Cap and ball revolver question

[lbothell]

So I’m considering a small cap and ball pistol to have while on a woods walk or to possibly take a back up shot on a squirrel for fun. Never owning one of these my question is this, let’s say I only take one or possibly two shots with the revolver, wanting to not just waste caps or lead firing off the other shots can I just clean out the cylinders that were fired and clean the rest of the gun? Or once fired I might as well fire the rest and clean it all?

 

[Resolve]

So I’m considering a small cap and ball pistol to have while on a woods walk or to possibly take a back up shot on a squirrel for fun. Never owning one of these my question is this, let’s say I only take one or possibly two shots with the revolver, wanting to not just waste caps or lead firing off the other shots can I just clean out the cylinders that were fired and clean the rest of the gun? Or once fired I might as well fire the rest and clean it all?

I would definitely say yes. If you had all 5 of the chambers in the cylinder loaded and only shot two, I would be very nervous of cleaning the two dirty ones while having 3 live charges in the cylinder. If you only loaded two of the chambers and shot them both you would still haver fouling all over so you might as well clean the whole cylinder. I know some folks who wanted a revolver for pretty much the same purpose as you so to get around the cleaning issue they got a conversion cylinder with modern powder. My opinion on that was they might as well just get an unmentionable. Not my cup of tea, I'll take the time to clean it.
Be safe and have fun!
R

 

[Loyalist Dave]

So I’m considering a small cap and ball pistol to have while on a woods walk or to possibly take a back up shot on a squirrel for fun. Never owning one of these my question is this, let’s say I only take one or possibly two shots with the revolver, wanting to not just waste caps or lead firing off the other shots can I just clean out the cylinders that were fired and clean the rest of the gun? Or once fired I might as well fire the rest and clean it all?

So load only two, and take powder, cap, and ball for the revolver with you when hunting?

You take one shot, and get the squirrel or rabbit. If you need a second shot, you have it. Then you have the same two chambers dirty as in the original scenario, but you don't have a cleaning conundrum at the end of the day.

IF you get that squirrel or bunny, and there is still plenty of daylight left, you have the time to reload those two chambers, and continue your hunt. IF at the end of the day you didn't get any more shots with the pistol, you only need to sacrifice two loads to unload, instead of a whole cylinder.

LD

 

[lbothell]

So load only two, and take powder, cap, and ball for the revolver with you when hunting?

You take one shot, and get the squirrel or rabbit. If you need a second shot, you have it. Then you have the same two chambers dirty as in the original scenario, but you don't have a cleaning conundrum at the end of the day.

IF you get that squirrel or bunny, and there is still plenty of daylight left, you have the time to reload those two chambers, and continue your hunt. IF at the end of the day you didn't get any more shots with the pistol, you only need to sacrifice two loads to unload, instead of a whole cylinder.

LD

Very true! Iv been wanting a pistol and to be honest going that route I might as well just get a single shot cap or flint pistol. I love a revolver but I think for what I’m looking for I’m better off with just a single front stuffer

 

[Kansas Jake]

There is a really nice .32 percussion target pistol list in the classifieds right now. It would be a great companion to a .32 rifle. The only downside is the extremely light trigger pull for a hunting gun and the price.

 

[JRL1164]

So I’m considering a small cap and ball pistol to have while on a woods walk or to possibly take a back up shot on a squirrel for fun. Never owning one of these my question is this, let’s say I only take one or possibly two shots with the revolver, wanting to not just waste caps or lead firing off the other shots can I just clean out the cylinders that were fired and clean the rest of the gun? Or once fired I might as well fire the rest and clean it all?

I like to clean the discharged cylinders as I like you don't want to waste caps and powder. While I find it fun regardless to shoot sometimes I'd rather keep the other chambers loaded. I remove the caps from the unfired chambers and clean the fired ones. Q-tips and a little bit of solvent has worked well for me. Clean, dry and reload. I also pretty much only fool with paper cartridges now.

 

[Bad Karma]

Remove the caps from the unfired chambers, dampen a patch and clean the barrel and both dirty chambers. I often do this by placing a fired chamber in battery and then cleaning bore and chamber together. Advance the cylinder to the next chamber and repeat. Oil the bore and fired chambers and you're good to go. I don’t do this often, if I have an excuse to shoot once I can find an excuse to shoot 4 or 5 more times… but when I have done so, it’s not a problem.

 

[lbothell]

There is a really nice .32 percussion target pistol list in the classifieds right now. It would be a great companion to a .32 rifle. The only downside is the extremely light trigger pull for a hunting gun and the price.

I saw that and it’s a beautiful but you are right about the price, not that it’s not worth it bc I believe it is it’s just do I want to spend that much on a .32

 

[Stantheman86]

I've never done this because I've never not been able to just shoot the remaining rounds off

If I had to I'd just carefully clean the dirty chambers , make sure they were dry and reload them because having a partially loaded revolver would irk me

 

[Shiloh]

How about pushing the ball out like you would if you forgot the powder? CO2 or grease.

 

[TDM]

I'd suggest going ahead and firing all 6 if it's loaded up, we all need more practice. But if your dead set on not "wasting" powder & ball do as @Loyalist Dave said.