1851 Confederate Navy .44 Pistol. I'm Your Huckleberry,....New Addition

[twyacht]

Always wanted one, and Cabelas used their wicked voodoo to force me to order one. .50 cent shipping, and pistol was on sale for $159.00 with a 10% off online coupon. 







Cap & Ball Blackpowder. Came with Brass Powder Measure, Cap Holder, Nipple Wrench.

7 1/2" barrel.  Walnut grips.  Octagon Barrel, and can't wait to try it out.

Any cap & ball advice would be greatly appreciated. It recommends Pyrodex, or FFFG powder. Is there a difference?

Certainly approved for beating/pistol whipping.....No plastic fantastic on this rig. 

[alfsauve]

Certainly approved for beating/pistol whipping.....No plastic fantastic on this rig. 

Real men use revolvers with black powder.......or that what they say.

Looks cool. 

[tombogan03884]

The more "F's" the finer the grind.
The "F" rating relates to how finely the powder is ground, Pyrodex and other BP substitutes are likely equivalent to FFFG Since that is the most commonly used. FFg is often referred to as "cannon powder", while FFFFG is generally only used for priming in Flintlocks.
Always coat the load with grease, this prevents a spark from the shot from setting off other chambers, that will wreck your day and pistol

[twyacht]

I heard grease, blackpowder lube, even Crisco works, however, the kit came with dry lubed pre cut patches, however, the online Cabelas video doesn't even show them being used.

Do they do the same thing after being loaded?

Either that, or I'll just get to Bass Pro this weekend and get some caps and powder, and some blackpowder lube.

Thanks for that bit of info, the manual does warn of sparks setting off other chambers,... unless grease or equivalent is used.

[tombogan03884]

Crisco is a lot cheaper.  and that is in addition to a patch between powder and ball.
Try some cast bullets as well, the "Minie ball" style with the hollow base are supposed to be much more accurate than the ball because they do not have the sprue from the fill hole of the mold.

[Sponsor]

[Majer]

Forget the patches and get some wonderwads, they go between the powder and ball.I would still use crisco/bore butter over the chambers but that's just me. Get a can of Baliistol to clean,lube after shooting. Hot soapy water works well too, Do not use petrolium products to lube, it will harden the B/P residue and make it harder to clean.

[david86440]

You can always just roll your own cartridges or cheat and use Pyrodex pellets........... My Ruger Old Army .45 will handle anything I can feed it.

It takes a little time to get the hang of rolling them, but it was fun. I started out by rolling the paper around an empty .44 special cartridge with the .45 ball sitting on top so the paper was half way up the ball, then glued it in place. After they are dry remove the brass case and add the charge, then fold it over. It wasn't an original idea. I stole it from articles on the net.


http://www.hackman-adams.com/guns/aboutpaper.htm

History of Paper Cartridges
Cartridges made of paper were the mainstay rifle and pistol ammunition of the American Civil War for both sides. The paper used to make paper cartridges was not waterproof. And the available gunpowder wouldn't work when wet.

Over 90% of the Civil War guns were loaded from the front end. Revolvers were loaded from the front end of the cylinder. Muskets were loaded from the front end of the barrel, the muzzle.

Paper cartridges are fat like a cigar (but shorter) and light colored like a cigarette. The ends could be tied with string or folded over and glued. Paper or linen cartridges are reported to have been used as early as the 1550s.

The soldier could rip off the back end of the paper cartridge and then pour the powder down the barrel followed by the bullet. They were taught to tear off the back end of the cartridge with their teeth. This worked until the teeth became loose.  As part of the military medical examine, the doctors checked certain molar teeth matched for biting and tearing paper cartridges.

Metallic cartridges for new models of breech loading guns replaced paper cartridges in common military service as early as 1866. But the teeth requirement for military induction physical exams wasn't dropped until 1940. What else were they expected to bite so hard, uncooked food such as raw beef?

Ripping off the back of the paper cartridges took time. In the heat of battle, instinct is to ram and fire fast. That is, ram the new powder charge and bullet down the barrel as fast as possible. To do that, the entire paper cartridge was rammed down the barrel either opened or unopened. For this purpose, the paper had been soaked in potassium nitrate to make it completely combustible. Both the powder and the paper used in Civil War ammunition was highly combustible. Keep the cartridge box away from the campfire sparks!

Correctly loaded the powder end of the paper cartridge went down the barrel first. Incorrectly loaded with the bullet down first disabled the gun for the duration of the battle. The embarrassed soldier would throw down his musket and pick up the gun of a fallen buddy. After a musket changed hands several times, it was more likely than not to be unusable by being loaded incorrectly. One musket picked up from the Gettysburg battlefield had 22 charges rammed down the barrel!

[twyacht]

Thanks Majer, caught a youtube vid showing the patches being used between powder and ball.

I appreciate the info. Putting 15-20 grains of black powder with 6 rather large balls into a combustion chamber, tends to motivate me to do it correctly.

Let me know if anything in this vid is not Kosher.

[tombogan03884]

You know the type of paper cartridges they made for rifles ?
They did the same for pistols. you can use either rolling papers or thin aluminum foil.
Put a twist of dental floss around the end where you twist it shut for easier opening.

[david86440]

You know the type of paper cartridges they made for rifles ?
They did the same for pistols. you can use either rolling papers or thin aluminum foil.
Put a twist of dental floss around the end where you twist it shut for easier opening.

I was taking pics while you were posting,  look back a couple posts.