New to me Navy Arms Screw Barrel

[Millermpls]

This arrived today. Was a steal via Gunbroker seller, at around $75. Very clean, .36 caliber, about a six inch barrel (definitely larger than the current offering at Dixie) with brass furniture Took two strikes on the hammer each time of six tries to ignite the cap, but I couldn't seem to push it on any farther. Won't get to shoot it until spring, but the idea was to get something small enough and weak enough to entice to missus into a little BP action. (this sounds vaguely dirty)

Two questions
Listed as .36 caliber. A .36 revolver ball (.375) didn't seem like it had a snowballs chance of squeezing in. A .330 ball (00 Buck) seemed to work with a .15 inch patch loading from the front. Does anyone actually own this, and can definitively confirm the size ball they use, and specify loading from the front or rear? (this sounds dirty too...)

Any owners have a suggestion for nipple wrench? None of the four straights I had fit, nor did my ratchet style. There isn't much clearance from the cocked hammer...

Thanks for your thoughts. I was going to post a picture, but I don't use photobucket, and it appears that a 'paste' or upload isn't possible.

 

[bpd303]

If you have a Dremel with a cutoff wheel nipple wrenches are easy to make. A 7/32 1/4 drive socket ground to fit.

 

[cynthialee]

Screw barrel pistols like that are designed with a slightly oversized ball and a small charge of 4F powder in mind.
3F and a PRB in them and they are not powerful enough to penetrate wood and they will bounce back.

 

[Zonie]

Screw barrel pistols can be loaded and shot as you say but the original idea is the barrel is unscrewed.
A ball that is just a half hair smaller than the chamber is pushed into the breech until it stops on the rifling. Then, the remaining chamber behind the ball is loaded with powder. No patch is used.

Based on this, I can't say what the size of the ball should be but it would be one or two thousandths of an inch smaller than the diameter of the breech at the rear of the barrel.

Track of the Wolf offers some .350 diameter lead balls that should work if they were patched and loaded by ramming the patched ball down the bore.
Doing this also allows using a larger powder load than the original screw barrels could use.

I would think a powder charge of 10-15 grains would be safe.

 

[Don]

I have the same pistol. They are very low end pistols and are more novelty than shooter. They can be made to work though. I had to reshape the nipple to get it to pop caps reliably. I chucked it in an electric drill and narrowed the nipple diameter after I shortened the nipple a bit to let the hammer fall just slightly more. It still doesn't pop caps every time but most of the time. I load it with a .350 diameter ball and .020 thickness patch. I load it from the muzzle with 20 grains of powder. You'll have trouble hitting a target beyond a few feet. Its fun to play with and I have carried it as a coup d'gras gun for squirrels who were not quite dead after I shot them out of a tree. Keep playing with it and have fun.

Don

 

[azmntman]

I had a "derringer in a book" and it sure did bounce back! Was wondering how they worked. never tried 4f. Gave it to my son who thought it cooler than I did so maybe we take it out again?

 

[torn moc]

I wouldn't be so negative about their Power...from what I have read a swaged 451 ball with 10 grains of powder generated 80 foot pounds of energy...my Smith & Wesson .32 does the same.
My 22 air rifle shoots 15 pounds of energy and will drop a big red fox squirrel totally dead at 30 yds....

 

[Zonie]

There's no doubt that these guns can do a heap of damage to soft skinned critters including people.

That said, I strongly suggest you don't fire your .451 ball with 10 grains of powder propelling it at a large piece of plywood.

More than a few people have found such a shot coming back at them and although the ball lost a lot of energy whacking the wood, it can still do a lot of damage to the soft skinned critter that fired it.

 

[F.G. Ford]

As Zonie said, shooting at a thick piece of plywood, can cause injury to your reproductive equipment.
Please don't ask how I know!
Fred

 

[Electric Miner]

I don't have the Navy Arms screw barrel, but I do have the Pedersoli screw barrel. Mine is a .44, but the loading process is the same.

To load, you unscrew the barrel...

Fill the powder chamber full all the way to the top, so your load is whatever fits in there...

Set the ball over the powder...

Screw the barrel over the ball, seating the ball in the barrel. No patch is used...

Ball popped out of the barrel. Notice the rifling imprints...

You'll have to find the proper size ball for the pistol, which may mean getting the barrel slugged, or some experimentation. My .44 uses a .452 ball.


Keep in mind this is a belly gun. You poke it in their belly and pull the trigger.

 

[crockett]

Oh no, now there's another gun I have to get :grin:

 

[cynthialee]

Miner, I have seen the book that comes with that Pedersolli screw barrel pistol and it recommends 4F powder in the breach.

Just throwing that out there as no one seems to be catching that these pistols are designed with a small 4F charge in mind.

 

[Millermpls]

Found it!
http://www.navyarms.com/files/derringer_manuel.pdf

For any interested, 10-15 grains FFFG, .350 caliber ball with patch loaded at the muzzle. Now I just have to wait for 4-5 months of winter to pass to fire the sucker...