Range report Pietta .36 Remington

[Buster]

I finally ran down a pound of 3F and shot a few cylinders today.  

Everything is working like it should!  The powder I bought is Triple 7
and it seems to be pretty strong.  Just poured a spoutful into each chamber and rammed a .375 Hornady ball home.  

Accuracy was encouraging with palm sized groups at 15 yards with a one hand hold.  That's about as good as I can shoot any handgun.  I'll bet some good old fashioned experimentation could yield a real little tackdriver of a sixgun here.  Groups were a little low, so I can bring up point of impact when I find the load I'm going to use.  

Took a while to take the Remmie completely down and clean but the job is done.   Looking forward to the next opportunity to shoot it!

This revolver is one of the best bargains I've ever found for a new gun of any type.

I'll try to assemble some better loads and really bear down with a rest and see what sort of damage I can do to the bullseye.

This gun looks like a super varmint/small game gun too.  The .375 ball punches a big hole.

[Dan Chamberlain]

I have a Pietta .44 Remington target model.  This gun will shoot 2" off hand at 20 yards all day long.  These are great guns.  by the way, the day I was shooting for accuracy for an article, I lost the rear sight leaf and had to shoot with just the wide open rear sight slot.  I was fit to be tied, but with a little concentration, I was able to turn in some serious groups with this gun.  It has accounted for 2 squirrel and a rabbit.  

I recently purchased a Pietta .36 Navy as well.  The sights were almost perfectly centered at 15 yards.  This gun accounted for a red fox at 10 yards with a 20 grain load of Pyro P and I got full penetration!  Cap and ball revolvers are for more than just plinking and targets!  For small game at close range, they are a treat!  

Dan C

[Gatofeo]

Yep, I bought a Pietta-made 1858 Remington in .36 caliber a little over a year ago.
In my office hangs a target: four round balls you could cover with a quarter, two opening the group to half-dollar size.
Customers come in, read the notes on the target, and are usually shocked that a cap and ball revolver is capable of such accuracy. Many people are surprised to learn that the old revolvers had rifled barrels!
Anyway, here's the particulars on that target:
Shot at 25 yards from a benchrest.
24 grs. Goex FFFG black powder
.380 diameter ball made by Warren Muzzleloading of Arkansas.
Remington No. 10 cap
Ox-Yoke Wonder Wad soaked in a 19th century bullet lubricant recipe, composed of paraffin, mutton tallow and beeswax.
Add the powder. Seat the heavily lubricated felt wad firmly on the powder. THEN seat the .380 inch lead ball firmly.
No lubricant over the ball is needed. Place a Remington No. 10 cap on the nipple and she's ready to fire!
I have found better accuracy in all of my .36-caliber sixguns with the .380 inch ball, instead of the customary .375 inch ball. In fact, in many original and reproduction revolvers, the .375 is too small for a good, tight fit in the chambers.
Also, the slightly larger ball, when swaged into the chamber, creates a wider driving band for the rifling to grip. Many of today's reproductions have rather shallow rifling and this wider driving band can significantly improve accuracy in such revolvers.
On a side note don't bother with conical bullets. I've tried many different designs, in a variety of .36 revolvers, and never found conical bullets as accurate as the lead ball.