Still Another New Shooter Thread

Hello all. Recently picked up the bug (BP shooting, not the 'rona) and purchased a Pietta 1851 Navy London. Looking for a specific thread or threads related to this revolver, or all 1851 Navies, or beginning revolver shooters, etc.

The story so far: Apart from an initially very tight barrel wedge and not so tight loading lever latch pin, quality seems pretty good. Tight cylinder lockup and not too creepy trigger. I have had one range session, using Pyrodex P and CCI #10 caps driving a .380 ball. Kept 30 rounds on paper at 25 yards (though most landed 4" to 6" above the center). Had one misfire requiring a 2nd strike.

Wil

Primarily introducing myself. Also, on another forum I frequent (about radio controlled models) there is usually a thread dedicated to a specific model. Looking for pointers, such as search terms, to locate something like that here. I *have* looked at the Black Powder Essentials thread, lots of good info in it.

By the way, here are a couple of details I left out of my original post. I was loading 20 grains of Pyrodex. The first 6 rounds were the nominal .375" balls that came with the Pietta starter kit I ordered along with the pistol. I measure those to be more like .372", and they didn't produce a complete lead ring upon seating. The nominal .380"/0000 buck balls I bought (from Rob's Bullets) measure about .383" and make a nice complete circle o' lead. I was also using lubed wads over the charge, though I believe the 0000 buck balls will seal the chambers. I didn't have any cap jams, but I no doubt would have if I hadn't carefully removed spent cap pieces after each shot (a few fell out by themselves). In most cases the cap was fairly well blown apart, but once in a while it remained completely intact and needed to be pried off. The caps *seemed* to fit the cones pretty well, but I have no known good reference with which to compare. By the way, the starter kit came with a straight capper device, but I can't see how it works with this gun.

I have been watching a number of related YouTube videos, many by duelist 1954. That's really how I became interested. I was initially going to get something like a Lyman Trade Rifle, but my local range doesn't allow offhand rifle shooting, and I thought bench-resting a percussion or flintlock rifle didn't sound like a lot of fun, so I opted for a revolver.

Wil

Thanks for the replies, guys! J-Bar, nice work on the video!

Wil

Thanks, arcticap! I will try that.

Thanks for the info, arcticap. I bought a tin of CCI # 10s; those and CCI #11s seem to be the only ones available just now, and I frankly just guessed. I would really like to avoid the hazardous material charge for shipping caps, so I'm going to use what's local. I hadn't heard of cap posts, shields, or rakes before; I will look into that.

The caps I have did split quite a lot, but usually stayed in one piece. I am considering a set of SlixShot or Treso, etc., replacement cones/nipples.

I don't get out much due to the virus -- where I do go it's outdoors or very large indoors (I bought the Pyrodex and caps at the one Scheel's in the area, that place is huge); I don't stay long in stores.

Wil

Thanks, BRB. Good idea on the pipe cleaners and grease. I have some Lubriplate, wife might have some "craft sticks" (I think that's the new term).

I ended up going with Track of the Wolf nipples, and therein lies a tale --

I went shootin' yesterday, only the 2nd time I have shot the Navy. I had the Track of the Wolf SS nipples installed, and I had procured both the recommended (by TotW) CCI #11 caps and some Remington #10s. In addition, I had purchased a 20 grain powder flask spout from TotW. 20 grains is the load I used during my first session.

My first concern was that I couldn't get the CCI caps onto the new nipples. There just wasn't quite enough clearance to let them turn that final corner. The Remingtons, due to their different construction, would go on to the nipples. So I used those. I measured the stock nipples and compared with TotW's listings and the PIR-LS ones looked closest, but maybe I should have got the PIR-S, which are .020" shorter.

The next concern was that the level of powder in the chamber looked higher than I remembered from the first session. I poured out the first load and refilled it. It looked the same, so I shrugged and proceeded (Churchill said that "Man sometimes stumbles across the truth, but usually gets up and continues on"). Newbie, right? Hmmm, recoil seems sharper than before. Must be OK, spout clearly says 20 grains. Shots were printing lower on the target, but I had filed the hammer slightly to correct for the high shots I was seeing before, so I congratulated myself on a successful modification. I fire about 25 rounds.

Later, found that the barrel wedge wouldn't come out. I struggled with it; eventually I had to get a small diameter steel rod and hammer it out. Then the barrel resisted coming off the arbor. The idea finally started to dawn that I was shooting a much heavier load. I weighed what the adjustable measure was throwing when set to 20 grains with the new spout. The "20 grain" spout was throwing 1/3 more powder, about 27 grains.

I hope I haven't damaged the revolver. Actually, pretty sure some metal movement occurred, just hope it wasn't too much. What do y'all think?

WIlTx, learning the hard way for 67 years ...

I've only used Pyrodex so far. The pistol is new, got it at the end of October. The first time I disassembled it I had to whack the wedge a number of times, but it was OK the times after that (installing the new nipples, preparing to go shoot). I don't understand the short arbor problem or how to identify it.

OK. Now I know how to test for a short arbor. I will do that tomorrow. The cylinder-barrel gap is very near zero without putting any pressure on the cylinder.

Thanks. Before reading this, I tried the "twist barrel on arbor" method: it seemed to indicate arbor is not short. Have not used feeler gauges on gap; *visually* it doesn't look bad. However, wedge had to have help coming out again. I did what I thought was a bit of judicious filing along the edges of the wedge after removing it to prevent it from sticking. It looked a little beat up on the edges to me. After that, the wedge will go all the way in and there's a little slack in the barrel (I didn't check this before filing.) So, my guess is that at the least I need a new wedge.