce this hard, tarry fouling when mixed with black powder, this paraffin ingredient does not.
Go figure.
I liberally soak all felt wads in this lubricant.
My best load with my Colt 2nd generation (circa 1981) 1851 Navy has been:
Goex FFFG black powder - 24 grs. by powder flask spout
Greased felt wad, seated firmly on the powder
.380 inch sprueless ball sold by Warren Muzzleloading, of Arkansas.
Seat the ball firmly on the previously seated wad, leaving no space.
Remington No. 10 cap. Your revolver may require a No. 11 cap.
There is no advantage in using the relatively new Magnum No. 11 cap with the small powder charges typical of revolvers.
If the weather is hot and dry (here in the Utah desert, that can mean 110 degrees and 6 percent humidity), then I augment the wad by placing the same lubricant over the ball with a Popsicle stick (a handy, little trick that keeps the fingers cleaner).
But most of the time, extra lubricant is not needed.
With the above load, the Colt has sometimes placed 6 balls into 1 and 1.5 inch groups at 25 yards from a benchrest. Most of the time, groups run 2 to 3 inches.
Removing the barrel and peering down the bore will usually reveal a fine trace of fouling. I've shown friends, who were amazed and remarked that it looked no worse than a .38 Special firing smokeless powder.
Paramount to accuracy is having the wedge tight in the frame. A hard nylon-faced mallet is best for tapping in and out the wedge.
Brass will leave a shiny, golden hue after a while. Steel will dent and mar the metal. Buy a small, hard plastic or nylon-faced mallet at hardware stores.
Every Colt I've owned or fired hits high at 25 yards. My Navy hits about 6 inches above the point of aim. The only cure is to add a taller front sight, or sometimes you can file the notch in the hammer deeper to compensate.
Take your time with filing, though. Give it a few licks, then shoot for effect against a real paper target at a known distance from a benchrest.
Guessing point of impact by watching dust spouts is imprecise and inconsistent.
With the Colt, you'll reach a point where the plane of the barrel gets close to the bottom of the notch. It's time to stop at this point.
While I haven't done so to my Colt, I'd suggest the higher front sight route. If you make a mistake, it's easier to rectify by replacing the front sight and starting over.
To my knowledge no one makes a higher front sight bead for the Colt.
I am often tempted to make one from a section of an old Indian Head penny (produced 1859 to 1909 by the U.S. Mints).
This would, of course, create a copper front sight and not the more authentic brass, but I feel the use of an old penny would be more in keeping with the gun's character.
An 1851 Coronet Portrait penny in good condition, which was produced 1816 to 1857, can be had for about $10 according to my 2002 U.S. coin values book.
Perhaps that would be more fitting.
(The first smarty-pants that mutters, "A penny for your thoughts" is gonna get the Gatofeo Glare of Death ... :evil: )
