Walker results and questions

[Peter M. Eick]

First off, I had no idea that I had that stupid look on my face when I shoot. Also, the curling of my lip when I am shooting. I guess I am doing an Elvis impersonation. Sorry for the "stupid" looks and the intensity. You would not think I was having a blast shooting it.

It was very windy at the range. Probably a 15 mph wind so not much smoke.

Ok, overall observations:



Does that say enough!








60 grns of pyrodex will fill the cylinder with no compression. Once you load it this and it compresses it is a great load. I shot mostly 50 to 60 grn charges of Pyrodex P and found it a lot of fun. Not so much of a kick as a push.

The gun is accurate, and very powerful. I was taking huge hunks of wood out of the range backstop and when my balls hit the berm it was quite impressive. If you had 2 of these on horseback, you would not be "un-armed" by any stretch. This is some serious power and it is very very easy to control and shoot accurately. Next time, I go for 25 yards!!!!

The lever drops as you can see. The light loads (about 50 grns) it does not but at 60 it does. No big deal, I will bring a leather thong for it next time.

The capper was a pain to get the caps on the gun. I really struggled every time. They just would not get out far enough from the snail shaped one to work. They kept coming on at an angle then flipping off. Any suggestions?

I need wads. Putting bore butter on each round is a pain, but no chain fires!

I had one squib. It put a bullet about an inch into the barrel. I stupidly put the ball into the wrong chamber and then capped the wrong chamber. I was testing one round at a time before I went whole hog.

I shot 9 cylinders full before the cylinder could not turn. I used bore butter as a grease, but I knew I shouldn't on the arbor. Any suggestions for a better lubricant? I was trying to avoid hydrocarbon based lubes for some reason (I thought I read that) but I am not sure this is a good idea.

The trigger is much nicer after a few rounds. I would guess it is a 4 lb trigger pull now and quite crisp.

I noted the gun is a BZ (2005 I think) and very accurate. It shot point of aim at 10 yards with 55 grns of Pyrodex P. My best group was 6 shots in about 1.5".

There is definitely a pace and style about loading the gun. I was getting about 2 cylinder's full shot per 30 minutes. I guess I need to work at my speed.

I cleaned it with hot soapy water and scrubbed the tar out of it. I used MEC's trick of tying the main spring to the frame. Works great!

It took about an hour to clean all of the nooks and crannies. During the cleaning I noted that the grip screw in the front base of the grip into the brass has worn threads. When I tried to put the gun together I could see why. The backstrap, brass grip frame and grips are slightly mismatched so it is not a really clean fit like the rest of the gun. You need to sort of ease the gun back together to get it to fit correctly. My bet is the fitter had the same problems, hence the somewhat worn threads.

I dried the gun in my oven (200 f) and was quite surprised after 30 minutes that inside the barrel and the cylinder has rust areas. Oops! How do I avoid this problem. Do I need to oil prior to drying, or was the oven the wrong thing after hot water.

Finally I was impressed that all parts of the gun are serial numbered together. Barrel, wedge, frame, cylinder, wood, grip frame, and trigger frame. Very neat!


If you are a newbie thinking about one of these, well maybe a dragoon would be a better choice. The Walker is big, heavy, and somewhat of a pain to put back together. BUT, let me add, that this attracted a lot of attention at the range, it was a blast to shoot, recoil was nothing, accuracy was great and I love mine! Thanks Dad!

 

[Manyirons]

After the big hot water scrub, i hit mine with WD-40, as in; WATER DISPLACING formula 40.

After oven drying, comes the Animal/Vegetable lube for that Cast-Iron Seasoning effect.

 

[Manyirons]

Oh yes, an "In-Line" capper might do better for you.

 

[georgeduz]

i like elvis,but the lever drop would bother me.accuracy is everything.

 

[Manyirons]

i like elvis,but the lever drop would bother me.accuracy is everything.

Thats no lever! Its a monopod rest!

 

[TexasRifleman]

Oh yes, an "In-Line" capper might do better for you.

I tried several styles, the Walker just doesn't lend itself to a capper. I'm doing it by hand, it's not worth the trouble.....

 

[mec]

"I dried the gun in my oven (200 f) and was quite surprised after 30 minutes that inside the barrel and the cylinder has rust areas. Oops! How do I avoid this problem. Do I need to oil prior to drying, or was.......... "

That does happen with the oven thing. I spray the soap mixture into all areas, do the hot water and then put the parts in a pot with boiling or near boiling water. you have to use objects to fork them out to keep from getting branded but they start to dry instantly. Even before they have gotten completely dry, I start putting oil everywhere -inside and out. I run oily patches through the bore and flow some into the chambers before putting patches in them. the nipples, I soak in the soap mixture ( oil soap, hydrogen peroxide , alcohol) and then heat up in the boiling water with a big, wide spoon.

I do not regularly take out all the action parts for cleaning but, frequent disassembly to fit spare parts or for other purposes reveal that this cleaning method is effective. I use more oil than anybody seems to approve of and do not stick at using petroleum oil like 3 in one or breakfree.

Your getting through nine cylinder loads before cleaning is better than I do- even with pyrodex. My Walker nasties up pretty fast. It would nasty up a bit faster with black powder .

Also, I don't see any stupid looks but the guy in the middle distance in one picture appears to be curious or maybe apprehensive.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Your getting through nine cylinder loads before cleaning is better than I do- even with pyrodex. My Walker nasties up pretty fast. It would nasty up a bit faster with black powder .

That 777 helps here, though the repeatable accuracy may suffer. I am using 777 just for the easy cleanup.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Thanks for the advice guys. I see some oil soap, wd40 and a big pot to boil water and gun in is in my future. This gun is just far to much fun to not shoot more often.

I will have to try an inline capper. The snail shaped one just did not work well for me.

I loved the Mono-pod rest comment!

Yes the gun drew a big crowd and lots of interest. It is fun to shoot with miked earphones so you can listen to the comments. My buddy did not want to shoot it, so I did not realize how much recoil there was till I saw the pictures. I was having to much fun just shooting it to even realize it rose so much.

This gun is accurate, fun and a "blast" to shoot. Thanks again for the advice, comments and encouragement to go get one. Also special thanks to Mec and his book. Good reading!

 

[Weird Guy]

Mixing water, metal, oxygen and heat and you will always get rust. That bassically is how Mexican artists "age" steel pots for re-sale into the United States in Home & Garden stores for x10 their original price as antiqued items for display.

I would never bake a wet gun.

When I clean my revolvers I scrub them down, dry them off, and then run oiled rags over them and through the chambers and barrel.

I still have problems unfortunately, like a bit of my Old Army Ruger hammer has some pitting on one side where I didn't clean it very well, and my brother has a brown fingerprint that needs to be polished out of the brass on the handle of his '51 Colt Navy.

You should take your guns out and check them and oil them every once in a while. I do, if for no other reason than to wave them around the room and make sound effects for fun in the basement, then clean them and put them away again. It might not even be a bad idea to leave the gun dissasembled for storage.

 

[gmatov]

My modern CFs get cleaned with all that commercial stuff, oiled, wiped with silicon cloths, all that.

My BP gets the hot water and dish liquid bath. I usually clean in the garage, have an airhose to blow them down, while they are still hot, or, sometimes will bake them in the oven till they are damn near too hot to handle, will squeeze Bore Butter into my hand, slather it good. Goes EVERYWHERE. Runs like water. Covers everything, inside and out, not counting the barrel and chambers. They're still hot, too, butter up a swab, hit the barrel and the chambers. Melts into the metal, like Manyirons up above says, "seasons" the metal, soaks in.

Cheers,

George

 

[Manyirons]

One technique i have used in Walker shooting, knowing loading lever will drop is glove on left hand, grasp loading lever as forward support. Shoot, cock gun with right thumb as left hand pulls lever up, then repeat. Looks odd but works when one forgets to have that rawhide lever stopper along! Glove keeps any cylinder gap zap from happening to your left.

Have extra "Inline cappers" send address and i will mail one off to try before you buy!

 

[Manyirons]

I see a bag of what appears to be vegetable fiber card wads in picture. Take those, in shallow pan, double-boiler if possible, add Bore Butter, enough to soak thoroughly (Do a hundred).

Use one or two of the bore butter soaked wads, omitting bore butter above ball (IF your balls shave lead upon loading!).

I do this with vegetable fiber wads and Gatofeo #1 lube, works great!

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Thanks guys. I need to let the oil drain out of the gun and collect my thoughts and head out to the range again. Probably next friday again.

It was a lot of fun!

By the way, when you clean the guns, do you break it down completely, ie remove the wood and all of the frames or do you do just the sub assemblies, like the barrel, cylinder and the frame?

 

[mec]

I pull the barrel and cylinder, remove the grip frames (both halves) and seldom break them down further than that. I can flow the soap mixture, hot water and later, oil into all the recesses that way and also use pipe cleaners and a tooth brush to loosen things up real good. I've been doing this for a long time and it works.

 

[Old Fuff]

Peter:

When I was a teen I had a bright idea…

I disassembled my original (made in 1860's) ’51 Navy and put it in the dishwasher. It came out clean, but when Mom came home… well …

I’m lucky to be alive…

But anyway, I’m not interested in the look on your face. What I would have liked to see was the look the guy next to you with a Glock must have had when your cannon went off.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Peter:

When I was a teen I had a bright idea…

I disassembled my original (made in 1860's) ’51 Navy and put it in the dishwasher. It came out clean, but when Mom came home… well …

You had an original '51 Navy when you were a teenager?

I hate you, really do........

 

[Manyirons]

You had an original '51 Navy when you were a teenager?

I hate you, really do........

Nah, waste of time hating him, just have more and better toys now! Oh ya, forgot to add for Original Navy Teenager, my cylinder loading tool is bigger and better!

 

[Old Fuff]

Guys...

When the Old Fuff was a teenager Col. Colt was still making um...

Actually, this was long before the replicas had come on the market, and original black powder revolvers (Colts & Remingtons) didn't cost anything like they do now, and those that were in shooting shape were often shot on a regular basis. My "Navy" was devoid of any finish, but the bore was in good shape, and it was reasonably tight.

It cost me under $125.00, at a time when Colt's recently reintroduced Single Action Army and Python both listed for that... brand new.

 

[TexasRifleman]

That's so cool!

Do you still have the thing?

 

[Old Fuff]

As a matter of fact I do, but now it's retired and a safe queen.

I should mention that once on a good day I was informally shooting against an Army MTU member who had a then new S&W K-38 Target Masterpiece. I fired 4 shots into one ragged hole about the size of a quarter at 25 yards. The 5th ball hit about 3/4" outside of the group. I invited him to match it but he declined - saying that if he could I'd say, "so what, you have a modern S&W targt revolver," and if he couldn't I'd say, "so my old cap & ball six-shooter is more accurate then your new gun."

In contemporary accounts I have read about men sitting on horseback shooting the head off of a chicken that was intended for the pot and dinner. I can't confirm the story, but I know those original guns, with their gain-twist rifling, were up too doing it.

 

[mec]

I know a guy who got his nickname that way. He had a Navy and knew where it shot. got into an informal shoot with a guy with a nice new python. Lined up the cans and before the python guy could get on target, he had cleaned the bank with the navy. Since he had bronchitis, he the bent double coughing.

The Python guy then said, " Not only does the little (expletive) shoot like Doc Holliday, he coughs like him too." His name as been Doc Hudson ever since.

 

[Manyirons]

In contemporary accounts I have read about men sitting on horseback shooting the head off of a chicken that was intended for the pot and dinner. I can't confirm the story, but I know those original guns, with their gain-twist rifling, were up too doing it.[/QUOTE]

Local black powder smith, has a #1 tune for black powder revolvers, guarantees one hole at 25, all new action parts, screws, cylinder align honed with lapped barrel. No gain twist. My two navies, shoot like this and are his #1 tuned guns.

Asked him about that once, said it was only theory, and correctly fitted gun, cylinder to barrel to loading would shoot well. "If you can't see it from machine rest it doesn't exist".

Really only disagreeing cause you own an original!!

 

[Old Fuff]

I didn't mean to imply that no replica or reproduction revolver could equal an original in accuracy. I know better from personal experience.

But there is a problem with some of the new guns, in that the chambers are bored smaller then the barrel's bore. This is relatively easy to correct by reaming/polshing the front of the chamber and using a bigger ball or bullet.

When I get a new revolver I remove the nipples, and then cut a wood plug that will drop into a chamber and allow a ball to be seated to just below flush with the cylinder face.

I then drop the plug into a chamber (like a powder charge) and seat a ball on top of it. Following this I insert a punch through the nipple hole and tap on the end of the wood plug to drive the ball out at the other end.

This is repeated with each chamber, and the balls kept in order so I will know which match what chamber.

Then last I use a bullet starter and dowel to drive a slightly oversized ball through the barrel, going back to front when possible.

When I am finished all of them are measured, and the results recorded. Sometimes they are very interesting. Corrections are made as necessary.

I woke up one day when I noticed that .375 balls were recommended for most .36 caliber reproductions, where .380 was specified for original Colt's (and I did use .380 balls in my Colt.)

Ruger pays attention to this, and their "Old Army" revolvers are known for exceptional accuracy.

Pietta makes a special version of the Remington New Model Army, called the "Shooters Revolver," that was intended for World Championship Shooting Matches. Special attention is paid to its construction, and the barrel is rifled with a progressive (gain) twist. Bore dia. is .440" Groove dia. is .456" Rifling is cut, and .008" deep. Chamber dia. is also .456"... and this revolver will shoot...!

But it has a suggested retail price of $615.00

And yes, your 'smith is on the right track. His theory matches my experience.

 

[hogship]

What are you using the rubber mallet for?

This thread is making my itch worse! I have a Uberti Walker that I bought in November. I haven't shot it yet, and won't until after winter.....probably around March, or so.

Matter of fact, I have three new BP firearms to try out. I went nuts in November and bought all three at the same time! The .69 flintlock, Walker, and .31 pocket revolver are the new ones.

hog