[funcrew]

Hi, new guy here. I've read several of the stickied threads and will print them out for my first outing. I'm planning to buy a Cabelas (Prietti?) 1858 steel .44 for my 12-year old son, along with all the kit needed to get started shooting. The boy loves shooting his uncle's .45 long colt S&W, so I think he will appreciate the BP experience.

What I haven't found on the forum is a concise list of what items to buy in addition to the revolver, powder, caps, balls, and a tub of Crisco. The user reviews for the Cabelas "starter kits" are not favorable, so I'd appreciate a complete list of the little bits needed & any handy extras. I'm using up Cabelas rewards points for this, so will stick with items they sell unless another supplier is much preferred.

This has probably been covered many times, so a link to an existing thread would be great.

Thanks for any & all advice!

[bigbadgun]

First of all Welcome to the forum and welcome to the dark side.

Good starter gun for a young shooter.
I run .454 balls with lube wad over the 30 grain powder charge.
You are also gonna need a powder flask powder measure and a capper.
Dixie gun works and also Track of the wolf are good places to get the parts you will need.
Oh my I almost forgot dont forget to buy a good nipple wrench.
also 30 grain by volume not by weight.

[arcticap]

Many folks complain that cappers won't fit and don't work, at least not without modifying the cylinder. I wouldn't buy one.
A nipple pick consisting of piano wire or a pin to help keep the nipple hole open is a good idea.
And also some kind of wooden loading stand to hold the gun upright when loading the cylinder while it's on the gun.
Or else the alternative is to get a loader to load the cylinder off the gun more easily by using something besides the revolver's ram handle.
There's a plastic funnel top to put on the powder container to help pour powder into your flask without spillage.
Some kind of anti-seize grease to put on the nipple threads, either Bore Butter or breech plug grease.
Fiber or wool over-powder wads can help negate the need to use [as much] grease in the chambers to prevent misfires and they're less messy.

[wittzo]

That starter kit is "okay" but you can find better components individually. The capper sucks. I have to squeeze #11 caps to fit tight to the nipples. If I don't, the rest of them fly off with the first shot. I've read that #10 fit perfectly, but I can't get them locally and I can't afford to buy a case of them to make the $20 Hazmat fee hurt less.

Get a .45 wad punch from trackofthewolf.com to make wads that are tight, you can make wads that are only .44 caliber if you use a 7/16" gasket punch (I think). If you want to get a benchloader for your cylinder, get one made of steel, I warped the one I bought that was made of aluminum and had to repair it. The stickies talk about making your own lube and felt wads, that lady at DuoFelt in Arkansas is nice and professional. You can use that felt to make wads for other calibers when you get really into it.

Don't forget to get some lemon oil for your grips when you clean the pistol.
thepossiblesshop.com sells the best nipple wrench you'll find, it's a quarter inch open socket driver handle with a nipple wrench bit made of hardened tool steel. I've taken off the most stubborn nipples with it.

You can fit all of your stuff in a plastic dry box for storage. The blackpowder pistol cleaning rod that Olin sells uses the same adaptor as shotgun jags, you can use a .410 shotgun mop to dry the bore after soaking the pistol in hot water and a seperate one for oil. I use Breakfree, it's mineral oil based, so it doesn't act up with blackpowder.

[madcratebuilder]

I'm sure that you seen from reading the threads here there are many techniques of operating these C&B revolvers. Just keep reading and note the things you want to try out.

The cabela's starter kits are kind of cheap but well get the job done until you have some hands on experience and are ready for better equipment.

You need.

powder

caps

balls

Powder measure

wads or Crisco or grease cookies

capping tool, to get the capping tool to work with the 1858 you need to file down the ends of the fingers that grasp the cap, as you have very little clearance around the nipples.

Nipple wrench, some wrenches have a nipple pick built into them.

Powder flask

A loading stand makes loading easier.

Be sure that the balls shave a complete ring when seated in the chambers. Be sure that the caps fit tight and do not fall off the nipples during recoil. Be safe, have fun. Welcome to the forum.

[Hellgate]

Buy the kid the cheapest case of DIET* soda pop (cola) and once you figure where the gun is shooting let him blam away at a few cans of pop. Tell him it shooting a stick of dynamite. It helps to shake the cans first. that'll get him hooked for life.

* diet has no sugar to attract yellowjackets or make a sticky mess.

[mickdk2]

Welcome funcrew!
You and your son might very well get addicted to that thing. You might end up getting another one so you won't have to fight over it.

[Mike OTDP]

Back to the OP.

You will need the following:
Powder. Preferably 3Fg black powder, not a substitute.

Powder measure. Start with a 15 grain charge. Get a measure that goes that low.

Filler. I use Cream of Wheat. Put it in a container, use a .38 case with a wire handle to dip it. Or just get a cheap tabletop ketchup bottle and pour from the nozzle of it.

Bullets. Try .454 round balls.

Caps. CCI is the best at this moment. You don't need a capper.

Nipple wrench.

Cleaning rod.

[arcticap]

Caps. CCI is the best at this moment. You don't need a capper.

There was a consensus that Remington #10's fit the Pietta Remington revolvers the best and work perfectly. :neener:

[funcrew]

"Filler. I use Cream of Wheat. Put it in a container, use a .38 case with a wire handle to dip it. Or just get a cheap tabletop ketchup bottle and pour from the nozzle of it."

Please explain what the "filler" is for.

Thanks to all for your replies. I can't find a nipple wrench on Cabelas that looks good, and none of the powder flask/measure options are jumping out at me. Any advice?

[mykeal]

Don't understand your pass/fail criteria; doesn't "look good" or "jump out"?

Makes it kind of difficult to offer suggestions, but here goes:

Nipple wrench - first one on this page: http://www.possibleshop.com/s-s-nipple-wrench.html

Powder measure - top one on this page: http://www.possibleshop.com/s-s-powder-measure.html

Flask - maybe the third one down on this page: http://www.possibleshop.com/p-g-flask.html

Filler takes up empty space in the chamber when you're not using maximum loads, which should be most of the time. It ensures the loading plunger can seat the ball on the powder column without leaving an air gap, which can be catastrophic, and some folks believe that you get better accuracy with the ball close to the end of the chamber.

[arcticap]

Here's a high capacity Cabela's flask with a longer spout for directing the flow of powder. Plus the spout meters out 25 grains of powder and is interchangable:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0006439212239a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntt=flask&Ntk=Products&sort=all&Go.y=7&_D%3AhasJS=+&N=0&_D%3Asort=+&Nty=1&hasJS=true&Go.x=12&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form1&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1

Here's a great all around nipple wrench from a top rated eBay seller named sog357 for $12.65 delivered:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sale-Nipple-wrench-Revolver-Blackpowder-Muzzleloading_W0QQitemZ120496085546QQcmdZViewItemQQptZVintage_Hunting?hash=item1c0e205a2a


He also has the "Mile High Shooter's Supply" eBay store which usually has the same Rigthnour Mfg. Co. Part # ML063 revolver nipple wrench in stock along with other BP items.

http://stores.ebay.com/Mile-High-Shooters-Supply

[mykeal]

That's an excellent wrench, and I note that his shipping charge is very reasonable.

[Mike OTDP]

Funcrew, you use filler to allow you to shoot with a reduced powder charge. A full 30-grain load kicks hard, and is not as accurate as a charge of about 15 grains. The lower charge is cheaper, too.

[funcrew]

Thanks to all. I now have everything except powder and caps. I'm getting ready to leave town to go to Grand-dad's ranch, and need to pick up these items. Bass Pro Shop has powder and Remington #11 caps, but no #10's. I understand that the Prietta 1858 prefers the #10's. How critical is this - should I pass, and try to find some #10's in the Fresno area during Christmas week? Or will pinched #11's be safe to use?

[mykeal]

There is no safety issue with using pinched No. 11's. The only issue will be reliability.

By the way, Remington No. 10's are the largest caps available on the market today:
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/mykealsm/Guns/CapSizes.jpg
You will probably have to pinch both CCI and Remington No. 11's, while CCI No. 10's will likely not seat on the nipple top and result in an FTF on the first hammer strike.

[Hellgate]

Half of my guns take a CCI#11 and the other half will take the RWS 1075. ALL of them will take the Rem #10. Note the Rem#10 is LONG that allows it to flare as it is seated on the cone shaped nipples. The RWS and CCI caps are more rigid as well as not pre split so their acceptance of a nipple size is limited. If you can't find Rem#10 then the pinched Rem #11s will do, literally "in a pinch".

[Palehorseman]

Remington #10 caps for the Pietta work great for me. Fillers not necessary for me on reduced loads. Just get the right size punch (if you don't have, Harbor Freight has cheap sets for just a few bucks) an old wool felt hat or such and punch our wads to stack for height desired. I saturate lube the first one with Crisco or such, keeps the BP fouling soft.

Spare springs are a must, especially so the small lighter ones. For no matter who the gun manufacturer is, they all have a bad habit of giving up the ghost at the most inopportune time. Cabala's sells a Pietta 1858 parts kit for 25 bucks, some of the spares are overkill. But I bought it for the spare hammer that came with, as I noticed my original one is getting face dings from using it a lot with my Kirst conversion cylinder.

http://www.cabelas.com/p-0006186214052a.shtml