Random Observations on revolver shooting

45D said:

A wedge driven in shouldn't move . . . especially with light target loads.

Mike

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Shuda wooda couda...most of the time right...lots of things " shouldn't move" like pressure fit dove tail sights, Tang screws and Lock screws. I just check list all these before practice or match anyway. Sometimes @#$$ happens...

I'd suspect too much trigger finger due to being tired. If it happens again try to test the gun, not you, by shooting left handed from a support. If back on target, then that's it.

I would not switch hands. just sandbag the pistol and see what's really going on.

nick_1 said:

I had a black plastic pistol that i had not shot in a decade or so. At one point I had been a dead ringer with that thing winning a few nine pin trophys. pulled it out of the far corner of the safe a few years ago and low and behold it shot really low? wonder what happened? i shaved down the front sight a bit with a razor knife and it still shot low. Benched it with a bag and guess who the real culprit was...... ME....

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Sometimes it is us , that is the variable

That extra 2 cups of coffee, not shooting a particular gun in a while, just having an "off" day. I'll be shooting and it's like , what the heck is going on here?? Oh yes I'm 5 cups of coffee deep and I forgot to eat something before I left the house

The wandering group occurred after a lot (relatively, for a cap and baller) of rounds in a short period

When it happens again I'm going to sandbag the gun and shoot at 25 to see if it's off

I Never drink coffee on match day.... speaking of fck ups. last night i tipped over my powder flask on the night stand. there was powder in the nozzel that spilled all over the place.. Hmm checked my pistol with the ramrod and it seemed a bit shy... Popped a cap out the back door and no bueno. I dry balled it again... pulled the cleanout screw and sifted some powder in there. She went poof... and I was back in buisness...

Here's a short fun video I made for my girlfriend's son who loves "old guns" but I'll put it up here

My range had the Practical Handgun stuff still set up so I used the pipe as I think intended to shoot through then just played around

The lowly, cheap .44 Brasser ran like a top, no cap jams, I ran it hard and dirty, using a plastic flask to quickly recharge the chambers and keep shooting . Doing some "combat reloads" from a possibles bag.....

Nitrate cartridges notwithstanding......if you were using a flask, and loose balls back in the day during a gun fight I'd hope you had nerves of steel and some hard cover to hide behind i.e. Texas Rangers with Patersons or Walkers......because trying to charge, load and cap a revolver under even a little "stress" is challenging

I also see why carrying a "brace" was a handy solution.

Its killing me because I can not remember his name but i read a very cool first hand book written by texas ranger about his many indian fights. he had a brace of patersons and it was a force multiplier for those guys in a major way. seems like most of the fights were close, quick and dirty. ride into the middle of them and soot them from close range with the repeating pistols and the survivors would break contact and run.

nick_1 said:

I Never drink coffee on match day.... speaking of fck ups. last night i tipped over my powder flask on the night stand. there was powder in the nozzel that spilled all over the place.. Hmm checked my pistol with the ramrod and it seemed a bit shy... Popped a cap out the back door and no bueno. I dry balled it again... pulled the cleanout screw and sifted some powder in there. She went poof... and I was back in buisness...

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We can still make mistakes even with things we've done a million times

nick_1 said:

Its killing me because I can not remember his name but i read a very cool first hand book written by texas ranger about his many indian fights. he had a brace of patersons and it was a force multiplier for those guys in a major way. seems like most of the fights were close, quick and dirty. ride into the middle of them and soot them from close range with the repeating pistols and the survivors would break contact and run.

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I think those were the guys,
the 50 Rangers, or 20 , I forget and they'd find cover and just rain .36 balls into the Indians, making the Indians think they were facing 500 men and they'd run

Also how the Rangers asked for Patersons with loading levers because it was impossible to reload on horseback , having to take the gun apart to load the cylinder. They had to dismount to reload their 2 revolvers.

Colt added a loading lever and a capping cutout and it was huge, for the Rangers who could now reload much faster.

Stathman, I think this is the book. www.amazon.com/gp/product/1695768930/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 If it is the one I think it is it's a must read for you with first hand accounts of some of the first fights ever with Patersons. I read it two years ago so don't remember everything but I recall nothing about reloading. I do seem to recall him using two pistols and making his shots count. even if its the wrong book it looks like a gud one

On the hand switch, if you are curling your finger around the trigger and you shoot right handed, it can throw the shots off to the left. Another alternative- have someone else shot the revolver. Years ago it was common to carry two pistols so shooting left handed is PC.

doesn't tell you anything at all unless you bench it. bench it with a sandbag and you learn something. switch hands and all you learn is you can screw up with both hands.

Red Owl said:

On the hand switch, if you are curling your finger around the trigger and you shoot right handed, it can throw the shots off to the left. Another alternative- have someone else shot the revolver. Years ago it was common to carry two pistols so shooting left handed is PC.

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I shoot with both hands just because I may get into CAS shooting. And I don't know if "2 Gun Duelist " has been taken out yet for safety reasons

so I have seen two different photos today of original cased colt Paterson's. Both were cased with the original accessories. Both sold for upwards of a million bucks and both cases came with a spare cylinder. I suspect that settles the argument of weather or not anyone ever swapped out cylinders in the field BITD. the other really interesting thing in both cases was a six spout powder flask.

nick_1 said:

so I have seen two different photos today of original cased colt Paterson's. Both were cased with the original accessories. Both sold for upwards of a million bucks and both cases came with a spare cylinder. I suspect that settles the argument of weather or not anyone ever swapped out cylinders in the field BITD. the other really interesting thing in both cases was a six spout powder flask.

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I've seen the cased sets online with the Patersons with 2 or sometimes 3 different length barrels and a spare cylinder. I've seen one Navy with a matching, numbered fitted cylinder . Apparently these were Special Order sets from Colt and the intent was for the owner to carry them while hunting, and keep a loaded cylinder in his pocket for a field reload for putting down game, etc. I suppose these special boxed sets would have been very expensive and probably only owned by well heeled Gentleman.

The original Patersons were neat because it seems like Sam Colt didn't really factor in any kind of "field reload" , the gun was reloaded with the cylinder off the frame with that weird tool, then reassembled. The 5 in the cylinder was pretty much what you had unless you wanted to use the flask and balls. I can see why a spare cylinder would have been a desirable accessory.

These probably are one of the very few cases of cylinder swapping actually being done in the original period.

nick_1 said:

so I have seen two different photos today of original cased colt Paterson's. Both were cased with the original accessories. Both sold for upwards of a million bucks and both cases came with a spare cylinder. I suspect that settles the argument of weather or not anyone ever swapped out cylinders in the field BITD. the other really interesting thing in both cases was a six spout powder flask.

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What!...You don't believe the "Experts"...Didn't you know that unlike modern times where people do things any way they prefer , they just did things the way the "Experts" say with little to no variation...

My bad. its a 5 spout flask? I have never handled one and don't apparently don't know if a Paterson is 5 or 6 shot?

nick_1 said:

My bad. its a 5 spout flask? I have never handled one and don't apparently don't know if a Paterson is 5 or 6 shot?

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It's a 5-shot

No second place said:

What!...You don't believe the "Experts"...Didn't you know that unlike modern times where people do things any way they prefer , they just did things the way the "Experts" say with little to no variation...

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The "Experts" will tell you that Civil War soldiers were going into battle with 20 cylinders in their pockets, because Wikipedia says so