.451 or .454 for my '58?

T

The Interceptor

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I recently got my Pietta 1858 Remington from Cabela's and I'm getting together all of the accesories I'll need to shoot it at the range.

Will the Pietta shoot a.451 bullet as well as a .454 bullet? The manual says it uses .454 bullets but the Gander Mountain store near me only stocks .451.

Also, I picked up some of the new Remington #10 caps and they fit nice and tight but when I tried them the caps all peeled back like a banana when fired. Is this normal or should I try some other caps.

Thanks.
 
I shoot .451 in my pietta '58 remingtons when I shoot BP. It will shoot either just shaves more off the .454 then the .451 when you load them into the cylinder..
Don't know about the caps, do they blow off or stay on the nipples?. I use CCI # 10's.
 
I also have a Pietta Remington. I shoot .451 balls and use #10 Remington caps which do generally peel back when fired. The Piettas have smaller chambers as a general rule than some of the other reproductions. Dixie advises the use of .451 balls in the Pietta replicas they sell, however you can use .454 balls as well. There will just be a little larger ring of lead shaved from the ball when you seat it in the chamber. There are several threads here on TFL which have recently discussed loads, loading, powder types, etc., which you might find of interest. I feel like a broken record because I find myself saying this over and over, but PERCUSSION PISTOLS AND REVOLVERS by Johnny Bates and Mike Cumpston is an excellent book, available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble among others, which is about the history, performance and practical use of the old style handguns. It is well worth the price, which isn't bad, anyway.

Steve
 
Thanks guys. I think I'm going to go ahead and get some .451 bullets.

As I said, the #10 Remington caps fit real nice. They are peeled back but stay on the nipple when fired. After the cylinder rotates they seem to be flung off by the recoil of the following rounds. That doesn't bother me. Is that normally what happens with cap-n-ball revolvers?

Thanks again for your replies.

William
 
Yes , Thats the way it should work. Congrats on getting yourself a great Revolver that will give you a lot of pleasure to shoot.
There are all kinds on things you will want to do on down the road when it comes to tuning these gun's but for now just clean it well before you shoot it the first time if you haven't already. Run a patch or two through the barrel with a good lube and then a dry patch before you load it.
Keep the cylinder pin greased as well as the face of the cylinder and the stars on the rear. You can use any of the Bore butter typ lubes or just plain old Krisco cooking grease.
Make sure you use wads over the powder of grease over the ball to help perevent chain fires. Have fun for a while and then come back let us know how it shoots . Have fun, that's what it's all about.
 
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