Author Topic: Finally shot 58 Pietta today / A word of thanks (Read 1194 times)

David L · « **on:** August 20, 2003, 03:09:36 PM »

Had a blast shooting the BP today. I can see right now that Im gonna need about 2 more cylinders if Im really gonna enjoy this sport. Shot 20 grs of triple 7 and it was purty accurate. The gun performed excellent! Ive shot a 38 special before and this round ball is much quicker with just 20 grs of 777, at least it seems that way I really dont know for sure tho.

Loading the .454 ball in this gun is a tight fit and I thought I was gonna hafta make a trip into town to get .451 balls but I put a little extra effort and the .454 slid right into place shaving off a little ring of lead, it seemed to be too tight to me but as I loaded more and more balls I came to realize that it was the right one for this gun.

Clean-up was a breeze, I think I could have shot this gun all day long without fouling-up the bore. The steel really ate-up the lard after I got it out of the oven, dam thing was HOT after 30 minutes in the oven and I had to let it cool down before I could touch it without getting burned.

I was really having trouble installing the cylinder on the 1858 Pietta. I finally figured it out, it is NOT reverse to install because when I pull it out I just hafta rotate it to the right and it comes right out BUT when I install it I now rotate it a bit to the left and then to the right and it drops right in place.

The first can I aimed at I hit, that was only about 15 yards away but it still made me feel good*L* In spite of the fact I only had one cylinder I still had a boat-load of fun, Ill be doing this for a long time. All the advice and reading other posts on this board sure made this easy. I dislike guess-work and this message board steered me in the right direction ----à>>

TO: Gatofeo ---- I read your post on the proper operation of BP revolvers and it really steered me in the right direction, from shooting to clean-up to proper care, I printed it out and it helped me make the right decisions ---- Thanks guy!!

Thanks to you ALL!!!!

David L

Black powder ROCKS!!!

The Shrink · « **Reply #1 on:** August 21, 2003, 01:18:12 AM »

David

Just to confirm what you concluded - you should cut off a ring of lead when you seat the ball. they were designed this way. That way you know you have a tightly sealed ball.

When I'm shooting mine I use a Wonder Wad between powder and ball, or a self-made wad very similar but much more sticky. This provides all the lube you will need and guarantees the seal, to prevent chain-fire around the face of the cylinder.

David L · « **Reply #2 on:** August 21, 2003, 03:57:12 AM »

Hiya Wayne,

I know hitting BP with a hammer is VERY dangerous and that was my main concern when I ramed that .454 into the cylinder. After the ball cleared the mouth of the cylinder I still had mucho pressure on the loading ram and it hit that wonder wad with a lot of pressure, alls I could see was ME hitting this BP charge with a hammer. Loading that first cylinder and using that much pressure on the ram REALLY had me sweating*L*

I said I would never consider doing CAS shooting because of all the BP that was out being used but Ive changed my mind on this. Im hoping by next summer I can be ready to compete, I still have a bunch of goodies I wanna get, that and, Im gonna need some time to get good enough to hold my own with the other shooters..*L*

BTW - I did take your advise on powder storage. Instead of the ¾ inch plywood I just put the powder in an army ammo box and then I put that into a heavy locked steel tool box. The temperature where its stored stays between 70 and 85 degrees so it should be all right. The best thing about this is Im the only one that has access to it.

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An excellent forum here, glad I found it!
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David L

simonkenton · « **Reply #3 on:** August 21, 2003, 07:47:41 AM »

I like Gatofeo's lube. I already had some Dixie "Old Zip Patch Lube". This is made of mutton tallow and beeswax. I took the hint from Gato and added some canning paraffin, I heated it up in the microwave. I just lubed up a pack of 100 Wonder Wads with it. I like it because it is firmer than the Old Zip, it does not begin to melt even on 90 degree days.
I hope this will prevent chain fires, it has so far. Lots of guys pack the front of the cylinder with crisco or some such grease, what a mess. But, they swear it prevents chain fires.
The Civil War cavalry battles were the pinnacle of the use of the cap and ball pistol. Somehow I doubt that these pistoleros were going into battle with all that Crisco dripping down their holsters.

Flint · « **Reply #4 on:** August 21, 2003, 09:52:06 AM »

David, hitting BP with a hammer is not even close to the pressure of loading with a loading lever rammer. There has probably never been a detonation caused by merely seating a ball in the history of firearms.

HWooldridge · « **Reply #5 on:** August 21, 2003, 10:44:16 AM »

I use .457 balls in my Uberti and they shave a nice ring of lead but are quite accurate so I am going to continue with that size.

The Shrink · « **Reply #6 on:** August 22, 2003, 01:19:55 AM »

David

Ditto about the pressure. There's no way you could detonate the powder with that ram and hand pressure even without the wad, and with the wad as a cushion it's impossible. I never thought of that issue, just use the wad as a lube carrier. I'm convinced that the ball, with a full ring of lead shaved, provides an adequate seal.

I use the lube I use on my BP Rifle Cartridge bullets. It's currently anhyrrous lanolin and Beeswax in equal proportion with about a tablespoon or so each Lubegard and Murphy's Oil Soap. I soak strips of wool window seal in this and punch wads. Got the wad punch from Buffalo Arms. It works as well as WonderWads and is lots cheaper.

I don't shoot Cowbboy, but I think you gotta have two revolvers to compete, and with cap and ball extra cylinders too. Even more fun working two of them up.

David L · « **Reply #7 on:** August 25, 2003, 01:35:16 PM »

You have no idea how much that has made me relax and just enjoy BP, I was really concerned about the pressure exerted onto the powder by just loading a roundball on top of it, I really needed to hear that from some folks that use this BP on a regular basis.

Also my "Fun" factor has increased by about 27 because I'm not using crisco OR lard to seal the roundballs off from chain-fire. I'm not wiping off the gun and me all the time now AND once I put that wipe rag in my back pocket and just before a bead of sweat hit my eye I quickly wiped with the wrong rag and had an eye full of lard and before it was all over with it was all in my hair and then the wind started to blow the sand and then it turned ugly, I left cussing LARD and vowed to find a better method of keeping my rags separate. I'm just glad that ugly mess is over with..*L*

In order for a chain-firs to happen to me the fire must penetrate the ball seal, the cream-of-wheat, the wad and finally to the powder, 3 different seals is plenty in my mind and the crisco just isn't worth the trouble to me anymore.

I just thought I knew about BP and how to handle it, I'm still in the learning stage and take nothing for granted anymore when it comes to this sport. I'll be sticking around here for a long time...*L*

Thanks for all the replies

David L

Flint · « **Reply #8 on:** August 25, 2003, 02:38:01 PM »

One of the purposes of the "lard" is to keep the fouling soft around and in the cylinder pin. Even a Wonder Wad (pre-lubed) helps. I use Bore Butter over the balls, not from fear of chainfire, but just for lube and fouling reduction.

The Shrink · « **Reply #9 on:** August 27, 2003, 01:22:02 AM »

On my colt clone and my LeMat I will lube the cylinder pin about every three cylinders full. I haven't had to do this with the Rogers & Spencer, probably because the cylinder pin is so small. Crisco is a fine lube for this purpose, I have an old tube of Blue and Grey lube that I may finally use up this way.

With your Remington you may not have to lube the cylinder pin nearly as frequently as I do with the Colt and LeMat. the cylinder pin on the Colt must be close to 1/2", and on the LeMat it's a 20 guage shotgun barrel. Plenty of surface area for fouling to stick there.

howdy doody · « **Reply #10 on:** August 27, 2003, 04:04:39 AM »

When I roast duck or goose, I save all the fat/grease that is in the bottom of the broiler pan. We used to make gravy from that, but do to health reasons we don't any more. I found that it makes a dandy BP lube if mixed half and half with pure beeswax. :-)

Flint · « **Reply #11 on:** August 27, 2003, 07:00:12 AM »

Shrink, I found the Remington to be the one most likely to stop from fouling. There is that flat on the cylinder pin, to let in fouling, and there is no cylinder extension/bushing/gas ring to stop the fouling from being blown into the gap. The Ruger Old Army will shoot all day without fouling the cylinder pin because of the gas ring. My Colt types will shoot longer without foul-stop than my Remingtons. The big Colt pin with the spiral grease groove helps, but I noticed that the 1872 Open-top has a gas ring, which Colt found necessary, and the Peacemaker has in the form of the cylinder bushing, as did S&W in their cartridge revolvers.