Purchasing Cap n Ball revolver, need advice!

I get a nice continuous ring of lead when I seat my .375 ball in my .36 Colt replica, and I feel that's a nice start for avoiding chainfire. I stay away from conical bullets and hand-casting. I also use bore-butter on my lead ball but I don't smear the cylinder with crisco or the like. I feel my precautions are quite good for the one cap and ball revolver I own

When I buy another I'll have to see what I will see and examine if a chainfire is more or less likely with that other revolver

But for now I like my Pietta a lot. Fun and easy to shoot. I'd like an 1860 Colt Army in .44, and I will likely get a relatively short barrel; these things are pretty accurate nowadays. It's fun to out-shoot the casual bambambambambam crowd at the club with my "BAMclickclickBAMclickclickBAM" slower fire. I guess it helps that I aim, while they like to burn ammo ;)
 
get that '58 Rem (w/steel frame if you can afford it) 8" bbl.
use a .38spcl caseful of 3F for a good target load (about 21 grs) and a couple felts then .452 rb. go over that load sparingly with a brasser. it will handle it just for 'hunting' load but don't puish it.
if a steel frame then a X39 caseful of 3F makes a good 'hot load' useing a Lee mold conical.
good luck and welcome to some fun shooting.
I take my BP revolvers camping every time I go and have a blast shooting them.
clean with windsheild washer fluid does good. get winter mix has more alky in it really cuts the crud. then wipe with clean water cloth, dry well after scrubbing/wiping clean and re-lube.

oh yeah mykeal has some good advice to heed it.
 
Hey Chris, I do believe I just ordered that model, the Colt navy that Cabelas sells in a .36. I look forward to getting it. Whats the downfalls to casting as that was going to be my next purchase, a Lee .375 round mold.


Any other words of wisdom to the newb like myself, I know its not my thread, but figured its covering the same questions I was going to ask. What I ordered was the Colt Navy .36, Hornady .375 round balls, and lubed wads. I figure I can get the powder at Bass Pro Shop as well as the caps.

I have always wanted one of these, always bought a normal firearm, but the time has come and I look forward to it. If I like this one the Remington .44 will quickly follow.
 
If I were you, I'd wait to decide on a mold, until I knew .375 was going to work. I bought a .36 Navy and ordered some .375 balls, and they ended up not shaving the ring of lead. They were snug enough to shoot, but they still made me uncomfortable, so I ordered a .380 Lee mold and those fit great.
 
I'm no expert. :) I will say that just because .375 ball works so well in my .36 Pietta revolver, that's no gaurantee you'll have as good results using my procedure in your .36 Pietta revolver

My Pietta is a little weird. It's not a very good replica, because it's a Police model built on a larger frame. Supposedly an "1862 Colt New York Metropolitan Police" model, if that even really existed in 1862, which I doubt! Looks like the 1862 pocket Police model, but larger and has a six shot cylinder rather than a 5 shot one. Handsome though

DSCF0020.jpg


But my head could get turned by an 1851 squareback Navy pretty easily I think. The open tops have to be one of the prettiest designs ever made

edit:

dammit, now I want to go shooting. Even my real Colt doesn't make me want to go shoot as much as that Pietta does
 
Thanks for all the great replies!

I bought my revolver today, and am very very excited! I grabbed the cheap Cabela's holster and belt as well, which actually don't seem that bad for the price.

Few more questions if you folks are up to it.

Remington Gun Oil w/ Teflon: Ok to use after cleaning for storage?

How many total grains are in a lb of pyrodex p powder? (I wanna calculate the cost/shot)

Properly taken care of, what is the lifetime of a gun like this? Its the Pietta 1858 Remington New Army, 8'' barrel. Can anyone give me a rounds fired lifetime estimate?

Thanks again for all the help!
 
Jar,

7000 grains in a pound. So if you use 35 grains, 200 rounds, about a dime per shot.. Caps are 4 bucks or more per hundred. (I have about 1500 so haven't bought any in a while.)

Balls from 6 to 10 per hundred. Cast your own, lead at a buck a pound, if you can get it for that, 50 .44 cal per pound, 2 cents vs 6 to 10 cents bought.

If you can scrounge old roof vent flashing from roofers or old pipe from plumbers, both were sometimes pure lead. Free.

Have fun. You've picked a great addition to your hobby.

Cheers,

George
 
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Remington Gun Oil w/ Teflon: Ok to use after cleaning for storage?

Sure, as far as I know.

How many total grains are in a lb of pyrodex p powder? (I wanna calculate the cost/shot)

A pound is 7000 grains, but Pyrodex is measued by "volume grains", not weight grains. Consider a pound of Pyrodex to be 1.3 pounds or 9100 grains for the purposes of measuring grains by volumn.

Properly taken care of, what is the lifetime of a gun like this? Its the Pietta 1858 Remington New Army, 8'' barrel. Can anyone give me a rounds fired lifetime estimate?

It will probably last you the rest of your life unless you neglect cleaning it or abuse it.
 
Check to see if the Rem oil is a petroleum product. Black powder and petroleum based oils do not mix well. They well make clean up much more difficult. I use Ballistol, it is a mineral based oil. there are other options on the market.
 
I hope you have lots of fun with your 58 Rem. I was going to chime in and say that would be your best bet for a first C&B revolver. But my other equal choice would be a '51 Navy in .36. Steel frame of course.

One thing about the '58 Rem Pietta I have noticed... I know you're not supposed to dry fire them in general, but the Pietta '58 Remington especially is bad, because the mainspring is powerful enough to seriously deform the nipples from just one hammer fall. Ask me how I know. :D

So far both the '58's I have fired had the very strong spring. Of course, I'm guessing this can vary between guns.
 
Colts Rule!

Congrats on you purchase - you made a good choice.

However, there were not nearly enough of the Colt shooters chiming in to counter them Remington boys!

I've got a bunch of the Colt type revolvers. Got two of them from Cabela's and I could not be happier.

I've also got one of the 1851 style Colts in 44 caliber with a brass frame. I've shot a load of balls through it with no signs of wear or looseness or any of the other hogwash that you'll read here and elsewhere.

Like others have said, one is not enough.

Be sure to get one of the Colt type revolvers so you can see why they were so popular - the Colts will serve you well.

If they were good enough for Wild Bill Hickok, they're good enough for me.
 
I believe the Colt design is better at keeping powder fouling out of the lockwork. The design of the hammer, and the step in the cylinder diameter, seems to be designed to keep the powder fouling from invading the lock.
 
I'll chime in with the Colt crowd, more or less.

Three steel frame Pietta 1860 Army's
Three 1849 Colts; two original and one repro from ASM
Two Uberti 1847 Walkers
Two brass frame High Standard Griswold & Gunnison 1851 .36 cal Navy patterns
Nine Ruger Old Army's (OK, so they're a loose copy of a Remington)

And I'm eyeballin' a Uberti 1861 Navy .36 cal at a local pawn shop for $140... ;)
 
MCB,

I hate to disagree with you and ALL the rest of the BP fraternity. Mineral oil is made from petroleum. There is no other mineral that will produce oil other than an oil field or oil bearing shale or sand.

See here: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-mineral-oil.htm

And here: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/383737/mineral-oil

All other oils are either plant or animal derived. Fish are animals, too.

Petrolatum, or Vaseline, is petroleum based, see the name, but gelled.

I like olive oil and lamb fat for my lubes but they are no better than oil based product.

The first oil well was drilled by Drake in PA in 1867. There were few if any petroleum based lubes prior to that. So if ANY BP shooter before that time used lube at all, and there is no evidence that they did, other than the Whitworth, they used what was available. In those days, animal fats, whale (sperm) oil or some other oils like corn and olive.

The earliest writings I have about any other use of lubed wads is Elmer Keith who did use wads punched from felt hats and soaked in tallow. He was around in the days when BP revolvers were still in vogue, and he seems to have gotten his advice from older than he BP shooters.

Actually, he was so damned sharp, he might have dreamed it up himself.

Other than that, I think the long rifle patched ball shooters used spit to lube the patch.

Use any lube you want.

Cheers,

George
 
new Remington 1858 steel frame guns for $169 at Cabela's

to the OP- Cabela's now has a coupon sale on Remington 1858 steel frame pistols, only $169 each brand spankin' new

why pay more ?
 
Anything vegetable based. It doesn't matter what you use inside the action but keep any petro based lubes out of the bore and chambers
 
I hate to disagree with you and ALL the rest of the BP fraternity. Mineral oil is made from petroleum. There is no other mineral that will produce oil other than an oil field or oil bearing shale or sand.

You are correct, mineral oil is a by product of the refining of petroleum I believe. A light hydrocarbon oil. There should be a better way to differentiate it.

The point is mineral oil does not react to burning black powder like other petroleum based oils, such as motor oil or many gun oils.

+1 on hawg's post.
 
Hawg,

No, I am not saying 10-W-40. I am saying that them who declare "mineral oil" to be good are wrong. "Mineral oil" is made from that same crude oil that your engine oil is made.

Personally, I like using olive (I use Pomace, the cheap stuff, on sale this week my local Italian grocer, for 9.99 per gallon.) I ain't using 30 bucks a gallon EVOO for shooting BP. I also save my lamb fat, and as a Serb I eat lamb, so have the fat to save, and even bacon fat. I eat that, also, and I don't throw lard away. I use it for cooking, and I also use it to make my lube.

Lamb fat, olive oil and bee's wax made in the right proportion make a lube that saturates my wool cloth that I punch my wads from. Short of lamb fat, I will use lard, bacon drippins. Get it soft enough to handle when it gets chilly out.

I gotta refer you to Sam Fadala who has tried ALL the lubes and says there is absolutely NO difference in how the residue builds up with ANY of them. If any of you don't have his book, "The Complete Blackpowder Handbook", I will scan a page or two referring to lubes.

A page I have perused says that olive oil and vegetable oils should be avoided.

See here: It seems like the alkaline powder residue is reacting with the olive oil to make a particularly corrosive mixture, and since Wonder Lube is supposed to have olive oil in it, this may be why they both react the same way. As was also seen with the first experiments, vegetable oils and materials containing them should be avoided if you are looking for corrosion-proofing.

That is from this link: http://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_experiments/corrosion/corrosion2.html

Hey! This ain't me! These is muzzle loader shooters.. We shoot BP too, but they have longer barrels.

The only real resemblance in any oil to another is it feels greasy. Some more than the other. But all oils are basically fats, whether you think we are burning dinosaur fat or not. As much of that fat is all those millions of years of trees and grass and any grains that their were getting pressed under all that weight 50 million years ago. All mixed up, but still "OIL".

WD 40 is oil, 10-W-40 is oil, Canola is oil, Mazola is oil, and Kroil is oil. They are all hydrocarbons. They all react in a similar way, but some, veggie oils, seem to react more with BP combustion products than others, and it seems that the veggie oils are worse than the petroleum oils, in some instances.

I don't care if you think that beef fat or sheep fat or pig fat or soybean oil is the best. That post, and another I have but can't find (I have tons of link, one was Knight Rifles, but it seems to have been left to go) had shot and scraped the residue and weighed it. It ain't there anymore, so can't use that.

If I can find that, I will post it.

Hawg,

As far as oils go, almost any oil you have on hand will do for shooting BP. Most of them will react less with BP than olive and some other vegetable oils will.

I am sorry to burst any bubbles. There is no historical USE even, of oils or greases used 150 years ago, other than the Whitworth wadding. Greased patches or wads date from about 1910, Elmer Keith's era. I think he invented the process we all adhere to today. You GOTS to grease the ball, either with an under or over ball glob of grease.

Sorry if that makes any of you unhappy, but that is the way I read it.
A ball that shaves eliminates front end chain fire. Period.

Gotta go to bed. Have fun cuttin' me down to size.

Cheers,

George
 
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