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Looking to buy Black powder revolvers any suggestiions ?

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beezee13

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Hi I'm looking to buy a couple 1880's revolvers .
1851 - 1860 navy or army .36 or .44 cal. and an 1858 Pietta or Uberti . I'm also looking into a R & D conversion cylinder . Any advice would be appreciated .
Big Z .
 
There is a forum here dedicated to BP pistols...
[url] http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showforum.php?fid/19[/url]/
 
Last edited by a moderator:
If you are looking for opinions, I personally would not own a gun made by Pietta. My personal experience with Pietta has never been good at all,and returned 3 of them to Cabelas. I found the guns to be poorly made, lousy parts, , scratches (tool marks) etc., and tend to be non-functioning. Most of my acquaintances have had to replace parts and do some gunsmithng to get their guns to function. I find that Uberti is a better made and finished gun---my Army .44 is one beautiful gun, with a fantastic trigger and quite accurate. I am not familiar with the R&D cylinders as I don't use them, however I know several shooters who use them in CAS, and are quite happy. :hatsoff:
 
I just bought one of the Cabelas Rem 1858 Pietta pistols.
Mine is really nice. Its one of the nicest cap and ball pistols I have seen.
About 20 years ago I bought a 1851 Navy pistol and I cant remember the manufacturer, I didnt get a box with it. It was an over the counter buy at a trading post. It was a crude pistol.
The loading lever would stick and was hard to get unlatched from under the barrel and I had a problem with the nipples being mad eof a much to soft of metal. They kept having to be filed and have the caps fitted every time I wanted to shoot it.
My Pietta is made like a much more expensive pistol up with a Ruger. The gun has no jagged edges no poor fitting of the barrel or anything that I can see. Now I wouldnt doubt there are some poor ones around but I would say that about Uburti too. I had one of their Cattleman 44 mags and it was the worste pistol I ever had.
The loading lever on my Pietta is smooth and clicks shut and opens one hand with no hassle.
I havent fired it yet but it is night and day what my last cap and ball was made like.
Its hard to beat Cabelas prices. I would say go for the one you want you can always send it back.
 
Yes there is a pistol forum this should go in but I will add that I too have had no problems with my Pietta New Army revolver I like it a lot. It is well made and shoots as good as I can shoot any revolver. The only complaint is I should have bought the steel framed one I like to shoot it so much.
 
Hello,

I have had the opportunity to shoot several black powder revolvers that belong to a friend of mine. He owns several makes and models. The only one that seems to shoot well is his Ruger.

Charcloth
 
"Hi I'm looking to buy a couple 1880's revolvers .
1851 - 1860 navy or army .36 or .44 cal. and an 1858 Pietta or Uberti ."

I betcha it was a slip of the digit that the number came out 1880's. By that time, that new factory made stuff in the copper and brass tubes was getting popular. :grin:

As for brand name, Uberti is about the top of the heap but usually costs more too.
The other brands often are not finished quite as well, but in general, they are good serviceable guns.


If your not "into Historically Correct" guns the .44 cal 1851 Colt is not a bad choice. (The Colt 1851 Navy was a .36 cal.)

If you Are into Historical Correct" guns, the only brass framed guns were all Confederate. Most of them are copies of the Colt Navy 1851 and are .36 caliber.

In general, the steel framed guns are worth the extra money. The Brass framed guns tend to stretch if full power loads are used in them.

As for conversions, I don't own any but I do have some opinions about them.
If you own a .36 cal C&B gun, the bore is .360 and the typical groove dia is .372
If you own a .44 cal C&B gun, the bore is .440 and the grooves are .452-.456

The .38 cartridge bullet is .357 dia which is .003 smaller than the bore and .015 smaller than the grooves of a .36 cal C&B revolver.

The .44 cartridge bullet is .429 diameter or .011 smaller than the bore and .025 smaller than the grooves of a .44 cal C&B revolver.

Obviously these are not going to give precision shooters great pleasure.

The .452 of the standard .45 Colt sounds promising but even greatly down-loaded IMO the cartridge is much too powerful for the typical C&B gun.
These C&B guns are made out of common low carbon steel and don't have a great deal of strength margin.
 
I have four revolvers. The last one I bought was an 1851 Colt in 44 cal. I didn't know until after I bought it that it was not an actual replica but something Pietta invented. The loading lever did not align with the barrel but that was a minor issue. It was not very accurate. I have an 1860 Colt which is very accurate which is also a Pietta. I also have an 1858 Remington which is my favorite an most reliable gun. I have had to much Jack Daniels to respond any further.
 
My only reason for mentioning the .44 1851 is years ago, I owned one and it was an excellent shooter. It also seemed to have better balance than the 1860. :grin:
 
The .44 caliber conversions that I know of are all chambered for the .45 Colt. They require the use of Cowboy Action Shooting loads or other very light loads.
 
I think you are right. And, now that I think of it, the .45 Colt cylinder will also accommodate the .45 S&W Schofield cartridge.
 
I have 4 Pietta CB revolvers and am happy with all of them.

I have only shot two of them. The one 1851 Brass Navy Colt $100.00 gun is dead on, shoots great, good action and am using it right out of the box.

The second one I shoot is the Dixie Remington New Model Army Shooters model. The action is super smooth, the trigger pull is outstanding, it has progressive rifling it's just an awsome gun. It is made by Pietta and far exceeds other models.

This is because it costs upwards of $450.00 bucks. As with everything, you get what you pay for.


Frank
 
Stars&Bars said:
I believe Kirst makes a conversion cylinder for the 45 ACP.

For what it's worth, I just found that loading a .45 ACP case with Swiss FFFg while leaving 1/8 inch of room at the mouth (for 3/16 bullet engagement after compressing the powder) gives a powder load of 18.9 grains.
Loaded with a pure lead 180 grain semi-wad cutter I suppose it would be fun for something but I'm not sure what.

I guess I'm just overcautious but risking stuffing a full house Colt .45 or a S&W .45 into the thing is more than I would want to take.
(I have several Ruger .45s and the loads I use for them are too hot for a regular Colt.)
 
I bought a 1858 Remington at Cabelas and have won every match I have shot it in. 30 grs. of 3f and a .454 ball gives one ragged hole at 25 yds and hits close to point of aim. I am sure there are better guns out there but not for $159.
 
Ive got one of the cowboy shootem up mags that coveres all these the hands down winner out of 5 or 6 was the 36, the 44s come in both 45 acp and "long" colt 5 or 6 shots 5 being a safty deal, call the company they canget you real messed up theymake 2 for 1 brand 3 for another.ect you might want to pick your gun after the convert cyl, the 58 Rem in 36 shot close to a new gun. I think it was the 5" 36 Rem "navy". Fred a ps to this I got Navy Arms 44 Sherrif kit like 100 yrs ago I just let the outside rust ,steelwool it and rust some more for years Ive done this keepinghe insides clean and it looks like it was used in the CW but shoots better than the other 1/2 dozen Ive got.
 
FInally got around to lowering the front sight on my Uberti 1858- It was shooting about 12"low at 25 metres.

last group had a four shot cloverleaf, in the 9-ring, at 25 metres. Tht's as good as any of my modern pistols!
 
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