Black powder revolver?

[megatronrules]

I was eyeing a black powder revolver at the local shop today its an 1861 replica I believe and it very nicely made. My question where do I get the black powder and caps and balls for it? Its a .44 caliber by the way my local dealer says he isn't sure where to get the stuff to shoot it as he hasen't shot black powder in years and dosen't stock anything in black powder normaly. I was just wondering if the powder is available premeasured or does it need to be measured for each shot or not? And also if there are any conversions to centerfire rounds available for these guns? lastley are these guns expensive to shoot?,and I could have sworn I've seen/read of them thanks for any help on this.

 

[Preacherman]

Moving to the Black Powder forum...

 

[4v50 Gary]

Powder charges are measured before poured into a cylinder. You can also premeasure it and roll it into a paper cartridge along with a conical.

As to cost, percussion caps aren't very expensive (I buy them 1k at a time to keep cost down) but powder can be hard to come buy. I solved it by buying it in 25 lb lots via mail order (which is cheaper than buying through a dealer). Balls/conicals - well, it can run $5-6 bucks a box of 100 round balls, but I mold my own.

 

[Josey]

www.dixiegunworks.com They have it all covered.

 

[blfuller]

You can also buy the Pyrodex pellet which is a preformed cylindrical piece of propellent for 44 and 45 caliber 30 grain loads. Just drop it into the cylinder add a wad and then the ball.

Most likely The 1861 you were eyeballin' was an 1860 army. A true 1861 was .36 caliber. But then again there are some .44 cal 1851 Navys.

The conversions are not available for the open top Colts in .44 cal. because there is not enough meat in the cylinder to be safe, this is especially true in the 1860 Army rebated cylinder. They are available for the .36 caliber Colts. See here for the Kirst Konverter. I like these the best.

You can find all of the things you need to shoot either locally or on line. If your dealer doesn't carry it, call around town and find one who does.

 

[Nick96]

If this is your first experience with black powder shooting, you may want to consider a single shot black powder rifle or pistol first. They are less complicated and more forgiving. And you may find it more entertaining to load, cap, shoot then repeat ---- rather than load, load, load, load, load, load -- grease, grease, grease, grease, grease, grease -- cap, cap, cap, cap, cap, cap, then shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot - then repeat. Sounds silly, but you actually feel like you spend more time shooting and less time loading with a single shot gun.

The revolver you describe sounds like one made by Conneticutt (sp) Valley Arms (CVA) - a .44 caliber brass frame model they called an 1861 Colt. Similar to the 1860 Army. These were actually Itialian made - but don't know by whom.

Around here, Academy Sports and even Wal-Mart carries balls, caps, measures, etc. Don't recall if they carry black powder - but several local gun shops do. If you look around a bit, I'm sure you will find several sources of black powder stuff. A lot of bow hunting shops also cater to black powder shooters (that whole primitive hunting thing).

In pistols, make sure you get FFF (Triple F) black powder or equivilent. Never use modern smokless powders in black powder guns - they can blow the gun up. The F's refer to how finely the powder is ground. The lower the F - typically the longer the barrel and greater amount of powder to be used. You should get a powder measure for consistancy of loads. Start with about 10 grains or so & work up. Not so much that you can't fully seat the ball. The good thing about black powder is it burns so slow - you can't hardly stuff enough in a revolver cylinder to blow it up. You also need to apply a dab of grease over each cylinder to avoid multiple cylinder discharge (plain old Crisco shortning will do). Set a percussion cap on the cone / nipple - and you're ready to go. Clean up is best accomplished with scrubbing the cylinder & barrel in soapy water - drying & oiling. Make sure to thoroughly clean the cones. Use gun solvent to clean the frame.

Black powder shooting is very labor intensive. But compared to modern large caliber centerfire cartridges - it's very cheap. And it's a lot of fun. The low kick, characteristic black powder boom and lots of smoke make for a different experience from shooting modern cartridges & guns.

 

[joab]

If you are in the Orlando area go to Buffalo Bill's Shooting Store. Most of the Sports Authoritys have a fair selection of BP supplies and so does Bass Outdoor on International Dr.

 

[Tom Bri]

A lot of surprising places carry it. Just call around. I got my first pyrodex from Walmart. I first called a local bp gun maker and they gave me a short list of places to try. No problem. Dixie Gun Works supplied all of the balls caps etc I could ever need, mail order.