Minimum required for BP pistol shooting?

You shouldn't need to remove the cylinder to load it. Its designed to load in the revolver.

I thought you had a powder measure? set that to the volume you want & just fill it from the powder container. By all means use dippers, but check the volume with the powder measure. Then use that to pour into the chambers.

Put the hammer on 1/2 cock & drop your measured powder into the chamber just before the bottom of the frame. Seat a wad & then the ball on top of that. Turn the cylinder just enough to bring the loaded chamber in line with the built-in rammer & ram the powder/wad/ball home fully. I usually leave the lever down after this as it locks the cylinder for loading other chambers.

As you're loading one at first just cap the loaded chamber, then rotate the cylinder til the loaded chamber is just to the "upwind" side of aligning with the barrel.
Bring the hammer back to full cock to prepare for firing.

When you load all 6 do the 6 powder/wad/ball loads for all then go round again capping. Take care to always keep all body parts astern of the chamber mouth.:D

I'd keep the bore butter, not to put in front of the balls, with the wads that's a belt & suspenders thing & not needed. BUT (there's always one of them) but to lube the axis pin, rammer pivots & so on. Its more a grease lube than anything & oil is too thin & will be blown off immediately allowing fouling to bind up the cylinder rapidly. The greasy texture of the bore butter will hold in better giving more shots.
 
wogpotter -

Thanks a bunch for the procedural help, I plan to shoot it tomorrow morning and will post a range report assuming I and those around me survive. ;)

One more thing - when finished, do I do anything special with the gun to facilitate later cleaning or just plan to remove the grips and soak everything in hot water when I get back home?
 
The tools

Before you tear it down for cleaning be sure you have a proper set of drivers/bits. Yes, just about any driver from your tool box will work, but improper drivers will also wreak havoc on the screw heads. If they're already buggered you could make a bad situation worse. Also if the nips are stuck that bad I would consider a complete tear down, soak, clean and inspection prior to firing. Take your time. A few days soaking is way better than a nip busted in haste. Proper firearm tools are worth their weight. Good luck! That would be a hoot to shoot.
 
Powder, cap, ball are the minimum.

You should also make a powder measure. Use a brass cartridge case and glue it onto a stick. A powder flask or horn. You can make a horn from horn and wood. For a filler (safety), use old cornmeal or farina. That's what I used for years. Grease is nice and I brought along Crisco put into a small tin or jar with an ice cream stick as an applicator.
 
You shouldn't need any soaking as such.
I use hot soapy water to clean, a hot clear water rinse & thorough dry with a hair dryer followed by an immediate oiling.

I usually just remove the grips, pull the cylinder & unscrew the nipples.
 
Where are you on the Spacecoast, Spacecoast?

I'm on the Treasure Coast.

There are two excellent private ranges in your area, one to the north and one to the south and both have black powder shooters.

Sorry I saw this so late, if you just wanted to shoot it once we could meet up and I've got everything needed and then some.

I drive over to Okeechobee City and shoot at the OK Corral Gun Club which is east of town.
 
You need to learn how to unload a pistol without having to shoot it. There maybe a time you would need to do that. Unless you want to just pull the caps and plug the nipples with tooth picks. Unloading you will need a nipple wrench and a 1/8 brass rod about 4 inches long. Pull the nipples (make sure before you load that they come off) use a pick or a stout sowing needle to get most of the powder out then drove the ball out with the brass rod and mallet. The cylinder set on the side of a small piece of 2x4 should give you the clearance. Make sure you can pull the caps safely. You don't want an A\D.
 
One more thing, use a small piece of wooden dowel to seat the caps on the nipples. Somewhere on the internet there are pictures of a guy's thumb that didn't.
 
Thanks for the additional tips guys, seating the caps without incident does have me a bit nervous so I appreciate the point about the dowel.

swathdiver, this morning I will be shooting at Fellsmere, which is south of me.
 
I use a "popsicle stick" style craft stick. The ones I have are pretty stout and my grandkids don't miss the dozen or so that I swiped. They come in a box of a bunch, how many I don't know. If you know of someone at the local grade school they may pick you up a couple. They probably throw away allot of ones that you could use.
 
I have only ever had to unload an unfired chamber on 2 or 3 occasions, but it is good to have the required tools. I carry a dowel that just fits when the nipple is taken out, it doesn't take much force to knock the ball out and wood is easy on the threads.
Having concealed carry makes it easier, loaded revolver under my coat. I have a shoulder holster for the 8" barrel .44 and most often carry under my winter coat.
 
One more thing, use a small piece of wooden dowel to seat the caps on the nipples. Somewhere on the internet there are pictures of a guy's thumb that didn't.
Click to expand...

There's more to that story than he's telling. Looks more like he stuck his thumb in front of the cylinder when he pulled the trigger.
 
I've seen the pic and the story before and it never has added up. For one thing most people press caps on with the end of their thumb or the inside corner. Not the outside edge. And an exploding cap did that much damage? REALLY?:rolleyes: Has anyone ever heard of another instance of this happening? Nope, I think not. Methinks he made a dumb mistake and is covering it up.
 
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