Hello Colorado, I am presuming you bought either a 1848 Baby Dragoon, or a 1849 Wells Fargo pocket revolver. Believe it or not, to load it, you take the barrel and cylinder off the gun, set the cylinder nipples down, chambers up on a solid surface like a table. put in your powder charges, add your over the powder wads(if you use them) set the balls on top of the chambers, then use the cylider pin in the frame of the gun to force the balls down on the powder, fill the top of the chambers with Bore Butter or Crisco to avoid multiple discharge, put the cylinder and barrel back on the gun. put caps on the nipples, and your ready to shoot. To clean mine, I use a .22 size cleaning rod and a .30 caliber bore mop with a patch wrapped around it, to clean with hot soapy water. You needn't worry about a brush, because the velocity is so low in black powder revolvers, that leading is not a problem. cowpox