candymancan
member
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2021
- Messages
- 210
Im new to guns and black powder in general.. but im also not stupid and i can see how problems would happen and how yo fix them.. Always been good with that and my hands.. Being a mechanic working on classic cars helps alot too.
I bought two 1851 navy lil over a month ago at cabelas/bass pro. One brass. One steel. 44 cal.
Then i read things online about the brass guns wearing out fast due to the powder charges. Ive watched many videos and read many opinions. And most of them are all wrong. there isa guy on youtube. Some survivalist whos into bp. He made a video on why the brass goes bad and wears out.. His name was blacky something i cant remember the full name.
im not saying he doesnt know more than me when it comes to survival stuff.. but he was way wrong on why the nrass wears out. He said th3 brass wears out because the teeth on the cylinder wear into the brass frame when fired.
No.
The issue with the brass frames is cylinder gaps. If you have a loose cylinder that is able to go foward and back and click click fairly easily. Than the gal is too large. You dont even have to measure with a feeler gauge to tell this. I had a huge gal on my brass frame. And after only 48 rounds i noticed the cylinder that rotates on the brass ring of the frame of the gun was pounding half moon shapes into the brass ring. This was using 25 grains.
I say jalf moon shaoes because well th3 nipples are there and the cylinder is cut into half moons there and that rotates on the brass ring on the frame.
Anyway the reason th3 brass is getting pounded is due to the large cylinder gap from the cone of the barrel. The cylinder is pushed foward when you cock the hammer. And then when you fire the cylinder is slammed back against the frame ring.
This peens out the brass and will eventually create a larger gap over time. The way you can solve this issue is by filing down your arbor or the cylinder pin as i call it. Just slightly to decrease the cylinder gap to the cone of the barrel.
If you file too much and cause the cylinder to jam when cocking. You can file the barrel cone a little to fix it. It wasnt hard for me to figure this out. And when i did it i have only owned a bp gun for 2 weeks.
After i fixed th3 cylinder gap the cylinder no long bangs foward and back anymore. This in turn will keep the steel cylinder from pounding hard on the brass ring like a giant sledge hammer. If its sitting against the ring flush it cant pound it.
I polished the half moon shapes off to get a clean surface. Then went to the range twice. Fired 30 grains. So far over 100 rounds. I see no more half moon shapes. Because the cylinder isnt punching in the ring anymore.
My 1851 navy are 44cal.. 18 grains is just nothing.. Min id load is 25 at the range but thats just me.. so far ive fired about 400-500 rounds through the brass frame.. and its all been 25 and now 30 grains. The brass hasnt wore out at all since i decreased the cylinder gap. The brass is also 180$ lol. If i wear it out aftwr 2000 rounds. ill buy another. but so far i dont see that happening.
Plus 30 grains makes a bigger boom than 18 grains.. and i love the reactions at the range when people hear and see that kaboom. Because they have never seen a bp gun before
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...I know that you are right and you do not sound like a broken record to me. I'm scroungin my change. 
just 13 left now 
