How many shots before cleaning C&B revolver

stubbicatt

New member
Guys, still hot on the trail of a Whitneyville Dragoon. I wonder though, how many shots before accuracy begins to deteriorate? I reckon to use round ball, 3F, and wonder wads.

I ask as I suppose I'll do some load development along the way, and wanted to be sure I didn't queer the results by failing to clean fouling out of the barrel so as to get a good measure of the groups fired.

Guess I'll need a little brass hammer to tap out the wedge, right?
 
I don't normally shoot paper; but, shooting CAS 4 matches in 3 weeks last October, I put over 150 rounds through each of a pair of 1861 Navies before they started to bind up. Only maintenance done was wiping down the exterior, hammer and cylinder and relubing the arbors a couple times. The weather was cool & damp. Hot and dry conditions they may need a good going over after 5 or six stages.
 
I primarily shoot a '51 Uwerti Navy and a .36 Remington "Navy". Instead of wonder wads, I use 1/8's leather wads I punch from my leather scraps (I do leather work as a hobby) and I soak them in my BP lube melted - take 'em out and pat dry with a paper towel. My lube for 50 years has been a pound of Crisco melted and mixed with one melted toilet bowl ring (the old style true beeswax ring). Anyway, with a leather wad and a smear of the lube over the round ball, I can shoot many cylinders full with no problems. I might shoot 100 rounds or so on a good range day - never a problem with cylinder bind or excessive fouling.

As Fingers says - he shoots / shot 150 rounds or so and no problems - and I'm sure he could have kept going.

Before I load, I do remove the cylinders and lube the pins with my BP lube - no muss, no fuss, no cylinder binding not he pin due to fouling..

I would expect that you could plan on experiencing the same thing. Good luck with your search and have fun! :)
 
I used to run a pair of pietta 1860 colts in cas, and id get done and just clean long before there was an issue.
But, i shot conicals, with the grooves lubed with home lube, crisco and beeswax. No wad or need to smear over it.
Accuracy never seemed to drop, but was shooting steel.
Colt style guns do build up fouling on the hammer, and it will start to bind after a few cylinder fulls, causing misfires. Just wipe it off every so often.
Personally, i set up competition guns so that the wedge can be pushed out by hand. I set a pin in the frame to keep the caps on the nipples, and i widen the frame hammer groove at the top, so that the hammer getting fouled doesnt bind it nearly so fast.
A slight chamfer on the cylinder chambers leaves the ball tighter, swages it in, instead of shaving it off.
 
I usually get 18~24 rounds before the fouling binds the cylinder pin a little. I've never noticed fouling effecting accuracy though, even after firing 30~40 rounds. I don't "clean" after the 18, I just clear the face & axis pin, reapply grease lube & carry on.
 
My Uberti Milennium Remingtons will start to gum up after 2-3 stages whereas my Euroarms Remingtons will shoot the whole match without trouble. Simple solution (literally) is to put 1 drop of oil on the front of the cylinder where it rubs on the frame. I do this after I charge each cylinder (all 6 chambers) then I twirl the cylinder a bit to work it down onto the cylinder pin. Takes about 15 seconds and the gun is freed up nicely. No disassembly needed. I keep a little squeeze bottle of the oil (olive oil or Ballistol) in my shoot box for that purpose.
 
I cheat a little; I remove the cylinder to reload on my slightly fantasy "1862" NY Met. Police open top. When I reload, I use an old toothbrush to give the arbor etc a quick scrub. I think cheating is wonderful. But I'll got a whole range trip without real 'cleaning' (meaning maybe 48 shots) and I see no change in accuracy; that little thing is a good shooter.

I use a bit of hard plastic to pop out the wedge, just needs a little hard squeeze but that's my pistol, yours will be different.
 
using triple 7..I can shoot my Ruger Old Army's till I run out of desire/energy/balls/powder/caps...in other words...till I stop to clean it for storage
 
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