Magwa45
Member
I have been thinking of getting a Uberti Walker or Dragoon, so today I took the old Navy Arms 1858 Remington New Army out to the range. This is probably 1970s vintage. At one point the barrel was replaced after someone fired a full load after a ball had lodged in the barrel. This put a noticeable bulge in the barrel and it was replaced with a new Uberti barrel. That incident was back in the 80s. I had a lot of fun with this revolver back in younger days and hadn't fired it for years. Man, what a blast! I had almost forgotten how much fun this is. The old powder flask which came with the gun was used for loading, probably throws a 30 grain charge. On top of the charge, a vegetable wad was used. For grease on top of the ball, TC Bore Butter was applied with a pocket knife. I actually found a container of Hogdon Spit Ball lube, must have also been 1970s vintage. But it was so degraded, that it was unusable. Wonder if Hogdon still makes that stuff! For caps, there were some Navy Arms Co. caps no. 1075 left over from the old days. They worked fine, although some seemed to have some kind of fuzz growing in them. Those were not tried. Anyway, I had enough to fire 4 full cylinders. Also tried some no. 11 CCI caps from my GPR. They worked but recoil caused them to fall off. I need to order some more no. 10 caps. But the shooting was great. I remembered that Kentucky windage was required to get in the black. It was quickly determined that aiming low and right of the target was all that was needed to chew up the black. The smell, the sound, belching smoke and fire. It is the best and can't be beat! Now I just have to think if I want a Dragoon or a Walker. The Walker might be hard on the black powder budget if I go for 60 grains per shot!
The clean up took a little time. I started off with Dixie Gun Works Black Solve, a sentimental favorite which just has a wonderful smell. I know, I know, hot soapy water is just as good, but I have to indulge my black powder fetish! After quite a few patches, pipe cleaners, and Q-tips, it was pretty clean. A good wipe down of all field stripped parts with Ballistol was the last chore before re-assembly. This was great man! I can't wait to do it some more.
The clean up took a little time. I started off with Dixie Gun Works Black Solve, a sentimental favorite which just has a wonderful smell. I know, I know, hot soapy water is just as good, but I have to indulge my black powder fetish! After quite a few patches, pipe cleaners, and Q-tips, it was pretty clean. A good wipe down of all field stripped parts with Ballistol was the last chore before re-assembly. This was great man! I can't wait to do it some more.
