Here is part of a 1800's Cap&Ball grizzly story,
The following story is from THE PRAIRIE TRAVELER, by Capt Randolph
B. Marcy, published in 1859, pages 165 & 166. It's a fascinating,
and eye-opening book, written by Capt Marcy in the late 1850's for
Americans headed west. Reprints are available through Amazon.com.
When reading this excerpt, remember that in 1858, the only revolvers
readily available were Colt's, and the only "Army" revolver
available at that time was the Colt Dragoon. It is not stated
whether round balls or conical bullets were fired, ("ball" being a
generic term in 1858 for any projectile, round or conical) but my
feeling is that the Navy Colts were usually fired with round balls,
at least until combustible cartridges became readily available
around 1860. The Dragoon, on the other hand, had been customarily
fired with the 219 grain conical bullet, using 28, 36, or 41 grains
of powder, the charges listed in Colt literature of that era. Both
the Walker Colt and the early Dragoons were sold with a single-
cavity conical bullet mould, which is why the conical became the
customary Dragoon projectile.
Enjoy a look back at 1858.
Greg Nelson
"Notwithstanding Colt's Army and Navy sized revolvers have been
in use for a long time by our army, officers are by no means of one
mind as to their relative merits for frontier service. The navy
pistol, being more light and portable, is more convenient for the
belt, but it is very questionable in my mind whether these qualities
counterbalance the advantages derived from the greater weight of
powder and lead that can be fired from the larger pistol, and the
consequent increased projectile force.
This point is illustrated by an incident which fell under my
own observation. In passing near the "Medicine-Bow Butte" during
the spring of 1858, I most unexpectedly encountered and fired at a
full grown grizzly bear; but, as my horse had become somewhat blown
by a previous gallop, his breathing so much disturbed my aim that I
missed the animal at the short distance of about fifty yards.
Fearful, that if I stopped to reload my rifle, the bear would make
his escape, I resolved to drive him back to the advanced guard of
our escort, which I could see approaching in the distance; this I
succeeded in doing, when several mounted men, armed with navy
revolvers, set off in pursuit. They approached within a few paces,
and discharged ten or twelve shots, the most of which entered the
animal, but he still kept on, and his progress did not seem
materially impeded by the wounds. After these men exhausted their
charges, another man rode up armed with the army revolver, and fired
two shots, which brought the stalwart beast ot the ground. Upon
skinning him and making an examination of the wounds, it was
discovered that none of the balls from the smaller pistols, after
passing through his thick and tough hide, penetrated deeper than
about an inch into the flesh, but that the two balls from the large
pistol had gone into the vitals and killed him. This test was to my
mind a decisive one as to the relative merits of the two arms for
frontier service, and I resolved thenceforth to carry the larger
one."
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