Stop using the Wonder Wads dry. Contrary to their advertising claim, I've never found them to lubricate as well as a felt wad soaked in a good lubricant.
With dry wads, the last three inches or so of my revolver bores (toward the muzzle) are caked with fouling. With a greased felt wad, the bores are relatively clean right to the muzzle.
I use a well-greased wad between the ball and powder, seated separately before I seat the ball. There are good reasons for doing this:
a. If somehow I've forgotten to add powder, it's easier to remove a wad than a stuck ball at the range.
b. You get a better feel for how much pressure you're applying, so you don't crush the powder and affect its burning rate.
c. It keeps the powder in the chambers while you fumble around for a ball.
d. You get a better feel for how much pressure you're applying when seating the ball on the wad. There must be NO space between the ball and wad so seat the ball firmly on the seated wad.
As for lubricant, I make my own from a very old recipe that likely dates from the 19th century. It was originally a factory lubricant for heeled bullets, such as the .22 rimfires, the .32 Short and Long Colt, .38 Short and Long Colt and .41 Colt.
Converted to modern weights, using a kitchen scale, the recipe is:
200 grams paraffin --- I use canning paraffin, sold by the one-pound block, because of its purity. Who knows what's in today's candles, especially the scented ones.
200 grams tallow --- You may use lard but I use mutton tallow, sold by Dixie Gun Works. It seems to create a slicker lubricant.
100 grams beeswax --- Sold by hobby shops. Or call your local County Extension agent and find a beekeeper in your area, it's cheaper this way. You may also find beeswax at mountain man rendezvous' or Renaissance Fairs.
Weigh the ingredients and add them to a quart Mason jar. Place the filled jar in three or four inches of boiling water, for a double-boiler effect. This is the safest way to melt greases and waxes. When all ingredients are melted, stir well with a clean stick or disposable chopstick.
Allow to cool at room temperature. Hastening cooling by placing in the refrigerator may cause the ingredients to separate.
After the jarful of lubricant has hardened, get a clean tuna or pet food can. Add about two or three Tablespoons of lubricant to the can and place it on a burner at very low heat. You don't want to cook the lubricant, just melt it.
Now, add about 100 felt wads. Stir them around until they soak up the lubricant. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Snap a plastic pet-food lid over the cool can and you also have a container to store them in and take them to the range.
When you run low on wads simply reheat the can, add more lubricant and wads and stir until they're soaked. Don't bother squeezing out the excess lubricant; the more lube the better.
The paraffin in the above recipe is crucial, in my experience. It stiffens the felt wad and helps it to scrape out fouling.
As to procuring felt ...
a. Old cowboy hats or felt vests at the thrift store. Often hard to find but sometimes you luck out.
b. Felt weather stripping for windows, sold by Frost-King of New Jersey. Tru-Value Hardware stores sell Frost-King products. READ the package to ensure it's real felt and not polyester because Frost-King makes both kinds.
I use a .45-caliber wad punch sold by Buffalo Arms of Sandpoint, Idaho. A 7/16 wad punch may work fine. I use a 7/16" wad punch to make felt wads for my .44-40 rifle cartridges. A greased, felt wad between the lead bullet and black powder in the .44-40 doesn't reduce the powder capacity much and it keeps the bore much freer of fouling.
I rarely put lubricant over the ball in my cap and ball sixguns when I use a well-greased wad lubricated as above. I live in the Utah desert, where temperatures can reach 100 F (38 C) and 5 percent humidity. In these hot, dry conditions sometimes it helps to put grease over the ball to augment the greased wad and keep fouling soft.
In my .36 and .44 revolvers, I give the cylinder pin a good lubing with Crisco or CVA Grease Patch. With the use of lubricated wads, and a well-lubed pin, I can usually shoot six or seven cylinderfuls before the action drags. Actually, that's with the Colt, the Remington and its smaller pin usually go three or four cylinderfuls.
By the way, use lead balls in your revolver. I've never found any conical bullet as accurate as a lead ball of proper size. In the .44 calibers, this means a ball of .454 or .457 inch. These are sold by Speer and Hornady.
In the .36 calibers this means a ball of .378 to .380 inch --- which are hard to find. Order .380-inch balls from Warren Muzzleloading of Arkansas, off their website at
www.warrenmuzzleloading.comI personally vouch for the quality of their .380 balls. They are extremely well made and don't have the troublesome sprue that you find with cast balls.
Also, you'll usually find your best accuracy with real Black Powder. Use FFFG grade if you can get it but if you can't, then FFG will work. Black powder is usually sold at gun shows and mountain man rendezvous', if your local gun store doesn't stock it.
