That's good handgun shooting by any standard. Both for you and the gun. I've got a pair of 1860's that I've managed to shoot 6 rounds into 1.5'ish inches at around 14 yards which I suspect would translate to about the same group size at 25. So just a "match" from me and no comeuppance being delivered here....
It's surprising how many folks dismiss the C&B guns as not being accurate due to shooting a round ball. I fondly remember the times I've been able to change their minds....
Johnl, you asked about how hard it is to clean these guns. It's not bad at all once you learn and use a few tricks. The big one for me was the adoption of pipe cleaners. For my .44's I take a bundle of 6 or 7 cleaners and fold over an inch and a half's worth so it's doubled over with a lot of brushiness at the bend. The rest I bend into a dog leg "hand crank" shape. You want two such bundles for this. One for wet cleaning and the other for drying.
To clean the gun an old ice cream or similar bucket that you can fill with hot soapy water works like a treat. Fill it high enough that you can dunk the barrel in and the water just comes up to the forcing cone. Dunk it a few times then brush it out with a nylon bristle cleaning brush on a suitable cleaning rod. No need for bronze wire brushes. It's just cleaning, not scraping out any lead. For a light cleaning I then use a wet but not soaking rag to wipe out the frame area and a wet pipe cleaner or two to clean out the hammer recess. Rinse the bore and loading lever area with hot tap water and wipe dry. Patch dry the bore and if you have compressed air blow out the loading lever area. Otherwise just work it one way, wipe, work it the other way, wipe, repeat until it seems dry. Finally oil down the bore, the outside, the lever area and hammer and inside the hammer slot and the main frame and barrel are done.
During my active black powder season I light clean like this twice then on the third time do a full tear down and washing out.
The blank ended cylinder is the tough one. But the pipe cleaner "tools" described earlier makes it a breeze. Swish the cylinder in the wash water and with a stiff dish brush clean the back face around the nipple recesses and pawls. Get in there good and deep since the fouling likes to sit in the nipple recesses and laugh at you. Next clean the chambers with the pipe cleaner tool. Some in and out and a few turns does a quick job of it. Go around twice with some good swishing of the pipe cleaner bundle in the water to rinse it. And finally a single pipe cleaner poked into the nipples and given a spin does a pretty good job on those. I like to do two then cut off the black frayed end with a set of side cutters to get a fresh end for the next two. Rinse with hot water and blow out the nipples with compressed air or just by mouth if that's all you have. If you have compressed air then it'll be dry. If not shake and blow as much off as you can then use a hair dryer to dry the extra water away quickly.
The chambers need to be dried and oiled. That's where the dry pipe cleaner tool comes in. Put a big cloth patch over one chamber and push it in with the tool. Twist while pushing to get in deep. Go around with that patch and one more to make sure it's all dry. I go around with two patches to dry the chambers then one patch with some oil on it to lightly oil the chambers. Don't forget to push cleaners, drying patches and oiled patches through the arbor or base pin hole as well. It gets pretty grungy in there too. Again a single pipe cleaner does a pretty good job of drying and cleaning any last fouling out of the nipples. I also use the end of a single cleaner to oil the insides of the nipples. Then I cut off the oily end and use the dry stub to wick out any excess.
And that's the cylinder done. Put the gun back together in your best Clint Eastwood manner with a suitable tough guy scowl to complete the job properly
Overall I can light clean my BP revolvers this way in about 40 to 45 minutes for a pair of guns. I shoot them often in cowboy action so I've got two to deal with. For a single gun it's 25 minutes. Maybe a half hour if I'm doddling along and chatting with someone or listening to some good tunes.
A word on the cleaning and oiling. Water is the key. The black powder fouling cleans away with water. We add the soap to aid in cutting through the grease and oil residue on the gun and in the chambers and barrel from all the oil and over ball goop we use. Without some detergent action we would end up pushing it around instead of cleaning it off. And we want to use hot water for cleaning and rinsing just to aid in cutting through the oils and greases. It also helps the metal to dry more quickly by using a hot water rinse. And that means less risk of any flash rust.
You also need to use an oil which is black powder compatible. Many petroleum based oils will form a stick tar like mixture when mixed with BP fouling. So the trick is to use something which does not do this. The all time favorite for this is good ol' Ballistol. And another which I've tried with success a couple of times is Fluid Film. I prefer the Ballistol. But if you can't find it for now you can buy Fluid Film at the local Crappy Tire store to make do.
Another which works but is only for short term use is Canola oil. It really does cut into and soften up the fouling like a high performance solvent. And that's great for during the day. But over time it polymerizes from contact with the air and from UV light and becomes thick and sticky and eventually turns into a varnish like film. So it's great if you KNOW you'll be shooting again in a week or two. But I don't recommend leaving it for much longer. And even for that length of time keep the gun in a dry but cool and dark place. For day use though Canola oil ROCKS! In fact I use it for my ball lube. A single good size drop in the corner and it wicks around and keeps the fouling in the barrel loose and very easily cleaned at the end of the day. And it's a LOT less messy and faster than troweling grease like stuff over the balls.
I guess I got carried away again. Well, you have all of my secrets for enjoying BP revolvers now. There's not much else to say other than "keep upwind"...
Eventually I am going to get one of these made in soft buckskin...
