Author Topic: Some thoughts on Concealed Carry (Read 1410 times)

simonkenton · « **on:** February 17, 2003, 12:42:45 PM »

A person may find it necessary to use a cap and ball revolver for concealed carry. The .44 is an ideal caliber, but the Colt Army is too bulky. Here is a suggestion you might try. If like me there is a Bass Pro Shop near you, you can buy a Pietta .44 for $150. Remove the loader, by undoing that one screw. The gun is much less bulky, and points up better. To me, the original gun is muzzle heavy. Then, cut 2 1/2 inches off the muzzle. This will give you the same length as the classic model 73 Colt .45, and be less bulky than the original Colt Army.
Cabelas sells a .44 with a 3 inch barrel, for $150. This seems a little short, I think you might lose power with that. Also, for me Cabelas is mail order. You need to be able to hold and try the particular gun, I know Pietta quality is erratic, but when they are good they are very good.
As for a front sight, like the loader, it will just snag clothing. You ain't gonna need it for this type work.

Oregon Bill · « **Reply #1 on:** February 17, 2003, 01:10:28 PM »

Simon: Interesting topic. I think if you were going to go for concealment, you might also want the smaller Navy grips. By the way, a local museum has two or three original Colts with barrels cut down for use as belly guns, and they look very much like the "snubby" cap-and-balls that Cabelas has added to their catalog, so it was a popular solution 140 years ago.

alpini · « **Reply #2 on:** February 18, 2003, 07:36:57 AM »

I thought about this before as one of my Walkers has some pitting in the upper end of the barrel. I'd end up cutting about 3 or 4 inches off, it would be kinda neat to have a pocket Walker.

Wijbrandus · « **Reply #3 on:** February 18, 2003, 07:40:30 AM »

So you would actually consider a black powder cap & ball revolver for your concealed carry weapon? Interesting.

Me, I think I'll stick with my .45. Nothing fancy, but just good old reliability and effectiveness.

My wife has the .357 snubby buried in her purse anyway.

~Robert

Iowa Madrid · « **Reply #4 on:** February 18, 2003, 08:55:43 AM »

Hi I just joined this forum. It looks good. What I was going to say was that I cut down a Pietta 58 Remmie to 5 1/2 in and removed the loading lever. I think it would make a good CC, especially with the R&D Cylinder.

Iowa :-)

simonkenton · « **Reply #5 on:** February 18, 2003, 11:22:46 AM »

That really reduces the bulk when you remove the loading lever, doesn't it? What is the R&D cylinder?

Buckshotliam · « **Reply #6 on:** February 19, 2003, 02:30:36 PM »

Coincidentially I'm in the middle of a similar projext. I've got a Pietta '51 Navy with a round barrel in .44. It's one of the cheapos that Cabela's sells. I've already tuned it some. Now I'll be cutting it down to a 5" barrel. I'm not going to mess with the shortening the loading lever. I may grind the "boss" that held the loading lever to smooth up the contour. I don't plan really shooting it that much so when I do I'll use a seperate loading tool--also sold by Cabela's. I'll make a new front sight using one of you guy's idea of a penny filed to a pleasing contour. I'm thinking of trying antiqueing the barrel and clyinder by boiling in Clorox. I also am going to strip the finish and hand checker the grips. I'm going to intentionally do it rough and crude. My motivation is to try all these different techniques as an experiment and to come up with a unique one of a kind. I'm really not at all interested in it as a carry gun but I guess it would make a good one..44, short barrel, and small Navy grips. If anybody has any input about any of these techniques I'd appreciate it.

Also there's an interesting site about Remingtons and various kitchen table gunsmithing of them. The ideas and techniques are the same for Remingtons and Colts. Check it out:

http://www.alliancelink.com/users/frontier/srrs/replicas.htm

(hope the link works)

Buckshot Liam

KH · « **Reply #7 on:** February 23, 2003, 03:17:43 AM »

I'm fortunate to live in a town with a Cabelas and I was able to handle one of the short barrel Pietta .44 1860s. I liked it well enough to buy it and I've been very pleased. It comes with a brass loading tool, but I find a wooden short starter works better. The gun is more than accurate enough and doing some informal tests on a telephone book, I don't see any difference in penetration compared to my long barrel 1860. Cabelas also sells a short leather holster for the gun as well, but I have an old Uncle Mike's nylon holster that fits it. I carry it on my belt in the rear, over my right "hip" when I go walking on a local rural trail. A jacket completely covers it.

simonkenton · « **Reply #8 on:** February 23, 2003, 03:47:20 AM »

Thanks for that report, kh. I was wondering what loss of power, if any, you would get with the 3 inch barrel. Thanks for the tip on the short starter for loading, I am going to try that at the range tomorrow. I have ordered a spare cylinder from Cabelas. I am going to load the spare using wads soaked with Gatofeo's wad lube, on top of the powder. This stuff turns a Wonder Wad into a Super Wonder Wad. When you stuff one of these wads on top of the powder, there is little worry that moisture can come in from the front to damage the load. Then, I may try sealing the caps with a little beeswax and see if the thing will shoot ok after setting up for six months. Then I can put the empty cylinder in when I want to sit in the living room and play with the gun.

The Shrink · « **Reply #9 on:** February 23, 2003, 06:43:54 AM »

Simon

If you're gonna use this for carry rather than for shooting, drop a card wad between the powder and your wad. Any "wet" lube can eventually get into the powder if it's in contact long enough. That's the benefit of WonderWads, they use a dry lube that won't effect the powder. For a carry piece I wouldn't want to take a chance on a bad load. A card wad will go a long way to stopping this if you use the soaked WonderWad.

The other option is simply use a dry WonderWad for your carry piece, 'cause you won't be shooting it all that often. Save your soaked wads for when you go to the range and are gonna be shooting a bunch of rounds. Plain WonderWads are good for two cylinder's worth shooting, and when are you gonna need more than that except at the range?

simonkenton · « **Reply #10 on:** February 23, 2003, 07:46:48 AM »

Shrink that is a good point, if the original Wonder Wads will get you through two cylinders that is one more than I need, because in a self defense situation you wouldn't have time to reload anyway.
I am first going to give it a try with wads lubed up with Gatofeo's lube. He loaded a cylinder this way and let it set for 6 months and it fired fine, he could detect no loss of power. By adding the paraffin to the mutton tallow and bees wax you get a firm wad. I can soften bees wax by pressing it for a while between my fingers. The paraffin I cannot soften this way, so the paraffin has to get somewhere above 98 degrees before it gets soft.
Anyway I will try a cylinder one way, and try it for penetration etc, and then I will try one another way.

The Shrink · « **Reply #11 on:** February 24, 2003, 01:15:42 AM »

Simon

I read Gatofeo's post and firmly believe him, but I am enough of a scientist (and that's not much) to know that one sample does not a trend make, and even if he has a stastically significant sample, that would mean some failures. When you are carrying for protection, you can't afford any chance of failure. That's why I wouldn't carry Wolf ammo in my Mak - even if the failure rate is three in a thousand, I don't know when those three will happen. I don't like playing the odds when protection is in question.

Play it safe, use a card wad or dry WonderWads.