Glad I ain't a cowboy!

Dadgum!
Just took my first 12 shots with my new (to me) Pietta 1851 Navy.

5 minutes to load, 2 minutes to shoot, 45 minutes to clean.

Can't imagine doing that on the dusty prarie!

Crisco & 100º weather do not a happy gun-cleaner make! :cursing: :grin:

I LOVE it! :youcrazy: :rotf:

Back in the day they used paper Ctgs. and bullets not round balls. They did not carry cans of cooking oil around with them. This thing of using crisco an corn meal in the chambers is a modern thing. The guns were only cleaned when they quit working well. The easy way today is lube the chamber over the round ball with a high heat lube. I use Mobile One gear lube, a non petro. lube. The bore will clean with 2 patches. I clean the cylinder in soap and hot water rinse in 90 % Alcohol light oil and go. If I plan to store the guns for a long time I fully clean and lube. Don't pay attention to these guys that clean more than they shoot. If that were the case Sam Colt would have not sold many guns. Bet on it.

Now that is some of the first cap and ball sanity that I have heard.

Warmest Regards,
Robert

I have been experimenting with loading and shooting my 1858 Remington. I haven't bothered to put any grease on top of the cylinders yet and everything seems to work just fine. I fired 30 shots last weekend and never had any problems. Clean up was fairly quick on the barrel, with hot water and Spic and Span. I was pleased with how little crud was in the works. I went ahead and totally stripped it and cleaned it because that is part of the fun.

Many Klatch

I lube on top the ball. There are folks who claim it isn't necessary or that it makes no difference. I have fired up to 60 or 70 shots without problems.

My theory is that it makes sense to have the lube pushed down the bore ahead of the ball so it coats the bore before the ball passes by and the bore is exposed to the fouling. I would suppose that such a practice cuts down on leading.

In a microscopically smooth burnished bore it may make little difference.

robtattoo said:

I LOVE it! :youcrazy: :rotf:

Click to expand...

Yup, you're hopelessly hooked. :rotf:

If you want to add to your fun, take it along on a small game hunt. I carry mine for "backup" for snowshoe hare, and on days when they're holding close it sees all the action while my rifle is unfired.

One thing you never hear about much is partial reloads- loading a few chambers while there are still loaded ones. If'n my life depended on it, that's what I'd do in a brawl. Save myself a shot or two in case I needed them before the reloading was finished.

One "problem" pops up in field reloads, whether partial or full: Lube handling. Easiest I've found is nowhere near historic. I cut paper soda straws into 3" lengths, fill nearly full of my preferred grease, then roll over the ends and drop them in my bag. Squeeze em like toothpaste tubes to apply the lube to the chambers one at a time as you load them. Easy to keep that little length of straw in your hand while you're pouring powder and seating a ball, too.

The modern drinking straw was patented in 1888 by Marvin C. Stone so your method is not completely out of the realm of 'could have been historic'. :grin:

Pretty sure those straws were waxed paper, not plastic and 1888 is a bit past the "era". :haha:

The plastic ones don't work worth a hoot for me. Paper "behaves" a lot better when you're squeezing.

Nobody said anything about plastic straws, and C&B guns were still being used in 1888, so it's not past the era, just on the far end of it. :blah:

I load this way, powder, lubed wad, ball, then cap, No lube after the ball, to me thats an extra step thats not worth doing, and one less item to carry around.

That's my procedure also. I was just trying to validate the soda straws. :surrender:

No no robtatoo....
The deal was they had combustible cartridges. If I hurry I can reload in 20-25 seconds but they usually had two revolvers and I'll bet a tactical reload would have been pretty common- that is you started re-loading one revolver before you fired all the rounds from the second revolver. It was pretty common to dive towards whatever cover was available and fire from a protected position.
I've done the cylinder change but I have problems with it- I've only one reference that it was ever done and even that reference isn't clear as to why the spare cylinder was carried. The other issue is there was a certain amount of hand fitting at the time- I'm not sure how interchangable the cylinders were- I mean the gun would likely fire but the timing could have been less than optimal.

I like the soda straw idea. I use one of those turkey injectors. Klatch loads without any lube that was the original way, read Colts loading instructions for these guns. These gun do not lead so much with pure lead. The leading is caused by undersized or hard bullets not filling the bore. The gas passes around the ball melting off drops of hot lead which sticks to the bore. The reason for lube is to keep the fouling soft this tends to hardened in the bore when the gun barrel cools. I shoot a number of strings at the range and the gun often cools. With a good lube you can shoot all day or the next day without cleaning the bore. I use the Mobile One non-petrol gear lube. This stuff will stay in the chamber out the summer desert and keeps the bore fouling soft. They are fun to shoot keep it simple. If you are bent on doing what you think they did in the day don't read this. :thumbsup:

The military guns were issued with an extra cylinder just like clips are today. The Walkers were issued in pairs with extra cylinders. The cylinders were changed in battle. The cylinders were reloaded after the battle or troops fell back. Guns will accept other cylinders of the same type with out a problem, in most cases. We have swaped out Walkers, Armies and ROAs without problems. Don't confuse modern high pressure handgun problems with these BP fire arms. :nono:

We're talking Cowboys here, not military. I imagine in reality shoot-em-outs were a rare occurance. The Cowboy tradition I grew up with in South Dakota was a rifle in a scabbard, not a 6 gun on the hip.

I have an ancestor who was a range warden in the Southwest from around 1880 through WWI, and his "kit" is preserved in the family. Too late a time period for muzzleloader discussions, other than as an indicator of what a pro carried for dealing with armed cowboys intent on stealing cattle. I've always been more interested in his leather than the guns, but based on what he carried, I'd guess he rode a BIG horse. :grin:

It included a pair of Colts in crossdraw holsters on the same belt, a Winchester in a saddle scabbard on the right side of the horse and a Remington SxS in a matching scabbard on the left. Not sure of the caliber, but he also had a small revolver worn like a neck knife and a knife in each boot. Heck, ammunition alone would have required a pack horse! :rotf:

There is no evidence of extra cylinders being 'issued' to troops getting revolvers in the U.S. military. Just the opposite has been cited recently on one of the BP forums by Fingers Magee.
Do the research before making such a bold statement.
BTW, Military pistol of today feed from magazines, not clips.

I carry this piece when I'm out woods walking. My load...well it's maximum since old Hickock didn't use corn meal I'm sure.

This revolver will make head shots on squirrels at 10 yards - if they'll hold still for it. I've sighted it by deepening the rear notch and settling the front sight all the way down into the notch. Works like a charm. I carry it when I'm carrying my .36 long rifle for those rascals that get too close for the rifle. This particular varmint was on a branch at about 15 feet and it didn't seem sporting to use the rifle so close.



Dan

Well Junkman I did some more research. I checked out all the know firearms Historians. I could not find a Prof. FINGERS MCGEE. :rotf: