Peter M. Eick
Member
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!