So... I ain't no virgin no more...

[Frenchie]

Went to the range with my two Remingtons and my Colt and loaded and fired real lead balls today. All three are Piettas and in .36 caliber. Remington No. 1 has been worked on by Steve (Nate Kiowa Jones) Young of Steve's Gunz. It has been slicked up and has new Treso beryllium alloy nipples and the nipple recesses are relieved for a capper. Steve did such a great job on this piece that I'll be sending the other one to him for the same work. The other Remington, No. 2, is box-stock but has the smoothest hammer pull I've felt in a stock Pietta so far. The Colt is brand-new and box-stock also, and I've quite a lot to say about it later.

Rem. No. 1 was first to go. I capped and fired all six to test the nipples with both No. 10 CCI and German and No. 11 size CCI caps and the Treso nipples didn't seem to care which ones I used, they all fit snugly and I had no trouble with them on this gun. I dumped a conservative 15 grains of Elephant FFFg in the first charge hole and put the gun down at a 45 degree angle, refilled the powder measure, picked up the gun and dumped another 15 grains into the next charge hole. Then I remembered reading it's best to load powder and ball into each charge hole at the same time so you don't forget to put powder in one or double-charge one - which latter case, as I found when trying to seat the first ball, is what I had done. D'oh. I couldn't get the ball to seat and there was a couple or four hundredths of an inch of it sticking out the front. Great - first time ever loading a cap 'n' ball revolver and I mess it up. Finally I managed to work the cylinder out, removed the nipple, and using my musket nipple pick (basically a big needle), I managed to get about half the charge out of the hole. Reassembled and reinstalled the cylinder and got the ball seated on the powder. Continued on with the rest of the charge holes. Balls all made a nice ring when seated (Buffalo .375 swaged).

Well, it certainly is different from a smokeless cartridge gun. Sort of a BOOMP! report and lots of neat smoke. As this is the first time I'd launched a real projectile with black powder, I wasn't surprised to hear a different sound than when touching off 65 grains in a musket with nothing in front of it. I decided I liked it - I liked it a lot. Shooting smokeless from now on will be disappointing, I think (except for .22 rim-fires, they're always fun). Went through two more cylinders with a little more powder, 20 grains this time. Kept grinning. Caps worked perfectly. Didn't pay much attention to where the balls were hitting on the target, was having too much fun just yet.

Put Rem. No 1. in the shooting bag and picked up the Colt. Had the loading and capping thing down pretty good by now. Put the No. 10 caps on the nipples. They went on easier, I thought, than on Rem. No. 1's Treso nipples, but they seemed to stay on okay as I couldn't make them fall off with my fingernail. Forgot to tell you, I'd been checking after every shot to see if any unfired caps had fallen off the nipples. First shot out of the Colt, one of them did fall off. Hmmm. Okay, replaced that one, kept checking, no more problems through the first cylinder. Second loading, two or three caps fell off while handling the gun - riddle me that one, Batman. Squeezed them a bit to keep them on, checked after every shot as usual. Switched to the No. 11's for the third loading. As I was rotating the cylinder it started to bind up and stopped turning a couple of times - not fouling, it wasn't a cap jammed in the action as far as I could tell, and it felt like the hand was not working correctly. First time this had happened and I'll be taking this thing apart tomorrow and looking inside very carefully. I bought this thing because it has really nice figuring in the grips. This may turn out to be its only good point. Finally got the six shots out of there and put it in the bag, got out Rem. No. 2.

Still haven't gone to check on the target, so as a cease-fire had just been called, I strolled out to take a look at it. Nothing. Nada. Not a mark on the 8.5" x 11" paper, but a lot of holes in the cardboard just below it. Huh. Both guns shoot awful low at 25 yards, I figured. This is a mystery of which I must find the bottom. Loads too light, maybe? I'll be experimenting to find the max amount of powder on which I can still seat a ball. Fillers are for baseball stadium hot dogs, anyway, and Cream of Wheat is too good eatin' to waste in a six-gun.

So anyway, out comes box-stock Rem. No. 2 and we go through the ritual again. This time the unrelieved nipple recesses won't allow a capper, so my fat, half-numb sausage fingers have lots o' fun getting those teeny caps on the nipples. Many bad words were said. Now I see one reason fixed ammunition (cartridges) had such popularity from the git-go. Once on, though, they did sterling work. The revolver works as smoothly as Rem. No. 1, if a bit stiffer, and I began to think that an epiphany is about to strike me - I've a feeling my loyalty to the open-frame held-together-with-a-wedge Colt design has been given its death-blow. Fordyce Beals and Eliphalet Remington may well eclipse Samuel Colt in my jaded eyes, sacrilege though it may be. At least the Lord God King of Handgun Designers, John Moses Browning (may his name be praised), still rules supreme in my personal pantheon.

So, tomorrow I take Charlene (Armisport Model 1861 Springfield .58 caliber rifle-musket) to the range to see if she can make those big blue pills hit a sheet of printer paper at 50 or even 100 yards. I figure 65 grains of FFFg behind an ounce or so of lead ought to make something happen.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Howdy Frenchie!

Welcome to the club!  "So... I ain't no virgin no more..." 

Don't give up on that 1860, yet. (or #s 1 & 2, either.)  The 1860, if an exact replica, has been sighted in for 75 yds.  The way I heard it, a soldier had to be able to start with a loaded rifle ... then fire the loaded round and load and fire 3 more times in a minute.  During that minute the "enemy" would start his charge from about 200 yds and be approximately 75 yds away from our 'hero."  Then a pistol could be used six more times until the "enemy" was at bayonet or saber range.

This is what an old fellow who made custom ($2000 to $5000 flintlock) rifles and was an (un)Civil War reenactor told me.  I can only assume that he wasn't pullin' my leg, 'cause he sure seemed to know what he was talking about.  I DO know that the average soldier didn't carry a pistol and that's the only flaw in the logic of what he told me.

Just passin' on what I've heard. 

[litl rooster]

  Good report.................

[gw]

   Frenchie, not being a cap'n ball man myself, I can only sympathize with you on keeping those danged Stinkin', dirty little hard to handle, action locking, won't stay on fer nuthin, infernal devices called percussion caps on a gun in the first place! Sounds like your on the track with Rem. #1 at least. I'd guess a bit more powder will help with the elevation problem, sights may need a tweak too. Keep at it, I always figured a fella would REALLY want to shoot awfully bad to use percussion guns. But just think of all the spare time you have since yer not reloadin at home!

[Dick Dastardly]

Welcome to the Darkside Frenchie!

I sense that the pull of the One True Powder is very strong in this one.  He'll become a True Desciple and enlighten many to whe joy of the white smoke and fragrence of burning suflur.

Soon, his heathen smokeyless guns will begin to collect dust and look old whilst his Real guns look clean, shiny and loved.

He will come to wear the black sash of the Darksider and his grin will improve with each event.

Yes, this is a very common indicator of addiction to the way of the Holy Black.

Long live your enjoyment!

DD-DLoS

[Delmonico]

The cap and ball revolvers were made to hit a man sized target using a center of mass hold most often I've read "hold on the bellybutton", up close it would drop a ball into the head, neck or upper torso, 'bout 75 yards into the belly button and at maybe a 100 yards you might casterate them.   See no problem on guessing the range, just aim for the belly button and shoot.

[Frenchie]

Don't give up on that 1860, yet. (or #s 1 & 2, either.)

Oh, duh, forgot to say the Colt is an 1851 Navy, not that that makes a lot of difference. Remington No. 1 is flawless and a keeper. No. 2 is, as I said, the best unmodified one I've run into. I might not send it to Steve Young after all, but try to duplicate what he did to No. 1, with great care and a conservative manner, of course.

It's true an infantryman didn't have a pistol, but he has a bayonet. Cavalry learned to respect a steady line of determined men at the position of "defend against cavalry" because bayonets can reach farther than a saber.

Hot damn, this is a hoot! I think I've discovered a whole new hobby inside my hobby!

[Frenchie]

Thanks, Litl Rooster. GW, Dick, Del, thanks for the encouragement and tips. This is just the beginning! You know, I have a Spencer rifle in .44-40 and a Remington conversion in .44 Colt on order from Steve Young (hope he gets them soon!) and of course I'm impatient, but having these toys to play with in the meantime is helping me a lot.

Oh, life got in the way and I didn't make it to the range with Charlene today. Looks like my first live rounds from a musket will be at the GAF Muster. I can't wait to hear the sound!

[Frenchie]

Still have no idea why the Navy Colt jammed up. I expected to find a piece of cap inside the action today, but nothing. Maybe it fell out and I didn't notice it. Well, we'll see what happens next time.

Hey, why is it your guns look better than ever when you've cleaned them up and put a fresh coat of Ballistol on them?

[litl rooster]

Still have no idea why the Navy Colt jammed up. I expected to find a piece of cap inside the action today, but nothing. Maybe it fell out and I didn't notice it. Well, we'll see what happens next time.

Hey, why is it your guns look better than ever when you've cleaned them up and put a fresh coat of Ballistol on them?

  I have a pair of '51's, they sometimes will lock up with a piece of a percussion cap.  When ya disassemble it falls out and they free up. Some time the caps fall off when I cock them, and other issues also....But I still enjoy shooting them and try to overcome the difficulties as I go...... I am sure soldiers and cowboys using them in the proper era had simular problems....


  Frenchie from your avitar, your from Maryland....Will you be attending the NSSA meet next weekend at Ft. Shen?

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I had the same problem with "lock-up' with my Richard Mason,'51's. No cap fragments, or I would have been in big Bufflr chips.  I loosened the wedge a bit and it stopped locking up.  Same thing with my 1861 Colt police, and the same remedy seemed to work.

[Sunwapta Haze]

Welcome to the Darkside Frenchie.

I have a couple of '58 Navies myself.  An older model Navy Arms (Uberti) and a new Pietta.  They are great little pistols.  I load about 23 grains of FFFg under a lube wad and the ball.  Both have been outfitted with Treso nipples and seem to work flawlessly (well almost) with Remington #10 caps. 

[Frenchie]

Rooster,
I bet that's what happened, a piece of cap. Can't go to ol' Virginny, I'll be at the GAF Muster in Ackley, Iowa. Do want to get to Ft. Shenandoah sometime soon, though. Hey, which region is Baltimore in?

Sir Charles,
I doubt it was a too-tight wedge, this one has a perfect cylinder-barrel gap when the wedge is in just far enough for the little bump on the spring to lock it in. It may have been fouling... got to shoot it some more.

Haze,
I want to try lube wads or cookies, see if they make things run smoother after a lot of rounds.

Thanks, everyone, for the encouraging words and advice!

[Paladin UK]

Ho Frenchie...

A hearty Welcome ta the Dark side from the other side of the pond



Paladin (What jest lurvs the holy black  ) UK

[litl rooster]

Rooster,
I bet that's what happened, a piece of cap. Can't go to ol' Virginny, I'll be at the GAF Muster in Ackley, Iowa. Do want to get to Ft. Shenandoah sometime soon, though. Hey, which region is Baltimore in?

here's a link.  I don't Skirmish but plan on hitting Sutlers row  http://n-ssa.org/NATIONAL/114th/prgm.pdf



Have fun at GAF look up Silver Creek Slim, he's the gamer with the Big Shotgun   not quite as purdy as Paladin's though

[Silver Creek Slim]

Have fun at GAF look up Silver Creek Slim, he's the gamer with the Big Shotgun   not quite as purdy as Paladin's though

I won't have the big shotgun there.  It has a bent firing pin that needs to be fixed. But, my 12 ga loads are 1 3/8 oz. 

Slim

[Frenchie]

Well, sure Paladin has a nice scattergun, he lives where they make the most beautiful shotguns in the world!

Paladin, that's an impressive-looking pigsticker on your left side there, is it a Bowie blade?

I'll definitely bring my Polaroid and get some pics! These avatars are too small to get much of an idea what people really look like.

[Paladin UK]

Fer Frenchi........

that's an impressive-looking pigsticker on your left side there, is it a Bowie blade?

She sure is I have had it for `bout 30yrs!!! 



Sarah (My 16g  mule ear) is a British hammer gun made about 1900 there are no makers marks on her but I have had it looked at by people what knows `bout scatterguns and they say that the engraving is typically `British and the way the barrel `n locks l are made is again typical of British Gunsmiths

Paladin (What lurvs Playin Cowboy ) UK

[Frenchie]

Paladin, I like that rolling block! Shweet!

I watched in awe as Silver Creek Slim let loose thunderous blasts and fogbanks of smoke from his Winchester and Remington sootburners at the GAF Muster this weekend. He has a big old Bowie on his left side too, he said it's to counterbalance the hogleg on the right. Whoooeee! I'm still remembering things I learned the past couple days, I'll be thinking over a lot for a while.

[litl rooster]

    Yep that's him.................Lot's of smoke big knife