I Wish They'd Make ...

[Gatofeo]

I'll start:

Colt 1851 Navy in .36 caliber made of STAINLESS STEEL.
Does anyone make such a thing? Colt had one out 15 to 20 years ago, but few were made and they bring premium prices today. Is the Navy available in stainless today?

Remington Navy in .36 caliber, made of STAINLESS STEEL, with target adjustable sights.
I know that the .44 is made, why not the .36 caliber? And let's make the adjustable sights small and unobtrusive, not the cumbersome Patridge sights of today. I would prefer a small U rear sight and a brass or steel bead front sight. It would look more vintage.

.380-inch balls: Speer and Hornady should offer a swaged lead ball of .380 inch diameter. The chamber diameter of .36 caliber revolvers differs greatly. In some, the .375 inch is nearly a slip-fit. The .380-inch ball would cure this disparity. In my experience, with a variety of .36-caliber guns, the .380 ball is more accurate because, when swaged into the chamber, it provides a wider bearing surface for the rifling to grip.

Felt sheets, for cutting your own wads. The proper, hard felt is often hard to find and commercial wads are expensive ($6 for 100 in either .36 or .44 caliber). Seems to me that Stetson, the famous Western hat-maker, could sell grab bags of felt scraps to make your own wads. Who wouldn't feel just a little bit better with a REAL Stetson felt wad twixt ball and powder?

Oblong percussion caps.
Why hasn't some cap-maker hit on this? Look, nearly all of us pinch our caps into an oblong shape, so the cap better clings to the nipple.
Why can't manufacturers make oblong-shaped caps so we can save our pinchers for the pretty girls that walk by?
Yeah, I know, oblong caps wouldn't work through capping tools but I've yet to find a capper that works better than fingers on a revolver's nipples.

Typesetting styles for the computer that mimic the old, heavy block style of print used in the 18th and 19th century.
A program on a CD could allow you to print old-timey cartridge box labels, wanted posters to insert your face and crimes, business cards, etc. Is there such a program out there? I've looked but not found one.

Fully adjustable nozzle for Colt and Remington style brass flasks. Rather than switching from a 20 to 24 gr. nozzle, why couldn't one with graduations from 20 to 40 grains --- one grain at a time --- be made? I seem to recall seeing such a thing years ago but can't find one today.

Replacement rammer for Colt and Remington revolvers.
This rammer would have a cone projecting from its center. When a ball is rammed, this cone would create an instant hollow point! Seems to me that a hollow-pointed lead ball at 1,000 feet per second would be just the ticket for small varmints. If nothing else, it would eliminate much of the need to perfectly center the sprue up, since the sprue would be swaged into a hollow point projectile.

A .40-caliber cap and ball revolver.
I recall reading many years ago that Samual Colt made a few experimental 1851 Navies in a caliber other than .36. I can't remember whether these were .34 or 40 caliber, but the idea of a .40-caliber cap and ball revolver intrigues me. It really wouldn't offer anything different than the .44 but as a "gee-whiz" gun it would be fun to own and shoot.

Can't think of anything else. Anyone have something to add?

 

[bfoster]

Regarding oval caps: why don't the manufacturers simply make the nipples big enough so that the caps fit properly? While this is a very common problem with reproduction revolvers (and loss of a cap can lead to a chainfire, or simply tie up a revolver) I find that the nipples on originals seldom have this problem.

For a greater variety of typefaces that is offered in the Wintel world (at reasonable cost) you might want to check out some of the free unix OS offerings, as well looking at open source software available for font design. Due in part to legacy issues, but largely because of the inherent flexibility, a significant amount of commercial "typesetting" is carried out on unix systems.

Bob

 

[4v50 Gary]

Giradoni airgun like the one made for the Austrian Army back in the Napoleonic era. Silent death.

 

[P95Carry]

Giradoni airgun

Tell more Gary! I am ignorant here ..... sounds like something rather ''potent''

 

[4v50 Gary]

Ask & ye shall receive P95Carry

@ 8.36 lbs, the .50 caliber round ball gun featured a 20 round magazine. The stock served as the air bladder (unlike that ball that the Brits tend to suspend from the bottom of the stock). Each airgunman carried two spare reservoirs and four 20 round magazines (that's a lot of firepower). It was claimed to be accurate out to 200 yards too (but probably wasn't used that far because of decreasing pressure and lesser velocity).

The airguncorps was detested by the French since it was silent death that unnerved them. As First Cousul, Napoleon ordered the execution of any Austrian caught with an airgun. Later as Emperor when he again went to war with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he reissued the order. Despite that, the airguns were withdrawn only because of the difficulty of maintaining them. Over 1,500 were made for Austrian service.

Think of it, a quiet repeater. The world would have to wait until the American Civil War to see another successful repeater (Spencer & Henry rifle) and another 50 years after that before silent firearms were available again. Far ahead of its time, the Giradoni airgun deserves much more accolades than it has today.

BTW, I know someone who made one and just got myself a book with plans. Oh, to have the time. I can't wait to retire (but that's a long way off) so I can be a child again. My book on sharpshooting have at least a page on the Giradoni airgun. It will be in the chapter about the Napoleonic Era rifleman.

 

[mec]

friend had a very accurate stainless navy at one time- don't remember where it came from. He has an Army in Stainless from Dixie GW at this time.

And by the way, I read your excellent link to the Dragoon Revolvers. Great article.

 

[P95Carry]

Thx for posting on that Gary .... I had not realized it was that old!! I do remember the Brit ''things'' with the air ball underneath.

Only question I have remaining on this is .... how did they pressurize the ''bladder''. Seems to me that we are looking for some very high pressures indeed, to give enough velocity and so energy.

I imagine some sort of one-way valve arrangment and a foot pump .... but, normally these days high pressures are only possible with 2 stage compressors .... not to mention the ability of a vessel to contain such.

Any info on this aspect? TIA.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Well, for one thing it wasn't by filling one's lungs

One method was via a handpump. It looked like a tubular bicycle pump (knob, not a "T" handle) and had a detachable foot plate that served to tighten the pump to the reservoir (bladder). This small handpump was issued with the airgun and required 2000 pumps to fill the small reservoir/bladder.

Another (and probably preferred) method was a wagon mounted pump that had spoked wheels (the industrial strength pump for the army) for hand operation. There was a water cooling device attached to it because of the heat generated by it.

On the air bladder, it was originally thought that it was limited to 33 atmospheres. A reproduction was found to handle 40 to 60 atmospheres (588-882 psi).

 

[P95Carry]

Thx Gary - again! I'd imagine the work input needed was awesome.

 

[goon]

I can't do anything about the stainless thing, but what about a dovetailed front sight?
It could be tapped for windage and either filed down or replaced for precise zeroing. To me it would work as well as an adjustable sight because you don't really change your zero often anyway. I usually zero them with my load and then let them alone.
I think that type of sight would do as well and IIRC I have seen pics of old sixguns with that type of sight anyhow. It would be both historically accurate and functional.

 

[MagKnightX]

A less-expensive Springfield rifle-musket (the cheapest I've seen is $520 or so).

More old-timey rifles!

 

[Crownvicman]

How about a remington rolling block cavalry carbine?