An Afternoon with the '51 Confederate Navy

[Foto Joe]

So my wife leaves for work at 1300, I'm off today and I'm bored, why not go shoot a little. The question is: What to shoot?? My lead got shipped to my daughters house by mistake, so I haven't got any cartridges loaded but I've got about a hundred .454 RB's left and too many guns to shoot them out of, what to do??

I grabbed my first Black Powder revolver, a Pietta '51 Confederate Navy, loaded up the Rhino and took off for a little box canyon about two miles from the RV park we're currently confined to.

A number of folks don't have much use for these "Non-Historically Correct" brass framed .44's. But you have to admit that they're a lot of fun to shoot and they don't eat a lot of powder either.

So the following video is what happens when I get bored. If you watch the video, please don't hammer me for loading straight out of the flask. Normally I shoot numerous guns in an outing and each gun typically sits for five minutes or more before re-loading.

Some of you would probably like to see the results on the target, suffice it to say, I can hit the paper most of the time.

1851 Confederate Navy Video

 

[ryzman]

nice pistol

looks like decent weather there in wyo

 

[Foto Joe]

looks like decent weather there in wyo

If only that were true, I'd still be in Wyoming!! We're in Arizona for a few months working until the ice thaws.

 

[husker]

good vid/ nice smoke.

 

[messerist]

Looks like you had a great time. I'm a hat guy and I really like your chapeau. Mind if I ask where you bought it?

 

[Acorn Mush]

If you watch the video, please don't hammer me for loading straight out of the flask.

Joe, don't worry about being criticized for loading your revolver straight from the flask. I believe a revolver is the only muzzleloader that is safe to load in such a manner since you can see down to the bottoms of the chambers and would be able to spot any burning embers that may be lingering. In addition, they are typically not reloaded nearly as quickly as one might reload a rifle as is demonstrated in your video, providing yet more time for things to cool off prior to pouring in the powder.

Glad you had a (smokin') good time!

 

[Hellgate]

Enjoyed the vid, accurate dialog on the gun. On their usage during warfare: I would add that once all the guns were shot dry THEN they pulled the sword or fighting knife. somewhere I read that there never was a documented case of an irregular confederate cavalryman that was ever killed by a Union sword. They all carried several revolvers whereas the Union cav were issued only one revolver plus the sword. In fact, some confed cav carried sawed off shotguns.

Enjoyed the nice weather too. Up here in Orygun it's raining cats & dogs. Real green though.

 

[ak-kev]

Very nice video! Thank you for sharing. Kevin.

 

[bp_cowboy]

great video and narrative.

 

[junkman_01]

Nice work Joe. I enjoyed your video. Loading from a pistol flask is reasonably safe because they have a valve plate. The admonishment is aimed at an open flask such as a powder horn.

 

[mykeal]

Loading from a pistol flask is reasonably safe because they have a valve plate. The admonishment is aimed at an open flask such as a powder horn.

I'm not sure that's correct - I don't see a simple plate covering an opening being capable of sealing a flask from hot combustion gas. I think the admonishment applies to any vessel carrying a large amount of powder. Unless, of course it's sealed, like with an o-ring, plug or threaded cap.

 

[Shoot The Moon]

Joe, good video - thanks for posting - I am soo jealous of your weather, it's been hammering down with rain here for a fortnight and the mud is almost to my knees!

 

[BHP FAN]

Safety Police give me the vapors... but, Mykeal's warning makes sense...You can't be safe unless you know your equipment, a lot of these flasks are mass produced, and although they were designed as ''safety flasks'' [you don't see period equipment including a seperate measure] modern replicas aren't always as well made as the originals.I got lucky, and the metal to metal fit is tight on the valve, but I've seen some that the ''tounge'' was soldered on at an angle, and even in the ''closed'' position you could see day light.With the head off your flask, blow in the spout. if you have an airtight seal, you should be good to go, and your flask is operating the way it was designed to.ALWAYS inspect the cylinder you're loading, and use common sense.If you have multiple cylinders, load the ''cold'' one first.