'58 fever

[Armored farmer]

What is wrong with me??
Recently I have:
<Ignored all my cartridge guns.
<Shot 100 rds of Hornady .454 balls.
<Ordered a 1858 Remington with a 5 1/2" barrel. (That makes 3 Remingtons now. )
<Riddled my favorite cowboy hat making felt wads.
<melted bore butter, bear grease, and bullet lube on my woodstove in the shop.
<Ordered new .454 molds
<Cast 200 rds of .454 balls.
<Found out my "soft" lead was too hard.
<Sized 198 .454 balls in my .452 sizer.
<shot 198 sized balls through my Uberti 1858.
<Paid too much for some soft lead at the junkyard.
<Put together an Altoids tin with 50 #11 caps, 40 felt wads, 36 .454 balls.
<bored my family, friends, and THR talking about '58 Remingtons.
<Going to shoot my '58's at Fort Lamotte Sunday afternoon.(maybe that will break the fever)

 

[kameron1858]

I'm haveing some of the same problems... thinking about getting another 58 and kirst 22lr converter to go with my 58 in 45lc. at least your sticking to black powder

 

[ClemBert]

Nothin' wrong with you. Its the sickness that all soot lords have.

 

[towboat_er]

Sounds like your having a lot of fun...Aint nuthin wrong with that.

 

[PRM]

Riddled my favorite cowboy hat making felt wads ~ kbbailey

Whaa.......... I never heard of such??? Yor hat??? How ya going to keep your head from getting cold.

 

[Voodoochile]

Nope there is nothing wrong with you but I do have a question.

Why are you sizing .454 balls to .452 since they will size when you compress them into the chambers?

 

[Armored farmer]

I have been able to restrain from the .45colt conversion cyl....don't know how long I can hold out.

 

[Armored farmer]

Whaa.......... I never heard of such??? Yor hat??? How ya going to keep your head from getting cold

Spring is right around the corner...right??

 

[BConklin]

Fever? I'd say you're just getting warmed up.

I don't see any mention of a .36 caliber

 

[Armored farmer]

Why are you sizing .454 balls to .452 since they will size when you compress them into the chambers?

'cause my lead was too hard. I thought i would snap the loading lever on my '58 trying to shave the lead ring and seat the ball so..... I ran the balls through my .452 sizer.....carefully dropped 'em in place(sized ring adjacent to cyl wall).....then was able to send them into the cyl with the loading arm. I admit..not much fun to load. Maybe not too brilliant...but, it worked. Besides, I had a terrible urge to shoot and no (ahem, uhh) projectiles.

 

[Noz]

Lord help you if you pick up a Colt type.

Then your are looking at Pattersons, Dragoons Walkers, Navys, Armys, 1961, 1862s and that doesn't even touch on the pocket pistols. And most of the above come with conversion cylinders.


I force myself to deal only with Armys.

 

[sltm1]

kbbailey, got a pic of that sizer? I ran into that same problem and still have the rb's sitting around. Thanks.

 

[napp]

I've read and reread the original post. I still don't see the problem.

 

[messerist]

Yep, you've crossed over to the "Dark Side."

 

[72coupe]

Sizing your balls to 452 sounds painfull.

 

[Armored farmer]

kbbailey, got a pic of that sizer? I ran into that same problem and still have the rb's sitting around. Thanks[/QUOTE

Sorry, no pics....It's just a Lee sizing die for .452(.45colt) It not a good fix, as you must roll the balls around in the cyl until the sized ring mates up with the cyl bore....it's a pain.
The best thing you can do is get some really soft lead for round balls. (Remelt the hard ones and mold some modern cast bullets with them.)

 

[BHP FAN]

Sounds to me like you have your head on straight!

 

[Magwa45]

Good for you! I have an old repro 1858 Remmie from Navy Arms, probably 1970 vintage. It is my favorite shooter. We have always called it "Old Smokey." I gotta get back into casting lead round balls. What a kick!

 

[Hellgate]

What? Only THREE? I just sold 3 but still have 6 left.

 

[BHP FAN]

the ones on the right are Remmies, I added the stainless .44, .38 conversion, .45 engraved and two percussion .36 Remingtons and a .31 pocket since then...

 

[45-70 Ranger]

This fever will pass. but it will remain in your blood!

My friend, this is normal. The smell of the powder. The flash. The boom. The dirt kicking up. The smell of lead as it heats.....All normal. The "fever" got me in 1963 and it still remains in my blood. As we speak, I'm looking forward to going home at the end of shift to shoot my '58...Still working out with the new conicals I cast and want to find the right powdere combo for that slug.

No, you're just fine. The fever will pass.....but.....any minute it will flair up and get you all fired up to shoot Go with it. Don't fight it, you'll only give in to the power of BP and you'll be better for it in the end

Wade, confirmed C&B Junkie for over 4 decades and I'm a better man because of it!

 

[BHP FAN]

Welcome, to the dark side [insert evil laugh here]!

 

[Armored farmer]

I shot up all my 777. Now trying to use up some really old Pyrodex P. I have had numerous misfires since I started shooting the Pyrodex. (1 or 2/cyl) I have changed caps...still have misfires in both guns.(The old Pyrodex has clods in it.)
I guess I had better get some fresh 777 or 3f Goex.

Has anyone else had trouble touching off old powder??

 

[ironhead7544]

Yes on trouble igniting old Pyrodex. A black powder gunsmith I know says it goes bad in a year from the time its put in the bottle. If opened it goes bad in a month. To start with, the ignition temp is twice that of black powder. Dont know about the 777.

 

[45-70 Ranger]

Pyrodex gone lumpy!

Yup, went to load some .45-70's with a can of that stuff and it looked like kitty litter! All clumped up and all! Got out the 777 and loaded that instead. My BP is REAL LOW, so I was using the subs to keep what little BP I have for that "real moment with the good stuff" hits me!

The Pyrodex is still in the cardboard cans from wayyyyy back. I don't use that stuff too much as you can tell!

Will restock my BP as soon as I can get out and find more in my area....which is about a 60 mile trip

Wade