1848 Whitneyville question(s)

S

stubbicatt

New member
I've been lurking in the blackpowder forum for awhile now.

When I was 13 or 14 I bought a brass framed 1851 Navy revolver, which I used to shoot and enjoy. Haven't shot it in years. The wedge has dents in it from using a flat bladed screwdriver and mallet for removal. It looks ok overall, but the grips are rather short for my hands, and for other reasons, I've become excited at the prospect of a Uberti Whitneyville Dragoon. I've shot BPCR though not recently. So I have a passing familiarity with loading and shooting these revolvers, I'm not a complete neophyte.

I like the looks of the Whitneyville with the sort of fitted grips, as opposed to the squared off grips of subsequent models. I'm not entirely crazy about the oval bolt notches, as I guess the squared off notches of subsequent models are more functional.

1. Where would I find an inexpensive leather "slim jim" holster for a Whitneyville?

2. What range of powder charges give good performance/accuracy?

3. Should I use wonder wads and balls, wonder wads and conicals, or balls and grease or conicals and grease?

4. Will my No. 10 caps work, or will I need to find No. 11's?

5. Does the loading lever unspring and fall down when you shoot it as does the Walker?

6. Can one adjust the sights to shoot to point of aim once he has arrived at a suitably accurate load, or must one always hold under to compensate for the tendency of these revolvers to shoot high?

My uses for this revolver are simply informal plinking or target shooting in the National Forest.

Thanks in advance for your helpful advice.
 
Howdy stubbicatt. See below

1. Where would I find an inexpensive leather "slim jim" holster for a Whitneyville? Cabelas, El Paso Saddlery, Bass Pro

2. What range of powder charges give good performance/accuracy?
Start with 40 grains fffg and work up or down from there to find the best loading

3. Should I use wonder wads and balls, wonder wads and conicals, or balls and grease or conicals and grease? Kind of a Ginger or Maryanne question. You'll get as may opinions as replies. Grease if any kind is messy. I prefer lubed felt wads & roundballs - and Maryanne

4. Will my No. 10 caps work, or will I need to find No. 11's? #10 Remingtons are IMNSHO the best overall cap to use. #10 CCIs are usually too small to work on anything. Remington and CCI 11s as well as RWS 1075s are viable options, Try a variety and see what works best for you

5. Does the loading lever unspring and fall down when you shoot it as does the Walker? Not having a Whitneyville, I can't say for sure. Stretching the spring to increase tension works with a wobbly lever.

6. Can one adjust the sights to shoot to point of aim once he has arrived at a suitably accurate load, or must one always hold under to compensate for the tendency of these revolvers to shoot high? If it habitually shoots high left, opening the sight notch in the right & deeper usually works.

My uses for this revolver are simply informal plinking or target shooting in the National Forest. Go out, experiment, make smoke & have fun.
Click to expand...
 
What Fingers said is very good advice. No. 10 Remington caps are the best. I too love the looks of the Whitneyville Dragoon. Going to get one someday. Here is what the oval notches on my Walker cylinder looked like after 60 shots:

5ff7k0.jpg
 
Bishop Creek, looks like you have installed Slixshot nipples on yours. How do you like them? How have they improved your revolver?

45 Dragoon, I see you offer smithing services on these revolvers. Do you recommend that I send it to you straightaway for tuning to avoid the deformation of the oval notches in the cylinder, and to rectify any other issues?

Thanks fellas.
 
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whitneyville

I got a R&D 45 long colt cylinder for mine. am having a great time shooting 5.2 grains of TRAIL BOSS in it for a load. best of all no clean up!!
 
Ha! Thanks Dave! Well maybe close . . .

Stubbicat, sure! Horse pistols are my favorite ! I'm doing 2 Walkers and 3 Dragoons as we . . . type! The service is listed on my site. Thanks for looking!

Toot44, I'm with ya on the cartridge thing! I have gated Kirst Conversions in all mine except my 5 1/2" tubed Remie. It keeps a 6 shot R&D in it .

Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com
 
Bishop Creek, looks like you have installed Slixshot nipples on yours. How do you like them? How have they improved your revolver?
Click to expand...

Yes, the SlixShot nipples work very well, #10 Remington caps fit perfectly and don't fall off into the action during firing.
 
BC,
The bolt timing is late causing the peening to locking notches. It needs to drop 1-1 1/2 bolt widths before the notch. Also, the spring tension is way too heavy!!

Mike
Click to expand...

I know, it needs a little work, maybe I'll send it your way soon.
 
walker

mine came with 2 cylinders in the box, it had the cap and ball cylinder in it and a pretty blue velvet bag with the R&D conversion in it already fitted to the gun, got it for $600.00 I didn't think it was a bad price?
 
No not a bad price Toot44. I would think using the cartridge conversion cylinder would be challenging. I'd guess one must remove the wedge, pull the barrel, and remove the cylinder to recharge it. Then put it all back together.

45Dragoon, What exactly is involved in the installation of the Kirst gated conversion? I have read elsewhere that the frame of the revolver must be modified in the area of the capping indentation on the right of the recoil shield, among other things. Seeing the attractive finish on these Ubertis, I would be reluctant to have the frame cut on.

Thanks guys.
 
Stubbi,
The Kirst kits are drop in for the most part. It all depends on how you're going to use it. Lots of folks use it "part time" and switch back and forth with the c&b cyl. I set mine up to be permanent cartridge guns. That means the arbor, barrel/ cyl. clearance and timing are adjusted to the Kirst set up. And yes, the recoil shield is "scooped" to allow use of the gate. Not only is it historically correct and easy to do but it saves the wear induced by numerous take downs when loading and unloading. Mine are taken down maybe once every other month depending on range time. They only see smokeless powder. I'll try and post a pic,

Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com
 

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Do you need a "mil spec" hickory stick to eject the empties? Would be neat if an ejector rod could be fashioned to fit along side the barrel for that purpose.

Those two revolvers look really sweet. What did you do for the finish? I suppose the case hardening colors were ruined when you did the machining, yes?
 
Ha!
You could , but I use a large antique skeleton key with the "head" of the key bent 90 degrees and a length of brass rod attached to poke the empties out.
I will be putting an ejector rod on them after I get caught up with my customers.

A little touch up bluing to blend is all you need.
Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com
 
Here is what I use to eject empties from my cartridge conversions. An Iver Johnson ejector rod I found on e-bay a few years ago and an anitque skeleton key with the teeth filed off.

smvlvk.jpg
 
Stubbi,
If you do a bad enough job with the bluing, it should blend right in! (seriously)
A blotting or mottled technique. The thing is, it's a loading port. It's going to get fine scratches from use and it wil look perfectly normal because of what it is. Do mine really look that bad?

Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com
 
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