My "New To Me" Birthday Present

[treadhead1952]

Hi All,

Tuesday being my birthday and the arrival of my New To Me Colt Model 1860 Army Revolver having found its' way to my door the day before aside, I am calling it my Birthday Gift to me.  I have long been enamored with the 1851 Colt Navy and resisted the urge to go and clutter things up with something different.  I shot my Navy Model enough to get fairly good with it, drawing and firing offhand and being able to hit cans and such.  A couple years ago a second one came my way with a little difference, the new one being a "basket case" in need of refinishing and reassembly as well as being in .44 caliber rather than the correct .36.  I discovered that it was pretty much the same in handling despite the caliber difference.

When Uncle Sam got me my Income Tax Return to me, I decided that it was time to add an 1860 Army Model to the collection.  Through another forum Buddy on a different forum than this one I discovered a cased set available in my price range.  Never having a cased set before made it a little more novel.  I have various powder measures and more bullet molds as well as all sorts of other accessory items but having it all in one box specific to the revolver was another feature for me.  So now I get to start down the road of discovery of handling a new revolver.  Not to mention getting to construct some new leather to cart it around in as well as a flask carrier and bullet pouch.



Jay
treadhead1952
Las Vegas, NV

[45 Dragoon]

Wow, Happy Birthday!!

Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com
Follow me on Instagram @ goonsgunworks

[Coffinmaker]

Way KOOL!!

Coffinmaker

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Welcome to the Darksiders Den.     This is the place to learn what you need to know about shooting percussion revolvers.

Great find. Can I ask what make is your new revolver?

[Truly Grits]

Happy Birthday Pard! Becha don't stop at just one.   My current count is 5 and that's not including the 1849 and the Walker.

[Thumb Buster]

  Betcha' Truly Grits is right.  They're like 'tator chips. 

[Bunk Stagnerg]

Thumb Buster
Ain't that the beautiful truth. I started with an original 1851 Navy cased set years ago (how i wish i still had it) the set was beautiful and I shot the gun a lot and cleaned it religiously.
It, along with a few other gems I traded away, was replaced with an Armi San Marco (DGW) 1851 Navy.
Now the selection grows with guns spanning from 1847 Walker to 1862 police revolver.
Beware TB, because those things are habit forming and you always need "just one more" over and over.
Your obt svt
Bunk

[Thumb Buster]

I often times ask myself, though not nearly as often as my wife does, what is it specifically about these arms that is so appealing, so alluring?  And how is it that they multiply so?  Hmmm...

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Betcha' Truly Grits is right.  They're like 'tator chips. 

More like Nanaimo Bars

[Navy Six]

Happy Birthday! Hope you enjoy it. My birthday is coming up in a few weeks and I have similar plans!

[treadhead1952]

Hi All,

Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone.  I got this Cased Set from another forum Buddy on another Black Powder Forum.  It was represented to me as either unfired or very gently used at best.  It is an Army San Marcos made back in '71 I believe he said he thought from the markings on it.  The only thing I know for sure is that I fell for the color case hardening colors on the frame and loading lever, that and the deep dark blue on the barrel and cylinder.  There is barely the hint of a turning ring on the cylinder and that is really the only thing that suggests any wear.  The nipples aren't beat down from being snapped without caps in place and the inside of the cylinder holes still exhibit a good amount of blue without scorch marks.

The combination ball/conical bullet mold does show some dark discoloration from heat meaning that it was heated up, but I don't see a lot of dings or flat spots on the sprue plate that would attest to any abuse or excessive wear.  The Powder Measure has a dent in the center of the flat on either side midway on the body so either someone used it or replaced it with a used one.  I have a brand new one that is almost the same, mine just has the pattern repeated on both sides where the one that came in the box only has the cannon and flag display on one side.  All this being said, I don't really care if it has been fired or not because I plan on firing it, a bunch.

I have had a liking for the Colt 1851 Navy Model for a long time.  I purchased the one in .36 caliber that I have when I first came to Las Vegas about twenty years ago or so.  It has a steel frame and has never given me a bit of trouble.  I bought it from the old Ray's Beaver Bag Store here for what I seem to recall was $125.  I cast .380" balls and Conical bullets out of Lee Aluminum Molds for it and have never regretted the purchase.  A few years back I found a very used "Basket Case" 1851 Navy in .44 caliber for $100.  It needed to be refinished before rebuilding and had lost the color case hardening colors from the frame.  I just hot water Blued everything and called it good.  It goes "Bang!" every time the trigger gets pulled and pretty much puts what I shoot out of it on the target so I am pretty happy with it.

Midway Supply has furnished me with a new two cavity .454" ball mold and a two hole Conical .450" bullet mold that I will be using to generate some shooting fodder for my new revolver as well as the old Navy copy.  Part and parcel of getting new hardware of this sort for me is the fun of making up new leather goods to pack them around in. My original Navy got a cross draw Slim Jim with an Oak Leaf pattern hammered into the outside.  I made a Mexican two loop style in a Floral pattern for the .44 caliber one once I got it up and running.



I am in the process of making a left side two loop Mexican style for the .36 so I can hang both Navy Models on one belt.  I also make Powder Flask Carriers, Bullet Pouches and what ever my feeble little mind can cobble up to support my Gun Jones.  I am starting out my 1860 with a full flap Cavalry type cross draw holster, it just takes a little time and effort to come up with these things.









Jay
treadhead1952

[Major 2]

Nice , lucky gun getting that leather too ...

had to look up Nanaimo Bars , Sir Charles 
to be sure I didn't live under a rock , I had not heard of the these ..Western Canada treat I see ...
not seen diagonally South across the the lower 48 

back to the point ... I have been infatuated with the 1860 since I was kid , riding the neighborhood range
holstering a Hubley....And I have collected 1860's most of my life...
and second only to the 60's are the 51 Navy.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Nice , lucky gun getting that leather too ...

had to look up Nanaimo Bars , Sir Charles 
to be sure I didn't live under a rock , I had not heard of the these ..Western Canada treat I see ...
not seen diagonally South across the the lower 48 

back to the point ... I have been infatuated with the 1860 since I was kid , riding the neighborhood range
holstering a Hubley....And I have collected 1860's most of my life...
and second only to the 60's are the 51 Navy.

I have to stop with the Nanaimo bars after 6, when the sugar overload kicks in!

I formed a love of the 1860, when it made the cover of a book of combat handguns edited by Jeff Cooper.  WWAAYY before IPSC!

[treadhead1952]

Chocolate Double Stuff Oreos are my sugar buzz of choice.  They make no pretense of being healthy or a meal replacement of any sort, just pure sugar under the guise of chocolate flavor.

My oldest sister got hitched to her first hubby just out of High School.  He was a member of the US Border Patrol and a gun nut of the first order.  I knew I liked the guy when at age 12 he turned me loose out in the wilds of New Mexico with a .45 Auto to go Jack Rabbit hunting.  I did get to spend a summer with them and learned more than any teen ager should about Wild Bill Hickok and his preference for the Colt Navy Model of 1851.  How he would end his day by taking his revolvers out to the town stable or a handy feed lot and target shoot with the loads the pair had carried for the day and previous evening.  This practice served to empty them so he could clean and then reload them with fresh makings.  It also generated a whole bunch of playing cards with bullet holes and his autograph upon them.  These were passed around to the onlookers where ever he went and a great many of them survive to this day.  He was no slouch as a shot, witness the Davis Tutt gun fight where he put a round in Davis's fifth rib at 75 yards across the Town Square in Springfield, Missouri.  Admittedly it did take the boy five days to expire, but to make the single shot was pretty impressive.

At any rate that was what generated my interest in the 1851 Navy Model to begin with.

[Bunk Stagnerg]

It's the smell of the Gun Powder smoke, the flash, the boom, more intoxicating, more habit forming then any thing on earth.
Just to keep feeling good, and not to let a beautiful day go to waste,  I put about 25 rounds through my replica Smith carbine this afternoon.

Bunk 

[Scout53]

Thank you for your post and the accompanying photos.
I saw that you use a slicker mounted to a drill press. How well does this work for you and are there any tricks to using it this way?

[treadhead1952]

Black Powder smoke is one of those things that sets this particular part of the shooting fraternity apart.  While some may consider it less than more modern forms, it is where all the others got the start of the processes that developed into true accuracy.  Just a whiff of that sulfur and brimstone gets my trigger finger all itchy.

Hi Scout, in answer to your question about my round slicker chucked into my drill press, I find it easier to work on long pieces like belts and rifle slings.  Wetting the edges down with a sponge and using the drill press to provide the spin to the slicker makes for short work of what would otherwise take more time and effort.  I got the idea from observing similar mechanization in a commercial belt and holster shop in Texas.  While mine is a lot smaller it is no less effective.

[treadhead1952]

Hi All,

I finally got off my duff and plugged in my Lee Lead Pot on the side porch.  I filled it with as close as I could come up to with lead skimming off the impurities and oddities that floated to the top until I was rewarded with a mirror like pool before I fluxed it with a bit of beeswax.  I let my mold sit on the top of the pot while I heated it up and ran a number of bullets through my new .450" conical bullet mold before starting to cast up keepers.  I judged that it was ready by not having any wrinkles any where on the bullets coming out and the mirror like appearance of the freshly cast product.  The mold had gotten washed out with Mineral Spirits first then hot soapy water.  The water was hot enough to have the mold dry off to the touch by itself after a little shaking to eliminate the water that remained.  A smoke job turned my nice shiny aluminum black before I started to cast anything.

I did the same thing to the new .454" double mold and ran a few balls through it to sort of break it in but I had found two containers of about 500 already cast up balls in that size so I really wasn't going after any keepers at this point with that one.  I need to get some more pure lead to cast up more muzzle loading projectiles but for the moment I have lots.  I still have 4 5 pound ingots of Rotometals Hard Cast Alloy for my regular cast bullet needs so I may wait a bit.  At any rate here is what I have to pick through to come up with some bullets to roll up into paper cartridges for my two .44 caliber revolvers.



Jay
treadhead1952
Las Vegas. NV

USMC

[treadhead1952]

Hi all,

I got started rolling my own as it were by twisting up some cigarette papers around my dowel that I shaped for the purpose.  Once I get 100 of these done I can add powder and a wad then plug the conical bullet on top.



I also lubricated my cast up Conical Bullets with some Allox.  Of course, as usual I had to thin the glob of Allox in the bottom of the bottle with some Mineral Spirits first.  Man that stuff sure does come in handy!  Once mixed up to the consistency of honey I was able to drizzle some over the Bullets and swirl them around the bottom of a large plastic mixing bowl that I have just for this purpose.  Once they were all coated I laid them out on top of the dryer to dry for a bit.  In a day or two they will be ready to get glued into the top of my paper cartridges.

[Truly Grits]

had to look up Nanaimo Bars , Sir Charles  
to be sure I didn't live under a rock , I had not heard of the these ..Western Canada treat I see ...
not seen diagonally South across the the lower 48  

Nanaimo bars are like back bacon; one of those special Canadian things we like to keep secret.  

PS. Nice batch of lead.