.36 round ball for SD/HD?

I have owned a number of 1851 Navies and have shot 'em for close to 50 years. I love the '51 and I love the .36 Navy caliber.

For hunting . . . I'd have no problem with that - rabbits, squirrels, varmints, etc. It can be a lot of fun.

For SD or hD though . . . no. I'm not going to put my faith in a handgun that a cap can fall off of the nipple in the dark and not know it. I want something that I know will be more dependable. I''m not saying that if it was the only thing a person had, it wouldn't work. It's better than nothing. BUT . . . there are far better options out there.

If the scenario arises with an armed intruder - you will be "out gunned". What an individual uses is their choice. Personally, I want a hard hitting dependable handgun and cartridge that is going to but the bad guy down before he puts me down.

Yes . . . it will work . . . but there are better options IMHO.
 
also as a backup in case my other home defense handgun, a Glock 19, goes down.
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First, my condolences that you are at a place in life that you only have two handguns.
Second, "Glock 19 goes down" :confused: Yeah right, when the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, and the Tooth Fairy get together to sabatoge it.:D
Third, your username, Model 12 Winchester. If ya got one it's a much better HD firearm than the Wild Bill Hickok special you mentioned. Even though it worked for him a hundred and sixty some years ago. When that's all they had.:D
 
I have fired a lot of round balls from a .36 Navy Colt (an original) and have concluded that the power is about the same as .38 S&W or .38 Long Colt. I would not feel undergunned with an 1851 Navy repro (I would probably not carry an original, though, just too expensive), if that was all I had, and I needed a defense weapon. I would consider it as good as any single action revolver in one of the above calibers for the first six shots. Reloading while under attack would likely not be feasible, even with a spare loaded and capped cylinder.

Jim
 
A .36 caliber round ball will certainly dispatch someone or something but, over all, the whole idea to me is highly impractical when there are much better choices for a back-up gun.

Too many variables when it comes to total reliability with this type of weapon.
 
I agree that a Navy Colt would not be an ideal gun for any SD/HD use if a more modern firearm was available. I was only pointing out that it would do the job if necessary and there were many deceased folks in the old days to prove it.

I would also like to note that Theohazard is correct that a percussion revolver is not a firearm in regard to purchase/transfer (in most places). But IT IS A DEADLY WEAPON under laws regulating carry and those addressing assault with a deadly weapon, armed robbery and the like. Those laws do not distinguish between old style guns and modern guns, so if the owner of a Navy Colt decides to stick it in his belt and walk around town, he will be "treated" by the law the same as if he had a Glock.

Jim
 
Neat, nostalgic gun - for punching paper, plinking, maybe an occasional stroll in the woods, checking fence or horseback ride where a pot shot on vermin or small game may arise.

Our forefathers would have given their left nut for your Glock 19.
 
It will work if you take care of it. I have seen deer shot with a simular 36 caliber pistol and yup it was dead :p .

All that said its not ideal but I suspect you already know that.

I have heard (don't know if its true) that black powder weapons are popular for reformed felons (not saying you are) that can no longer own a "modern" firearm. I actually love old black powder guns. I would feel fairly confident with that gun. The only concern I would have would be moisture.
 
not sure if the conversation is even worth having because i'm pretty sure your Navy will go "down" before your Glock does.

I love the gun though and look forward to adding something similar to my collection soon
 
It will work just fine

The naysayers have no experience with charcoal burners. I have shot them for twenty years. If you charge it right you can immerse it in a puddle pick it out of the puddle and fire every cylinder no problem.

I own and shoot a .36 cal pepperbox and I would not carry it for SD but my Armies and Navies and my Uberti Walker I carry all the time.

I removed a meth lab from the area that I hunt with one shot from one of my Armies....I was packing a S&W 624 as a backup at the time.

Currently the gun on my nightstand is a Uberti Walker as it will more then do the job in spite of it being cap n ball.
 
Cheapshooter said:
Third, your username, Model 12 Winchester. If ya got one it's a much better HD firearm than the Wild Bill Hickok special you mentioned. Even though it worked for him a hundred and sixty some years ago. When that's all they had.
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I agree. Lot's of folk dies in the old west after being shot by round ball out of a revolver.

But the guys who were immediately taken out of the fight at the OK Corral were hit with buckshot loads.

It's not a matter of whether or not the shot will kill. It's more a matter of if the shot stops the fight.
 
35+ years ago I preferred the .44 C&B for large dangerous game that might charge when cornered.

In a close in fight, not only can you shoot your adversary, but also start him on fire. I don't think I'd enjoy being shot by a Navy Colt.


 
It can do if you can. After all Capt. Jonathan Davis when attacked by 14 men in 1854, killed 7 of them with two Colt cap and ball revolvers. All were buried at the site of the fight. Davis survived virtually unscathed.
 
Hacker article

Gun writer named Rick HACKER wrote an article in Gun Digest concerning testing C&B revolvers regards to rates of fire, ease of shooting, and practical accuracy, with an eye towards SD use. Seems like writer Ed SANOW went on to do to an article in Guns an Ammo a few years later, SANOW shooting into ballistic gellatin. No less a sage than Elmer KEITH wrote a few lines about cap and ball, I think in "Hell I was There", but it may have been "Sixguns".

HACKER commented a good bit on "cap jams" and the guns gumming up pretty quickly. Good reason for an old pistlero to have 2 guns. SANOW actually found some expansion with pure lead .36 balls, despite how stable a sphere is in shape. He really liked .44 balls driven fast enough, like from the big Dragoons and Walker Colt. SANOW did energy and damage in gelatin caliber comparisons, I will root around for the old article ....maybe. KEITH maintained that the .36 round ball was a better killer (his words I think) than the conical bullet.

Seems like the modern consensus was that the .36 RB was about equal to a .380 auto in the "stopping power" department.

I'd keep a .36 C&B hammer down on an empty chamber/nipple if I were to be leaving one loaded any length of time.
 
the British found this gun to be not powerful enough during the Indian Mutiny. Personally I think it is not a great choice. The US government replaced the 38 long colt due to lack of power. This 38 is substantially more powerful than a36 ball
 
Jim243 said:
I wonder how long people carried around a loaded cap and ball revolver back in the day? Did they unload it, dump the powder and reload with fresh powder and primers every day?
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Most did not, but Wild Bill was known to do exactly that every morning before breakfast. And I believe he carried a pair of 36's on him.
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I have read that in multiple sources, so I believe it is probably correct. And his preferred pistols were Colt Navies in .36 caliber.
 
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