HELP.. loading 1851 navy

Wobble is right. You do not have a grenade.

Black powder requires heat to ignite, specifically 450 deg C (850 deg F) or greater. You can generate that much heat with a spark from scraping metal parts together, but it's very unlikely. It is prudent to take precautions, that way you won't get a nasty surprise if somehow you do something that you don't expect causes that much heat. That's just being safe, something one must always do when handling firearms.

I suggested a wooden dowel. A brass punch will work as well. Even a glass rod, although that has it's own problems with breakage. But PUSH it out, don't scrape it out. Might just as well take advantage of that big hole in the front.

If you do decide to soak it in water first (that's overkill in my opinion, but it is an added measure of safety so do it if it makes you feel better) the powder is best discarded. If it's real black powder, you can dry it out and it'll be perfectly usable again, but it's messy and frankly not worth the time. If it's synthetic powder it may not be usable.
 
CRIPES!

Clear it through the muzzle and be done with it.

Preferably in the direction of your commie pinko bleeding heart liberal neighbor or his worthless good-for-nothing pimplefaced lazy SOB teenager son.

Do it out the back door and tell you neighbors you were watching "Open Range" with the sound turned way up. "Yeah...That's what all the noise was about." Tell the police that the holes in the trees are from a nasty infestation of woodpeckers. Explain the smoke with the story that you were barbequeing a can of motor oil.








Just kidding fellas.
 
Doc... Like I said I can't wait to see answers to loaded gun question. Too bad Feral Cat thread closed....kitty could soakup those blue whistlers. :D OR he could call Home Land security....they could blow his shooter all to pieces like they do to misplaced briefcases, handbags, etc. :D :D
 
Yo, Doc Hoy, I served in the Navy (Nam' adventure time), with a "Van Hoy", be that you? You definitely share some common traits!!
 
Madcratebuilder or someone else with some info. I've been reading some of your post concerning the powder specs for loading the 1851 .44 navy colt in brass& steel. My question is has anyone ever used or has any info on useing the pyrodex pellets designed for use in the .44 cal/ .45cal revolvers--1851--30 gr .rated ? I've read some feed backs on cabelas review boards of people who have used them in the above type of revolver , for the most part it gets almost 5 out of 5 stars for use in these revolvers/ any comments for or aginist? Thanks, new and still learning.
 
To SLTM1

Must be a different guy. I started during that time but never knew anyone named "Van". Have no relatives of that name.

I was an ET and retired as a warrant
 
Do it out the back door and tell you neighbors you were watching "Open Range" with the sound turned way up. "Yeah...That's what all the noise was about."
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I live across the street from the city limits and there is no way the neighbors don't know I have firearms! I talked to a couple of deputies when I bought my first gun and they said if I'm shooting in a safe direction I am legal. I'm pretty bold about shooting in the back yard. I do have a nice little 5' dirt pile that I shoot into and I keep the targets low. The sheriffs dept has never showed up.
 
WHITEBEAR26, I have no hands on experience with the pellets. A 30gr load would be excessive for a brass frame and even a bit much for a steel frame. Not going to give you optimum accuracy. I'm under the impression that the pellets are for rifles, I'm sure someone here has used or is using them and can give you a better informed answer.



Preferably in the direction of your commie pinko bleeding heart liberal neighbor or his worthless good-for-nothing pimplefaced lazy SOB teenager son.
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I see you know my neighbors!


:D:D:D:D:D:D
 
To Delmar

In all seriousness, I have burned off some rounds on my property but I do it with the full knowledge that, while it is completely safe, it is also completely illegal. I just take the chance.

I don't recommend that anyone else do it because of the obvious dangers involved.

I am a safe shooter but I am not a fan of big government.
 
Whether it is legal or not depends on where you live. If I were in the city limits it would certainly not be legal for me. Still most of the shooting I do in the back yard is with plastic bullets. If I'm going to spend the day shooting I'm going to the gun range. If I just wanted to empty my pistol I'm going to shoot into my little hill.
 
Here's an experience that I want to share with those who are interested. I disassembled my 1851 Confederate Navy Revolver (brass frame Pietta) by driving the wedge out of the assembly with a piece of wood and small machinist's hammer. I pulled the barrel off and removed the cylinder. This was just to look at the parts and apply a little gun oil to the exterior surfaces because it had been handled by a bunch of people at the local black powder club. When I re-assembled the revolver I drove the wedge back into place using the same piece of wood and machinist's hammer. I noted that when I tried to rotate the cylinder by cocking the hammer, it rotated about three times, then started "hanging up" on me. I'd have to "mess" with it to get it to rotate and then it wasn't consistant. It would rotate a couple of times then "jam up" on me and it wouldn't rotate by cocking the hammer. I removed the wedge and looked at the surfaces of the revolver and noted a very slight "scratching/rub marks" on the front of the cylinder where it comes very close to the barrel cone. This time, I just pressed the wedge back into the slot and didn't hammer it in and it's working good. The only thing I can guess is that the tolerances are so close between the front of the cylinder and the barrel cone that you need to just push the wedge back into the slot until the spring metal tab catches on the side of the barrel assembly and not hammer it back into place. Hammering the wedge into place probably moves the barrel back toward the cylinder causing friction between the barrel and rotating cylinder. If I'm wrong about this, somebody please let me know so that I'm not putting out bad information.
 
The only thing wrong is that the spring tab does not need to catch on the side of the receiver. That tab is intended to catch on the head of the screw on the other side when the wedge is driven out, to keep the wedge from falling free and getting lost (you were supposed to be able to accomplish changing cylinders on horseback when the open top design was originally conceived). It has nothing to do with proper placement of the wedge when it's in place in the slot.

You've already noticed that wedge placement can determine the gap between the cylinder face and the forcing cone. The criterion for when the wedge is in the proper place is that the gap is between 0.006" and 0.010". No, you don't need to carry a set of feeler gages - just eyeball it and you'll be close enough. If that worries you, do it with a feeler gage until you learn what it should look like.
 
mykeal, Thanks for the info. I wondered what the screw was for. I couldn't see any adjustment function but now I know.
 
There is a member here who has posted a copy of Colt's original patent data; in that document Colt claims the screw is also used to affect the depth that the wedge is inserted into the slot by riding against the top surface of the spring leaf. Theoretically it makes sense, but I've never seen it actually work on any of my replica Colts.
 
Yup!

Mykeal said, "Theoretically it makes sense, but I've never seen it actually work on any of my replica Colts."

I tried fiddling with this for a while but I arrived at the conclusion that even if one could make it work it is more trouble than it is worth. I have an 1860 steel from ASP and on that pistol the screw comes close to controlling depth and by extension gap. Still it is not much help. Eyeball it or jiggle the cylinder after the pistol is reassembled.


I also find that the screws (at least on my pistols) do not do a reliable job of retaining the wedge when I remove the barrel. Ten times out of nine I wind up with the wedge in the palm of my left hand.
 
netnarc2 said:
The only thing I can guess is that the tolerances are so close between the front of the cylinder and the barrel cone that you need to just push the wedge back into the slot until the spring metal tab catches on the side of the barrel assembly and not hammer it back into place. Hammering the wedge into place probably moves the barrel back toward the cylinder causing friction between the barrel and rotating cylinder. If I'm wrong about this, somebody please let me know so that I'm not putting out bad information.
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What you experienced is very typical for replica revolver Colts. The problem is a short arbor/deep arbor hole. The arbor should bottom out in the lug hole and give you they desired barrel gap. Your attempting to achieve three things, the arbor bottoms just as the bottom of the lug touches the frame and barrel gap is with in spec. You then insert the wedge and it should be tight just as the nose of the wedge comes flush with the right side of the barrel lug. As the wedge and wedge slot wear the nose of the wedge well extend past the surface of the lug.

If the arbor is not bottomed tightly in the lug, when you fire the revolver the barrel assembly well move in and out beating the wedge and wedge slot.

Another problem with short arbors is as the barrel is installed and the bottom of the lug touches the bottom of the frame and you still have .030 barrel gap. The wedge is then driven in and closes the barrel gap up to , lets say, .010. What just happened? The barrel could not move back at the bottom but moved back .020 at the top causing the barrel to tilt up. One of the reasons these things shot very high some times.
 
Wow! I didn't realize that this was a subject that effects a lot of the black powder revolvers. I'm glad that I posted it and got so many replies and explainations. Thanks guys and ladies if any ladies are reading this. Don't want to leave the ladies out. You never know.
 
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