New to me cap and ball

[Python]

I have never shot a black powder pistol before, until today.

At the gunshow last week end I picked up a Pietta Remington New Model Army with an 8" barrel and target sights .44 cal

Read all the information I could find on line, picked up the caps, balls, wads, powder and lube.

What a neat pistol and pretty acurate too.
Once I got her sighted in at 15-20 yards could shoot a 6 shot ragged hole with it.

I dont think that I would want to get hit by one of these .454" 141gr. soft lead balls.

Had a lot of fun this morning.
Always neat to try something different in the world of firearms.
Need to get me an extra cylinder cause you spend a lot of time reloading.

Clarence

[arizona-hermit]

I have only fired a black powder revolver once (six times actually).

The owner 'forgot' to grease the cylinders and I got the thrill of sympathetic firing of all 6 cylinders with one pull of the trigger.

Not likely to forget that anytime soon and it happened way back in the '60s.

[greener]

I've fired on a couple of times without the excitement the hermit had. Enjoyed the gun. Keep thinking that I probably need one.

[Python]

Hermit,I had read about what happened to you in my research.
A chain fire does not sound like fun at all.

They say that if you use a wad between the powder and ball and the ball fits tight enough that when you press it into the cylinder it shaves off a ring of lead, which mine does, then you are good to go.

Well, I went ahead and did cover the balls with paste lube to really decrease the chance of a chain fire.

It is kind of scary pushing the caps onto the nipples, you keep thinking, what if it goes off.
Well, it should not, it has to be struck pretty hard.

I went with Hodgdon Pyrodex pellets instead of true black powder until I get used to this cap and ball thing.

They are a 30 grain by volume equivelent of black powder.
They worked just fine today, all shots went boom.
Read a lot of positive and negative comments about the pellets.

I used CCI #10 caps, they all went off no problem and fired the charge.
They did crush and splinter after firing, but just flick the mangled one off after every shot, not a big deal.

Recoil was about a .38 +P

It is kind of neat to relive what they had to do to shoot a pistol back then.

Clarence

[Baldy]

I can see the fun factor for sure. My brother was big into black powder and hunted everything with it but he always packed a .45 Colt for back up. If I remember right I think he said he used Crisco cooking lard for grease.

[Yleefox]

I've thought for a long time that a cap and ball would be a lotta fun. Hope you enjoy it.

[radio]

I just sold a .45 caliber rifle, but plan to hold on to my 2 others in .50. I don't deer hunt anymore, but still like to hunt small game so I would like to get a hold of a nice sidelock in .32 or .36 caliber. Tinkering with the ammo and powder to get the best groups is fun.

Since I was a kid I have always wanted an 1860 Army revolver. It has the round barrel as opposed to the octagon of the Navy-style. Uberti used to make a nice one, but I think they have gone out of sight with their pricing.

I have personally never used true black powder. It's less forgiving if you don't clean immediately. With loose powder you can "customize" your powder charge. I have one gun that shoots great with 70 grains of Pyrodex. That can't be done with the pellets.

Have fun with that gun--it sounds nice.

[bearandoldman]

Since I was a kid I have always wanted an 1860 Army revolver. It has the round barrel as opposed to the octagon of the Navy-style. Uberti used to make a nice one, but I think they have gone out of sight with their pricing.

Many years ago, I had a Navy Arms 1860 Army, when the only powder available was the real kind. Was fun to shoot, but a pain to clean. Sat in a drawer for many year and finally got traded on something I would use. But UI did make money on it.