I've have a Spiller & Burr for a couple of years now. It shoots just fine, but, like a lot of the C&B guns mine shoots high.
Although it is a brass framed gun, it seems to be a stronger frame design than the brass framed Colt's and because it is limited in the size of its load by the .36 cal chambers I doubt that problems would develop from shooting it with any load as long as round balls were used.
One of the interesting things, to me anyway, is the fact that Spiller & Burr ended up making a copy the .36 cal Whitney even though the Confederate requirement was for it to be "...substantially of the Colt's pattern,...".
(The Whitney was a steel framed gun of which modern Italian reproductions have been made)
Getting on with the story, in Richmond, Virginia it seems there was a "Robinson Revolver Factory" which was planning on making a copy of the Whitney pistol. Just prior to the war, Robinson offered to make a copy of the .36 cal Whitney for Virginia for $20 each. The Virginia Legislature approved this offer in April, 1861. Although the proposal was approved, there is no evidence that Robinson ever made a single pistol.
There is speculation supported by written evidence that Spiller & Burr bought Robinson's design and some equipment and moved it South to Atlanta, Georgia, and then to Macon, Georgia to make these pistols.
(This information was found in
CONFEDERATE HANDGUNS CONCERNING THE GUNS THE MEN WHO MADE THEM AND THE TIMES OF THEIR USE by William A. Albaugh, III, Hugh Benet, Jr. and Edward N. Simmons. Copyright MCMLXIII by George Shumway.)
zonie
