Gatofeo
Member
Okay, so you want a cap and ball revolver. Here are some considerations:
1. Sights --- If you want one because of its historical context, then you'll get a revolver with crude sights (unless you buy one of the Remingtons with adjustable sights, which is historically incorrect). But don't despair, even with the rudimentary sights a cap and ball revolver can do some fine shooting.
2. Caliber --- Some people like the .44 because it booms louder and makes a bigger hole. I have both .36 and .44 caliber revolvers and suggest that, for the beginner, he buy a .36 caliber. You won't use as much lead or powder but you'll still get plenty of fun. Recoil is less, too.
3. Purpose --- Plan to use it for hunting? Frankly, most cap and ball revolvers are not suitable for hunting anything larger than coyotes.
The Ruger Old Army has taken deer, when a conical bullet is used, but you have to get awfully close.
The Walker and Dragoon revolvers have the power but lack the necessary accurate sighting equipment. A notch in the nose and a brass bead for a front sight are non-adjustable and not conducive to the pinpoint, sure accuracy required for hunting.
I don't recommend any cap and ball revolver for hunting anything larger than a coyote, and even then only at close range.
For target work, it used to be said that the .44 was king. But the .36 caliber can hold its own with the .44 caliber out to 50 yards. The trouble is, to my knowledge no one has ever made a .36 cap and ball revolver with modern, adjustable sights. I wish they would, I'd stand in line to buy one. The best that can be done is to buy a Remington .36 and add adjustable sights.
Or, if you'd rather not go through all that trouble, buy a Remington .44 with adjustable sights for use on the range, or buy the world's most modern cap and ball revolver, the Ruger Old Army with adjustable sights.
4. Ease of maintenance A stainless steel revolver is best for easy maintenance. The Remington has fewer parts than the Colt, but not quite as easily reassembled in my experience. You have to grasp the mainspring with pliers to wrestle it in. No big deal, just a minor aggravation.
5. Ease of loading In my experience, the Colt is more forgiving during the loading procedure. If you can't quite get a ball down past the mouth of the chamber, because of an accidental overcharge, you can remove the ball by firing the Colt without its barrel assembly.
Remove the barrel assembly.
Place caps on all loaded chambers to prevent flashover and deftly rotate the cylinder by hand and cock the hammer to bring the offending cylinder under the cocked hammer.
Obviously, you must be very careful when doing this.
You may then fire the ball out of the cylinder to clear the chamber. I've done this a number of times.
If you can't seat the ball in a Remington, you have to remove the cylinder, remove the nipple, then use a toothpick or brass pick (never a spark-producing metal) to pick out some of the powder. With the powder out, replace the nipple, return the cylinder into the frame, reseat the ball deeper and recap it.
The Remington has more clearance between the frame and cylinder than the earlier Colts, so you can more easily load conical bullets. The Colt 1860 .44 and 1861 .36 have even more room for conicals.
6. Strength Strength is largely a moot point when you're talking about the use of black powder and Pyrodex. I understand that 777 generates higher pressures than black powder but haven't used it. If you plan to use 777 powder, then the Remington would be better. It is definitely stronger than the Colt. But as I've said, as long as you're using black powder or Pyrodex, it really doesn't matter.
7. Quirks There are certain peculiarities of the Colt and Remington.
The Colt has a large cylinder pin, with circular grooves in it, to collect fouling and hold grease. The Remington has a small diameter cylinder pin without grooves. Generally, the Colt fires more shots than the Remington before the cylinder begins to drag from fouling built up on the pin.
The Remington is much easier to sight on a target. Its square groove in the frame and square front sight line up well. Both of my Remingtons came with unusually tall front sights, which had to be filed down a lick at a time at the range until the sights hit to point of aim.
The Colt employs a wedge to keep the barrel assembly attached to the frame. This must hold them together tightly. If the wedge is not tight in the frame, accuracy suffers.
The Remington is a solid-frame and no such adjustment is required.
In time, particularly with heavy loads, the Colt's wedge will be battered narrower and no longer hold the barrel assembly as tightly as it once did. A new wedge is required, or you can put the wedge on an anvil and carefully widen it again with a heavy hammer. A lot of checking is required with this method. Don't overdo it.
The Remington is pretty much trouble-free.
8. Feel The Colt revolvers win hands down, in my opinion. Even today, the Colt 1851 or 1861 Navies are considered the best-balanced revolver ever produced. You can easily develop a point-shooting instinct with them that is amazing. Yesterday, without using the sights, I hit a coffee can on the ground at 15 yards four times out of six. And I don't even practice this kind of shooting. Part of it was luck, but I'd be hard-pressed to have that same luck with the Remington.
The Remington feels massive in the hands and doesn't point nearly as well.
9. Accuracy For a long time, the Remington was credited with being far more accurate than the Colt. In more recent years, shooters have begun to understand that the wedge in the Colt must be in tight for it to be accurate. A well-made Colt pattern can be just as accurate as the Remington. I shoot both and have proven this to myself many times.
10. Loading procedure This is not really a consideration of either design, since the procedure is identical for both, but it is what allows the Colt to equal the Remington.
A. Use a well-oversized ball. For the .36 this means .380-inch, for the .44 it means .454 or .457 inch balls. Forget what the manuals recommend (.375 and .451 inch) and use the larger balls, they're more accurate. Why? When you ram the balls into the chamber, the larger ones create a wider bearing surface for the rifling to grip. This aids accuracy.
B. Use black powder if you can get it. My experiences have shown it beats Pyrodex for accuracy.
C. Use a well-greased wad between the ball and powder, and seat it firmly on the powder before seating the ball. The rammer should come to its full stop, or nearly so, when seating the wad.
I lubricate my felt wads with a mix of 1 part canning paraffin, 1 part mutton tallow (lard will do, too), and 1 part beeswax. With a kitchen scale measure 200/200/100 grams of the ingredients and melt them in a quart Mason jar, placed in 3 or 4 inches of boiling water. Mix the ingredients well with a clean stick or disposable chopstick and allow cooling at room temperature.
Now, get a clean tuna can. Add two or three Tablespoons of hardened lubricant to it, heat it at a low temperature, and when the lubricant is melted add 100 wads. Stir the wads with the chopstick to ensure they all soak up the lubricant. Allow to cool at room temperature and snap a pet food can over the can.
The paraffin is crucial to this recipe. It significantly stiffens the wads, helping them to scrape out the fouling.
D. Seat the ball firmly on the seated wad. There must be NO air space between the powder, wad or ball.
E. Use a lead ball. In my experience, conical bullets are not nearly as accurate as a lead ball. Plus, they are often more expensive unless you cast your own from scrap lead.
F. Use proper-fitting caps. Some nipples require No. 10 caps, others require No. 11 caps. Initially, buy both to determine which fits all the way down on your nipples. Before seating, pinch the cap into an oval shape so it clings to the nipple better. That unusable tin of caps may be used before loading, to clear the nipples by firing a cap on each nipple. Do this twice to ensure all oil, crud and dust is blown free of the cap channel.
11. Almost forgot! Buy a steel frame Brass frames may look pretty (I think they look gaudy and childish, personally) but they don't hold up as well as the steel frames. Also, I've seen few brass-framed revolvers that were truly well-made. Most are clunkers. Yes, there are clunker steel-framed guns out there but not nearly as many as brass-framed ones.
12. Personal protection No, not the self-defense type. I mean, think safety at all times. Wear hearing protection and impact resistant glasses whenever shooting. While shooting, keep all black powder and caps behind you, away from the sparks your revolver produces.
13. Carry a grain of salt Much of what shooters will tell you at the range, and on the internet, is exaggeration, fabrication or dangerous. Some of the things I've listed here are opinion, doubtless others will disagree, but I have based it all on experience.
Sooner or later, some jackleg will tell you, "Ya know, if ya put a pinch of smokeless powder in the chamber first, it'll shoot cleaner."
Beware of this person; he's a moron. Cap and ball revolvers are NOT designed for smokeless powder. Period. The End. Termination of Conversation.
In summation, what you buy largely boils down to personal preference. I like the Remington for its ease of target shooting, and the Colt for its handling qualities. I shoot both. I have little doubt that once you get the bug, you'll be shooting both as well --- and cursing this website for your addiction.
1. Sights --- If you want one because of its historical context, then you'll get a revolver with crude sights (unless you buy one of the Remingtons with adjustable sights, which is historically incorrect). But don't despair, even with the rudimentary sights a cap and ball revolver can do some fine shooting.
2. Caliber --- Some people like the .44 because it booms louder and makes a bigger hole. I have both .36 and .44 caliber revolvers and suggest that, for the beginner, he buy a .36 caliber. You won't use as much lead or powder but you'll still get plenty of fun. Recoil is less, too.
3. Purpose --- Plan to use it for hunting? Frankly, most cap and ball revolvers are not suitable for hunting anything larger than coyotes.
The Ruger Old Army has taken deer, when a conical bullet is used, but you have to get awfully close.
The Walker and Dragoon revolvers have the power but lack the necessary accurate sighting equipment. A notch in the nose and a brass bead for a front sight are non-adjustable and not conducive to the pinpoint, sure accuracy required for hunting.
I don't recommend any cap and ball revolver for hunting anything larger than a coyote, and even then only at close range.
For target work, it used to be said that the .44 was king. But the .36 caliber can hold its own with the .44 caliber out to 50 yards. The trouble is, to my knowledge no one has ever made a .36 cap and ball revolver with modern, adjustable sights. I wish they would, I'd stand in line to buy one. The best that can be done is to buy a Remington .36 and add adjustable sights.
Or, if you'd rather not go through all that trouble, buy a Remington .44 with adjustable sights for use on the range, or buy the world's most modern cap and ball revolver, the Ruger Old Army with adjustable sights.
4. Ease of maintenance A stainless steel revolver is best for easy maintenance. The Remington has fewer parts than the Colt, but not quite as easily reassembled in my experience. You have to grasp the mainspring with pliers to wrestle it in. No big deal, just a minor aggravation.
5. Ease of loading In my experience, the Colt is more forgiving during the loading procedure. If you can't quite get a ball down past the mouth of the chamber, because of an accidental overcharge, you can remove the ball by firing the Colt without its barrel assembly.
Remove the barrel assembly.
Place caps on all loaded chambers to prevent flashover and deftly rotate the cylinder by hand and cock the hammer to bring the offending cylinder under the cocked hammer.
Obviously, you must be very careful when doing this.
You may then fire the ball out of the cylinder to clear the chamber. I've done this a number of times.
If you can't seat the ball in a Remington, you have to remove the cylinder, remove the nipple, then use a toothpick or brass pick (never a spark-producing metal) to pick out some of the powder. With the powder out, replace the nipple, return the cylinder into the frame, reseat the ball deeper and recap it.
The Remington has more clearance between the frame and cylinder than the earlier Colts, so you can more easily load conical bullets. The Colt 1860 .44 and 1861 .36 have even more room for conicals.
6. Strength Strength is largely a moot point when you're talking about the use of black powder and Pyrodex. I understand that 777 generates higher pressures than black powder but haven't used it. If you plan to use 777 powder, then the Remington would be better. It is definitely stronger than the Colt. But as I've said, as long as you're using black powder or Pyrodex, it really doesn't matter.
7. Quirks There are certain peculiarities of the Colt and Remington.
The Colt has a large cylinder pin, with circular grooves in it, to collect fouling and hold grease. The Remington has a small diameter cylinder pin without grooves. Generally, the Colt fires more shots than the Remington before the cylinder begins to drag from fouling built up on the pin.
The Remington is much easier to sight on a target. Its square groove in the frame and square front sight line up well. Both of my Remingtons came with unusually tall front sights, which had to be filed down a lick at a time at the range until the sights hit to point of aim.
The Colt employs a wedge to keep the barrel assembly attached to the frame. This must hold them together tightly. If the wedge is not tight in the frame, accuracy suffers.
The Remington is a solid-frame and no such adjustment is required.
In time, particularly with heavy loads, the Colt's wedge will be battered narrower and no longer hold the barrel assembly as tightly as it once did. A new wedge is required, or you can put the wedge on an anvil and carefully widen it again with a heavy hammer. A lot of checking is required with this method. Don't overdo it.
The Remington is pretty much trouble-free.
8. Feel The Colt revolvers win hands down, in my opinion. Even today, the Colt 1851 or 1861 Navies are considered the best-balanced revolver ever produced. You can easily develop a point-shooting instinct with them that is amazing. Yesterday, without using the sights, I hit a coffee can on the ground at 15 yards four times out of six. And I don't even practice this kind of shooting. Part of it was luck, but I'd be hard-pressed to have that same luck with the Remington.
The Remington feels massive in the hands and doesn't point nearly as well.
9. Accuracy For a long time, the Remington was credited with being far more accurate than the Colt. In more recent years, shooters have begun to understand that the wedge in the Colt must be in tight for it to be accurate. A well-made Colt pattern can be just as accurate as the Remington. I shoot both and have proven this to myself many times.
10. Loading procedure This is not really a consideration of either design, since the procedure is identical for both, but it is what allows the Colt to equal the Remington.
A. Use a well-oversized ball. For the .36 this means .380-inch, for the .44 it means .454 or .457 inch balls. Forget what the manuals recommend (.375 and .451 inch) and use the larger balls, they're more accurate. Why? When you ram the balls into the chamber, the larger ones create a wider bearing surface for the rifling to grip. This aids accuracy.
B. Use black powder if you can get it. My experiences have shown it beats Pyrodex for accuracy.
C. Use a well-greased wad between the ball and powder, and seat it firmly on the powder before seating the ball. The rammer should come to its full stop, or nearly so, when seating the wad.
I lubricate my felt wads with a mix of 1 part canning paraffin, 1 part mutton tallow (lard will do, too), and 1 part beeswax. With a kitchen scale measure 200/200/100 grams of the ingredients and melt them in a quart Mason jar, placed in 3 or 4 inches of boiling water. Mix the ingredients well with a clean stick or disposable chopstick and allow cooling at room temperature.
Now, get a clean tuna can. Add two or three Tablespoons of hardened lubricant to it, heat it at a low temperature, and when the lubricant is melted add 100 wads. Stir the wads with the chopstick to ensure they all soak up the lubricant. Allow to cool at room temperature and snap a pet food can over the can.
The paraffin is crucial to this recipe. It significantly stiffens the wads, helping them to scrape out the fouling.
D. Seat the ball firmly on the seated wad. There must be NO air space between the powder, wad or ball.
E. Use a lead ball. In my experience, conical bullets are not nearly as accurate as a lead ball. Plus, they are often more expensive unless you cast your own from scrap lead.
F. Use proper-fitting caps. Some nipples require No. 10 caps, others require No. 11 caps. Initially, buy both to determine which fits all the way down on your nipples. Before seating, pinch the cap into an oval shape so it clings to the nipple better. That unusable tin of caps may be used before loading, to clear the nipples by firing a cap on each nipple. Do this twice to ensure all oil, crud and dust is blown free of the cap channel.
11. Almost forgot! Buy a steel frame Brass frames may look pretty (I think they look gaudy and childish, personally) but they don't hold up as well as the steel frames. Also, I've seen few brass-framed revolvers that were truly well-made. Most are clunkers. Yes, there are clunker steel-framed guns out there but not nearly as many as brass-framed ones.
12. Personal protection No, not the self-defense type. I mean, think safety at all times. Wear hearing protection and impact resistant glasses whenever shooting. While shooting, keep all black powder and caps behind you, away from the sparks your revolver produces.
13. Carry a grain of salt Much of what shooters will tell you at the range, and on the internet, is exaggeration, fabrication or dangerous. Some of the things I've listed here are opinion, doubtless others will disagree, but I have based it all on experience.
Sooner or later, some jackleg will tell you, "Ya know, if ya put a pinch of smokeless powder in the chamber first, it'll shoot cleaner."
Beware of this person; he's a moron. Cap and ball revolvers are NOT designed for smokeless powder. Period. The End. Termination of Conversation.
In summation, what you buy largely boils down to personal preference. I like the Remington for its ease of target shooting, and the Colt for its handling qualities. I shoot both. I have little doubt that once you get the bug, you'll be shooting both as well --- and cursing this website for your addiction.
