Show us your 50 yard five-shot cap-n-ball revolver groups. Or patterns.

[1KPerDay]

I cheated. Two ways. I shot from the tonneau cover on “old white”… and I used a pistol I’ve been shooting since 1962 or 3. Uberti, made for Navy Arms and if you can’t hit with this pistol, you should take up golf or skeet or something. I drove in after work today, The gun was loaded, (of course) so I fired two sighters, reloaded the two chambers and fired for score. 30 grains 3f Swiss, dry wool wads .465” ball and a .Remington 10 cap. The gun has .456” chambers, 11degree cone and .450/454” bore and groove dimensions. I can’t even guess how many rounds down the pipe. Cheating. I’ll fire with a different gun from a field position tomorrow or the next day.
View attachment 1085549
View attachment 1085551
I covered the sighters just for clarity.

Holy crap!

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Here's the Little Brat. I'm not sure what's going on with my 50 yard shooting. Woodnbow has got me spooked. I am using a sitting, back against a tree field shooting position, (I won't have my bench with me in the mountains, but plenty of trees) but it's pretty steady and I've been expecting better results. Anyhow, she outshot the 1860 and the Remington, but I've not shot the Remington "officially" yet. I expect a good group out of that.

I shot a previous group, but the loads had gone soft, those were all over the place, a couple very low. Been loaded for a while. This was the second group, and with a fresh load she popped off quite smartly. Big difference.

23 grains 4fg, .375" ball with lube-over-ball. Didn't find any ball that had bounced off the tires, so remaining energy isn't bad. (Them ancient studded truck tires are tough) Of course, don't know how deep they are in the tires, or if they have gone through the tread and casing, or just buried in the tread.

Next up, the Remington with slugs.

 

[woodnbow]

View attachment 1085853
Here's the Little Brat. I'm not sure what's going on with my 50 yard shooting. Woodnbow has got me spooked. I am using a sitting, back against a tree field shooting position, (I won't have my bench with me in the mountains, but plenty of trees) but it's pretty steady and I've been expecting better results. Anyhow, she outshot the 1860 and the Remington, but I've not shot the Remington "officially" yet. I expect a good group out of that.

I shot a previous group, but the loads had gone soft, those were all over the place, a couple very low. Been loaded for a while. This was the second group, and with a fresh load she popped off quite smartly. Big difference.

23 grains 4fg, .375" ball with lube-over-ball. Didn't find any ball that had bounced off the tires, so remaining energy isn't bad. (Them ancient studded truck tires are tough) Of course, don't know how deep they are in the tires, or if they have gone through the tread and casing, or just buried in the tread.

Next up, the Remington with slugs.

Dang! That’s all center mass though… and a little fella like that. No way could I make it work. My wife has an Uberti police and a Navy. Maybe I’ll give the navy a go.

 

[woodnbow]

First the purty… nice huh? 1995 effort from Pietta. Unfired til now. It’s got a few niggles. Like the barrel lug surrounding the arbor is so thick that a ball placed at the seven o’clock position will be bumped out of the chamber as it’s advanced to six o’clock. Meh. The wedge has a weird notch out of the groove meant for the spring and it bottoms against the retaining screw. And then the dimensions… Looks nice though!

 

[woodnbow]

 

[Ugly Sauce]

View attachment 1085907 View attachment 1085908 View attachment 1085909 View attachment 1085910 View attachment 1085911

First the purty… nice huh? 1995 effort from Pietta. Unfired til now. It’s got a few niggles. Like the barrel lug surrounding the arbor is so thick that a ball placed at the seven o’clock position will be bumped out of the chamber as it’s advanced to six o’clock. Meh. The wedge has a weird notch out of the groove meant for the spring and it bottoms against the retaining screw. And then the dimensions… Looks nice though!

Wow. Well, those are quite the grips for sure!

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Dang! That’s all center mass though…

Almost got all five on the plate. POA was center of plate, which was interesting as both the 1860 and Rem shoot high. That's due to the Brat's high front sight of course, but kind of ironic that the littlest pistol shoots minute-of-wolf at 50, with no hold-under. Who would have thunk? With 23 grains of 4fg under the ball, I think her bite must/might be as good as a 1851. ? She's a Mighty-Mite!

 

[1KPerDay]

I think her bite must/might be as good as a 1851. ? She's a Mighty-Mite!

It would be interesting to chrono it and see. I wonder how much the shorter barrel affects velocity especially using 4F

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

View attachment 1085907 View attachment 1085908 View attachment 1085909 View attachment 1085910 View attachment 1085911

First the purty… nice huh? 1995 effort from Pietta. Unfired til now. It’s got a few niggles. Like the barrel lug surrounding the arbor is so thick that a ball placed at the seven o’clock position will be bumped out of the chamber as it’s advanced to six o’clock. Meh. The wedge has a weird notch out of the groove meant for the spring and it bottoms against the retaining screw. And then the dimensions… Looks nice though!

I ran into that problem with the ball getting bumped outta place too. Some careful reconfigure work with a Dremel took care of it. If the wedge is hitting that screw it may not be seating all the way, try removing it and drive the wedge in firm, then check the barrel/ cylinder gap. If it changes the gap its doing the short arbor thing.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

The bumping-ball is easy to fix, but I hate to take a grinder/file/dremel to a new gun with nice new blue. With the right "technique" it's not a big problem. Usually it won't bump the ball all the way off the cylinder and into the weeds. But of course it really interferes with slugs/bullets/conicals and paper/combustable (sp) cartridges.

What I like about my .36" Remington "Navy" on the New Model Army frame is that there is enough room there to load anything. Bullet length or paper cartridge length is NOT a problem.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

It would be interesting to chrono it and see. I wonder how much the shorter barrel affects velocity especially using 4F

One of these days I'll run them over the chronograph. I'm also curious to see what the 1860 does with it's shorter barrel and 35 grains of 3fg. The 1860 certainly "feels" powerful when it pops off. And what the Remington is doing with 4fg under the slugs in the 140 grain range. Need to get a new batch of powder though. I plan to start making it, but I'll need some store bought to last me until I perfect my home-made.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Dang! That’s all center mass though… and a little fella like that. No way could I make it work. My wife has an Uberti police and a Navy. Maybe I’ll give the navy a go.

Give the Navy a go!

 

[woodnbow]

I ran into that problem with the ball getting bumped outta place too. Some careful reconfigure work with a Dremel took care of it. If the wedge is hitting that screw it may not be seating all the way, try removing it and drive the wedge in firm, then check the barrel/ cylinder gap. If it changes the gap its doing the short arbor thing.

Yeah, I’m leaning towards dropping this into the mail for you to fix it up…

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

Certainly, would be honored to work on it for you!

 

[woodnbow]

That ain't cheating, that's good shooting, with a good pistola. Interesting bore and chamber dimensions. That's actually quite fantastic, my pistol won't shoot like that. If more groups like that come in, it will be pretty clear that the old Colts were pretty much as capable as the modern guns.

Dang, neither man nor beast would be safe approaching you at 50 yards or further. 50 yards, certain death!!!!

On the other hand, I hope no one will be too shy to post large groups, like what I got out of my 1860. It will be nice to kind of see an average, get an idea of the average capability of these pistols too.

Thanks Sauce, coming from you it means something. Now the rest of you’all need to get to it! We need data! From lots of people and guns! Sunday tomorrow. No excuses!

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Thanks Sauce, coming from you it means something. Now the rest of you’all need to get to it! We need data! From lots of people and guns! Sunday tomorrow. No excuses!

Right, and this isn't a contest to see who can shoot the smallest group, (although we will all bow down to the smallest group shooter) but rather what the revolvers will do, on average, shot by different people under different circumstances/conditions/loads etc. Shooting from the bench is okay. I'm more interested in what I can expect from my revolvers under field conditions, but what they do off the bench is not that much different.

 

[woodnbow]

Exactly! All you old timey pistoleros! Just what can the guns DO??

 

[woodnbow]

 

[Ugly Sauce]

That is a "Graceful" pistol for sure. Can't beat the 1860. Is that a Ooo-berti? Have you mentioned this one before? I love my "Sheriff's Model", but the long barrel sure looks nice.

 

[Blackpowderwarrior]

View attachment 1086876 View attachment 1086878

Interested in trading for that beauty?

 

[woodnbow]

This one is a second generation Colt.

That is a "Graceful" pistol for sure. Can't beat the 1860. Is that a Ooo-berti? Have you mentioned this one before? I love my "Sheriff's Model", but the long barrel sure looks nice.

they are nice aren’t they? Give up a smidge of handiness in the saddle to the 5” guns, but hell, I’m so rarely in the saddle anymore it doesn’t really matter lol!

Interested in trading for that beauty?

Ummm… not especially. It’s a pretty good shooter and besides, one of my granddaughters loves the 1860’s so she gets dibs.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

they are nice aren’t they? Give up a smidge of handiness in the saddle to the 5” guns, but hell, I’m so rarely in the saddle anymore it doesn’t really matter lol!

It's when I'm wandering the woods, and I sit down to make some coffee, lunch, smoke a cigar or just rest, that the long barrels turn into a pogo stick and shove my pistol belt up around my neck. Well, not quite that bad. Mostly awkward I guess. Yeah, if I paid attention to that when I sat down it wouldn't happen, but I never remember. That's why I have gone to 5.5" or 6" barrels, 6" being the "sweet spot" for me. But, can't argue with the longer sight radius and ballistic advantage.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Well I did some shooting with the Remington today, I just couldn't shoot worth beans. I tried two different bullets, at 50 yards but I'm just not shooting well. Shot a couple groups at 25, and even they were not good. My 25 yard groups looked like decent 50 yard groups! And I shot them off the bench.

I'm kind of puzzled, the Remington, 1862 and the 1860 have all turned in nice groups at 25 yards in the past. Shooting today all my shots "felt good", my sight picture was good, but...?? But now I'm down to about 1/4 tank as far as my pistol powder supply goes, so.....I'm going to have to stick with the groups posted. Just don't have enough left to do further experimenting. But that's okay, tells me what my personal limit is at the moment, as far as taking shots at anything over 25. I think I'm good to 35 shooting as I am now, but fifty yard shots for me would be mostly "scratch shots".

Now having cried about that, I'm quite pleased with how all three of my pistols are functioning, no small thanks to Jack. The 1860 and 1862 are both jam-free and reliable, absolute must for woods bumming and trekking. The Remington, originally being a sample gun has always been accurate and 100% reliable. And, regardless of the opinion of some that a .36 is a "pop-gun", it pops off pretty good with 23 grains of 4fg under a 142 grain Kaido bullet. It ain't no weakling. She packs a punch!

So, I hope some others post their 50 yard groups, good, bad, or UGLY!

 

[woodnbow]

It happens. Stars are wrong, too much coffee, in my case really good western Colorado sunlight at the right spot and it’s hard to miss. On the other hand, certain days, nothing goes really right or wrong just, blah.

I need to send this Pitta over to him. It’s sick. I bought it to chop it to 4” ala’ the old M19 I used for a duty gun a long long time ago. THAT S&W made sweet music. Handy and handsome. Now I might not have the heart to whack the tube.

I should have shot it some more but I started shooting a Smith Carbine and since I had a bunch of loads made up, just kept banging away until Mrs. told me to put the toys away and come in for dinner. That’s an addictive carbine.