First time experience with a Cap and Ball and what was thought to be a Replica

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Pocket

Pocket

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I know, I know, that is a long title.
So, my story starts at Cabelas one day and I see this pretty cap and ball revolver for $149.00. I am thinking dang what a deal for a Replica / Historical 1851 Navy "44cal" .

The excitement quicly passed after reading up on this revolver and finding out it is not a replica of anything at all.

However, now owning this "Fake" replica, it peaked my interest even more in these black powder revolvers.

I have quickly learned to read up and research these BEFORE purchasing one.

MY $149.00 Fake replica has turned into 2 additional purchases of some actual replicas.

All is good with my new found hobby.

Love that smoke.
 
Pocket said:
The 36 cal 1851Navy and the 5 shot 1862 Pocket.

Now the 1858 36 cal with the 6.5 barrel is teasing me....
Click to expand...
Those have disappeared off Cabela's website, so you might want to grab that before it disappears. I have the feeling they're going to stop carrying those.

I will warn you, once you shoot the '58s, you may never go back to the Colt's. I've gone coocoo for 58's the past year and now I'm looking at getting the Sheriff, Buffalo, and maybe a detachable shoulder stock for them too.

1862 Pockets are probably the one Colt open top percussion revolvers I have a fondness for. Lot of power in such a small package.
 
I like that 1858 44 cal. with that short barrel at Cabelas but I can't or haven't found (yet) where it was made with that short of a barrel. DIXIE has the 36 cal w/ 6.5 barrel. I am leaning toward the 36 if I can't find anything on the Cabelas model as being an authentic replica.
 
Authentic Colt 1851 revolvers were .36 caliber with iron or steel frames. During the Civil War Centennial, 1961-1965, a lot of importers brought in brass frame 1851 revolvers in .36 and .44 caliber, usually marketed as Confederate or Rebel revolvers.

During the Civil War 1861-1865 small factories in the South did make copies of the Colt 1851 and some original designs using frames generally made of gun metal (bronze) or bell metal (another bronze alloy) because "brass" was easier to work with than Iron ot steel which was in short supply and needed for barrels and cylinders.

I am not so sure though that there were many authentic copies of the Colt 1851 in .44 caliber from the Civil War era. Making copies of the 1851 revolver in .36 and in .44 was an easy way for 1960s manufacturers and importers to supply ".36 Navy" and ".44 Army" revolver replicas to Civil War buffs.
 
TTv2 said:
I will warn you, once you shoot the '58s, you may never go back to the Colt's. I've gone coocoo for 58's the past year and now I'm looking at getting the Sheriff, Buffalo, and maybe a detachable shoulder stock for them too.
Click to expand...

I found the reverse to be true. I like shooting Colt clones more than 58 clones.
 
Pocket said:
At first I was going to raise a stink and try to take the Fake replica back,,, but it grew on me..its a keeper anyway.
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That would be a mistake... the ".44 navy" is one of the better balanced piettas IMO. SAA sized grip frame, sexy octagonal looks, but with the thump of a .44. Best of all worlds, IMO.

 
That is why I kept it. I do like it. It just took the wind out of my sail at first, thinkin I just bought a piece of history sorta. Only to find out that this paticular model was not a replica of an actual historical black powder revolver at all.

It is a good marketing ploy though, it sucked me in and I bought more...stuff.
 
Pocket said:
That is why I kept it. I do like it. It just took the wind out of my sail at first, thinkin I just bought a piece of history sorta. Only to find out that this paticular model was not a replica of an actual historical black powder revolver at all.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that there were countless small manufacturers of Colt knockoff revolvers around the Civil War period. Some made only a few hundred, while others made thousands.
So yours isn't an authentic Colt replica. It's still probably pretty close to something that some small company came up with. Knocking off the Colt design was all the rage back then.
 
There were Colt Brevetes 1851 (Belgian knock offs) in .44 cal, but they used a 5 shot straight wall cylinder because there was no room for the sixth shot. I believe that it was Colt that first used a rebated cylinder in 1860 Army, which allowed for 6 shots of .44 cal, as a cheap way of utilizing as much as they can from the tooling for the 1851. With the 1860 style cylinder you don't alter the firing mechanism, but only the front portion of the frame which does not hold critical dimensions. On the other hand, the 1858 NMA Sheriff's model (the one with 5.5" barrel) is also a fantasy gun, but it did not stop it to become quite popular amongst us...
 
Arkansas Paul said:
Keep in mind that there were countless small manufacturers of Colt knockoff revolvers around the Civil War period. Some made only a few hundred, while others made thousands..
Click to expand...

Your "countless" estimate is way off the mark. Let us count the .36 pistols: Griswold and Gunnison (3600+ brass framed revolvers with a part octagon/part round barrel .36), Schneider and Glassick brass framed with only 3 confirmed pistols, Leech and Rigdon steel frame with a part octagon/part round barrel, Rigdon and Ansley with the 12 bolt stop slots on the cylinder (about 2300 pistols total). Then there are the Augusta Machine Works and the Columbus Firearms Company to fill the remainder and there are no historical estimates for those.

The Dance Brothers created several pistols in Texas for the regiment they were assigned to and they did create .44 and .36 versions.

As did Tucker and Sherrod.

Countless? Gimme a break.

Jim
 
expat_alaska said:
Your "countless" estimate is way off the mark. Let us count the .36 pistols: Griswold and Gunnison (3600+ brass framed revolvers with a part octagon/part round barrel .36), Schneider and Glassick brass framed with only 3 confirmed pistols, Leech and Rigdon steel frame with a part octagon/part round barrel, Rigdon and Ansley with the 12 bolt stop slots on the cylinder (about 2300 pistols total). Then there are the Augusta Machine Works and the Columbus Firearms Company to fill the remainder and there are no historical estimates for those.

The Dance Brothers created several pistols in Texas for the regiment they were assigned to and they did create .44 and .36 versions.

As did Tucker and Sherrod.

Countless? Gimme a break.

Jim
Click to expand...

Yeah, I didn't mean literally countless.
I meant there were several knock offs.
 
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All I know is I would not want to go onto a courtroom claiming that my Pietta Navy 44 with a 4.5 inch barrel is a repilca.

And the DA asks...A replica of what?

I do like it, but it stays at home.

I am puzzled by all of the black powder models available that really do not qualify as a "Replica" but are sold as so called Historical black powder guns.
 
You have a nice pistol, even if it didn't exist 150 years ago. The '51 Navy frame is a great grip frame shape, and .44 is more fun, more smoke and more oomph than .36. Replace those nipples with some from Track OTW or Slick-shots and you'll be good to go. Fun - that's the important part.
 
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