New convert to the world of black powder

[hammerdown77]

Last week I received a Colt 1860 Army clone (Pietta) from Cabela's. Never really was interested in cap and ball style pistols, or black powder for that matter, but over the past month I somehow developed a strong desire to try one out. So I bought one of these and all the various doodads required to load and shoot it. Found some real black powder (Goex) at a local shop.

Yesterday was my first time ever to load and shoot one of these crazy things. The circled group above the barrel in the picture below is the very first 5 shots out of the gun, shot off the bench. Distance was a stepped out 15 yards (I have long legs, so it may be more, but let's call it 15). I usually test at 25 first, but for this first attempt I thought I'd bring it in a bit to make sure I could get them all on the target. Normally this wouldn't be anything impressive, but given the type of gun and the NOOB behind the trigger, the lack of real sights (the rear sight is a divot in the nose of the hammer!), and no load development prior, I'm just tickled with the results.

POI was fairly high above POA, but I've heard that is typical for these guns, as they were regulated for 75 yards or so. Windage looks pretty darn good, I was aiming at the bottom left corner of the post-it under the gun. I'd like to eventually regulate the elevation for 25 yards, but I'd rather not do it the typical way of grinding down on the hammer. Seems like you could braze on a sliver of metal to the existing front sight blade and then file down to zero. Curious how that would work out.

The trigger is LIGHT. 1.25 to 1.5 lbs measured on my RCBS scale, but it has about a mile of creep. The creep is very smooth, so it's kinda like a smooth double action pull.....with no spring tension.

Definitely see more of these in my future. And I'm probably going to start loading some black powder cartridges next. I'd really like to try that in 44-40, just due to the reduced amount of fouling and blowback inherent to that case design, but I don't have a single 44-40 in my collection. Sounds like the perfect reason to acquire a new gun :-)

[nolongcolt]

I have been playing with these off and on for years and they are fun! Messy but fun. That one shoots verrrry well indeed! The 1860 is my second favorite behind the '61 in .36 cal. I have an Uberti in the case with all the trimmings to play with right now.

[bagdadjoe]

Heck, Wild Bill hisself would be proud of that! Are you going to try conicals too? ..not that you need to apparently. Yep, I think Bill was actually fond of 36's, but still...

[hammerdown77]

Not sure on the conicals. I might. There's a good YouTube 3-part series by Mike Bellevue where he tests out a .45 round ball, conical, and 240 grain flat nosed hunting bullet in an 1860 Army. With that 240 grain flat nose over 40 grains of 3F Goex powder (he had difficulty seating the bullet over that charge), he was seeing 900 fps over the chrono, and it punched through 9 water jugs (1 gallon).

[bobwright]

That is a nice photo of the gun. To my notion, the Colt 1860 Army is one of the handsomest handguns ever made.


Bob Wright

[ward01]

For a cartridge black powder gun, check out the 1871 open tops - the cylinder has a forward protection for the cylinder pin so it does not load up or bind with black powder residue and keeps shooting smoothly longer. They takedown just like the 1860 Army but they have a fixed sight on the rear portion of the barrel. The first one I bought was a 5.5" and is chambered for he 44 Colt cartridge. Starline makes brass or you can shoot 44 Russian in it as well. The second one I bought more recently was a 7.5" and is chambered for the 44 special. It handles the special, the Colt and the Russian - kinda like S, L, & LR. I'm sure you can shoot safe levels of smokeless powder in both but all I use them for is strictly real black powder. They are a real Hoot to Shoot!

ward

[hammerdown77]

I'll look into that, ward. Thanks for the info.

For cap and ball, I'm thinking I might try a model based off the Navy configuration next. I like the feel of the SAA grip, and the Navy uses that size/shape grip (except for Pietta, who for some reason feels that they need to put a whale tail on the back of theirs...). They also have the octagon barrel, which I like.

Then, there's always the WALKER. 60 grains of black powder goodness.

[agrizz]

That is one nice shooting Black Powder revolver. Your thoughts on the Walker are very nice there are 2 things you may wish to check out. One is that the Walker is a monster of a revolver and has a lot of heft to it. The other is that on a majority of the Walkers the loading lever is not attached in place very well. On recoil the lever will drop down and lock up the cylinder if you are not carefull. Properly loaded they shoot great as well.

[hammerdown77]

Yeah, the Walker is a MASSIVE gun. And I've seen the videos where the loading lever pops down every shot. You'd think the designer would have considered that something worth fixing before they went into production. I've also seen some of those guns that shooters have modified to fix that problem using a brazed on brass catch that the lever pops into. Looks like it could have been part of the original design, even though it's not. Sure looks better than a twist tie or a rubber band.

[humphrey]

Apr 17, 2012 14:29:50 GMT -5 hammerdown77 said:

Yeah, the Walker is a MASSIVE gun. And I've seen the videos where the loading lever pops down every shot. You'd think the designer would have considered that something worth fixing before they went into production. I've also seen some of those guns that shooters have modified to fix that problem using a brazed on brass catch that the lever pops into. Looks like it could have been part of the original design, even though it's not. Sure looks better than a twist tie or a rubber band.

It was fixed, the revision was called the Dragoon.

Piece of rawhide works pretty slick as a catch for one of them. Its also more historically acurate then the rubber band.

If a smaller grip like the SAA would feel better then the large 1860 grips, try handling an 1858 Remington.

[hammerdown77]

Ahhh, forgot about the Dragoon.

1858 Remmie is on the short list as well, definitely!

Picked up a pound of FFg Goex today for stuffing into my 45 Colt cartridges. Really looking forward to that.

[Frank V]

Hammerdown77
That's a pretty good group. I played with one for several years. I finally deepened the notch in the hammer withg a file. then by holding the front sight way down in the deepened notch on the rear sight, I was able to bring poi down to poa. They will shoot very well & are a lot of fun. I also used a wonder wad over the powder under the ball. It caused me to lower the powder charge about 4 grains, but shot way cleaner than lube over the ball & I think it increased accuracy. They are a lot of fun.
Enjoy.
Frank

[steveb]

The 1860, and clones, is a thing of grace and beauty. Form follows function. steve b

[hammerdown77]

Apr 22, 2012 21:51:30 GMT -5 Frank V said:

Hammerdown77
That's a pretty good group. I played with one for several years. I finally deepened the notch in the hammer withg a file. then by holding the front sight way down in the deepened notch on the rear sight, I was able to bring poi down to poa. They will shoot very well & are a lot of fun. I also used a wonder wad over the powder under the ball. It caused me to lower the powder charge about 4 grains, but shot way cleaner than lube over the ball & I think it increased accuracy. They are a lot of fun.
Enjoy.
Frank

I am going to try wonder wads at some point, or make my own. I made up a batch of beeswax and Crisco the other night to pan lube some 45 Colt bullets to make BP cartridge loads. When I get some felt and a cutter, I'll just drop those into the lube next time I'm pan lubing.

I've got 50 rounds of 45 Colt loaded up, with 35 grains of FFg Goex. I'm chompin' at the bit to shoot 'em!

[dmize]

I have never shot BP 45 Colt loads,but in a 44-40 and 38-40 BP is a real personality changer.