First report on the New Army revolver.

[Pittsburghunter]

It is not a great report but again it is a brand new pistol and I'm sure it needs to be broke in. 25yds gave me a one foot group for the most part. The second group of five was about 4" at 25yds but all the rest were about a foot mean spread. Ignition was exellent and the primers self cleared themselves from the pistol after firing. (Not sure if they should do that)

I was using the 3F 777 equivelent and will try regular BP the next time out as I was not happy with the shooting results. The Wonderlube was also a big disapointment as it was almost a liquid instead of a solid blocking agent against chain fires. Very messy to shoot and tough to use in this state.

The gun it's self is a pleasure to shoot with mild recoil and nice trigger but as they say I wasn't hitting the side of the barn from the inside.

I personally think the thing needs more powder chucked in it the max load is listed at 30g (measured) and that leaves more than 1/4 inch of tube to fill with the messy lube. What gives?

Anyway like I said first time out and I probabally didn't even break it in yet. BTW for the most part it shot very low but I ain't gonna file the front sight just yet.

 

[Nightwind]

Glad to see you like your new toy, I love mine. Most competitors I know uses cornmeal to fill the gap between the powder and the ball. I use 22 grains of Goex 3f and fill the rest of the cylinder level with cornmeal. Then seat the ball just below the edge of the cylinder and smear a beeswax/grease mix to cover the ball and lubricate it as it goes down the barrel when fired. Hopes this helps.

 

[peter]

I load my 1858 with 25-30 gr 3f, with a wonder wad between powder and ball, and always seat the ball fully. Safety first. When shooting with less than full loads I use more than one wad, but always fully seat the ball.

 

[Don]

As I recall your 1858 had a brass frame. I might be wrong but if I'm not I wouldn't recommend using 777. It's hotter than BP and Pyrodex P and could damage your brass framed gun especially if you intend to increase the charge. Typically, you ease off the 777 by 15%-20% of what you would measure for BP or Pyrodex.

Good Luck

Don

 

[Pittsburghunter]

Yea I really don't want to push it to hard but as hard as it was designed to be pushed. I can't get over how much open space is left in the cylinders when loaded and I wonder if the gun actually was made for rifle powders back in the day and were filled more. I also wonder how much of a problem they had with chain fires as well? What did the period people do to keep that from happening?

All this I will learn in time and sure am glad I have you folks to help me. The T7 I bought was the FFF equivelent and I kept my charges to 25g. I cleaned after every 15 shots but noticed groups opening after ten so in the future it looks like I will clean after every ten or 15 round to keep things running smooth.

Thanks to all of you for the help. I do have a question about over the powder wads, will they do the same as putting lube in front of the ball? I hope so that makes a mess.

 

[Doc Arroyo]

Wonderwads brought me back to shooting percussion revolvers. Grease over the ball was messy, and I noticed that the first shot blew most of the grease off the rest of the cylinder anyway. Wads have kept my Colts shooting fine for long periods. eace:

 

[Markwhiz]

I have a brass-framed 1858clone too.
When shooting the 3fg 777 powder, I've notice it compresses more than black which is part of the reason you're seeing the gap you are. I've gone to using 2 standard lubed wads or a double thick wad I make myself between the powder & ball..........this helps a bunch with 777.

I wouldn't worry too much about over-stressing your frame.........I've done some Chrony work with different loads & powders and I've found that 30gr of the 3fg 777 shoots no faster than 30gr of 3fg Black - which is the max recommended load. You can drop it down to 27gr if you want to be sure............but accuracy will be lost by going any lower.

I've always used CVA Grease Patch over my balls too......mainly because I got a great deal on it and stocked up awhile back. Bore butter is also a good choice as it doesn't go liquid quite as bad the wonderlube you described. But if you use the lubed wads, the over-ball grease isn't really needed I don't believe.......but I do both just to be as safe as possible.

The 1858 WILL shoot low............it's designed too. Once you find your load and are happy with your groups.......then you can do the filing routine on the front sight.

A 4" group at 25yds is REAL good for that pistol. :grey:
But one little accuracy trick that seems to help ALL the cap & ball clones is to do a little barrel lapping. These things usually are a little rough in the bore, so if you work about 8 patches coated with a bore paste like J-Bs, Flitz, Iosso, (even Mother's Mag Wheel paste or Semi-Chrome paste) thru them; the bores clean up very nicely and accuracy is noticeably improved.

Good Luck & welcome to the C&B club.

 

[ValleyForge]

I recently switched to wads from grease (Crisco, in my case) as well. Although I'm not sure why, I seem to get better accuracy when using the wads. Maybe my aim has improved becasue my hands aren't so greasy from lubing the chambers? Who knows? But the result is definite. And I load faster as well, without disturbing the zen of the loading process.

Mysticism should always be included in bp shooting.....