Well I finally shot the Walker

B

Ben Towe

New member
I finally got around to shooting it late this evening. Went ahead and loaded 50 grains of Triple Seven behind .457 balls. I didn't expect alot of recoil, as heavy as it is, but it was virtually nonexistant. Made a pretty good fireball though on most of the shots. Loading lever fell every shot.:D
Maybe this link will work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=g1eCGtsE4vs

EDIT: You'll have to excuse my expression of suprise at the beginning of the video.:p
 
Guess: 777 is very sensitive to compression, even to the point of squib fires or FTF's if overdone. If the chambers were hand loaded (that is, using the gun's loading lever) that could very well be the result of inconsistent compression.
 
i owned a 3rd model dragoon which was a nice large pistol with a latch on the loading lever.

if i owned a walker i would use a piece of flat leather or thin strong string to hold the lever from moving down during recoil.

just slip it forward for reloading.

hey, maybe a large rubber band may do the trick?

i wonder if the real ones had the same problem?
i have't read personal accounts mentioning it but i think the walker wasn't in wide use for long before the upgrade was offered....a dragoon with a latch.

just a suggestion........

S.M.
 
Ben,

777 doesn't like heavy compression. You'll get inconsistent results. You want the projectile to just barely press onto the powder. Perhaps 1/16" and of course never an air gap.

Nice fireball on that first shot. Don't know why there wasn't any evidence of a fireball on your other shots. I guess no one saw one? I was going to say that sometimes the camera doesn't catch it but a human eye certainly will.
 
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Ben Towe said:
Since I have the video link up, anyone care to venture a guess as to why some shot blow flame and some do not?
Click to expand...

Because Triple 7, like other BP subs, produces much less flame than black powder?

Because you were using a digital camera shooting maybe 15 frames per second, and a BP fireball lasts such a short duration that it's hit or miss that it might actually have been wholly or partially caught on one of those 15 frames?
 
JBar nailed the explanation of why not all flashes were caught on camera (just so many frames per second and quick flash).

Ben,
Check the condition of your wedge and the cylinder gap. My two Uberti Walkers started out pretty tight (about .005") then 30 shots each of 50grs FFFg BP and the gap opened up to about .015". I managed to crush a couple of wedges rather than stretch the wedge cutout in the arbor. Be careful with the big charges of 777. I know of one guy whose Walker came apart at the wedge cutout with a full load of 777 and sent the barrel assembly down range. I replaced my wedges and all is well but my current load is 44grs FFg Goex+wad+.454 ball.
 
Well, he said he and others didn't observe a flash. That's their naked eye doing the viewing....that is unless these guys are really androids with bionic eyes made from Droid X phones. ;)
 
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ClemBert, you've exposed us! Our handlers won't be happy.:D
My cylinder gap is virtually none, but I've only fired those six shots through it so it may loosen up a bit.
 
I recall from my working days that USAF pilots were able to identify planes whose images were flashed on a screen from total darkness for 1/220th of a second. That's IDENTIFY. Just DETECTING the occurrence of a flash of light out of darkness is much easier. I believe that someone with reasonably normal eyesight could detect a flash of light lasting just 1/300th of a second in total darkness. If there was a flash, I think they'd have seen it.
 
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