Need buying advice

[Sharpie44]

I'm about to do the deed and buy my first BP revolver but i wanted to get some opinions first

This is the one I'm getting
Link

1.) Is this a good gun for a newbe.

2.)Should I get the crappy starter kit with it or just by the stuff on my own. It looks like it would cost about the same if i used e-bay.

3.)I've got a guy who can cast ball ammo for me all I have to do is buy the .44 lee mold for $20. Should I get the .450 or the .456 mold.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

This a Pietta revolver, so quality is sometimes spotty. I would wait before buying a mold or anything else until I was sure I was going to keep the gun. .454" molds are usually the minimum. Some of these guns have chambers that are smaller than the bore and accuracy isn't possible in this case.

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

:thumbsup: Good advice!

 

[Robert an saa fan]

The revolver you linked is nice. Russ T Frizzen gave good advice. You may also want to consider Uberti revolvers.

Another recent pistol section post had lots of good information. If you have not read it, title is "looking for help??":
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/236391/post/new/#NEW

For loading you could make up several copper wire handle powder dippers out of empty cartridge cases like 9 mm, .38 Special, etc. Use a small tub, like margarine comes in, to dip powder out of. Be sure to cover the tub and set it out of the way after loading. For shooting off a bench the dippers are handy and save filling a powder flask.

 

[mykeal]

By the way, just in case you weren't aware of it, Cabela's description of that gun is utter nonesense.

It wasn't long after the original 1851 Navy became a standard-issue favorite among the U.S. military that Samuel Colt began production of his now famous civilian model. Just like the originals, these accurate reproductions include a silver-plated backstrap and trigger guard, octagon barrel, steel frame and walnut grips.

That gun is by no means an 'accurate reproduction' of anything Colt's Manufacturing Company ever produced. If historical accuracy matters to you, run, don't walk, away from this. If, however, you're just looking for a nice .44, go for it.

 

[Pork Chop]

By the way, just in case you weren't aware of it, Cabela's description of that gun is utter nonesense.

It wasn't long after the original 1851 Navy became a standard-issue favorite among the U.S. military that Samuel Colt began production of his now famous civilian model. Just like the originals, these accurate reproductions include a silver-plated backstrap and trigger guard, octagon barrel, steel frame and walnut grips.

That gun is by no means an 'accurate reproduction' of anything Colt's Manufacturing Company ever produced. If historical accuracy matters to you, run, don't walk, away from this. If, however, you're just looking for a nice .44, go for it.

For us neophytes, what is wrong with it?

 

[Zonie]

Well, first and foremost, Colt never made a 1851 in .44 caliber for sale to the public or to the military.

That means the stepped (rebated) cylinder and the cut in the frame to clear it is incorrect.

The ad is right about the silver plating on the grip strap and trigger guard and if this gun was being sold in the original .36 caliber it would be a pretty fair representation of the original gun.

Colt made pistols in .44 caliber for the Army but these pistols were the Walker, the Whitneyville Walker, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd model Dragoon (all preceeding the 1851 model) and the 1860 Colt Army.

As Mykeal said, if historical accuracy is important this is not the pistol to buy.
If just having a pistol that's great fun to shoot is the goal, then this pistol would do well.

 

[Pork Chop]

Thanks!

 

[st_lgarret01]

there's only one problemo, its a 44


needs to be a .36 :cursing: