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waho

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While I'm waiting for Cabelas to ship me my Pietta 1858 New Army, I'm trying to gather up info on powder, primers and other stuff which I will need. My question is what powder to use and what size charge to start with. Black powder seems to be harder to get than the replacement stuff. I gather I need #3 particle size and #10 primers. Any recommendations as to what brand to get? All of my reloading so far has been done on a Dillon.
 
Not primers. Percussion caps. #11 works best for most repro revolvers. I'm using CCI myself, but prefer RWS regular strength...if you can get them. Big if, all that they are importing these days are the boosted caps for setting off those wretched substitute powders.

As for powder, I would not touch any of the substitutes. Good, honest gunpowder is worth it. As a novice, I'd recommend Goex - it's available, and is a good mid-grade powder.

You will also need .454 round balls, a powder measure, filler (Cream of Wheat), something to hold filler (a cheap resturaunt-type ketchup bottle will do nicely), and something to dab lube on top of the bullet (coffee stirrers work fine).
 
I just purchased a 1858 pietta NA. # 11 caps are to big. I bought CCI #10 caps and they fit perfect. I am also loading pyrodex P 30gr , then a wonder wad with a hornady .454 round ball
 
Welcome to BP Revolvers

The Gun you ordered takes # 10 caps, as mentioned #11 will fall off.
Sub powders are available every place, good luck finding real black powder.
I use the subs and they work fine.
 
I am loading 35 gr Pydrodex-P with lubed wad b/t ball and powder. I then top the chamber off with bore butter. #10 remington caps. 454 round ball. Nice power and fairly accurate.
 
I also recently purchased the Pietta 1858 NA, #11's were too big for the stock nipples and interestingly enough for the TRESO nipples I purchases, although they were advertised for #11's.

I made a cap crimper from a pair of pliers with a 11/64" hole in them to slightly reduce the cap skirts which has worked out perfectly for me. The caps now fit nice and snug and I haven't had any drop off under recoil.

I've shot both Goex and Pyrodex, 30 gr. lubed wad and .454 balls.
 
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What BRAND of No. 11's? It matters. They're not all the same size - the number 11 is meaningless.
 
cap sizes

If the above post size chart is correct, it appears to me that a pistol will shoot CCI# 10 caps only or it will shoot all the rest of the brands and sizes only. Other than the CCI #10 all the other Inside diameters are relatively close in size only varying a couple thousandths of an inch.
 
Yeah, pretty much, although a lot of the Italian replicas come with nipples that don't have straight edges, they're tapered, so they'll fit a #10 CCI fairly well and they'll kind of sort of loosely fit a #11 CCI + other brands.
 
That's my chart, and it's only 'kinda' correct. The deal is, you don't get 3 decimal place precision for 4 cents per unit. Those numbers are averages of at least 20 samples of each brand and 'size'. The inside diameter is especially hard to measure accurately; I'd put about +/- 0.002 to even as much as 0.004 tolerance on each one. And just to make things even more interesting, cap dimensions vary by batch - what fits today may not fit next year. Other folks have also measure caps, and some results agree with the above and some don't - there's just no standard.

About fitting on the nipple: nipples are cone shaped, on purpose. Both the inside diameter and the 'cap height' matter to fitting any given nipple. The taper allows some leeway, but you can't count on all three of the larger sizes to all fit a given nipple - they may, and they may not.

I've said this for years: cap sizes are a crap shoot. Sometimes they fit and sometimes they don't, and what fits my guns may or may not fit yours.
 
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