Black Powder Pistol - Cheap Fun!

[angusb1]

Last weekend I bought this 44 year old Uberti replica of a Remington 1858 New Model Army revolver in .44 for the princely sum of £50, and yesterday I took it to the range. My mate kindly supplied some caps, ball and powder as he has one too. It is such a simple device and a huge amount of fun. I bought a mould for casting bullets from @EMcC on here (thanks again Eddy) and a cleaning kit for.44 pistols for £10 from Amazon. To be set up for around £100 including a gun and reloading gear is amazing.

There are quite a few differences between my mate's pistol which is 8 years old and mine, most notably that his has a round recess in the end of the ram, whereas mine has a conical recess. The first 6 shots were going all over the place as the conical recess was deforming the top of the ball so for the next 6 I put a wad over the ball each time before pressing it into the chamber. This left the ball round and I managed a 2" group at 10 yards which I was pleasantly surprised with. The Pedersoli mould I got from @EMcC has both a round ball and a heeled conical in it so I'll cast a few of each and see which it shoots better.

I might have a go at making some paper cartridges for it but that's a whole new rabbit hole

 

[Slaughtermanste]

I got one too cracking bit of fun tbf

 

[Stalker62]

I bought the same thing (off an SD member) for about the same money.



Even turning up on the 'point' with the barrels 'pre-loaded', I still only managed to fire off a grand total of 12 shots in the (busy day) 30/60 slot.

Another thing I failed to anticipate, it the amount of shite you will need to make the thing function.

I had to buy a bag for just this revolver...





Inside...

 

[enfieldspares]

LOL! We got "banned" from using these at an East Midlands shooting centre when a greased felt wad went down range, alight, and set fire to the debris from the wooden target posts on the floor in front of the stop butt. To no avail did we users protest that this was solely down to the proprietor's poor housekeeping. Things went from bad to worse when (now that shooting had been stopped) we then washed the fired pistols out in his sink and blocked his electrical drain pump. And nevermore were the things allowed. So beware that the greased wads do, sometimes, go down range all "afire"! If anyone wants such cheap Joe Beatham at Gunshop EB has a drawer full of the things.

 

[Rhodesianjess]

My late father loved handguns,in all calibres and guises. He had a 360/9mm black powder cap and ball modern make revolver, I can't recall the make but believe it was Italian.
What struck me whilst shooting it with him was the amount of work involved to get it ready to fire. Powder inserted, balls rammed,spit patch put in cylinder to prevent chain fire, then capping.
I can remember commenting at the time it's a wonder that the "Indians" lost battles,by the time you've gone through the loading rigmarole, I would've assumed that a good bowman would have left the "cowboy" looking like a pincushion.

 

[angusb1]

I bought the same thing (off an SD member) for about the same money.

View attachment 349364

Even turning up on the 'point' with the barrels 'pre-loaded', I still only managed to fire off a grand total of 12 shots in the (busy day) 30/60 slot.

Another thing I failed to anticipate, it the amount of shite you will need to make the thing function.

I had to buy a bag for just this revolver...


View attachment 349365


Inside...

View attachment 349366

Very organised. Unfortunately the bag of goodies mine should've come with was misplaced. The one thing I think I still need to buy is a nipple key so I can take the nipples off and clean the cylinder properly. Actually I also need to buy some pipe cleaners to clean the nipple holes with.

 

[angusb1]

LOL! We got "banned" from using these at an East Midlands shooting centre when a greased felt wad went down range, alight, and set fire to the debris from the wooden target posts on the floor in front of the stop butt. To no avail did we users protest that this was solely down to the proprietor's poor housekeeping. Things went from bad to worse when (now that shooting had been stopped) we then washed the fired pistols out in his sink and blocked his electrical drain pump. And nevermore were the things allowed. So beware that the greased wads do, sometimes, go down range all "afire"! If anyone wants such cheap Joe Beatham at Gunshop EB has a drawer full of the things.

Black powder does pose a

 

[angusb1]

What struck me whilst shooting it with him was the amount of work involved to get it ready to fire. Powder inserted, balls rammed,spit patch put in cylinder to prevent chain fire, then capping.
I can remember commenting at the time it's a wonder that the "Indians" lost battles,by the time you've gone through the loading rigmarole, I would've assumed that a good bowman would have left the "cowboy" looking like a pincushion.

Never mind the amount of shots you can fire before you need to clean it and the time it takes to clean...

 

[mealiejimmy]

A guy I know had one and cleaned it by putting it in the dishwasher

Cheers

Bruce

 

[angusb1]

LOL! We got "banned" from using these at an East Midlands shooting centre when a greased felt wad went down range, alight, and set fire to the debris from the wooden target posts on the floor in front of the stop butt. To no avail did we users protest that this was solely down to the proprietor's poor housekeeping. Things went from bad to worse when (now that shooting had been stopped) we then washed the fired pistols out in his sink and blocked his electrical drain pump. And nevermore were the things allowed. So beware that the greased wads do, sometimes, go down range all "afire"! If anyone wants such cheap Joe Beatham at Gunshop EB has a drawer full of the things.

Black powder does pose less of a risk where we shoot as it is pretty soggy most of the time

 

[angusb1]

A guy I know had one and cleaned it by putting it in the dishwasher

Cheers

Bruce

Tempting but the walnut grips on mine are quite nice and I think the dishwasher would wreck them. I suppose I could take them off but I just washed it in the utility room sink with the kettle and washing up bowl. Didn't take long really

 

[Ploddy Paul]

Never bothered with wads in my revolver, so long as the round ball is a tight fit in the cylinder no chain fire. If you put a turn of PTFE on the nipples thread they come out a lot easier, just make sure you don’t cover the flash hole. Paul

 

[enfieldspares]

Regarding gobbing spatulas (or wooden lollipop sticks) full of grease, lard, Crisco or whatever on top of the ball. Back in the day, apparently, they never did. Ever. For it actually encourages flashover. It holds grains of loose blackpowder. As SD Member PLODDYPAUL says they cast a ball so that it shaved a ring of lead. The only time that they would use grease would be over the capped nipples if they expected rain. And didn't trust their flap holster. As the flap was there also to protect the nipples from the rain. But what they did do, and some American black and white Western movies show, is that after firing and as they cocked for the next round they'd point the muzzle upwards to allow the spent cap (if it was loose) to fall OUT of the gun and not down into the frame.

 

[Smellydog]

Chain fires are more commonly started by incorrect size caps being used!

 

[angusb1]

Never bothered with wads in my revolver, so long as the round ball is a tight fit in the cylinder no chain fire. If you put a turn of PTFE on the nipples thread they come out a lot easier, just make sure you don’t cover the flash hole. Paul

Thanks Paul I'll give that a go

 

[angusb1]

I bought the same thing (off an SD member) for about the same money.

View attachment 349364

Even turning up on the 'point' with the barrels 'pre-loaded', I still only managed to fire off a grand total of 12 shots in the (busy day) 30/60 slot.

Another thing I failed to anticipate, it the amount of shite you will need to make the thing function.

I had to buy a bag for just this revolver...


View attachment 349365


Inside...

View attachment 349366

I think I can see wads, caps and WD40 there but what else is in the bag? Powder measure? Spray can of black powder solvent?

 

[Stalker62]

I think I can see wads, caps and WD40 there but what else is in the bag? Powder measure? Spray can of black powder solvent?

@angusb1

Good question.

Let's see shall we...




An awful lot of junk, just to fire off twelve shots on a 'good' day.

Black Powder, filler, lube, wads, caps, grease gun, bullets, loading stand, sniper tape, tools, gizmos, and a plethora of doohickey tools.

Utter madness.

Just missing one thing...

 

[Rhodesianjess]

I always wondered how good or bad they are ???

@angusb1

Good question.

Let's see shall we...

View attachment 349740


An awful lot of junk, just to fire off twelve shots on a 'good' day.

Black Powder, filler, lube, wads, caps, grease gun, bullets, loading stand, sniper tape, tools, gizmos, and a plethora of doohickey tools.

Utter madness.

Just missing one thing...



View attachment 349741

No cap holder,spring loaded to cap nipples?
Your fingers must be a lot more nimble than mine S62.

 

[Stalker62]

No cap holder,spring loaded to cap nipples?
Your fingers must be a lot more nimble than mine S62.

@Rhodesianjess


No they are not!






Cap holders are in the wee box, to the left of the Sniper Tape.

 

[Bouncingoffthelocks]

For what its worth some things i found that helped keep fouling down and with cleaning -
a jar of home made lube, 50/50 r thereabouts of tallow and olive oil melted together, a smear of this on the nipple threads and cylinder pin, and over the seated ball keeps everything moving for a couple of cylinders worth of shots. Baby wipes for a wipe down over the surfaces every now and then.
For a quick clean grips off, nipples out (count them) and cylinder out rinse off in a tub of as warm as you can handle water give a scrub with an old toothbrush. Chuck out the foul water and maybe give one more rinse. Add a cap of balistol to hot water and submerge all the parts (not wood grips). Take out and shake water off and let the latent heat dry off the moisture, leaves behind a protective coating. Lube up cylinder pin and nipple threads and ready to go.

Final off the top of my head thoughts
Don't use hydrocarbon based greases or oils, it will make the fouling turn to a hard tar like substance.
Stainless still needs cleaning as much as a blued finish, but it is easier to see which areas need a scrub.
Swiss powder though more expensive does tend to burn cleaner with less residue.
Just remember if things were easy they wouldn't be worth doing