Discharge or shoot my remington 1858?

[Sac]

Hello Crypt0manic. I'm not an expert by any means, but you may try to insert a screw in the lead ball and remove it by pulling on the screw with some plyers?

If you don't know these YT channels, you will find a bunch of great advices and how-to about BP revolvers here :
Mike Beliveau
Blackie Thomas

 

[B P Arn]

Do not remove any powder, or you will create an air space, since the balls can not be driven on any deeper.

Trim off the top of the balls if you have to.

The balls are too big. That is the problem. Get some .454" balls.

I think whatever power you have will work just fine, but I would reduce the load about 25 grains (but no lower that that). Once you have the right size balls and your gun is working, you can increase the powder to where the balls are just below the chamber mouths.

 

[Crypt0manic]

Crypt0manic, So does that mean in Sweden my Ruger old army made in 1976 and marked as such would be legal in your country?
As far as your problem goes I sort of agree with the other posters. How ever you get those chambers empty STOP. Measure that one chamber against the others and also really inspect the condition of them. I have a number of originals and the top parts of the chamber holes are all great where the balls were. Not so great where the powder was. A good pair of calipers are in order so you can check things out, including the ball OD. I would shoot out those other chambers, and since I can I would remove the stuck ball but that is just me.

Not really man. The gun have to be produced before 1890 in order to be legal here with black powder charges but not these modern cartridges we use today that we just can put in the chambers and shoot even if they would be produced before 1890 containing black powder.
Keeping them loaded is illegal tho you can own one legally but you can't keep it loaded according to laws.

Yeah man i will go to a friend and ask him some help checking up the condition of the stuff. But of what i could see everything seemed fine. In fact cylinder seemed to be the part with less damage on the entire gun but i didn't measure the chambers with any tools. I'm wondering if the bullets are the problem. We will see i will try with 454 bullets next time!

 

[Crypt0manic]

Do not remove any powder, or you will create an air space, since the balls can not be driven on any deeper.

Trim off the top of the balls if you have to.

The balls are too big. That is the problem. Het some .454" balls.

I think whatever power you have will work just fine, but I would reduce the load about 25 grains (but no lower that that). Once you have the right size balls and your gun is working, you can increase the powder to where the balls are just below the chamber mouths.

Okay man that made me kinda worried. I don't get the thing with airspace. What's the dangerous thing about it? Higher chances of exploding? The thing is i'm pretty sure i had 30 grains in each chamber i just get paranoid because the bullet won't go in so i thought maybe there is black powder under it stopping but i doubt. i think there already is a airspace in there. Since i can't push the bullet back further and i had in 30 grains of bp

 

[Crypt0manic]

Do not remove any powder, or you will create an air space, since the balls can not be driven on any deeper.

Trim off the top of the balls if you have to.

The balls are too big. That is the problem. Get some .454" balls.

I think whatever power you have will work just fine, but I would reduce the load about 25 grains (but no lower that that). Once you have the right size balls and your gun is working, you can increase the powder to where the balls are just below the chamber mouths.

Okay got it now! I read up on google about that. I don't have any wadding in it. Which might create more airspace. So guess better to remove the nipple and either add bp or remove it and try to get the bullet out. And if that fails i should put in more black powder to make the chamber full and shoot. I'm waiting for stuff for removing the nipples. Didn't get these tools yet. And ordered 454 bullets to try out and see if that works any better!

Thanks man!

 

[TFoley]

For future reference, the only C&B revolver actually DESIGNED to take a .457" ball is the Ruger Old Army - Lee even make a mould specifically marked on the box-end -'FOR RUGER OLD ARMY'.

 

[TFoley]

Okay man that made me kinda worried. I don't get the thing with airspace. What's the dangerous thing about it? Higher chances of exploding? The thing is i'm pretty sure i had 30 grains in each chamber i just get paranoid because the bullet won't go in so i thought maybe there is black powder under it stopping but i doubt. i think there already is a airspace in there. Since i can't push the bullet back further and i had in 30 grains of bp

As air is compressible, you are effectively making a pipe bomb which might damage the cylinder beyond any further use. In a rifle, a short load - a bullet that is not firmly down on the powder due to one reason or another, acts instead like a barrel obstruction, and can bulge [we call it 'ringing'] a barrel, or in the worst case, blow out the sides behind the bullet - we call them a ball, unless they look like a bullet.

 

[Crypt0manic]

For future reference, the only C&B revolver actually DESIGNED to take a .457" ball is the Ruger Old Army - Lee even make a mould specifically marked on the box-end -'FOR RUGER OLD ARMY'.

Ooh okay man thanks. You think 454 might work okay on the remington 44 1858? Which one bullets you would recommend trying out? I ordered 454

 

[Phil Coffins]

The .454” ball is most assuredly the ball you need. The air space isn’t a issue at all. Consider the Sharps percussion rifles of the 1850s that loaded by a paper cartridge. When the breech closed it cut the back of the cartridge off and the breech block having a cavity in it made a air cavity every time. Air cavitys aren’t going to be of any concern in your revolver. Pulling nipples and messing with the powder will compound your difficulty’s.

 

[11Bravo]

Crypt0manic, you got me blaming my age for my post, go back to your #25 post where you mention made prior to 1980. That's what prompted me to post about my 1976 ROA. As far as trusting powder you got used, here is a short story on why I trust nothing unless I have bought it new. My good buddy was a local PO and from time to time loaded ammo was turned it at the station, which I got. Most were reloads and I always pulled the bullets and then reloaded the primed cases. You wouldn't believe what I found, from no powder, to double charges and a few had un-fired primers inside the case.

 

[Crypt0manic]

Crypt0manic, you got me blaming my age for my post, go back to your #25 post where you mention made prior to 1980. That's what prompted me to post about my 1976 ROA. As far as trusting powder you got used, here is a short story on why I trust nothing unless I have bought it new. My good buddy was a local PO and from time to time loaded ammo was turned it at the station, which I got. Most were reloads and I always pulled the bullets and then reloaded the primed cases. You wouldn't believe what I found, from no powder, to double charges and a few had un-fired primers inside the case.

That doesn't sound very safe...thanks for sharing that. A friend of mine loads ammo himself as well

 

[Celticstoneman]

Sir,
It is important ,IMHO ,that you practice Trigger Discipline ! I realize that those weapons are probably unloaded however that laxity may creep into a time when they are loaded.Best of luck with your guns.
John

 

[nit wit]

Welcome from Maine. .454 balls. Invest in a Dixie Gun Works catalog. worth it for all the info.
Nit Wit

 

[TFoley]

Better idea is to cast your own ball, the way that most of us who are not rich do. Here in UK, with Pedersoli .454cal ball priced right there at $20/100, I can cast my own for a tenth of that.

 

[William Lincoln]

457 is ROA usually

 

[Boston Bill]

Just curious if you don’t mind me asking? How much did that original pre 1890 revolver cost?

 

[William O.]

First off, welcome to the forum. Next, every 58 Remington that I ever owned needed a .451 ball and only the Ruger Old Army had cylinders large enough to require a .457 ball. The .451 balls always shaved a lead ring and accuracy was always good. My advice would be to get some lubed fiber wads in 44 caliber, such as the Wonder Wads. Measure 20 grains of 3f black powder and pour into the cylinder, followed by a fiber wad. Then seat a .451 round ball on top. Repeat 4 or 5 more times. My most accurate load was 23 grains of 3f Goex. See how that works in your Remington. Go up by one grain at a time in order to see what your revolver "likes".

 

[Crypt0manic]

Hello Crypt0manic. I'm not an expert by any means, but you may try to insert a screw in the lead ball and remove it by pulling on the screw with some plyers?

If you don't know these YT channels, you will find a bunch of great advices and how-to about BP revolvers here :
Mike Beliveau
Blackie Thomas

Thanks man! I will check it out!

 

[Crypt0manic]

Sir,
It is important ,IMHO ,that you practice Trigger Discipline ! I realize that those weapons are probably unloaded however that laxity may creep into a time when they are loaded.Best of luck with your guns.
John

Yeah man i've noticed how "easy" it is to pull the trigger by accident on these especially the starr since it got a pretty weird mechanism for double action that sometimes works and the single action. I'm not totally new to guns tho i usually go out and shoot with a friend but he got 457 magnum so it's a modern gun. And some riffles. But i guess i need some practice with my guns. When they are loaded with the percussion cap i just let them lay anywhere i don't mess with them. Too high chances there is going to be a hole in my wall and 4-5 police cars outside if i play with them loaded and accidentely a percussion cap explodes...so i'm careful with them! In the video they didn't have the percussion cap on

 

[Crypt0manic]

Welcome from Maine. .454 balls. Invest in a Dixie Gun Works catalog. worth it for all the info.
Nit Wit

Thanks got ya man! I will try with .454 balls next time! Probably they will send it the coming monday.