I've posted about this before. Most of my BP revolvers are loaded. I shoot them 2 or 3 times per year usually. Sometimes, things get in the way and it is longer between shoots. On Sunday afternoon, I took out an 1858 short barrel ACE and a 1851 that have been loaded for 14 months. The 1858 had 28 grains 4F, a card and a .454 ball in every cylinder with a CCI #11 Mag cap on each. The 1851 had 5 cylinders loaded with 26 grains Pyro P, a card and a .454 ball with a Rem #11 cap on each nipple. Over the past year each has been carried in a leather holster, stored in the truck and sat in a nightstand drawer. I've come to expect these (and a few other) revolvers to fire flawlessly even when stored for a long time, but I am always curious and cautious since you hear good and bad. Well, as usual they both fired perfectly. Interesting, the 1858 had more velocity that I recorded at the range last time with the same exact load. The difference may be the 20 degree increase in outside temperature. The 1851 had a lower low velocity than the last range session, making the average 20 FPS less, but the spread was a lot greater than the range session, contributing to the lower average. Nonetheless, either would have done its job to make a big hole where needed even after resting for over a year.
