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Pietta 1851 .44 Navy Experiment

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PastorB

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This afternoon I decided to do a little experiment using my Pietta 1851 Navy in .44. It is completely stock, about 25 years old. The experiment was to simply see if it would fire. No biggie, until you realize it has been loaded and riding around in my old, beater hunting truck since at least last November, so about 5 months or better. My truck is parked outside in all weather conditions, and we had lows this past winter from -15° F to highs in the low 70's°. It has snowed a good bit, rained a lot, and a couple of times I forgot to roll up my windows. My gun has been in the truck this entire time (safely before someone gets bent, only been shooting 60+years). Last fall I loaded it with .454 round ball, 30 grains of 3f Swiss, and #10 Remington caps. No lube or wads at all, and it has been riding in the pictured holster. All six shots fired with authority and no hesitation. Didn't shoot over my chrono, but have no doubt they were full power. Blasted right thru a fairly new, treated 2x12 at 35 yards. The small holes are from a .22 rimfire handgun, the dents from a hot loaded (.330 rb, 18 gr. 3f Swiss) 1849 Pocket Model, fired from point blank range. The .44 had zero issues with reliability or with blasting thru the 2x12 lumber at fairly long range.
 

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Neat

I have my 2nd Gen Dragoon loaded and capped with 5 rounds, it's been loaded for about a month now. I loaded it just for fun to carry in the car to and from work, and now it's in it's holster . I kinda forgot about it until now, I have no doubt at all it would fire years from now.

I have read about people finding loaded originals in attics, etc and just capping the loads off with no problem

I think General Lee's Colt Navy revolver is still loaded, with the caps and chambers sealed with candle wax. I'd bet it still fires.
 
Had my ROA loaded for 6 years with 35grs Goex 3f, lubed conicals, and CCI caps. 1st cap said "pop" kinda meekly and the deer scattered. Hammer back, one stopped to look back, gun said BOOM! After the deer was taken care of, the next 3 popped real weakly, last one went off. Recapped the duds and they all went off.
Lesson: stop being cheap, Pete, recap with fresh caps!
 
It all depends on humidity. North eastern us leave it loaded for more than 24 hrs in June or July and you stand a good chance of getting hang fires/ slow ignition which is not easy to hit anything with. Also a good chance of miss fire. The same gun/charge that completely failed to fire in June due to humidity will dry out and fire first try in November. Never tried the wax trick?
 
Black powder is hygroscopic. Meaning it wants to absorb moisture. When wet it will attack most common metals except for stainless steel, aside from being problematic in combusting. I would take every precaution to protect the moisture proof integrity of a black powder loaded gun.
It is yet another reason I avoid black powder revolvers. Not only are they more difficult to clean, you have 5 or 6 chambers to waterproof.
I avoid the problem by firing off all charges before cleaning and stowing away.
 
Living in a rural area, I have kept a ROA loaded with .457 balls, 32 gr. Triple 7 and #10 Remington caps inside a large ziplock plastic bag with a few small desiccant bags hidden in my garage in the event someone were to loot my house when returning home. The ROA as been stored in the garage for around the last 1-1/2 years. Out of curiosity, I borrowed a friends chrono and at 15 yards shot all six rounds with an average of 1011 fps with a calculated results of about 336 ft-lbs. energy. Most definitely did the the powder and caps function after a lengthy storage time. :thumb:
 
Black powder is hygroscopic. Meaning it wants to absorb moisture. When wet it will attack most common metals except for stainless steel,
That's not true.
Black powder "Residue" is hygroscopic and will cause damage if left on any metals.
Black powder itself is minimally hygroscopic, which is much different than being subject to condensation.
Condensation is water.
 
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I am just going off of my experience here in VT where in the summer time my paper cartridges turned to mush when stored in my dresser drawer. The same cartridges looked a little chunky but fired just fine in the fall during Deer season. Also my experience with leaving both single shot pistols and rifles as well as cap and ball revolvers loaded for more than a day in the summer here and having them misfire or slow fire. Winter time not an issue. I suspect those living out west would never have a problem with humidity.
 
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