Which Little Critter Gitter?

[kBob]

Interesting, the Pietta .36 1858 style remington with 6 1/2 inch barrel weighs an ounce more than the longer barreled .44.

I would not mind getting one of the slightly smaller framed "1858" .36 of either steel or brass frame....but no one makes one today that is actually as small framed as the originals I understand.

I am not accurate enough to consider taking small game with any of my BP revolvers or pistol.....but "tin" cans BEWARE! For that I vote all of the above and then some.

-kBob

 

[rodwha]

I understand that Uberti makes it the correct size. Funny that uberti.com doesn't show it, but ubertireplicas.com does. Also shows the shorter Sheriff's model. I also see different barrel lengths for their Colt '62 Pocket models, but I'm not sure if they are just barrels or whole pistols.

 

[rodwha]

I see many votes for the Crocket pistol. I've heard they are not very accurate.

 

[faustopph]

Don't forget today we have .22 cartridges made for short ,think NAA, barreled pistols.
I have two .44 R&S a .44 Remington,.36 Remington and a .31 Remington and am looking to pick-up a Colt's in .36.
If you are concerned about Cougars. I would not want to leave with nothing less than a full house loaded cap & ball .44.A loud bang and lot of noise will send most to the next county.Most being the key word.That is why I recommend the .44.
If You can't shoot which ever you choose accurately. It won't matter what you carry.

 

[rodwha]

I haven't really been too concerned with cougars before, but they did have to close down a county park some months back due to a few sightings, and this was just a few miles outside of San Antonio.

Probably ought to be more concerned. I'd be more concerned with rabid coyotes or some other such critter. Maybe it would be better to just use the Old Army for everything.

I'm thinking about carving a U in a walking stick to try as a pistol rest. I'm not that great shooting off hand.

 

[rodwha]

faustopph: I'm trying to figure out what a .44 R&S is. What is it?

 

[St8LineGunsmith]

Rogers and Spencer I surmise

 

[faustopph]

You are right . R&S = Rogers and Spencer . It's what Ruger based the ROA on. Very strong design and built like a tank for black powder firearm.Like the ROA it is a heavy revolver.

 

[72coupe]

Well as far as the 36 calibers go They were used throughout the civil war and afterward to kill people. People are larger than cougars.

 

[CraigC]

Cougars are pound for pound the toughest predator in the world. While you don't need a cannon to 'kill' one, you may need more than a .36cal roundball to stop one from chewing on you.

 

[Cosmoline]

Good loads still yield reliable expansion and good results.

I'm talking about non-expanding rounds on very small game--squirrel and hare. I've had squirrel shrug off multiple direct hits from even a .32 revolver before. I suppose you could go with expanding rounds to increase lethality but you end up with explosive effects on such a small critter. So there's a balance between killing them fast vs. exploding them. The times I've used expanding high vels on squirrel have been... messy. But they sure do get dead.

I consider 20 yards about max for the short guns against that size game. And 20 feet is better.

 

[rodwha]

Rogers & Spencer's aren't made by anyone any longer?
How much power can the chamber hold? I read that it (.44) holds the most powder, but I find that hard to swallow with the Walker and Dragoon available.
"The Rogers & Spencer has the largest chamber capacity of any .44 caliber blackpowder revolver on the market"
Found that here.

 

[rodwha]

Cosmoline: I doubt I could stretch a shot that far on a small critter, but I'd certainly like a gun that could do it. Maybe one day I'd become proficient enough to do so. I've seen people do amazing things! Not that I'm one of them, but I know it can be done.

 

[faustopph]

Don't believe everything you read on the internet. I don't know what he was thinking when he scribbled those words down.Just shy of forty,maybe could squeeze in 40 if ya hold your tongue just right. My brothers Uberti Walker will hold up to 60grs.
Rogers and Spencer are still produced by two manufacturers, Pedersoli and Feinwerkbau. The Pedersoli is the cheaper of the two at $1200.00 .

 

[Gordon]

Because of this thread I loaded up my Uberti 1849 pocket with some .310" balls and 18 grains of FFFgBlack and #11 caps. I had problems with the caps coming apart but could tip the pieces out. I shot it at my 50' 25yard slow fire pistol bullseye and all 10 shots (2 cylinders full) kept in 6" with me leaning my hand against a door frame . Half the shots were into 3" which is prolly the guns intrinsic ability. Fun little pop gun and prolly would kill a raccoon . I had to push down hard on the greased balls when ramming them to get them to bump up enough to stay tight. The balls were hard to drive thru the barrel and I think miked .307" after I pushed one thru, so that would be a .003 " swedging down in the forcing cone. Real fun for a Labor Day afternoon , but I would use nothing smaller than a .36 Navy or Police as they seem more accurate and powerful.

 

[Digger Odell]

Remington 1858 Navy

OH BTW fix your poll Remington did not make a 1858 Navy it was an 1858 Army and it was a .44"

Hi St8LineGunsmith,

If you dig deeper you will find that Remington did indeed make a 1858 Navy (.36 caliber)
The Army model (.44 caliber) had an 8" barrel
The Navy model (.36 caliber) had an 7.375" barrel
The Navy Beals model (.36 caliber) had an 7.500" barrel.

Ref. Gun Collector's Digest, Vol.II, By Joseph J. Schroeder
page 97.

Have a great day!
Digger

 

[faustopph]

Hitting a cougar that is coming in on a dead run to turn you into lunch .Would be know easy task.They don't usually give prey more than a short distance to react before they are in touch.
Same rule of time and space would apply here as in a human on human self defense scenario.If you can't draw your weapon and fire two shots into the kill zone before the attacker travels 20ft and/or under two seconds .You are in trouble .The kill zone of an attacking Cougar is much smaller that any man.

 

[faustopph]

Hi St8LineGunsmith,

If you dig deeper you will find that Remington did indeed make a 1858 Navy (.36 caliber)
The Army model (.44 caliber) had an 8" barrel
The Navy model (.36 caliber) had an 7.375" barrel
The Navy Beals model (.36 caliber) had an 7.500" barrel.

Ref. Gun Collector's Digest, Vol.II, By Joseph J. Schroeder
page 97.

Have a great day!
Digger

+1 on the 1858 Navy .36's

 

[kBob]

Gordon,

You might try larger diameter projectiles. I use Single 0 buck in both a pietta remington and an un known to me Colt type .31. They measure .321 to .323 and leave a lead ring when loading. I load the remington off the gun. I use grease over the balls, but am thinking about felt wads.

No luck finding 100percent wool felt locally though.

-kBob

 

[rodwha]

Durafelt.com has felt. $16 for a 1 x 3' 1/8" thick piece of hard felt shipped.