Field/Farm Use of Cap & Ball Revolver

[Ozark Mtn Muzzleloader]

If I was going to carry a percussion revolver, I'd carry hammer down on an empty cylinder. If I had occasion to fire one chamber, I'd fire them all, and then clean and re-load. Otherwise, it would stay loaded forever.

That said, the only reason I'd resort to carrying a percussion revolver is if I was a felon and could not carry a modern firearm. In my opinion, if you are in a position to really need to carry a firearm throughout your daily business then you should be carrying a modern firearm.

I agree on having the hammer down on an empty chamber. The Italian Colt’s & Remington copies have the pins/notches respectively, like the originals, but when I examine them, they almost never work as intended due to sloppy machining & poorer metallurgy than originals. People can do what they want, but many aren’t being nearly as safe as they think they are.

 

[TrapperDude]

I agree on having the hammer down on an empty chamber. The Italian Colt’s & Remington copies have the pins/notches respectively, like the originals, but when I examine them, they almost never work as intended due to sloppy machining & poorer metallurgy than originals. People can do what they want, but many aren’t being nearly as safe as they think they are.

The pins on my Pietta 1860 seem like it would take a pretty deliberate effort to break them off. As for the notches in my Remington cylinders, they all hold the hammer solidly, and nothing could break the edges of those notches without destroying the whole revolver.

 

[Ozark Mtn Muzzleloader]

The pins on my Pietta 1860 seem like it would take a pretty deliberate effort to break them off. As for the notches in my Remington cylinders, they all hold the hammer solidly, and nothing could break the edges of those notches without destroying the whole

I typed out a long & detailed reply but am editing it to this reply because I proof read it & it sounded more rude than I intended. Suffice it to say that many reproduction revolvers I have examined have safety systems/features that I find less than trustworthy. If yours is good, so much the better.

 

[sheriff john]

Poking around in the woods, I like to carry my ROA or Remmy on occasion, but if I shoot it - I shoot all chambers & clean. Most times, it's a modern something. Dogs have a bad habit of messing with raccoons, snakes, or groundhogs - but never when I take my cap & ball revolvers (so far). If I don 't shoot the bp gun, I leave it loaded - sometimes for several weeks with no problems.

 

[Stantheman86]

The pins on my Pietta 1860 seem like it would take a pretty deliberate effort to break them off. As for the notches in my Remington cylinders, they all hold the hammer solidly, and nothing could break the edges of those notches without destroying the whole revolver.

I have carried a pair of Pietta 51 Navies in flap holsters , with 6 in the cylinders and the hammer on a pin.

However, I didn't feel 100% warm and fuzzy about it , but thinking about it, the same effort it would take to accidentally lift the hammer onto a cap off a pin vs the little more effort to move it off an empty nipple isn't that big.

The Remington seems more positive.

If you're super serious about being safe, remove a nipple so you can't load that chamber, load 5 and hammer down on the nipple-less chamber. A forum member had a pic of an original Dragoon with a missing nipple and it was probably because it was carried on horseback or on long, rough woods walks and the user of it wanted insurance against Murphy's Law by having an empty chamber already "assigned".

I carry an NAA Mini .22 with the hammer in the notch between two chambers, and it would take a deliberate effort to move the hammer onto a cartridge rim. Some people carry them with the hammer on an empty chamber. 10+ years of carrying it and I've never had that hammer move and I've jogged half Marathons with it IWB. The percussion "Companion " is the exact same gun.

Then again I talked to a guy a while back who carried a .38 snub with the hammer down on an empty chamber and no one was convincing him otherwise because his Dad taught him this . So do whatever you feel the best with.

 

[Stantheman86]

What I am doing with this one is kind of an experiment. I’m not going to completely neglect it, but I feel as if I am affording it the same amount of time and care as one would have during the war of northern aggression. Give it some attention and look over during down time, or at night after dinner. From the results thus far it seems the extensive cleaning I usually would do might not even be needed or is overkill.

I admittedly half-a$$ the cleaning of my brass frame Piettas because they are just range blasters. I basically treat them like you described, I hit them with a quick and dirty cleaning like a guy who has to clean them to keep an NCO off my back so I can go back to wasting my time doing other things like sleeping or smoking a pipe.

My "expensive " guns like my Walkers get a thorough cleaning.

 

[Stantheman86]

As much as I love my various percussion revolvers my walk around for the woods is a 4 inch S&W 629, safer and more reliable IMHO. Since a Momma Bear is nearby with a couple of cubs and she may be a bit overprotective and short tempered so now everything but the Walker seems like not enough revolver.

I keep a snubby Ruger Redhawk .44 under my car seat because I have an hour drive to and from work, and have had some Bizarro run ins and experiences over the years with people.

Plus I drive home at 10pm down some desolate roads. As much as I love them, I wouldn't want to be on the side of a dark road, or approached by some creeps at a gas station with a .36 Navy as my last line of defense.......I'd rather have 6 hot .44 mags with 12 more in Reserve. I've actually had to brandish it during a road rage incident but I honestly don't encourage this. However, a big , shiny stainless .44 with 6 beans in the wheel is a nice deterrent to encourage someone who probably was feeling froggy to decide that they probably wanted to live instead of continuing what they were doing.

 

[M. De Land]

I keep a snubby Ruger Redhawk .44 under my car seat because I have an hour drive to and from work, and have had some Bizarro run ins and experiences over the years with people.

Plus I drive home at 10pm down some desolate roads. As much as I love them, I wouldn't want to be on the side of a dark road, or approached by some creeps at a gas station with a .36 Navy as my last line of defense.......I'd rather have 6 hot .44 mags with 12 more in Reserve. I've actually had to brandish it during a road rage incident but I honestly don't encourage this. However, a big , shiny stainless .44 with 6 beans in the wheel is a nice deterrent to encourage someone who probably was feeling froggy to decide that they probably wanted to live instead of continuing what they were doing.

The one consideration using round ball compared to a heavy caliber modern gun and load is over penetration and hitting something you don't which to out the other side . The round ball would be a real plus in this scenario as it would probably stay in the first bad guy.
I shot clean through a 400 lb bear twice with the Kieth load front to back, side to side . Went through him like hot cheese and easily would have gone through two humans. The side to side cut his wiring at the spine and he finally collapsed. I was trying for his spine the first shot that went in the chest and out the back missing the spine . He covered the 21 yards in the time it took me to recover from recoil and get a quick double action snap shot off at a blur as it passed me.
The first shot was at a stepped off 21 yards, the second as he closed on my hunting pard was about 4 feet off to my side. He never saw me lying down next to a caribou I shot and came straight at my hunting bud who was standing up drinking from a canteen. I was using the Kieth position of laying on my side, propped up with an elbow and shooting from my drawn up knee .

 

[smoothshooter]

It will turn the brass powder measures and brass cases green with verdigris and black corrosion . It does seem to work out OK left loaded in clean guns in dry climates. I wouldn't trust it in a humid climate.

I have left percussion revolvers that had clean and dry chambers loaded for months in our high-humidity environment here in SW Missouri and never had a misfire or weak shot.
A ball loaded in one end of the chamber and a good-fitting cap on the other does a pretty good job of keeping humidity and raindrops out.
I also carry mine with all chambers loaded, hammer resting on one of the little pins on the back of the cylinder between the nipples, and in a full flap military holster.

 

[Bad Karma]

Yes. Quite regularly in fact. Hammer down on an empty chamber if carried in a holster. If I fire only one or two rounds I will often just decap, and then brush those chambers and the bore and reload them. Sometimes I will use a damp patch and swab and then dry and reload the fired chambers. I live in a semi arid climate and this works for me. My son once left a fired rifle for over a month and when he finally cleaned it he found zero corrosion. I believe that most corrosion was historically caused by corrosive primers and caps. As always, your mileage may vary.

 

[JRL1164]

I haven't given much tnought to your scenario, but i would hate to leave it fouled for more than 24hrs. I used to clean my more modernish gun with windex. Also my 58 remington. Spray it on and fouling melts right off.

Maybe decap, wet a patch, and wipe out the dirty chamber and barrel. Dry, wipe well with oil of choice, wipe off excess. Reassemble, holster, and back to work you go. Try it, its quick. And then you'll have the answer, better than we can provide. You'll have a good look into the 1800s at the very least.

Please let us know how it goes, my curiosity is peaked.

As do I, I hate leaving a gun fouled and dirty. Just can't handle it.

I did try this yesterday, after firing two rounds. I waited a few hours after shooting before cleaning. I pulled the barrel, remove the cylinder and decapped. I cleaned the barrel as I normally would, same with the frame. The cylinder was a little different because of the other three chambers but with a little solvent and q-tips felt it had come out pretty clean. I did my normal regiment of nipple removing (on fired chambers) and cleaned them as normal. Got everything oiled back up, resembled and loaded/capped.

 

[SOLANCO]

Prior to retiring I worked nights in the old Philadelphia Food Center. The surroundings were seedy and crime infested. I would no more have carried a muzzle loader for serious self protection than a 2x4.
I rotated between a Combat Commander in .45 , a S&W snub nose in .357 loaded with +P, and, if I had an appointment after work, a .22 Browning in a wallet type holster.

 

[Dreamhawk]

How about neutralizing the fired chamber/chambers with oil? Then you can clean after the rest are fired.

Mike

I carry a . 44 caliber Griswold & Gunnison all the time at home unless we're havin bear trouble. When I fire the G&G, I very carefully clean the fired cylinder and the carried empty cylinder, using great care to leave the unfired ones high and dry. I also clean the barrel assembly, and the rest of the gun, and thoroughly oil it all. I then load the carried empty cylinder, so I rotate which one is kept empty. Therefore rotating the ones that are fired. If I have to fire twice, or a couple months ago by without firing, I dump a cylinders and throw all invited balls into my lead can for future recasting, and clean the whole works.
If we're having bear troubles, I carry my Ruger Bisley .5 LC with grizzly loads.

 

[Snake Pleskin]

Yes, I would agree for the most part. But, I mentioned that "Mine" are as modern as . . . "Mine" are "unmentionables" because of the ammo they shoot but outside of that, they are still as modern as any modern made S.A. . . . more specifically Ruger/ Freedom Arms ( more FA because FA uses a flat main spring unlike the "slow" Ruger coil).
So, the only difference in a cap gun version and the unmentionable version is that you're using caps, powder and ball instead of metallic cartridges. With a cap post and action shield you basically have the equivalent of a cap & ball version of a Freedom Arms!!

Mike

I politely disagree. The C&B revolver is not as good as a modern SA. Unless they are manuf. exactly the same, same steel, metallurgy, CNC etc. The modern firearm is amazingly reliable. What is even more reliable is the ammunition. You can use numerous kinds /types of ammo in a modern SA depending on the job at hand. The ammo of today can be bought with sealed primers & necks making them virtually impermeable to weather , or you can do it yourself when reloading. etc. NO C&B can ever claim that. Bump the C&B, dislodge a cap, have a shot cap fall in the action and you are no where. Heck, they test the Austrian Unmentionable G underwater! and it shoots, multiple times! They have shot it with the locking block cracked, no problem, they have shot them over 200,000 rds, no problem. Can't believe we are even having this discussion. C&B revolvers are fun, historical and can be solid shooters, but they are not nearly as reliable as a good quality modern day SA. If you are out and about and there is a chance of serious danger whether 4 legged or 2, It would be prudent to use the best equipment you can get, IMHO

 

[Eutycus]

I wouldn't hesitate even using a single shot derringer if they were near as reliable as most modern firearms but they simply are not. I have experienced far more misfires for whatever reason with BP guns than with modern guns and ammo so why take the chance?

 

[JRL1164]

Prior to retiring I worked nights in the old Philadelphia Food Center. The surroundings were seedy and crime infested. I would no more have carried a muzzle loader for serious self protection than a 2x4.
I rotated between a Combat Commander in .45 , a S&W snub nose in .357 loaded with +P, and, if I had an appointment after work, a .22 Browning in a wallet type holster.

This I agree with. I don't carry a cap and ball as my EDC. That is set aside for something more modern. My question in particular is field/farm/ranch carry where the need to fire is to dispatch nuisance animals not a life and death scenario. Dispatching with expensive self defense loads seems excessive when a cheaper lead round ball is sufficient.

 

[cynthialee]

A 44 gets kind of heavy.

when your adrenaline is going it feels light as a feather and the recoil is not noticed much at all

dealt with a mountain lion with a Pietta .44 revolver a number of years back and in those moments the heavy pistol and sharp recoil didn't even register on me

 

[JRL1164]

when your adrenaline is going it feels light as a feather and the recoil is not noticed much at all

dealt with a mountain lion with a Pietta .44 revolver a number of years back and in those moments the heavy pistol and sharp recoil didn't even register on me

Now thats a story I'd like to hear!

 

[Stantheman86]

The one consideration using round ball compared to a heavy caliber modern gun and load is over penetration and hitting something you don't which to out the other side . The round ball would be a real plus in this scenario as it would probably stay in the first bad guy.
I shot clean through a 400 lb bear twice with the Kieth load front to back, side to side . Went through him like hot cheese and easily would have gone through two humans. The side to side cut his wiring at the spine and he finally collapsed. I was trying for his spine the first shot that went in the chest and out the back missing the spine . He covered the 21 yards in the time it took me to recover from recoil and get a quick double action snap shot off at a blur as it passed me.
The first shot was at a stepped off 21 yards, the second as he closed on my hunting pard was about 4 feet off to my side. He never saw me lying down next to a caribou I shot and came straight at my hunting bud who was standing up drinking from a canteen. I was using the Kieth position of laying on my side, propped up with an elbow and shooting from my drawn up knee .

People who are casually into shooting, like friends or coworkers ask how " powerful " the cap and ball revolvers they see at Cabelas or Bass Pro shop are, I'm like , they aren't magnums, they rely on pushing a lead ball or bullet at a moderate speed compared to modern guns. And that lead projectile will certainly kill but it's not a Dirty Harry .44 that takes your head clean off....

I tell them if you need to handle something serious please use something serious. Don't get mangled by a pack of feral coyotes because you shot one with a .31 Pocket that looked cool and was on sale for $240 at Cabelas , and it just gets annoyed

If our forefathers had access to .300 Win Mags and .44 Magnums, they would have used them. Not a one would have kept his muzzleloader

 

[Snake Pleskin]

This I agree with. I don't carry a cap and ball as my EDC. That is set aside for something more modern. My question in particular is field/farm/ranch carry where the need to fire is to dispatch nuisance animals not a life and death scenario. Dispatching with expensive self defense loads seems excessive when a cheaper lead round ball is sufficient.

You are talking pennies. If you need to dispatch an animal it should not take more than one or two shots. That should not break the bank. There are so many ammo choices today that you could certainly find something at a reasonable price that would do the job. IMHO