The .36 Caliber revolvers went into production in 1860 shortly ahead of the more familiar Remington /Beal .44s. They evolved along with the larger caliber and remained in production until 1875. A fair number went to the Confederate States of America before the outbreak of the Civil War and a substantial number seem to have been purchased by the Union. The replicas haven't gained the popularity of the .44 NMA Remington copies but have some meritorious and distinctive characterists.
The small bore and increased weight gives the Navy a heafty feel while the .5" shorter barrel makes it appear more compact than the 8" Army caliber. The cylinder walls are thicker than on the Colt .36s but the really interesting aspect of the revolver is that it has significantly deeper chambers than the Colts. We found that our Uberti would hold 28 Grains of fffg with just enough room to seat the .380 ball, and decided we would concentrate on full loads for our initial shooting. Sure enough, the top performers with the 80-81 grain ball and the 125 Grain Buffalo bullet provided calculated energy equivalent to the reported performance of the standard pressure 158 grain lead .38 Special load. - 870fps/ 158 Grain Bullet/ 266 ft/lbs energy. Interestingly enough, current versions of the Special load frequently register velocities 70 and more feet per second lower than the advertised.
380 Ball Velocity Extreme Spread Energy
28 Grain Swiss FFFG 1238 fps 59fps 272 ft pounds
28 Gr/vol Pyrodex P 1181 fps 74 247
28 Gr/vol Hogd.777 1188 fps 49 251
Buffalo Bore .375"
125 Grain Bullet
22 Grains Swiss FFFG 978 fps 62 265
Powder capacity was increased three to five grains over that of a Navy Colt and the top loads provided from 100- 150 fps extra velocity. Consistency with Hodgdons 777 was much better than with most of our revolvers. We were careful to settle the powder and seat the ball with minimal or no compression (as recommended by the manufacturer.)
We clocked the rounds shooting off-hand at 25 yards over the chronograph. Groups were a bit to the right of point of aim and about one foot low. The front sight can be drifted for windage and is extra tall to allow a precise sight-in. Most of our six shot strings formed 4-6" spreads with one particularly unstead one expanding the overall cluster to about 7 inches. We were shooting at a blank background attempting to guess at the amount of hold over to hit a target lower on the paper. - Not the most effective way to guage accuracy.
The Remington .36 promises a satisfying degree of accuracy. We established an aiming point at 62 feet from our casual bench rest. I fired four shots into about 2" and pulled another one low and about an inch low. Bates took the revolver and added a round to my tight 4 round cluster. Not scientific group shooting- but the group looked so good I took a picture of it.
http://www.gunpix.com/gallery/Muzzleloaders_and_Blackpowder/remingtonnavy2.jpg
I do think when this is sighted in, it will be satisfingly accurate.
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Between Mec, Gatofeo and a couple of others, I'm out of a job here at THR. Kudos to the members! 