One Winter Project Completed

[River City John]

I wanted to post some pics showing progress on my Leech & Rigdon clone.

I had Ottawa Creek Bill do some machining and a refinish a couple of years ago. In the interim I have changed out the nipples to Treso and reworked the internals and the hammer face, and opened up the rear sight notch on the hammer.


This winter I decided to add the engraved "LEECH & RIGDON" name on top of the barrel flat found on many of the originals.


I contacted Dale Woody, out of Randle, WA.  ( www.gunfancy.com ), sent him the barrel and in two weeks received the work back as promised. The workmanship was excellent and the cost very reasonable, and without compromising the refinish done by OCB. I was impressed all the more as for the past several weeks Washington had been hammered by snow and rain, and the Cowlitz River was reported at flood stage at Randle, WA last week.

I would highly recommend Mr. Woody. He was very personable, responded to e-mails rapidly, and possesses that kind of work ethic.


(I regret that I had not purchased one of those all steel .36 Whitney Navy c'n'b clones that Dixie had offered in their catalog several years ago. Would have made a lovely pair!)
RCJ


 

[River City John]

Uberti.

This is actually the second L & R I've owned. Had one ten years ago.
I had lucked out in that one as it was a tack driver, and always was able to disassemble the barrel wedge with just thumb pressure and pull the barrel easily regardless of how much it had been fired. I had a pard lusting after it and in a moment of poverty sold it to him.

Wanted to get another one, so I bought one in 2005 again from Dixie Gun Works. By that time the ones coming out of DGW had the correct half-octagonal, half-round barrel, but for simplicity of production they were using the roll-engraved cylinder of the '51 Colt. The original L & R had a plain cylinder, and the one I owned ten years ago did too. And I was not able to find a plain cylinder as an after market part from VTI.

I worked out a deal with OCB to remove the scene on the cylinder, strip the modern blue job off, clean up the metal a bit, re-blue with a finish closer to a period finish that would have 'aged' 10-15 years with use after the War, polish up the re-blue then strip and refinish the grips a darker walnut.

Interestingly, Cimarron has since offered the Leech & Rigdon in their 'antiqued' finish, although from what I have seen it is closer to bare metal without the charcoal blue undertones that Bill did. (The standard blue L & R Cimarron shows online has the '51 Colt roll-engraved cylinder too. Hard to tell from the pics of their "Original"-finish L & R what style the cylinder is.)
With use over the years the finish has grayed down a bit. I expect the engraved "LEECH & RIGDON" will darken over time and have more contrast with the surface patina.

(Just to mention, the CSN coat was made by James Country Mercantile, www.jamescountry.com; and the CSN belt and buckle by Hanover Brass, www.hanoverbrass.com . Highly recommend both.)
RCJ     

[Ottawa Creek Bill]

John......
Looks like the real thing, are you going to shoot it at the national shoot this year?

Bill

[Advertising]

[River City John]

Bill,
I will be shooting the L & R a lot this year. Going to try to use paper cartridges in period packs of six and with correct labeling. Should make loading much faster.
I've kept myself true to that yearly rotation I talked about last year on these major events.
I am going to make the NCOWS Convention in Kansas this year since I passed on it last year, and I'll have the L & R there.
There are too many great events to attend, and I promised myself I'd shoot at the FDMR Shootout at Coyote Gulch this year. And of course!, both events are scheduled on the same dates this year.

The blast I had last year at NCOWS National 2008 will have to tide me over til next year's National.

I contacted the powers that be at FDMR to ask whether anyone would get the 'drizzles' if I wanted to use my single shot rolling-block Remington carbine as my main match long arm. I think the jury is still out on that.   Oh well, I have my '66 and could still use the Leech & Rigdon.

Well it seems that I am making the National this year after all.
RCJ

[Ottawa Creek Bill]

RCJ......
Sorry to hear you are not going to be at the National shoot this year, we're going to try to get everyone that shoots percussion to agree to one pistol only during the match.

Do you think you could post the process of making paper cartridges here on Cas City along with photos? I'd like to see the original style box and label you are using too.

Round ball or conical?

Bill

[River City John]

Easiest to use a round ball, so that is what I will likely use. Although I do want to experiment with some of the Buffalo Ball-ets with the rebated end that come in .36 cal. I have used those with loose powder and they were accurate and the extra weight better for knockdown power on reactive targets. That rebated base should be perfect to wrap a paper around.
I have made some combustible cartridges using cigarette papers that were made with the little twisted 'rattail' end that goes into the chamber first before ramming home, but I was getting faulty ignition and charred paper buildup from that little stump of twisted paper. I am going to try Sgt. Chapman's method of creating a squared off end then cap them by taking a paper punch and punching out discs along the glue side of larger rolling papers. . . (think the Fabulous Furry Freak Bros. Giganto Doobie papers you can get in some of the smoke shoppes ).

This courtesy of Sgt. John Chapman. . . .I couldn't present it any better.
 

Is this what you all were looking for?............



'Making Useable Combustible Paper Cartridges'
     44 Cal Combustible Cartridges
Compliments of Sgt John Chapman

Some of this is to your preference, so I will tell you what I did and you can take it from there.
For the 44cal cartridges I use Bugler cigarette papers they measure roughly 1 1/2" x 2 3/4" . A piece of a 7/16" dowel stick long enough to handle, (at least 6"),  Saltpetre, an Elmer's glue stick, and scissors. Optional things Dehydrator with sheet plastic for fruit roll-ups.
(For 36 cal. I use a 3/8" dowel and for 31 cal. I use a 5/16 dowel)
Against the steel rule you can see the approximate length of the dowels(mine are too short) and the taper this is the part where you need to find your own preference. You want the taper to allow you a good angle to load and to create a "paper cup" just big enough to hold your powder charge and hold it tight, a lose powder bag will rip easier than a tight one.
Keep in mind here you may have to revamp the shape of the dowel after a few tries so it will work better......I think I went through 4 or so...........

Stuff Used

 
 
 
OK, her we go, break out about twelve papers, mix up a solution of Saltpetre and water, about 1 cup of water and two teaspoons of the Saltpetre, and lay the papers flat in the solution so they wont bunch up. This will be the toughest part of this whole thing. After about an hour very carefully, with a set of tweezers or something of that order, pull the papers out one at a time and place them on the Fruit Roll-up sheet in the dehydrator or on a sheet of wax paper and let them dry. Sounds simple enough but don't cuss me when you try it. Dry time in the Dehydrator is about 15 - 20 minutes on the wax paper I guess it depends on the day. I do a whole book of papers just to get it out of the way and put them in a Ziploc bag, you will ruin some papers but keep them you will need them later. Don't do any more than 12 at a time it's too much to handle.
 
After you get all the papers done you might need to smooth some of them out a little, I used the steel rule in the picture and drug it lightly across the top of the paper and against a hard smooth surface like the kitchen counter tops, again you will see what you can get away with, just go easy.  I then cut my papers to 1 1/2" x a sliver over 1", again yours may be different due to a smaller powder charge or whatever. What you want to wind up with is about 1/16th " fold over on the base of the "cut" we are making. We now take the papers that were cut and carefully wrap them around the dowel and glue the seam with the glue stick, with it tapered the bottom will overlap a little extra don't worry that's fine . Once that's done out of the extra paper left over or out of  the ruined papers cut a 3/8 x 3/8" square  and glue it to the bottom of the cup.   Hopefully this drawing will help a little?
                                                             
 Fold over.....

 
Cutting the Paper.......

     
I cut a lot of these squares at one time. What this does is form a cup which will hold the powder but is thin enough to let the cap blow through this is the secret to the whole thing, most "Paper Cartridges" made are twisted at the end or all folded up and even if you use a pick the cap cannot flame past it all. This method cures that.
Make a handful of the cups and then move on, later when you have figured out the correct "cup" you can mass produce them . I have about 1000 cups extra and the slugs and periodically when I need them I powder them and put them together.
Any way, make your powder charges, I do this one at a time to prevent mishaps, and I throw 30 gn 3F Black from my flask into the cup and tap it down . I then take a slug made with Lee Precisions 200gn Conical, cap and ball mould put glue around the base and put it in the top of the cup. This sounds a little difficult but go slow the glue softens the paper a little and it usually slips right over with a slight twisting motion, at this point square the bullet out and let them dry over night. you can also substitute round balls at this point but grease over them after loading.
 
  http://www.midwayusa.com/rewriteaproduct/285116   
 
  This is the Bullet mould.
 
Last of all, I took the Bees Wax/Crisco mix we use with BP and wiped it into the exposed grease groove working towards the nose as not to get any on the paper.
Now your ready to shoot, it's my understanding that enough contact is made on the sides of this slug that you don't have to put lube over the top like balls.
 
 
When loading these animals will be a little snug getting them under the ram sometimes , if you push firmly, straight down they will pop down a little more and have more room  if you need it, with round balls you wont have this problem.
 
Regards,
 
 Sgt John Chapman
 
If I left anything out or seemed to have, or you have any questions,  give me a holler...............   shaneuphoff@charter.net
 
 
 
 
My Reproductions, Boxes and All,............



 
This is the most that's ever left in the Cylinder,...........


 
A Pile of Rounds,........

 
 
The Originals,..........'

 

[River City John]

These two labels will be my models.

[James Hunt]

Nice RCJ, that is really really nice work. As usual from you, authentic excellence!!! Regards, Jim