New to Cap and Ball

[fishmusic]

Hi Gents,

I've been into black powder with rifles and plains type pistols but wanted to enter into cap and ball shooting. It looks like real fun. So, I took my bonus check and purchased a Pietta 1851 Colt Navy .36 cal. It was marketed as "Old West" and has a ready made patina on it and the grip is more accurate to the original. Haven't yet had an opportunity to shoot it because i can't get .375 balls. Everyone is out of them now.

Before I go on a rant about unavailability what I want is advice on how to set up and tune this gun. So far the action seems to be dead on (no, I don't dry fire it) and all of the parts appear to be in good condition and working. Once or twice I have had the hammer refuse to cock and wiggling the cylinder a little cures that. I haven't torn it down completely yet but as soon as I can get the proper tools i plan to take it down and polish any burrs and smooth things out a little.

I don't have proper stones for gun smithing so will 400 through 600 grit wet/dry sand paper be good? Looking forward to y'all's good advice.

 

[1dogdown]

Larry's Sporting goods in Idaho has a few.

 

[necchi]

This video from member dualist1954 sure helped me;


He has a ton of great info, with easy to follow instructions and shared experience with revolvers.

 

[Winchester97]

I actually use .390 lee balls in my pietta 1851,and a uberti pocket navy, so you could start looking for .380,.390 as well. They dont seem to load too hard, and sure cut a nice ring of lead on loading. I figured they would be too big, but nope.

 

[fishmusic]

This video from member dualist1954 sure helped me;


He has a ton of great info, with easy to follow instructions and shared experience with revolvers.

I've seen his video and will use some of his ideas. Mike is a good source of information. Thanks for reminding me of that.

 

[fishmusic]

I actually use .390 lee balls in my pietta 1851,and a uberti pocket navy, so you could start looking for .380,.390 as well. They dont seem to load too hard, and sure cut a nice ring of lead on loading. I figured they would be too big, but nope.

Thanks, Winchester, I'll be conservative and try to find .380 balls. I've seen that recommendation before.

 

[hrt4me]

FYI, my local Cabelas just north of you had boxes of Hornady 0.375 lead round balls on its shelves earlier this week...

 

[Versanaut]

There are a few youtubers out there that go into 'slicking up' C&B guns. MannyCa has some good videos on Trigger, Action and Timing work on single action revolvers. Some of his videos tend to start off on a bit of a political note, but the C&B meat and potatoes are well explained. I linked one of the videos below so you can find his channel easier if you so desire.

 

[Throwdown58]

Most people would prefer that their screws don't get boogered, so my advice is to just try it the way it is, because even if you get gunsmithing screwdrives, which you should, even if you are careful at least one of the screws will usually look like they have been turned. I did recently get a problem 51 navy Pietta, but there is no reason to go slick it up or assume there is something wrong with it for casual shooting. As others have said, if you have a gunshop, cabelas or bass pro near you, call around. You most likely will find balls. Even .390s will shave fairly easily, but most places only carry the .375s. You can get conical bullets from S&B when you buy a paper cartridge kit. It is the most robust kit anyway.
https://cartridgekits.com/products/150-gr-36-richmond

 

[CaptainKirk]

Welcome to the world of cap and ball revolvers! The guys were correct about ball size; many of the .36 calibers do better with a .380 ball or larger, in some cases. If a .375 doesn't shave a ring of lead when seating, try the next size up (e.g. a .375 would size up to .380, and so on). Unless, of course, you have chamfered cylinder bores, in which case, you won't shave a ring. As far as working the innards, I've had very good luck using 320 wet-or-dry dipped in light oil, and final polishing with 600 w/d. Most production repros are surprisingly crudely finished inside and will benefit greatly from a little TLC and attention.

 

[toot]

Welcome.

 

[fishmusic]

FYI, my local Cabelas just north of you had boxes of Hornady 0.375 lead round balls on its shelves earlier this week...

hrt4me, You mean the Cabela's in Buda? That's where I bought the gun and they didn't have wads or balls. i could check with Bass Pro in round Rock. It's only 10 miles away. In the mean time i will try Track's .380 balls. At least they are in stock. I will PM you on another subject.

 

[fishmusic]

Welcome to the world of cap and ball revolvers! The guys were correct about ball size; many of the .36 calibers do better with a .380 ball or larger, in some cases. If a .375 doesn't shave a ring of lead when seating, try the next size up (e.g. a .375 would size up to .380, and so on). Unless, of course, you have chamfered cylinder bores, in which case, you won't shave a ring. As far as working the innards, I've had very good luck using 320 wet-or-dry dipped in light oil, and final polishing with 600 w/d. Most production repros are surprisingly crudely finished inside and will benefit greatly from a little TLC and attention.

CaptainKirk, Thanks for the advice on oil dipped 320. I hadn't thought of that but it feels right. I am concerned about removing the case hardening so I will go easy on the pressure.

 

[fishmusic]

ThrowDown, I do have gunsmith screw driver tips and a couple of them fit just right. I can't wait tp\o get this puppy to a range and loose some lead.

 

[hrt4me]

hrt4me, You mean the Cabela's in Buda? That's where I bought the gun and they didn't have wads or balls. i could check with Bass Pro in round Rock. It's only 10 miles away. In the mean time i will try Track's .380 balls. At least they are in stock. I will PM you on another subject.

sorry, I was referring to the Cabelas in Allen, Texas... I had not realized you were that far south

 

[fishmusic]

So, Gents,

I took the revolver down and polished up the bearing surfaces and checked for burrs. The only place I found burrs was on the hand. I gently honed those down to smooth and polished up the hammer a bit. Reassembled the revolver and checked the action. Dang, I was still getting the hang up occasionally. I played with it a bit and noticed a delayed click after letting the hammer down (did that gently so as not to disappoint it ). It didn't do this at the store so what was different? BINGO I had put on some plastic tubing nipple protectors to guard against accidental hammer falls. It prevented the hammer from going all the way down and allowing the hand to click back into place. Removed the protectors and problem solved.


Ordered .380 balls from TOW and already have wads and a cleaning rod and jag ordered. The wait is excruciating. I want to shoot it NOW!

 

[CaptainKirk]

I am concerned about removing the case hardening so I will go easy on the pressure.

@fishmusic, there is a compound called "Kasenit" that was available from Brownell's...not sure if it still is?...that you use by heating the part with a small torch and then covering the part with Kasenit and letting it cool which will restore case hardening in such instances. You might try a Google search.

 

[Zonie]

Kasenit is no longer avaliable.
It was taken off of the market several years ago because it uses a cyanide process of hardening.

Before someone who has some gets freeked out like the idiots that demanded that it be removed, the cyanide is chemically locked into the stuff and it does not escape during the heat treatment. I wouldn't recommend eating the stuff but that is the only possible danger and some feel that even eating it isn't really bad for you. Handling it with your bare hands is totally safe.

Anyway, Kasenit has been replaced by something called "Cherry Red". It works about the same as Kasenit but it does not contain the dreaded cyanide.

Both of these hardeners create a hard "case" on the steel part but unless the part and the hardener are held at the "critical temperature" for 15 minutes or more, the case is very thin. If a one or two minute saturation time is used, the case depth is on the order of being only .0002 thick. That's about 1/16 the thickness of a human hair.