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Colt navy 1851 $25

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Sharpie44

40 Cal.
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So a guy walked into the shop yesterday with a beat up cap and ball revolver. He wanted to get rid of it and after taking one look at it I could see why. It had never been cleaned and the cylinder moved when it was cocked. I think it is a kit gun. I gave him $25 for it and figured it was a parts gun or a wall hanger.

I started working on it and found that the stop just needed to be filed down a little to get it to fit the grove and now the cylinder doesn't move. The bore is shot, little rifling and lots of pitting but Other than that the gun is fine. Not like it would be very accurate in the first place so the bore doesn't bother me. It looks like it was shot a few times then never cleaned.

What i want to know is if I choose to shoot it how light of a load can I use . I have a steel framed F.Llipietta 1858 Army .44 that I use 22 grains in. That seems a little much for an abused brass frame but I don't know. If i can't shoot it I'm just going to sell it as a wall hanger in the shop.
 
You're shooting a light load in your 58.

What caliber is your 51? The originals were just .36 cal, but some of the not so accurate replicas are .44 cal.

15-20 gr of BP for the .36

Why do you think it wouldn't be accurate? (good bore)
 
My guns are .44 so not historically accurate but i like .44. I know I'm shooting light loads in my .58 but I only need to push a ball threw paper. I'm also not very actuate with it past 15 yards. On a good day i can keep everything inside a dinner plate at 25 yards if I'm really trying. I've never been very good with pistols though so it might be more me than the gun.

anyway here is some pics
2011-06-2715-00-51438.jpg

2011-06-2715-02-09875.jpg

2011-06-2715-02-46505.jpg

2011-06-2715-03-22165.jpg

2011-06-2715-03-36227.jpg
 
That was really abused. I'd try to polish the bore before shooting it.

Try some JB bore paste, but those pits look bad.
 
yea that do look a little rough ! try what pete said he is far more knowledgable than i! prob a little steel wool wont hurt either! good luck with that, mike
 
i'd try some JB bore paste, then clean it thoroughly and see how it shoots- -you might be surprised.

best of luck!
 
The bore is "the pits" but it still may shoot OK, just take extra pains in cleaning to prevent the pits growing worse. For $25 you done good!
 
nope it just didn't shoot very well. I loaded it up with 15 grains of powder and .451 round balls. The sight on it is crude so i wasn't expecting a nail driver but at 10 yards it wasn't very impressive. Also my 1858 Remington is a lot more fun to shoot so I switched to that.
 
Pyrodex.
Most likely, its what most people find to shoot through percussion guns now, though left long enough BP will do this too.
This is why percussion guns, used ones, are so risky.
I am converting a heavy bench rifle to flint for a friend. It was a Douglas blank rifled by Bill Large originally and so marked. It has since been recut. I believe it was recut due to the use of perchlorate propellants. My guess from looking at the breech face. The fine pitting was very chlorate like.

Dan
 

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