Thoughts on C&B carry guns

LongWalker · January 03, 2019, 01:58:37 AM

For folks who carry a handgun daily (open carry or CCW), if you woke up tomorrow and could only have a c&b revolver for social purposes, which would you choose? How would you tune it? (Would you tune it?)? How would you load it? Do folks think their match-tuned revolvers/loads are up to the task?

Yeah, it was a bad day at work today, with a couple more to follow. I needed something totally unrelated to think about in my off-task micro-moments.

The only c&b I ever trusted completely was a "parts gun" original 1860. It usually started getting a bit persnickety on the 4th cylinder (3rd cylinder on a hot dry day) without cleaning, but it never jammed on a cap, and always went bang when the hammer dropped. Loaded with paper cartridges with a conical, or a loose-powder load that duplicated it, it had as much power and accuracy as it did in 1865, when it was state-of-the-art.

Major 2 · January 03, 2019, 05:05:58 AM

"if" I woke up tomorrow and it was 1870 then yeah ! a conversion of the 1860 Army or 1861 Navy frame Colt...
or perhaps the likes of these.

"if" I woke up tomorrow and it was as you "depict " I'd fear both the Second Amendment and the Country was lost...
and it didn't happen over night... but rather chipped & and connived away.

Not to turn your hypothetical post into platform

c&b revolvers were personal open carry or CCW in their day.... that day was 150 years ago.

Today, it is just not germane ....sorry if I totally missed your point $:-\$

Jake C · January 03, 2019, 07:44:41 AM

If we're playing with a purely hypothetical "what if?" then I'd probably go with either the 1860 Army or one of the Remington Army revolvers, right side butt forward for a twist draw. I love my '51 Navy, but if I can only use a cap & ball pistol then I'd rather deal with the extra weight in exchange for a better projectile.

If it were the 1860 Army and it was a modern repro, I'd fix the arbor length, add some new springs, use some emery paper to smooth out the action, and add some slix shot nipples. That's what I did for my Navy repro and it's as reliable as I could ask for.

nativeshootist · January 03, 2019, 12:27:40 PM

I'd cut down a 1860 army with a 3" barrel, maybe throw a navy grip on it with some slixshot nipples.

Bunk · January 03, 2019, 02:18:21 PM

If I had no choice a pair of 1851 Navy .44 snubbys well tuned for reliability with a fully loaded chambers and a lead ball would be my choice.
However, something made by Colt a little older by about 60 years (1911) in about the same bore size and a hollow point bullet would work better.
IMHO
Bunk

Coffinmaker · January 03, 2019, 06:43:58 PM

Easy Peasy

Any one of my Pietta .44 1851 Pattern Snubbies. Fully tuned for CAS match play. Of course, for "Social Purposes" a full load of 3F. Easily take care of any varmint, two legged or four.

Bunk · January 03, 2019, 08:50:08 PM

Having a couple of the Coffinmaker snubbies I can verify that a max load of FFFg and round ball is a hand full.
I would imagine that would be not too far off of a .38 Colt Detective Special. Some one with a chronograph might check this out.
At any rate the fire and smoke would be a real eye properer for a bad guy to say the least.
Bunk

LongWalker · January 03, 2019, 10:03:43 PM

Major 2, it is more a matter of curiosity. I know of folks who were carrying cap and ball Colts up til the '30s: they trusted their pistols, and didn't have a lot of use for an upgrade to cartridge (even one of the WWI souvenirs that were dirt cheap). I'm kinda wondering who trusts what among the modern pistols, and what they'd do to make it more reliable.

Jake C kinda has the idea of what I'm wondering about: if he were carrying a repro 1860, he'd make some changes to (looks to me like) improve function/reliability.

Dick Dastardly · January 03, 2019, 11:18:04 PM

Good way to not sprinkle brass around at the scene. Just sayin'.

DD-MDA

Major 2 · January 04, 2019, 12:13:06 AM

In a back door sorta way , I responded ....

"if" given only your paramanters " could only have a c&b revolver " - match-tuned revolvers/loads are up to the task?

Then it might be the guns in my photo ....

However, the blued conversion ( by Gary Barnes ) is outside your paramanters, so that leaves , either replace the OEM Cylinder $:-\$ or the tuned Schaeffer (by Coffin Maker ) ....

then in the avenue of " curiosity " Its what I have in conceable (CCW) and would be familiar with ... and I happen to know conicals are a tighter group with Schaeffer .... ( never shot the Conversion in C&B ) ....

Galen · January 04, 2019, 05:24:40 AM

C&B only for daily carry. I my fifty years of black powder shooting I have never encountered a new C&B revolver that was reliable out of the box. Back in the day were C&B revolvers plagued with issues like today's revolvers? Secondly how does one find a competent gunsmith that can tune your revolver and actually return your revolver in a timely manner?

Coffinmaker · January 04, 2019, 06:26:15 PM

Hey LW

Well ... here I am again, imagine that

. I'd just like to expand a mite on what Galen posted as well as Jake C. Oh, and Me too.

Galen posted he had never, 1n 50 years, seen a Cap Gun that was reliable out of the box. I concur. Mostly. A.). It only has to run for 6 rounds. Then you're going to throw it and run. No one ever tried to reload a Cap Gun during a fight and lived to tell how it went. So some "out of the box" guns just might work.

Jake C. cites the most common "fix's" to start getting Cap Gun ready to play CAS with. A perfectly good idea. A smooth running, easy to run (OEM's ain't easy) CAS ready Cap Gun is my choice too.

Then you have the other qualifier for "daily carry." If we be talking about Uberti, you only have two choices for barrel length. 7&1/2 inches and 8 inches. Lotta barrel to stuff down yer britches and draw in a panic (you WILL be in a panic). At least with Pietta you have a choice of barrel length, right down to a 3 inch Snubbie (Perfect for CCW)

Since this requirement is going to primarily be aimed at "Social" work, which is normally also "close" work, long barrels are a hinderance. Up close and Personal, a fully loaded .36 or .44 will probably fully penetrate the average human. All you need. .36 and .44 will both do the job but I personally am a believer in "Bigger IS Better" when shooting bullets into people. Besides, even if you don't hit em, the Blast, Fame and smoke is going to scare the bejesus out of anyone. Almost as good as hit em (not really).

And let nobody regress into throwing thoughts of the comparison of Suppository Shooters into the discussion. We be talking Cap Guns here.

Galen · January 04, 2019, 08:16:41 PM

How about heat seeking suppositorys?

St. George · January 05, 2019, 07:05:04 PM

Carrying 'quaint' can get you killed.

Cartridges came into their own, once folks understood that they 'worked', and in all manner of situations.

Scouts Out!

Blackpowder Burn · January 06, 2019, 09:32:03 AM

Well..........LW didn't stipulate the cap gun had to be an original or reproduction thereof. In that case, I'd take my Ruger Old Armies. They'd work fine right from the box, but I would put a set of slix shot cones on them. 35 or 40 grains of FFFg under any sort of projectile would certainly get the job done!