Colt Walker- SHOCK & AWE!

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Yankee John

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I finally got to do some shooting at my dad's farm yesterday. Shoot my Uberti Remington Revolving Rifle and ASM Colt Walker for the first time!

I was using my paper cartridges for the Remington carbine, 30 gr. Pyrodex with .454 balls. What a blast this carbine is; Lots of fire and smoke, and it bucks pretty good (especially with that solid brass plate on the buttstock!).

All I can say about the Walker is- SHOCK & AWE - Smoke and fire to the max!! I cannot believe how brutally powerful it is! I was using 50 gr. of Pyrodex with a .457 ball. The loading lever dropped everytime, but I will fix that.

I love all of my guns, but "Mr. Walker" is my favorite now!

John
 
Colt Walker

I remember the first time I pulled the trigger on "full cylinder":eek: in my Walker replica...It's been quite a few years now, but I vividly recall the gun standing almost sraight up! All of a sudden, I felt like Jose Wales:scrutiny: (hope I spelled that one correctly) Was the Walker not the undisputed magnum until the 357 was introduced?
 
I used to have a Signature Colt Walker. That thing was serious fun to shoot!

At over 4 pounds it was easy to shoot and as much fun as you can have with a big smoke belching pistol!!
 
I wonder what is manufacturers recommendation for max. powder charge for Walker?

I'm repeating myself but we're again having an argument about max. loads for Remington, some people claims that it's foolish to shoot loads above 30grs as the manufacturer and shopkeeper recommend 28grs as a max. load. Does Uberti use weaker steel for Remingtons than it uses for Cattlemans? Cattleman's nitro-proof and if it's nitro-proof I doubt that any properly loaded BP cartridge can blow it up. Or are the chamber walls in Remington thinner than Cattlemans chamber walls? And I ain't sure if it's relevant at all to compare cartridge gun and percussion revolver in this matter. Hope you get the idea from above, I can be a little confusing when I try to explain something.

Does anyone know what were the loads like at 19th century? For Remington 1858 and other percussion revolvers, that is.
 
Finlander. Lets put it this way, there AINT no overload possible with this arm and black powder!

I use 40 grains in mine as EVERY DAY load. I have regularly used all the H777 one can stuff in AND the 'smiths ammonium nitrate based powder which is HOT HOT HOT.

You have no fears, no worries, just shoot and enjoy!
 
manyirons has it. Colt's original instructions apply to all of them:
attachment.php
 
I bought a signature colt on earth day, 2000 (I try to buy my guns on as many leftist/socialist holidays as I can - think about them, there's lots).

Anyway, my ears are still ringing from shooting it without hearing protection ONCE. Or maybe the ringing is from the hundreds of hours in blackhawks and hueys...

DEFINITELY a magnum revolver. Fun to shoot.

Thanks for the memories.

Norm
socialist occupied Maryland
state of impending dhimmitude
 
normbal, I like that concept - so with a little luck, next 'Earth Day' I'll make my first foray into black powder!

(It'll take some care to accumulate a discretionary fund)

Trisha
 
Well, there's MAY day, Juneteenth, Labor day, among others, you'll need a BIG fund... ;)
 
Uberti Walker

I'm new here, so forgive me if I'm doing this wrong.

I have probably fired about 100 rounds through my Walker and love it. I usually load 50 grains with a .457 ball. I have some questions for some of you pro's:
- I have heard that a Colt Walker could be loaded to 60 grains - is that the same for a Uberti?
- I know this thing was designed to be able to knock down horses - what is the largest game that you would dare hunt with a Walker (at close range)?
- My Walker shoots very low, so I need to take a "full beed" and then some to hit my target at close range - any suggestions on potential modifications to correct that?
- Is cross-firing really a threat? I have always greased my chambers after loading, but find it hard to believe that they could crossfire.
- Does anyone have any real ballistics on the .457 ball with 40, 50, and 60 grains? (I have two different kinds of powder, so maybe an "average" would do)
I appreciate any insight you gentlemen can offer and look forward to some great discussions!
 
bunch of threads on that subject here. Check out this one and then search for more:
http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=32065&d=1133484116

The Uberti's wil take 60 grains or the equivalent volume of substitute though it is easy to be happy with charges ranging from 45-55. The Uberti is quite a bit stronger than the original colts but seems to have the same chamber capacity. There are about three possible explanations for chain fires and I suspect that they are all true at one time or another. If the balls fit it is very unusual to get one. In the old days, they were probably pretty common. The original bullet is shaped like a triangle with very little contact with the chamber walls. It was easy to seat them crooked opening a channel into the powder column. this was bad since the pointy bullets provided a nice shape charge when you spilled powder over from one chamber to the next.
When chain fires occur, there is usually no damage to the Colt and Remington types but it severely unnerves the shooter.
attachment.php
 
arcticap

Just pinch them a little to make them oval some. It hurts your fingers to do it alot.
Then some guy told me that he sits at home and uses a small pair of pliers to do that, so I compromised and take a small pair of pliers to the range with me.

Anyway... no more caps flying off. This was especially helpful with those Dragoons with the heavy loads.
 
Not So Loose Caps

I prefer to have them a little snug so they don't work back on the nipple (while firing the other chambers) and block the cylinder from rotating. However, sometimes I am a little fearful of a cap discharging while seating it on the nipple - from applying too much pressure, having it slip on too hard, then discharge.

Is that a valid fear if I am using the flat surface on the applicator to push the cap on?
 
Me too!

Creepy isn't it?

I have this Pietta 1860 model that had a ring cylinder seat that was so over sized that it grooved the caps as it rotated. I had to grind, file, and polish the crap out of it to get clearance.

It was an auction purchase from another liar on gunbroker.
 
I doubt that you could set off a cap by pushing it onto the nipple. It needs the weight and speed of a hammer to set it off, the speed of the compression of the explosive inside being the key to it's success. As advised here, I now use a dowel with a leather tip to firmly seat the caps on my 58 but I still get the odd one falling off. They seat better after the nipples start to foul up bit.
Duncan
 
It happened back when they used clorate or mercury fulminate primers. The ones we have now seem to need a sharper blow as Duncan says.

Elmer Keith talked about haveing caps discharge and blistering his thumb as he loaded percussion rifles (Early 1900s and clorate caps).
 
In blistering his thumb, Elmer was also firing a chamber while it was not lined up with the cylinder, wasn't he? I mean, the capping is the last step in loading. I think there would be more to worry about than the cap itself.

Bart Noir
 
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