Cap & Ball Shooting

[bowiemaker]

It can be frustrating trying to shoot C&B at a match if you are in a small posse. The last time I tried it they had divided our shooters into 8-person posses. As soon as I finished shooting I was expected to spot, man the loading or unloading table or some other chore. I was very rushed to get my guns loaded and prepped for the next stage. I finally gave up on the C&Bs and switched to cartidge pistols because I know I am much more likely to make a mistake when I am rushed and that ain't good when dealing with guns.

[Major 2]

Bowiemaker

I have seen what you describe , I saw fellow pretty much discouraged, and sent packing at SASS event.
The packing part was his own decision after, being browbeaten and teased, because he took time to load his C&B's
I was saddened and disgusted by the posse' display...
Their apparent reasons were, he was slow (reloading) even though he use his own portable table & his extra time took away from
spotting, brass retrieval and other posse duties. 

Know this, he would be most welcome and Cracker Cow Cavalry shoots, I (we) encourage BP & C&B.
We are not so rush orientated, it about the good time & shooting your pleasure... not pressure !

Ruff when you get settled at your new Work 20, and shoot with us...bring your smoke wagons...
I will suggest, one of those little folding tables or a station of some sort it will keep you organized. 

[pony express]

Bowiemaker, back when I used to regularly shoot C&B at matches, I usually volunteered to work the unloading table. Just loaded my pistols between unloading duties.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

It is disappointing to hear that anyone has been discouraged from enjoying our sport. For any reason.

In the Day, all military folk, and a lot of civilians used factory made paper or foil cartridges. These can be made, and there are good instructions available. I tried that, and it can work, but I stopped doing it on a rainy day here on the WET Coast. The soggy paper just collapsed.  About that time I took up pre-loads, and never went back.

Obtain mentoring.   Practice.   Endeavor to persevere.   AND MORE PRACTICE

[Paladin UK]

I feel its a very sad day that ANY Cowboy cant enjoy his shoot..

Here in the UK we DO NOT HAVE THE LUXURY OF.... cartridge pistols, unless they are a min length of 2ft!!!

So all you will see are 18in buntlines!!! and not too many pards feel like wielding them!! thus 90% of us are Cap `n Ballers!!

What we find works very well is... Shoot, reload, posse.

Providing there are at least 8 shooters, the match will run as smooth as silk.

Paladin (What lurvs his 1860`s  ) UK

[hp246]

hp246;  Are your revolvers Remington style or Colt?  The ease of removing cylinders from the Remington closed frame style allows using cylinder loading stands and/or spare cylinders. The Colt style requiring drawing out the wedge and removing the barrel group makes it more involved, but not impossible. With Colts, the best strategy is to streamline your loading techniques.  Pre-measured charges, lubed wads, cappers, and practice, make it possible to keep up with the posse, and allow you to do your duty in the smooth operation of said posse.

Though not common, I use .357 cases as pre-loaders, with the ball pressed on top of a pre-measured load for 36's, and .44 cases for the .44's. I wrap 5 or 6 of them in tinfoil tucked in a leather cap pouch. My wads are egg carton pulp soaked in lube. I have a number of cappers I can choose. I can load from my gunbelt without too much fiddling around. It took me awhile to get to that point, and a chaotically full plastic toolbox was my first reloading aide.  Would having spare cylinders on-hand be a boon?  Do the cylinders need to be hand fitted to each gun or are they easily exchangeable between guns of the same make and model?

Not having any mentors at your local club is a drawback, but you will improve with some thought and lots of practice

Sir Charles,  currently, I only have cartridge guns, and am trying to get my equipment squared away in my first season.  I am thinking of investing in a pair of C & B guns this fall/winter.  I have no preference over Remington style or Colt style, though after reading your response, I would think probably Remington style would be easiest to facilitate. 

[hp246]

Wow, that's weird.  Somehow, these questions popped up in the quote, rather than the body of my response. 

Would having spare cylinders on-hand be a boon?  Do the cylinders need to be hand fitted to each gun or are they easily exchangeable between guns of the same make and model?

[Major 2]

It happens  when you add the

then you add your comments or question above the last

you have to scroll down a bit and add your responses below it.

Yes spare cylinders help , and yes sometimes they'll need a tweek

[bowiemaker]

Spare cylinders really don't save you a lot of time. You still have to load the spares. Spares can be loaded out of the gun but I find it just as easy and fast to load with the cylinder in the gun.

[Major 2]

Well that is true.... though you can pre-load at home ( don't cap )  if you have several...it will get you through a few stages
before the process begins anew  

[Lefty Dude]

You can load a cylinder quicker than you clean one.
When I was shooting 58's, I had several spare cylinders. I only shot them all once. They are best used as spares in the Field & such.
I sold all my 58's after shooting a 51 Colt.

[Major 2]

" ...I sold all my 58's after shooting a 51 Colt."

Testify .....

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

My Pietta New Armies are beasts to cock one-handed.  I'm switching to a fraternal pair of Uberti Colts, an 1851 and an 1861.

[hp246]

The local Cabelas has a case full of Piettas.  Are these a good starting point?

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

The local Cabelas has a case full of Piettas.  Are these a good starting point?

Don't buy a brass frame revolver, especially if you think you might want to add a cartridge conversion cylinder.

It would be best if you could go to a range where percussion revolvers roam and try a few before dropping the Dinero.

[bowiemaker]

Cabellas frequently runs the Piettas on sale, sometimes as low as $179, and they are a pretty good buy. The 1858 Remingtons are on sale more often than the 1860 Armys. Mine have been excellent shooters right out of the box. My friend got one or two that really needed some work to smooth them out.

[rifle]

I know that the way an Hombre loads his cap&ballers can be as individual as what type boxer shorts are worn if any are.
I like to use the "rig" I put together so the loading can be done standing without tables or logs or car hoods or the top of dog houses.

The rig is the leather of course. The holster or holsters with the flask(authentic type copper) holder with the cap pouch and the ball pouch. I thunked it all up on my own from being in the fields out plinking and running the hounds. Snow,rain,blazing hot sun it's all do-able.

One trick is doing the capping. The cylinders always stay in the gun..never taken out. The hand can hold the gun and an open tin of caps using the thumb nail to dent one side if needed. Remington caps work best for most of my guns without doing anything but pushing them on.

The gun can be held and the caps with the same hand by holding the cap tin with the thumb and the middle finger. The other hand is used to plunk out a cap and push it on the cone/nipple and turn the cylinder. I have learned to turn the cylinder with the finger of the hand holding the gun if I want to.

Before the capping the flask is used to charge the chambers with the proper amount of powder by using a spout on the flask designed for that charge. After the chambers are charged I go for my tin (Altoids tin box for the candy from the drug store) and pluck a lube pill/gresae cookie/saturated with lube wool wad from the tin box(has a hinged lid) and place it on the powder of each chamber. Once that is done the powder is safe from spilling from the chambers.

Next I go to the ball pouch and get a ball and press it into each chamber. Then the capping is last. It (the whole loading process) can be done rather quickly.

Using Reminton caps helpsa lot since they can be pressed on and the use of a wood cap seter is not needed. I usually use the hammer to press the caps a little but that is when not around other Hombres. At a match using the thumb only with the Remmy caps works well enough.

I do this process enough so I can do it walking (not real fast and slowing way down when capping). It can be done rather quickly after some practice. I just can't get it down well enough to skin out a rabbit and load at the same time yet.

The western hat I wear keeps rain and snow out of the works while loading (lean over the gun) and...the front pockets in my leather chaps can be an extra bonus. The flask can be covered by a leather oiled up cup type thingy or a leather flap. Same with the gun the leather flap helps in the rain.

I think at a match(or in rain) an Hombre can use those clear plastic tubes with the red caps on each end for premeasured powder charges and keep those in a pouch on the leather rig. They can be had from machine shop type places since drills and end mills are kept in them and they can be cut to length with scissors. I think they are safe even though they are plastic.

Anywhoooo...... an Hombre can get rather quick reloading a cap&baller revolver with some practice and not need a table or anything but the leather rig set up fer it.

As far as changing out preloaded cylinders of the Colttypes that'snot hard to do even with the wedge they have.Set the gun up so the wedge can be pressed in and out with the thumb or....have a small wood hammer in the pocket somewhere and use that to loosen the wedge. When the barrel comes off just place it in the belt somewhere or in the holster and three hands aren't needed then. Make sure the wedge screw can actually trap the wedge from falling out.
I read that in the old days the Hombre would use the extra preloaded cylinder to hit the wedge loose and then when the cylinders were exchanged the used empty was used to whack the wedge backin.

Anywhooooo.....ifin the folks you'd shoot with can't hold up alil to let an Hombre reload I'd shoot with someone else. Of course the reloader should be mannerly and practice so the reloading didn't take til lunch time. Hombre new at the reloading are clumsy especially with the caps but....with some practice things get quicker.

A simple and really fast solution would be to just have multiple guns already loaded up and ready to go sans the caps. Everyone can use 10 or 15 cap&baller revolvers. If not the whole revolvers then just a few dozen spare cylinders. Of course you'd need to keep all that iron on the cart(wheelborrow) and not the leather rig.

One other solution would be to just convert the cap&ballers to cartridge . Use heeled bullets hand loaded or have the barrel(Colts 36cal.) resleeved to .357 grooves and shoot factory loads. That adds an extra dimension to the whole life style of cap&ballin.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Rifle; I like your rather lengthy description. Worth reading.

On youtube I spotted a guy that wrapped two caps, open end outwards in a bit of tape. I tried to find a suitable tape but it's harder than you'd think. The best I found so far is 1 inch bits of stationary labels from STAPLES. I am now trying short bits of clear plastic tubing I found in the plumbing aisle at Home Depot with an inside diameter of .017.  At home. I can see there might be a problem if the caps get pushed inside the tubing more than halfway. The tubing is a bit harder than I'd hoped for. Rather than a cap at either end, I will start with only one cap, and have a bit of bamboo BBQ Skewer ready to push the cap out if it gets stuck.

The technique seems to be to use the tape or tube to hold the cap. Store and carry as you find convenient. Take the tube and poke the open mouth of the cap over the cone/nipple/tube, and pinching the tubing sort of sidewise to leave the cap in place.

More work is required!

[Noz]

" ...I sold all my 58's after shooting a 51 Colt."

Testify .....

Yup,except my downfall was an 1860.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

rifle;  Re-reading your epistle, I noted that you use a flask holster. I have one as well, one of my early acquisitions while buckskinning, but as per an earlier discussion on this forum, they are not "Period-Correct" if that is important to you or to NCOWS. Unless, of course, you have suitable documentation.

My cartridge case pre-loads are obviously not PC either!  In my defense, at least they are close in concept to factory skin cartridges waterproof, portable and concealable.

P.S: Whoops! Compromised.    Where I live, all I can compete in are SASS matches.