Basic BP Troubleshooting

[bennadatto]

Good afternoon all!

I am brand new to the BP world, and can already tell without having fired the first shot, I am addicted! I have ordered an 1851 Blued, Engraved, faux ivory grip Colt Navy clone from Caballa's. It should arrive early next week, and I can't wait to get it!

Outside of the excellent information on this site and participating in a Civil War reenactment years ago, I don't have any experience with shooting BP pistols. I feel like I have a pretty good grip on the basic operation of a BP pistol, but I would like to know the most common problems you experience while shooting and the solution(s) you found.

Mainly I'm talking about mis-fires, ball jams, or any other problems you may have encountered while shooting BP.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Redd Flynt]

My experience with C&B revolvers only goes back 50 years so with that limitation I'll make a few comments.

Generally speaking there should not be any big surprises. The technology goes back 150 years or more.

One chronic concern with a lot of the clones is the loading port. This is the slot on the right side of the barrel assembly that facilitates loading the ball. The original guns have more room. The loading port was designed to accept a conical, most clones won't. The solution, get out the grinder.

Caps and cap jams should be expected as a source of irritation. I think Sam Colt built this in as a test to separate the serious shooters from the novice crowd. Solution, cap brands/sizes and perhaps retrofit cones (nipples).

The front sight will be too short and the hammer notch will look like it was done with an axe. Obvious solution.

You said Navy so I assume a .36 caliber and a .375 ball size.

Use 3f BP, the subs are just that. Keep it simple, powder, ball and Crisco. While 'ya got the Crisco out smear it all over the base pin.

Rags and a bottle of Windex will take care of hand and gun cleaning at the range.

Expect to get your hands real dirty. Note to Self; don't touch car steering wheel 'till hands are clean.

Have fun

 

[scrat]

a lot of the problems people have can be avoided.
Take misfires
after i clean my guns i oil them up heavily if im not going to shoot them. This will ensure a misfire.

However the day of or before i go shooting i take out the cylinder and clean it with q tips and alcohal. Then at the range i shoot a cap through each cylinder. This will ensure that i have no misfires.

other than that make sure when you pull the hammer back you have the gun pointed up at an angle to make sure any fired caps fall off and not in the works.

Then just make sure you use crisco, borebutter or something else over the balls to prevent chain fires.

 

[Calibre44]

Redd Flynt wrote: Expect to get your hands real dirty. Note to Self; don't touch car steering wheel 'till hands are clean.

And don’t wear any clothes that you intend to wear in the evening unless you want people to think you smoke 50,000 cigarettes a day!

Have fun – you have just entered the ‘pleasure zone’

 

[pohill]

Not to piss anyone off, but that wrist-flick, or tip-the-gun-up or whatever shooters do to clear caps is, to me, dangerous. Think about where the barrel is pointing while you're doing it. I'm sure the old-timers did it that way, out in the middle of the prairie or whatever, but on a shooting range...
I've seen shooters at my club do things with BP guns that they hopefully would never do with a modern firearm. They get distracted with everything involved with BP shooting and forget where the gun is pointing.
OK, let me have it.

 

[Omnivore]

Pohill; Valid enough point. Learn and practice muzzle control. It is especially serious with handguns, as they're easier to sweep all over the place for a new shooter.

Cap crap jams, for me, have seemed to just go away with experience, but it does happen occasionally. Don't know for sure why. My Pietta '58 Remington has yet to have a jam, though it's only fired about 100 rounds.

 

[scrat]

Agreed learn proper muzzle control. Point down range. Up slightly turned to the right but down range.
I tell you i bet if the back of the base had a small flapper that would rub against the cylinder I bet the caps would fall right off instead of jamming up in your works. So when you go to pull the hammer back the cylinder turns against the flapper. Any cap sticking out will fall outside the gun.

 

[sundance44s]

This is why I always recomend the 1858 Remington to new shooters ..In all my years and 6 Remingtons latter I can honestly say I have never had a 1858 have a cap jam the works ...
The open top Colts on the other hand ...will ruin your day unless you learn to take more than one gun to the range ...I made the mistake of takeing only a 1851 Colt Navy with me once , let a friend shoot it , and before he made 5 shots he had a cap jam the works ..and ruin my day ...I do flick my wrist to the right as I cock the hammer , but the muzzle stays pointed at my target ...it`s not a problem .I also do it while shooting my Remingtons because I`ve had hot caps fall between my hand and the grip ...that burns ,,seems like as I cock the hammer the gap between my hand and the grip opens and makes a nice pocket for the hot caps to fall into.
I`ve seen to many new guys quit the sport because someone told them the best pistol to start with is a 1851 Colt Navy ...After haveing a hard time getting the wedge out ..and then dealing with a cap jam ..which requires takeing down the trigger group apart ...something a new guy ..doesn`t want to get into in the first place ..they end up with a wall hanger . With the Remington the worst problem will be the fouling of the cylinder pin ...which can be fixed with a splash of water ...no tools involved .

 

[pohill]

Omnivore made a good point about experience- the more I shoot, the longer I'm involved with BP revolvers, the fewer cap jams I have. It's like marriage - the longer I'm married the fewer fights I have. Well, OK, that's crap but it sounds good.

 

[JayC]

Bennadatto: Please report once you get the pistol and put a few rounds through it. I was just about to pull that trigger myself, but became undecided between that model and the Pietta 1862 Pocket Police. (I know the Pietta has 6 chambers instead of the historically correct five as in the Uberti version, but the 5-shot frame is just too small).