Pietta 44 Reb Navy first time out.

[glockster157]

I picked up a Pietta Confederate a couple days ago. Had a chance to shoot it this afternoon over the chronograph and had some interesting results. I was using CCI 11 caps, .454 round balls, traditions wool wads and I tried both Pyrodex P and RS. Turns out I got better velocity and consistency out of the RS than I did the P. Gotta get some BP FFF to try.

Also, I picked up some Ballistol and mixed it 25/75% with water, it is supposed to neutralize the acids and salts. Cleaned up well.

[leroy]

Glad ya like your percussion gun Glockster!!  If ya can find it, get yourself some black powder (...FF or FFF; the FFF will be a bit faster...) and try it.  The "kaboo" cant be beat; and the cloud of white smoke is out of this world.  There's nothin like it.

 

We used felt wads soaked with Bore Butter (....just melt the bore butter on the stove and drop the wads in; they will soak the bore butter up.  We used a tube of bore butter to about 500 wads in a half gallon coffee can and kept the wads in the can...). 

 

We used balistol too; but we cleaned the revolvers down with a home made cleaning mix we got from the North South Skirmish Association.   As i remember it, it wuz a can (...16oz...) of denatured alcohol (...paint section, Lowes...), a bottle of windex (...16 oz...) (...no ammonia, Lowes too...), a bottle of hydrogen peroxide (...walmart...), a little bit of murphy's oil soap dissolved in an equal part (...16 oz...) of water.  This makes about a gallon of cleaner.  It cleans everything very well and is "dirt cheap" when compared to the store bought stuff.  We keep it in a used gallon jug or a giant laundry detergent jug (...the one with the pour spout...).

 

I like the percussion stuff.  It shoots well when ya get the kinks worked out and they are very accurate once ya get used to em.

 

Have fun.

leroy

[glockster157]

I have been putting the wads between the powder and the ball...but I read it doesn't matter. What brand wads do you get?

[leroy]

Glockster:  The used these from Track of the Wolf (...ordered lots of stuff from them, good folks...) http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/204/1/OX-WAD-44-D

 

We used 'em just like you said, between the powder and the ball. The lubed felt will lube the barrel and seal everything off just like it should.  We never used the lube on top of the ball thing --- too messy.  My 24 year old probably shot a couple of thousand rounds thru his 36 navys, a 58 remington, and a whitneyville dragoon doin this.  It works like a charm.  The only thing we did different from lots of people in cleaning wuz to use the cleaning solution i described above (...we also kept a spray bottle of it to clean the cylinder front if the action got sticky while he wuz shootin ...) wuz that after we cleaned and wiped everything down, we used some sort of moisture displacing lube like CLP on the revolver, then i always swabbed the barrel down with Balistol.

 

We've done lots of shootin with these revolvers (...all uberti-cimmaron...),but they are all good.  I would love to have a couple of short barrel 62 pocket police.  They have the fluted cylinder and look great.

 

Have fun.

leroy

[glockster157]

Yes on the small colts...I was more interested in the 1849 and a 3rd model Dragoon. This pistol is brass framed and I thought it would be a good one to start with cause it is cheap. Once I am sure I will stick with it I want the steel ones....all of them. Or as many as I can afford.

[leroy]

We've been lookin for a couple of 3rd dragoons too..  I would really like to have a couple of the second generation colt copies.  I had a chance to buy 'em when they first came out in the late seventies (...i think...); foolishly, i didnt.  They are the prettiest (...well finished...) of the bunch; but they have become pretty pricey (...more in the idiotic range, really; they are just well finished uberti copies too...).  The best answer for them is probably to just start savin a bit and buy a couple of the piettas or ubertis.  Every now and then, ya can find one, but the prices are laughable-- check here:  http://www.collectorsfirearms.com/colt-modern-blackpowder-replicas/

 

I highly recommend the dragoons.   Our whitneyville shoots very well, even with heavy charges of black powder (...i thing we used somethin like 40 or so grains of FF...) with a round ball.  Lots of "kaboom" and not much recoil because the dragoon is so heavy.  I think i read somewhere where someone (...maybe Captain Walker, hisself...) said that the dragoon:"...was good on man and beast out to two hundred yards...".   They are a great thing.

 

leroy

[GKar]

Son and I took both of my Pietta BP replicas out today: a '51 Rebel Navy (.44) and a '58 New Army (.44).  25 gr Pyrodex P in the Navy, 30 in the New Army, also with felt wads between powder and ball.  First time he'd ever shot them...looks like it definitely ain't gonna be the last.

[seez52]

I worked for a colt distributor back when colt was selling the second generation bp guns. Other than the walkers and dragoons we couldn't sell them. Nobody wanted one. They were all very nicely finished and looked very good. The pocket models were especially nice. Kinda pricey for the time we had them stacked pretty deep on the shelves.

[glockster157]

About a year ago I was at the Murfreesboro gun show and a guy had 3 second generation Colts. A 51 Navy with a Dragoon trigger guard(that thru me a little as I had never seen that) and 1861 round barrel 44 and a 49 Pocket. All were new in box and unfired. I talked him down to 900 for all three but a good friend of mine(older and experienced in BP) tells me that you can't give away BP pistols. So I passed. Now I kick myself in the butt every time I remember that day.

[leroy]

About a year ago I was at the Murfreesboro gun show and a guy had 3 second generation Colts. A 51 Navy with a Dragoon trigger guard(that thru me a little as I had never seen that) and 1861 round barrel 44 and a 49 Pocket. All were new in box and unfired. I talked him down to 900 for all three but a good friend of mine(older and experienced in BP) tells me that you can't give away BP pistols. So I passed. Now I kick myself in the butt every time I remember that day.

 

Glockster, you are like me.  What seez said in his post above RE: the "...others --- 49 pockets, 51 navies, 62 pocket police, ...".

was exactly true.  I had a good buddy that literally begged me to buy 51 navies and 62 pocket police in the presentation case with the tools for $270 each when these came out.  Naturally i didnt; and ive been sorry ever sense.  Any time you see a second generation colt percussion model of any flavor at the $300 mark; its a helluva deal (...take a look at Collectors Firearms and Cherrys fine guns...).   I wish i had borrowed the money and bought a pair of everyting they built.

 

leroy

[glockster157]

What is so bad is I had the money, I could have bought them easily........Ugh! woulda, shoulda, coulda,  :yuck: