Euroarms 1858 Remington Range Report

[Dave Markowitz]

After letting it sit and gather dust in my gun cabinet for far too long, today I went to the range with RON in PA and shot my Euroarms 1858 Remington .44 cap and ball revolver.

We put 5 cylinderfuls (30 shots) through the Euroarms piece and it shoots well. I loaded it with 28 grains of Goex FFFg black powder, Wonder Wads, and Hornaday .457 roundballs. I believe Euroarms suggests .454 balls but I also have a Ruger Old Army and only stock the larger size. The .457 balls give a slightly longer bearing surface and should hopefully shoot a bit more accurately anyway. Caps were CCI No. 10s.

In the past I've always used some kind of grease, e.g., Crisco or CVA Grease Patch, over the ball, but I really like using the wads. Much less messy and the gun still cleans up well.

I prepped the gun by coating the inside of the frame recess and bore with Crisco to keep fouling soft, cleaning out the nipples with a pipe cleaner, and putting a few drops of Ballistol on the cylinder pin. This was the first time I used Ballistol for this. I bought it based on a post by IIRC Mike Weber, who recommended Ballistol for keeping Remingtons running. It works very well. After 18 shots I put a few more drops on to keep the gun running smoothly.

We shot at 7 yards and my groups were one ragged hole, when I didn't jerk the trigger. POI was about an inch to the left of POA. Close enough for government work, as they say.

I had one failure of a cap to ignite. I'm pretty sure what happened was that it wasn't fully seated on the nipple; the CCI No.10 caps are a snug fit. It went off on the second strike. Some fell off after they were shot, while others stayed on and had to be picked off. I experienced no cap jams, which was a refreshing change from my past experience with Colt replicas.

I'm very pleased with my Euroarms 1858 Remington. I didn't remember my camera so I took the following pic with my camera phone, so please excuse the fuzziness:

 

[mec]

sounds like a good experience with the Euroarms.

 

[sjohns]

Looks good Dave.
Another good day at the range.

 

[Old Dragoon]

I love my Euroarms/ASP '58 Remy's I have 3 with the 4th one enroute and hopefully here tomorrow or Monday.
The two I will shoot with my Kirst Konvertors as a 8" pair are 1973 (XX9) models. The other two will become 4 3/4" Gunslingers. All 4 will use my Kirst Konvertors in 44 Rem. CF cartridge, I'm still working up a load of Trail Boss. for indoors shooting. 5 grns TB had mine shoioting high but pretty well on for windage. I shoot a 248 Grn Bullet and use 44 Colt Brass. This same arrangement with 28 Grn. Elephant BP is very accurate. My 1973's have shorter sights than the newer ones do. so that and .25-.5 grns too much TB might be the reason for shooting high at 15 yds. I will shoot several with 4.5 Grns TB and several with 4.75 Grns TB to see if there is a difference. The 5 Grn is IMR's suggested load for a 45C with a 250 Grn Bullet.

FYI I have sent my grips to a grip maker in AZ to clone in polymer so we(Euroarms/Asp Owners) will have a place to buy Faux Ivory or Faux Jigged Bone Grips. When my grips come back with the pair of Faux Ivory I get for him using my grips for a mould, I'll post pictures of them.

Glad to see others getting and shooting the Euroarms/ASP '58 Remy's. I like them because they fit and balance in my small hands.

 

[cbsbyte]

I am adding to this post, because I just received my Euroarm's Remington New Model Army from S&S firearms. It is a geat compliement to my Uberti 1851 Navy. Overall it is a really nice solid piece. I have yet to fire it, but will hopefully this weekend. This gun points beatifuly, and the grip size fits my hand like a glove. The dark blueing is even, though the frame is a bit darker than the barrel. There are no machining marks on the outside of the gun, though there are some rough areas inside the frame. I did notice that the Uberti Navy has a lot of sharp edges that I have sliced my fingers on when cleaning, the Euro Rem has no sharp edges to slice a finger. My only complaints are unlike Uberti, Euroarms does not hide the modern name and warning markings. This slightly distracts from the historical look but does not effect the function of the firearm. And the brass trigger guard is not fited properly to the frame so there is a noticable gap between the trigger guard and frame. Beside that it is a great looking firearm that will get alot of use in the near future.

 

[Duncaninfrance]

Tell me more about Ballistol Dave, what is it and what exactly is the benifit of using it?
Duncan

 

[cbsbyte]

Not to jump into Dave's spot, but thought I would share this with you.

http://www.ballistol.com/

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Ballistol is a CLP (cleaner, lubricant, and preservative) originally developed at the end of the 19th Century for the German Army. It can be used as a CLP on guns and can also be used on leather.

Ballistol emulsifies in water, so a lot of BP shooters like to make a "Moose Milk" with it, 50/50 Ballistol/water, for cleaning. After shooting the Remmie I cleaned it at the range with Windex glass cleaner, which is mostly water but with some detergents in it. Windex works extremely well as a BP cleaner and is cheap. After I finished and the gun dried I gave it a coating of Ballistol.

Over on The Firing Line there is an old thread about the stuff. In it, someone posted about having to leave several firearms in a non-climate controlled shed over the course of an Alaskan winter. Before placing them out there he gave them a thorough coating of Ballistol, including the wood. They survived several months in the shed none the worse for wear.

The only downsides to Ballistol as far as I can see is that it's a little expensive, it may gum up as it ages, based on the residue on the bottle, and it smells like stinky feet.