The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The North Corral > Black Powder and Cowboy Action Shooting

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old February 22, 2011, 01:02 AM   #76
62coltnavy
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 1, 2011
Posts: 356
I've been using a Kleen Bore silicon cloth on the exterior surfaces and Hoppe's gun oil in the chambers (applied lightly with a cue tip). I haven't had any rust issues
62coltnavy is offline  
Old July 24, 2011, 10:55 PM   #77
45long
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 20, 2011
Location: SW Missouri
Posts: 106
A couple notes I didn't see mentioned yet . Maybe they were and I missed it .

1. When firing a C&B revolver hold the muzzle straight up when cocking for the next round. You will find that the spent caps are less likely to jam the gun. This was the method taught by the military in the mid 1800s and it works well.

2.When target practicing with a front stuffer , after a few rounds you will notice the fouling making it harder to seat the ball. Do what the old timers did, keep a patch in your mouth soaked with spit and and run it up and down the bore a few times with the cleaning jag. Nothing mentioned so far cuts blackpowder fouling in a pinch like saliva. And you always have it with you where ever you go.

Been hooked on Black Powder for 40 years.

I know this is an old thread but thought anyone needing info would appeciate this
__________________
N0MJP
45long is offline  
Old July 25, 2011, 06:55 AM   #78
mykeal
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 8, 2006
Location: Northern Michigan
Posts: 2,772
For the record, there are some on this forum who maintain that raising the muzzle beyond the bullet impact area is a safety violation. Some ranges do not allow that practice.
mykeal is offline  
Old July 25, 2011, 07:48 AM   #79
Hawg
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 8, 2007
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 16,175
It's not necessary to raise it straight up, a few inches is all it takes and a little tilt to the right helps too.
Hawg is offline  
Old July 25, 2011, 08:10 AM   #80
zullo74
Junior member
 
Join Date: August 8, 2009
Posts: 374
Quote:
2.When target practicing with a front stuffer , after a few rounds you will notice the fouling making it harder to seat the ball. Do what the old timers did, keep a patch in your mouth soaked with spit and and run it up and down the bore a few times with the cleaning jag. Nothing mentioned so far cuts blackpowder fouling in a pinch like saliva. And you always have it with you where ever you go.
I used to do it that way, but couldn't get used to the flavor BP fouling after returning the patch to my mouth!
zullo74 is offline  
Old July 25, 2011, 08:59 AM   #81
Doc Hoy
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 24, 2008
Location: Naples, Fl
Posts: 5,440
Quote:
Some ranges do not allow that practice.
This is exactly why I like to shoot alone at a place of my own choosing.
__________________
Seek truth. Relax. Take a breath.
Doc Hoy is offline  
Old July 25, 2011, 11:24 AM   #82
Fingers McGee
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 19, 2008
Location: High & Dry in Missouri Ozarks
Posts: 2,113
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hawg
It's not necessary to raise it straight up, a few inches is all it takes and a little tilt to the right helps too.
And if you're using the optimum cap/nipple combination and have filled the hammer slot, you don't need to tilt it up at all.
__________________
Fingers (Show Me MO smoke) McGee - AKA Man of Many Colts - Alter ego of Diabolical Ken; SASS Regulator 28564-L-TG; Rangemaster and stage writer extraordinaire; Frontiersman, Pistoleer, NRA Endowment Life, NMLRA, SAF, CCRKBA, STORM 327, SV115; Charter member, Central Ozarks Western Shooters
Cynic: A blackguard whose faulty vision see things as they are, not as they should be. Ambrose Bierce
Fingers McGee is offline  
Old July 25, 2011, 02:18 PM   #83
Hawg
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 8, 2007
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 16,175
I'm not filling in my hammer slot, I use it.
Hawg is offline  
Old July 25, 2011, 02:44 PM   #84
zullo74
Junior member
 
Join Date: August 8, 2009
Posts: 374
+1 on what Fingers said.
zullo74 is offline  
Old July 25, 2011, 11:58 PM   #85
45long
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 20, 2011
Location: SW Missouri
Posts: 106
Quote:
It's not necessary to raise it straight up, a few inches is all it takes and a little tilt to the right helps too.

This is true. Up and tilt to the right . Not exactly straight up . I forget sometimes that you have to be exact on these threads.
__________________
N0MJP
45long is offline  
Old July 26, 2011, 12:16 AM   #86
45long
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 20, 2011
Location: SW Missouri
Posts: 106
Quote:
And if you're using the optimum cap/nipple combination and have filled the hammer slot, you don't need to tilt it up at all

Like I said, been shooting BP for 4 decades now , and one thing I can tell you
for sure, most of the time your stuck with the caps you can get ahold of.....

and all of the time ,it doesn't matter as long as your having fun.
__________________
N0MJP
45long is offline  
Old September 4, 2012, 05:14 PM   #87
lobatebaka
Junior Member
 
Join Date: September 2, 2012
Posts: 6
blackpowder basics

great piece of sharing your wisdom with a newbie like me, now if I could just find out more about the conversion cylinders for a 1858 Remy
lobatebaka is offline  
Old September 17, 2012, 03:49 PM   #88
g2gunny
Junior Member
 
Join Date: September 17, 2012
Posts: 12
Agreed this got way off topic!
g2gunny is offline  
Old August 7, 2013, 09:41 AM   #89
Lt. Skrumpledonk Ret
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 30, 2012
Location: Oh, Jesus.
Posts: 226
Thanks for the info, Gatofeo

I have a question. You wrote:
Quote:
Whichever cap you use, squeeze it into an oval shape so it clings to the nipple.

Will this cause the cap to detonate?
Lt. Skrumpledonk Ret is offline  
Old August 8, 2013, 07:34 PM   #90
Hawg
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 8, 2007
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 16,175
No.
Hawg is offline  
Old October 13, 2013, 03:04 PM   #91
Gatofeo
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 1, 2004
Location: Remote Utah desert
Posts: 224
No.
Caps require percussion for ignition. Squeezing the cap's sides in a bit won't cause ignition.

The late gun writer Elmer Keith (1899-1983), in one of his books, wrote that he raised a blister on his thumb by trying to force a too-small cap onto the nipple of a revolver.
I doubt this very much.
Keith was prone to exaggeration, to be kind.
I knew a woman years ago, in northern Idaho, who was once married to the game warden shoe jurisdiction included the area of Salmon, Idaho. Keith was a resident of Salmon for many years.
When I asked her one day if she'd ever met Keith her response was "That old windbag? Yes, I met him many times! Walked around with two sixguns all the time."
She said the community considered him eccentric for his open carry. And residents took what he told them with a bag of salt.
But if you read the books and magazine articles about Keith, you get a very different picture.
I worked with this woman, my source. She was not prone to exaggeration, was a grand ol' lady and I believed her. Later, I talked to a shopkeeper in Salmon. When I mentioned Keith, he rolled his eyes and got quiet.

Soooooo ... I rather doubt Keith's claim that he ignited a percussion cap by pushing it onto a nipple. I've never heard of this happening, though anything is possible I suppose: Mastodons could fly, the Earth is cube-shaped, and women regularly understand the concept of stop signs at 4-Way intersections.
Anything's possible!
__________________
"And lo, did I see an ugly cat. Smoke. Brimstone. Holes in parchment. And this ugly cat was much amused." --- The Prophesies of Gatodamus (1503 - 1566)
Gatofeo is offline  
Old October 14, 2013, 01:50 PM   #92
Rigmarol
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 29, 2005
Location: Southern California
Posts: 344
I have met two separate men who both showed me their scarred thumbs. The scars looked almost identical. Both claim to have opened up their thumbs by pressing on a cap and it went off. Both now use a tool to seat their caps. One used a wooden dowel with a leather handle and the other used a carved antler or horn.

I'm a believer that it's probably not a good idea to seat caps with my thumb.
Squeezing is commonly done and I do it too to help keep caps in place.

There are those who claim it's dangerous but I say it's ok as long as you aren't seating squeezed caps with your thumb.

Last edited by Rigmarol; October 15, 2013 at 02:45 PM.
Rigmarol is offline  
Old October 15, 2013, 12:46 AM   #93
45long
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 20, 2011
Location: SW Missouri
Posts: 106
For hunting

For hunting I agree with using sandbags for practice. Any good handgun hunter should make use of a tree, log, or anything they can use in order to get a steady,clean,humane, shot on an animal..Save the offhanded shots for the Animal that's 10 feet in front of you. That's my outlook on it. Good Article
45long is offline  
Old October 16, 2013, 07:40 AM   #94
maillemaker
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 30, 2010
Posts: 1,635
Quote:
Both claim to have opened up their thumbs by pressing on a cap and it went off.
Well, I bet that's a mistake you only make once.

Steve
maillemaker is offline  
Old June 7, 2014, 03:51 AM   #95
Model12Win
Junior member
 
Join Date: October 20, 2012
Posts: 5,854
I have heard it's bad to squeeze the caps into an oval shape.

When this is done, it creates two gaps when the cap is put on the nipple, and flames can get through these caps and possibly cause a chain fire.

It's always best to get caps that FIT YOUR NIPS if you will!
Model12Win is offline  
Old June 7, 2014, 05:11 AM   #96
Doc Hoy
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 24, 2008
Location: Naples, Fl
Posts: 5,440
Only chainfire event I have ever had

Occurred in the same shooting sequence in which I pinched some caps.

Don't know if that was the cause of the chainfire but I personally think it was. I haven't pinched caps since.
__________________
Seek truth. Relax. Take a breath.
Doc Hoy is offline  
Old August 11, 2014, 08:58 AM   #97
hvymax
Junior member
 
Join Date: August 7, 2014
Location: La Plata Md
Posts: 57
I may have missed it but my friend who shoots NSSA matches noticed that the 44 cylinders are smaller than the bores. He reams the cylinders out to bore diameter which accurizes them considerably.
hvymax is offline  
Old August 11, 2014, 04:02 PM   #98
maillemaker
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 30, 2010
Posts: 1,635
Quote:
I may have missed it but my friend who shoots NSSA matches noticed that the 44 cylinders are smaller than the bores. He reams the cylinders out to bore diameter which accurizes them considerably.
This is said to be sometimes true, but I have not found it to be true for any of my BP guns, neither Pietta nor Ubierti. All were purchased within the last 2 years.

An easy way to tell is this:

Load a ball into an empty chamber. Unscrew the nipple, and use a thin dowel (you can use a nail) to pound the ball out of the cylinder, using a block of wood with a hole in it to support the cylinder and allow the ball to drop out.

With the ball out, try to put it down the barrel. If it doesn't fit, your barrel bore is smaller than your chamber.

Steve
maillemaker is offline  
Old February 21, 2015, 07:52 AM   #99
old fogey
Junior Member
 
Join Date: November 4, 2012
Posts: 5
So you want a cap and ball revolver?

Just finished re-reading this thread (for about the gazillionth time,) and figured that it was pass time to say it : "Thanx Gatofeo!
old fogey is offline  
Old February 21, 2015, 11:20 PM   #100
mykeal
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 8, 2006
Location: Northern Michigan
Posts: 2,772
Quote:
With the ball out, try to put it down the barrel. If it doesn't fit, your barrel bore is smaller than your chamber.
Well, maybe.

It's possible, in fact quite common, that the swaged ball is smaller in diameter than the groove diameter but larger than the land diameter, in which case it would not fit down the bore but would still be inaccurate and leave the bore at reduced velocity.
mykeal is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:02 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.11688 seconds with 8 queries