Lessons from one new to C & B: Never forget to clean your gun

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I recently picked up one of Cabela's "Colt Navy 1851's"....the cheap one with the brass frame. My goal was to see if I liked C&B. The gun was a blast to shoot, and was a great platform to learn more about blackpowder.

This morning, I took the pistol out and noticed lots of rust. The cylinder would not turn and the barrel would not come apart. That's when I remembered that during the last "firearms weekend" where my friends and I shot lots of guns, I put the Navy aside to clean separately. However, a friend put it back in the box and I simply forgot.

So, in just six weeks, "globs" of rusty residue covered the cylinders and barrel. The hammer would not budge. So, out comes the rubber mallet. Nothing. Finally, with a vice and hammer (using a mouse-pad in an attempt to protect the finish) the barrel came off. The cylinder FINALLY came loose using a brass punch and 2# hammer. Speaking of hammers, I was finally able to get the hammer to "cock" using oil and a screwdriver. Of course, the nipples all needed to be taken apart and cleaned. They looked like little balls of rust.

With everything apart, using brushers, steel wool, hot water and Rem-Oil, everything is working fine. The gun even looks good, having survived the pounding it took without damage. However, if the six weeks would have been six months, which is not uncommon during the winter "hiatus" from shooting, the results may have been much different.

So, if you are new to C&B, take it from another "newbie," and clean that gun well before storage.

Now that my lesson is learned, I'm looking to get a 2nd Gen Colt:)
 
As a follow-up, the Navy shot great this morning, with it's "usual" 3/4" pattern at 7 yards (3" high) and 1 3/4" pattern (9" high) at 15 yards. Now it's time to play with the sites!
 
You probally know this, but when you have a brass framed cap and ball you should use a smaller powder charge 16-18 grains because the arbor pin will loosen in the frame, and the frame will stretch, causing the barrel to not fit correctly, but if you take care of it properly, it will last you a while and a lot of fun :)
Good luck!
 
According to the Cabela's "instruction suppliment" the brass .44 can be loaded up to 25 grains, whereas the .36 is 16 grains. I've been loading 20 most of the time, but must confess I also used the 30 gr. Pyrodex the day I got the gun for 10 shots before I read the "instruction supplement" that night. My bad. It does not appear cause any stretching with those few rounds.

I am sighting the gun using 20 grains. I did notice that the factory set up was "on target" at 35 yards with 20 grains. Now to get the gun "on target" at 15 yards.
 
Sadly, this sounds more more like a lesson in Pyrodex to me...

I carry a Remington in my car, and it is filthy!

She has not been been cleaned in months. Put 50 shots through the 45 colt conversion last weekend, and then just 2 nights ago I was lucky enough to see a racoon in the hayfield...so I stopped and shot him in the head at about 20 yards...reloaded and back in it's holster she went.

Now all of this shooting has been with Real Olde Eynsford Black powder....and my revolver does not have a spec of rust....NO where...she has been treated like this for over 10 years.;)
 
Dittos on the pyrodex being the culprit. I've left dirty, fouled revolvers with BP (Goex, Scheutzen) loaded chambers for as much as 2 months and found they weren't rusty or corroded, and shot just fine.

Many moons ago I used Pyrodex in single shot rifles and pistols. I had a single shot rifle rust up over night after a shooting session using pyrodex. The remainder of the bottle became lawn fertilizer and I've never used Pyrodex since
 
The gun can also appear to "stretch" without the arbor pulling out of the frame. What can happen is the thin recoil ring on the recoil shield can get pounded inward by the back of the cylinder and literally create an impression of the back of the cylinder which allows the cylinder to work its way farther & farther rearward which increases the cylinder gap giving the appearance of the gun being "shot loose".
 
Before deer season every year hunters bring me several neglected muzzleloading rifles. The owners of those rifles expect me to restore them to pristine condition. The worst cases are guns that were fired and stored in lined gun cases.

About half of those guns are ruined by the firing of blackpowder: About half are ruined by the firing of Pyrodex. The primary cause is sulfur: Both blackpowder and Pyrodex contain sulfur. Triple Seven, APP, JSG, Black MZ and BH 209 do not contain sulfur.

Expect your gun to rust if not properly cared for. This is especially true for guns fired with blackpowder and Pyrodex.
 
I think...

APP = American Pioneer Powder
JSG = Jim Shockey's Gold by American Pioneer Powder
BH 209 = Blackhorn 209 by Western Powders I nc.

Blackhorn has a comparison chart for what it's worth, but I don't know if all these work well in cap and ball pistols without exploring other things, like compressing the powder.

http://www.blackhorn209.com/specs/comparison

( I know most everybody knows the abbreviations, but maybe not some readers. I don't see some of those around here, searched and found the chart)
 
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In response to 356

In a different post I spoke of a pistol I took in trade for a box of old bicycle revolver parts.

The revolver was a .36 brass frame 1860 style Colt. I saw that is was missing some screws and was bound up so it wouldn't budge.

I went through the same thing you did getting the pistol apart.

The previous owner really trashed the pistol. Screwdriver marks all over it from prying it to get it apart. Dings in the barrel lug where he tried to get the wedge out. Bore was caked with corrosion. All internal parts were able to move but the rust was pretty bad. When I opened it up ,the remnants of two caps fell out of the works.

The good news is that it has not been fired much nor does it seem that the pistol was loaded too heavily. Recoil ring is like new. All of the nipples came out with no hassle.

After the clean up the pistol looks much better. Polished up the brass and refinished the steel with cold blue. Most of the evidence of abuse is gone. Danged thing actually looks pretty good.

I need another 1860 Colt like a turtle need seat belts, so I'll prolly put it up for sale.
 
Yup, I had a similar experience. Years ago I bought one of those Walmart blister starter packs of a brass 1851 in .44 caliber. Shot it with pyrodex. Figured I'd clean it in a couple of days. Already lots of corrosion by then. Real black powder is not as aggressive.

Steve
 
5 Months w/o cleaning after Pyrodex

I think this falls into - YMMV

From my short limited experience it seems the cylinder & cylinder pin on BP revolvers will lock up if fired enough (couple weeks) w/ no grease & Pyrodex.

While home on an extended "vacation" I made it about 2 weeks shooting Pyrodex every couple days before the my 1858 New Army Pietta locked up and needed cleaning. Note I was not using grease. Cleaned the gun and left for overseas in August 2014.

Move forward to April 2015 - went home to the states, fired about 3 or 4 cylinders full of Pyrodex pellets behind a 454 ball. Put the gun up, in a leather holster, w/o cleaning (climate "controlled" room) & went back overseas.

Came back to the states - 5 months later...


I was a little disappointed, from all the horror stories I'd heard, I expected to come back to a pile of rust. As expected the cylinder and cylinder pin were locked up. The hammer still had movement.

All that was required to remove the cylider was a tap from a plastic mallet on the cylinder pin.

1 tiny spec of surface rust on 1 of the locking notches - that wiped off. Bore, while dirty, cleaned up just fine - no pitting. Overall finish of the gun - still perfect.


I'm actually trying to add some character to the gun & eventually plan strip the finish.
 
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As noted, the gun came clean, and looks great. Of course, I am not using Pyrodex, since I was able to find some Triple 7, which works great (but still was dirty). I should add that the nipples came out fine. Two were pretty rusted, but all in all, everything cleaned up great, and the gun shoots well.

I am now looking forward to shooting a NIB 2nd Gen Colt 1st Dragoon I picked up on Gunbroker.
 
Triple 7 can rust things up, too, since it's also hygroscopic, even though it lacks that nasty smelling sulfur.
Keeping the powder soft is probably more important to prevent rust than the powder type.
 
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