new 1858 pietta

[kru]

I just received my first cap and ball revolver from Cabelas.  It is a beautiful gun.  It came covered with oil in a plastic bag.  What is the procedure for getting the gun ready to fire?  Do I remove all the oil, or do CB guns need to be coated in oil all the time?

[Deadeye Don]

run a patch through the barrel and cylinder and remove the excess packing oil. from the outside.  I usually keep a thin layer of oil on my guns stored in the safe until I am ready to use them for a match.  Oil and black power do not mix well so clean out the cylinder good.  Finally, when you get read to shoot them with black power,  fire a percussion cap in each cylinder, then load and have fun.  If you want more information I would suggest you contact Steel Horse Bailey on this website.  He is a black powder enthusiast and quite knowledgable about the subject.

Regards.  Deadeye.

[sundance44`s]

If you don`t want to tear it all the way down ..I would at least take the grips off and sumerge it in hot soapy water in a sink .Give it a bath ..they dip these guns in something like 30w motor oil for packing ...it won`t mix well with Black powder or subs .
Dry her off real good with the wife`s hair dryer ..then light coat of oil for safe keeping . I use oilve oil , food grade oils work best with black powder guns . Petro base oils make a sticky mess when mixed with black powder fouling . Lots of reading on here about what others use and what works best ...whats cheapest and so on . Good luck with it and enjoy it ..Pietta makes a good one.

[Skinny Preacher 66418]

You'll surely enjoy it. I started CAS with a 8" 1858 Pietta. They are my favorite. Only issues I've ever had was with hand spring and trigger/bolt spring breakage (from normal use). VTI Gun Parts online is a great source for parts. They also have great service and fast shipping.

Any action cleaner can be used, but if you use the hot water method (hot water evaporates better and opens the pores of the metal to accept your non-petrolium based oil)...be sure to try the small parts out well.

Take it apart. It is really simple. I can email you disassembly pics if you'd like.

SP

[hellgate]

I would just wipe the oil off the outside, dry patch the bore and chambers and apply a heavy grease to the cylinder pin and the back of the cylinder. I use automotive grease on the pin and back of the cylinder. Yes, it is petro based and works fine. I also use it as an over ball lube because it doesn't harden up in cold weather, nor does it melt, and it syringes easily. I do use veggie oil (olive) and beeswax based lubes on my wads under the ball.  Get some canned air and blow out the oil from the nipples and/or use a nipple pick. Visually inspect the flash holes for partial or complete blockage and at the beginning of a shooting string, ram a nipple pick into the powder just before capping.

[kru]

the disassembly pics would be great.  The manual shows the gun in pieces but doesnt show how to take it apart piece by piece.

[Skinny Preacher 66418]

the disassembly pics would be great.  The manual shows the gun in pieces but doesnt show how to take it apart piece by piece.

****

Here is the link on my website:

http://www.geocities.com/marksale05/1858disassemblyb.doc

Let me know how it goes.

****

Also, Woldgang is correct...hog-lard beeswax mixture...try Junior Lube (if he is still making it).

http://www.castbullet.com/makeit/lube.htm

You can purchase at the bottom of his page...good stuff.

[Wolfgang]

I understand that it is olive oil that they are packed with.  I've sprayed them ( outdoors ) with either electrical parts cleaner or brake parts cleaner to get the oil off.  I loved my first one from the minute i had it in my hand.  Loaded it up and shot it at about 15 - 20 yards.  I was hooked !  That first shot right on the bull ( by 1/2 in. ? or so ) Second shot, real close, . . by the sixth it was ifficult to keep 'em on the target.  Yikes. . . . took a while to find out that I was shoving .451 balls down a barrel that slugged .454.  No GOOD.  Hot gas leaking around the ball was leading the barrel badly.  Got .457 balls that shave a good ring of lead when seated in the chambers.  That is after de-leading the barrel with vinigar and a bronze bore brush.  Also I'd have it all oiled and slick as snot.  Shoot 6 rounds and have it so bound up I could hardly get the cylinder pin out to pull the cylinder.  Petroleum based oil and black powder fouling makes TERRIBLE goo.  No good.  I switched to hog lard for lube and that worked GREAT.   But gets messy in warm weather.  Now use 50-50 mix of toilet bowl was and olive oil.   I've never had any of mine completely appart.  I pull the cylinder, .  put it in a tin can with a soft wire thru it to pull it back out with, . . powr boiling water over it.  As I pull it out the hot water drains out thru the flash holes.  I swab the chambers with a "Q" tip several times.  Hold the cylinder up to a light and twirl it between my hands so I can see daylight thru all the flash holes.  Clean the barrel by shoving an oversize bronze bore brush down and back one time.  If I'm not going to shoot it for the foreseable future I pour boiling water thru the barrel and then run patch with lube down and back.  The swaged round balls .457 from Cabelas shoot great.  The conical hollow based bullets shoot FANTASTIC, . . . but run about 30 cents ea.   Hope my experience is of some use to ya.  Let us know how you do.

Good shootin', . . . . 

[Mogorilla]

I have got most of my shooters from Cabela's, I disassembled each, cleaning the whole thing in Rubbing alcohol (isopropyl to us chemists), then cleaned in soap and hot hot water, drying in a 200 F oven.  I tend to "oil" mine in bore butter, mainly because I snagged four tubes of it, still have 2 in the freezer to use later.   

[Hoof Hearted]

Fru

Welcome aboard 

Isn't this a great forum? In less than 8 hours you have more nfo than you ever dreamed of!

Good luck on your new quest

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Howdy, kru!

Lots of good ideas here, so far.  I'll add another.  (hopefully a good idea.)  A lot of folks balk at the idea of washing their guns in hot soapy water, but it's NOT at all a problem if you lube it up after drying.  BP firing residue - "crud" (the scientific term  ) - also cleans up great that way, with hot water and a little dish soap.  Another easy, quickie way to clean off the new gun is to hose it down with WD 40.  Now WD is NOT a highly rated lubricant ('tho better than NOTHING - but not much), but it DOES a good job of displacing water ("WD 40" stands for Water Displacing, formula #40) and cleaning oil and other "gunk" (another scientific term) off of metal.  Personally, I actually dunk ALL my weapons in BreakFree and leave them wet with it for 24 or more hours.  Then wipe off the excess oil and use your favorite BP lube, like Olive Oil, Bore Butter, or any of a dozen lubes.  It's not so much a mix of BP residue and petroleum that causes nasty tar, but it's getting some natural lubes - which contain water - mixed with the petro lubes.  Lots of folks use Ballistol as a lube and make a solution of Ballistol and water, calling it "Moosemilk" for BP cleaning.  It's the water that actually neutralizes the salts in the BP residue.  The moosemilk is a mix of from 5 to 10 parts water to 1 part Ballistol.  This has been working for over a century.  By the way, the Ballistol moosemilk will also do a great job of taking care of residue from firing the Military surplus ammo that has corrosive primers (or powder residue, but it's mostly from the primers) which is why it was developed by the Ger-mer-mans back around the time that the Mauser company came out with that little rifle they made back about 1898 or even before.  You MAY have even heard of the Mauser '98 before.   

Back to the subject.  While the Ballistol moosemilk works well, it stinks, IMHO!  Literally.  I actually prefer a product called "Hoppes # 9 PLUS"  Black Powder solvent/lube.  It stinks, too, but not in the same way and only AFTER it mixes with the BP residue - not before, during & after, like Ballistol.    This has been working for me since the mid '70s.  Your mileage may vary.

Well, so long for now.  Welcome to the wonderful world of BP shooting!

Jeff  "Steel Horse Bailey"

[sundance44`s]

SteelHorse your a brave soul to mention the use of WD40 on your guns ...I see so much bashing of the product on these Forums ..I just have gotten to where I zip my lip and don`t mention this taboo WD40 anymore 
I like the way it displaces moisture , and i was a born Duck hunter ..my guns saw lots of action around water ..all my guns still have like new bores , and function well ..and they were bathed in WD 40 . Been a WD40 user since the 1970`s .

[Deadeye Don]

Steel Horse Bailey speaks from long term experience which makes his statements even more credible. 

[hellgate]

I concur with the use of WD-40. I have had an Uberti '61 Navy since high school (1968) that I was unable to get the trigger spring out due to a tight screw so I could never completely disassemble it. After cleaning the gun i  would spray the innards down with WD-40 and up behind the trigger etc. After about 10 years of casual shooting & carrying while hunting & trapping, I finally had a padded vise and the right instruction and got the screw out. Much to my surprise there was only a bunch of black mush everywhere with several imbedded cap fragments but NOT A SPECK OF RUST. I still have the gun and it is still tight. It's probably had about 2000 rounds through it.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Thanks for the kind words, pards.

WD is GREAT - as long as it's used within its capabilities.  Even though my main lube of choice is BreakFree, I KNOW that there are products that preserve better.  (It's hard to beat Teflon as a lube but if you have the $$, it can be done.)   I just use the product the way it is intended and don't expect miracles. 

I clean my 12 ga. double in the kitchen sink after a BP firing (which is nearly ALL I use in it  ) and then dry it off and hose it down with WD to get all the water from the nooks 'n crannies before I get out the other lubes and/or preservatives.  I have just gotten some stuff called TW 25 which I intend to try since I've heard VERY good reports about it, including its use out in the "sandbox."   I found that the desert (1st Gulf War, 1991) will REALLY separate the men (lubes/preservatives) from the boys (lubes/pres.)!!

Sorry - this was about kru's new NMA!  Didn't mean to drift off, but in a way - it didn't.

[SFT]

The quality has improved so much on these in the past few years that most of them are smooth shooters right out of the box and need no polishing or tweaking.  That isn't always the case, but compared to older ones there is a very noticably difference in the fit and finish.

After you clean off the packing lube, I suggest using Triple 7 along with wonder wads.  This has been the cleanest shooting powder I've found and along with the wonder wad, fouling is kept to a minimum.  You also need to check out the conversion cylinders for your Pietta which will allow you to shoot cartridge ammo, which, when loaded with BP, real or a sub, is still a blast with all the smoke and boom you get from the cap and ball cylinder.  If you do decide to get one, find a used one as new they are often more expensive than the gun itself.

Also, if you encounter problems with the caps falling off and other problems, get you a set of Treso nipples from VTI or Track of the Wolf.  A noticable difference.

Good luck and have some safe shooting fun!