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Posted: 8/3/2014 2:51:58 AM EDT
anyone have an old reproduction BP wheel gun? 1860 Army, 1851 Navy, Peacemaker

whats you reason for having one? i love them cause i am a history nut and i love the looks of old lock, stock, and barrel firearms
Link Posted: 8/3/2014 9:24:51 AM EDT
[#1]
I have had a number of them over the years.   Lot of fun to shoot.   The Ruger Old Army is the best of the bunch but is no longer made.   Get one with a steel frame.   For your first one, the Remington style is what I recommend.   Cheap to shoot as it takes a while to reload.   You must clean the gun right away after shooting as it will rust easily from the powder residue.   Dont even leave it overnight.  Any of the black powder cleaners will work.
Link Posted: 8/3/2014 10:17:58 AM EDT
[#2]
They're lots of fun, but as stated above, don't get a cheap one, because the internal parts are soft and they go out of time..

Ballistol and boiling water for cleaning.
Link Posted: 8/3/2014 11:00:42 AM EDT
[#3]
My '58 Remington Spaghetti copy.
Bought it years ago as a bumming around trail gun.  Packed it around hiking in the Central Oregon desert for a few years.
Got two extra cylinders to make reloading a little faster.  Still hike with it from time to time.  Fairly accurate and east to shoot.
Link Posted: 8/3/2014 11:11:35 AM EDT
[#4]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
My '58 Remington Spaghetti copy.
Bought it years ago as a bumming around trail gun.  Packed it around hiking in the Central Oregon desert for a few years.
Got two extra cylinders to make reloading a little faster.  Still hike with it from time to time.  Fairly accurate and east to shoot.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/ZekeMenuar1/58Remington_zpsca229dd6.jpg
View Quote


I am skeered shitless of wild fire. My BP rifle would spew fire and sparks, so I never took it to the desert. Do you worry about that with the revolver or am I over reacting.
Link Posted: 8/3/2014 11:19:34 AM EDT
[#5]
They are a lot of fun

My wife got me this 1860 colt clone from cabelas for about $200

Link Posted: 8/3/2014 11:44:38 AM EDT
[#6]
Had C&B revo's for almost 40yrs now.
Believe it or not I got started on them back in the mid 1970's because I was under 21 and could not buy any handgun cartridge ammo including 22LR.
Back then, blackpowder and caps could be purchased. I've always casted my own roundballs.


I enjoy them for their history. Romance of the Past kinda thing.
While I have used them to take game and even CCW them once in a while, they are pretty much range toys for me.
And anyone who says the ballistics are useless doesn't know what the hell they are talking about.
As a first choice as a weapon? Of course not. But I wouldn't feel unarmed with one.
A Walker or Dragoon, fully loaded, is a fairly potent weapon.
And almost without exception every version I've ever used is accurate to superbly accurate. The key here is SOFT lead roundballs.

Plus, they are a hoot to play with. There is a certain mystique to being a Soot Lord.
Always gets lots of slobbers on range day.

Cleaning them can be tedious but to me it is a labor of love.
Link Posted: 8/3/2014 8:31:57 PM EDT
[#7]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Had C&B revo's for almost 40yrs now.
Believe it or not I got started on them back in the mid 1970's because I was under 21 and could not buy any handgun cartridge ammo including 22LR.
Back then, blackpowder and caps could be purchased. I've always casted my own roundballs.

View Quote


Same reason I started reloading at age 18.  Couldn't buy ammo, but could buy components.

I have one of the Remingtons copies.  Owned it for a couple years before I even knew there was a hammer rest between the  cap notches.  
Link Posted: 8/3/2014 8:58:20 PM EDT
[#8]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:


I am skeered shitless of wild fire. My BP rifle would spew fire and sparks, so I never took it to the desert. Do you worry about that with the revolver or am I over reacting.
View Quote View All Quotes
View All Quotes
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Quoted:
My '58 Remington Spaghetti copy.
Bought it years ago as a bumming around trail gun.  Packed it around hiking in the Central Oregon desert for a few years.
Got two extra cylinders to make reloading a little faster.  Still hike with it from time to time.  Fairly accurate and east to shoot.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/ZekeMenuar1/58Remington_zpsca229dd6.jpg


I am skeered shitless of wild fire. My BP rifle would spew fire and sparks, so I never took it to the desert. Do you worry about that with the revolver or am I over reacting.


You're over-reacting.  Where I goof around there isn't much to burn.
Link Posted: 8/4/2014 12:41:43 AM EDT
[#9]
I enjoy shooting black powder revolvers and pistols alike. I clean out the bullet traps at an airgun range for soft lead.



Link Posted: 8/4/2014 7:47:59 AM EDT
[#10]
I have one of these:

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Shooting/Black-Powder/Black-Powder-Pistols-Revolvers|/pc/104792580/c/104701680/sc/104503680/Pietta-Model-1851-Navy-36-Caliber-Revolver/705021.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Fblack-powder-pistols-revolvers%2F_%2FN-1100201%2FNs-CATEGORY_SEQ_104503680%3FWTz_l%3DSBC%253Bcat104792580%253Bcat104701680&WTz_l=SBC%3Bcat104792580%3Bcat104701680%3Bcat104503680

Pietta Colt 1851 Navy.
I bought it just because it's probably the coolest looking handgun ever made.
I've never fired it...I'm not a BP kind of guy.  I just don't like the technology at all; not from a maintenance nor a safety standpoint.
Link Posted: 8/21/2014 12:47:34 AM EDT
[#11]
Used to have an 1860 Army (right) but now have an 1847 Walker (left).

Link Posted: 8/21/2014 1:47:02 AM EDT
[#12]
I like them. Using a lead ball, and powder charges above 25 grains of powder, they can become fairly well performing revolvers. In my Remington, I preferred 32 grains of fffg, behind a .454 ball. Walkers and Dragoons can make very good hunting pistols as well.
Link Posted: 8/22/2014 7:07:00 PM EDT
[#13]
I shoot mine a lot. I have a few 1858 Remington's, a couple brass framed 1851 Colt .44's and a .36 Griswold. Not to mention the two T/C .50 Hawkens, one flint, one percussion, and my two Pedersoli 12ga SxS shotguns I hunt pheasants with.

I got into them starting with a CVA imported 1858 Remington when I was 15 and have been shooting them for decades since. I'm faster on the plate rack at the club with my 1851 than some of the Sig shooters. Maybe it's because they can't see their plates through all my smoke!
Link Posted: 8/23/2014 10:25:20 PM EDT
[#14]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
They're lots of fun, but as stated above, don't get a cheap one, because the internal parts are soft and they go out of time..

Ballistol and boiling water for cleaning.
View Quote



After you've owned a few, you'll realise just how true this is......figure that about 20-30% of the "new" BP revolvers you purchase are going to need work if they are ever going to run like an original.....

The arbors are almost always too short on Uberti and Pietta Colt clones.....and till you get that fixed, they'll never be 100%....wedges will suddenly fit with finger-pressure, and you'll have a constant barrel/cylinder gap

I actually contemplated buying a nice "London" model 1851 by ASM at a show this morning.....seller wouldn't let me cock it.....because it'd leave a "line on the cylinder"

When I informed him that only a gun that didn't have a properly fitted bolt or one that was out of time would leave a drag line, he didn't have much to say.......I passed....

I love my 1851's / 1860's, and cartridge conversions.......just dont expect them to run like an original Colt "out of the box"........
Link Posted: 8/24/2014 1:23:00 PM EDT
[#15]
I have more 1851s than I can count... bought 'em back when they were about $79. I have the US marshal model, octogon barrel, round barrel, short barrel and long barrel versions. All brass frame. I recently snagged a 1860 from cabelas on sale for $199iirc and paid for it in cabelas points. I've also got a 1858 reminton and about 4 of the remington .31 pocket guns.


Personally I don't think they are worth what they are selling for today.
Link Posted: 8/24/2014 11:57:28 PM EDT
[#16]
I love shooting my BP pistols.  Used to have a single shot .45 cal Kentucky type and a 58', then a 62' Pocket Police.  Still have my .36 cal 51' Navy and have used it backpacking on some TVA land before they allowed CCW as at the time they didn't consider a BP gun a firearm.


CD
Link Posted: 8/25/2014 12:54:13 AM EDT
[#17]
The shot my friend talks about the most was one I made with my Pietta 1851 Colt .44. We were shooting our BP revolvers at our local club. I had three cylinders loaded for my 1851 but he didn't have any extras for his, so I was all loaded up and waiting for him to get done. That's when a mouse ran across the pistol range about 15 feet downrange.

I snapped up and point shot the mouse on the run. He originally said it was a lucky shot until I did the same thing later that week with my S&W 317 .22 snubby.
Link Posted: 8/25/2014 2:32:40 PM EDT
[#18]
I actually shot my 1851 Colt navy replica this past weekend for the first time in years. It's a cheap Armi San Marco .44 that I bought 22 years ago. I'd really like a nice 1858 Remington replica, but I always spend the money on something else.
Link Posted: 8/25/2014 6:36:09 PM EDT
[#19]
I used to shoot my 1860 a lot back in the '90s but it has been a while since I've taken it out. More of a wall hanger now.


Link Posted: 9/2/2014 8:21:34 PM EDT
[#20]
I like them and I also like using conversion cylinders for cartridges with them as well.
Link Posted: 9/2/2014 8:36:33 PM EDT
[#21]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I like them and I also like using conversion cylinders for cartridges with them as well.
View Quote


I bought my short barreled 1858 with the intention of doing a cartridge conversion with a loading gate, but I haven't bought the parts yet. For now I just shoot my 1860 Richard Mason Conversion in .38 Special and my 1872 Colt Open Top replica. I find that those two point more naturally than any of my 1873 replicas.
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