What was your very first percussion blackpowder revolver?

[TTv2]

Pietta NMA 8 inch blued standard sights. Basically as close to the original as I could get.

When it comes to percussion revolver repros, I'm always trying to get as close to original, which is the reason I bought a .36 caliber 1851 Navy and not a .44 caliber. When it comes to non-original, basically modern day marketing models like the "sheriff's" models with the 5 inch barrels, those I prefer to have in stainless because they're not really repros of anything.

 

[PapaG]

First generation, if there is such a thing, Navy Arms 1851 Navy. Three did it serial. Somewhere around 1960 and still have it. Floated back and forth between lil brother and I til he passed and now mine til I go. Then to one of the boys. Accurate with 18-20 grains fffg, greased felt wad. .375 ball.

 

[Starter52]

Spiller & Burr from Dixie Gun Works. I had a lot of fun with that .36 gun.

 

[Panzerschwein]

'51 Col. Colt's revolving belt pistol of naval caliber (36).

 

[robhof]

My first revolver was a ROA in SS too, however as a teen I bought a double barrel Howda style pistol, which I used for yrs and was my intro into B/P, lost the cheap Howda copy yrs ago, still have my first ROA and got it a sister to keep her company.

 

[LonesomePigeon]

My first bp revolver, actually my first gun of any kind, was a Uberti 1847 Walker. I debated getting an 1851 or 1860 but knew that I would still have to get a Walker eventually so I just went ahead and got the Walker. I still have it and shoot it.

 

[kBob]

The first I bought was a Pietta '51 brass .44 like a lot of guys hate around here. I was signed up for an NRA instructor BP Revolver and Pistol class and wanted a revolver just to have one in hand. My club was trying to have instructors on hand for all the types and few seemed interested so I volunteered to make up the numbers to have a TC come to us.

Before this I had shot an original 1851 Colt Navy in Europe a bit, a repro of the same a bit more and a Walker a few times.

-kBob

 

[entropy]

Not even sure of the make, probably Armi San Marco though, .31 1849 Baby Dragoon. A friend of my Dad's owed him some money, and gave him the revolver instead. Dad didn't want it, so he gave it to me. I was 14 at the time. I had already built a .45 Colonial Pistol kit the year before, and Dad had a Ruger Old Army, so I was familiar with BP. It was a fun little pistol to shoot, but I traded it at a gun show for an 1851 brass framed .44 that I shot so much over the next several years that I eventually had to retire it due to too many hot loads. (like shaving the top of the ball off hot. I was a kid, I also loaded compressed loads of Blue Dot for .357 around then, too.)

 

[Old No7]

A stainless Ruger Old Army for me... But mine has had Many Modifications (click for link) done to it.



Old No7

 

[Curator]

Am I the only one who began with an original Cap & Ball revolver? On our farm in Canada (early 50s) my uncles kept a loaded (5 loaded chambers, one empty) and capped 1851 London Navy Colt on the mantel of the fireplace. It had belonged to their Grandfather, and it was the only handgun in the family at that time. It was used for the occasional nuisance wild animal or to investigate a disturbance in the barn at night. I learned how to load it from them, casting bullet and balls on the kitchen stove using an original Colt mould. When my uncles passed away, I inherited the Colt and shot it for many years at my gun club's black powder shoots. When replicas came along I retired the original and shot replicas. None of which were as accurate.

 

[drobs]

Back in 2000/1 I was living in Illinois and visited a Civil War re-enactment at The Grove in Glenview. Fall Creek Sutlery https://fcsutler.com/ had set up a tent full of guns CW uniforms and accessories. Chatted with the gentlemen working at the tent and grabbed a business card. A few months later ordered a Pietta 1858 NMA, a belt, and holster from them which shipped directly to my door. Also bought a Kirst conversion cylinder. Already had a bunch of cartridge firearms but got a smile putting together a gun w/o having to go through a FFL. Shot the gun a few time with 45 Colt, found the action to be horribly gritty and shelved the gun till about 2014 where I tried it for the 1st with Pyrodex. Got hooked!!!

 

[Hanshi]

An 1858 Remington c&b. Great revolver, too.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

The year was 1968. I had just turned 18 years old. I had been wanting to buy a pistol of some type for some time, but needed a permit and New Jersey, my state of residence, did not permit 18 year olds. Then I found out that I could legally buy a Cap & Ball revolver. So I borrowed my Dad's car one Saturday and drove down to the old Navy Arms showroom in Ridgefield NJ, about 20 miles away.

It was marketed as the 'Army 60' model, and cost $40. I think. Made by Uberti. No, obviously it was not an Army model, it was a brass framed copy of the 1851 Navy, 44 caliber. No, I did not know back then that the Navy was never chambered for 44 caliber. I was just a dumb kid. But I could afford it, so I bought it.

Back then nobody was telling us to take it easy with the brass framed C&B revolvers. So I would normally load it with 40 grains of powder. Years later I discovered the frame had stretched and when the wedge was snugged up the barrel was pointing up a little bit. It could still shoot, but all my shots went high.

I have since given it a place of honor as my first pistol and don't shoot it anymore.

 

[whughett]

Ruger Old Army. Brushed Stainless. It sat in the gun safe somewhere around 25 years.
Straight up trade for something I no longer remember.
I still have it, one of three. Shot on a regular basis. The cap and ball collection is now up to 16 pieces and growing. Can't have just one.
Five years ago not sure why, maybe the load as you go, got tired of hours at the bench hand loading, especially the bullet sizing, more range time less work.

 

[bannockburn]

Driftwood

I was much the same way as you were when I was underage to buy any sort of cartridge handgun. Thought about getting a black powder revolver (sent away for the catalogs from Navy Arms, CVA, and Replica Arms), but never could save up enough money to buy one. Really liked the CVA Remington New Model Army and eventually I did buy one from Navy Arms but that was years later.

 

[AlexanderA]

My "first percussion revolver" was actually a pair of EIG brass-framed 1851 reproductions, that I bought in the mid-1960's. As I learned more about guns, and realized that the brass frames were not authentic, I tried to give the set away to a relative. But it came back to me. Eventually I sold the whole set, including a case, powder flask, etc. for $75. (I have much better ones now.)

 

[Texas Moon]

Way back about 1981, maybe 82, I purchased a CVA 1860 Army kit gun.
Brass frame, metal in the white, Big chunk of wood for the grips.
I knew nothing about C&B but eventually got it run. It was one ugly gun I will tell you. LOL.
Surprisingly it shot quite accurately, just way high from point of aim.
I shot the snot out of it until the frame loosened and the front edge of the cylinder started to peen.
Sold it to a friend for next to nothing.

 

[Mk VII]

Stainless ROA with t/s. When they banned pistols here they left an exemption for muzzleloaders, probably at the lobbying of re-enactment groups. It was the closest I could get to still having a handgun. I was going to get a .36 Pietta Remington but I started hearing bad reports about the quality of them and got this instead.

 

[maint1517]

My very first was a Traditions Redipack model 1860 army .44 made by pietta.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Mine was a CVA, brass framed, .36 caliber, "sheriff" model. I still have it. CVA didn't make it, they just imported it..., I think it's a Pietta.

LD

 

[montanaoffroader]

Didn't actually buy a percussion revolver until last year, a Pietta 1851 steel frame in .44, picked up from a pawn shop for cheap ($100) as the previous owner had scratched the heck out of barrel trying to remove the wedge.

However, the first handgun I ever fired was Dad's original 1851 Navy. Shot it in the back yard, carried it on black powder shoots and took it along on hunting trips.

Even though it was over a hundred years old it was in great shape and quite accurate. But as the value increased, Dad became nervous about shooting it and finally sold it to a collector. Wish he would have hung on to it.

 

[Erwan]

My first cap and ball revolver was a spanish Remington NMA Santa Barbara .44 cal. , I had it til the day I was able to purchase my ROA in 1976: this was very expensive for me in this time but it's the only one I still have from that time and this is my favorite....