ASM Walker

Brutus

Brutus

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West of most places....and in Alberta


I have to thank my good friend Silverback for this recent acquisition. Man this beast gave 100% reliable ignition.
But gosh, it sure seems to shoot high with 200 gr Lee bullets. Load lever dropped a bit every time one shoots.

Anyone have a similar Dragoon/Walker and which load shoots best for you at 20-25 yards??

curious......
 
My CAS pals shoot 45 grs of FFg in their Walkers, the same load I shoot in my 3rd Model Dragoon. Makes it much more manageable.

The loading lever dropping is the nature of the beast, even on my Dragoon. You can make a Dragoon type latch or tie it in place with a thong. I use modern 'rawhide' called masking tape!

All the cap & ball Colt 'wedgies' were sighted to hit POA at 50 yds. On a SASS Cowboy silhouette, hold on his crotch and you'll hit him in the chest. At closer range, centre on his belt buckle for the same POI.

I sold my Walker to a guy that just had to have a pair for CAS. He shot them a couple of times and went back to something more manageable - .45 SAA's. Another CAS pal has shot his Walkers in a number of matches before stepping down to a brace of SS Ruger ''Old Army's". The Walkers are a big gun in anybody's book.

I hosted a couple of BP seminars for my historical re-enactment group. The men all had to shoot the Walker, against my advice. After the 3rd shot they all had a world class flinch and only shot it dry because the ladies were watching. You can guess the results on paper.

The ladies shot the dainty '51 Navy, all of them hitting the target in the black at 15 yds.
 
Thanks for the experiences. Myself, I'm not into CAS, but I really enjoy a historically inspiring piece or the accurate ROA.

I got a 1860, a Remington 1858, a Manhattan and now this one.
Two ss ROAs with different sights and barrel lengths.

Cheers!
 
I now have two ASM Walkers one is engraved and the other a bit of a beater but they are fun to shoot.
I usually load about 40 grains FFFG and a .454 round ball..haven't tried any bullets because mine are all hard cast.
There was a report on another forum (THR) about a guy blowing a cylinder by ramming an oversize bullet on to a full charge.

 
Carbine said:
There is just 'something' about a Walker.....

Brutus, well photographed btw, and thanks for sharing.
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Agreed about that Carbine. Maybe it's because this fine piece of metallurgy was designed by a combat veteran, just for combat along the Mexican-US border. Sam Walker assessed the earlier Colt Paterson, and this was his idea(s) that he put forth to Sam Colt during their meeting in NYC during 1846. The resulting Whitneyville-Walker went into production in early 1847.

I wonder how many bad guys from the wrong side of the Rio Grande fell under it's bullets? With the shooter proclaiming: Remember the Alamo!

It's an iconic design & is frequently associated with Capt Sam Walker and his sidekick John Coffee Hays, much like the S&W Model 29 is associated with "Inspector Harry Callahan."
 
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Brutus said:
It's an iconic design & is frequently associated with Capt Sam Walker and his sidekick John Coffee Hays, much like the S&W Model 29 is associated with "Inspector Harry Callahan."
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The difference being that while Walker and Hays were historical figures, Callahan was fictional.

The .44 Colts were known to blow cylinders due to poor metallurgy. You can't get enough BP powder and lead into a modern made cylinder to do harm. Steels are better.

Best fictional use of a Walker was in "True Grit" in the hands of Mattie. In the original book by Porteus, Rooster Gogburn uses her Walker to shoot two rats in the Chinese merchant's (Chen Li?) storeroom. He reloads it for her and that's why she has a misfire when she later tries to shoot Cheney.

We did that using either a Walker or a Dragoon (your choice) to begin a CAS stage, shooting two rds on one of those 'Dirty Bird' rodent targets. Great Fun!

Shooting any cap & ball gun in or out of something like an outhouse is memorable. The blast blows tape right off targets and the lube makes sticking new tape on difficult. I was getting bored with brass case CAS cartridge guns so I switched to shooting cap & ball. Now it's fun again and as "Cowboy" as it gets.

"Well, you gonna draw them pistols or whistle "Dixie?"
 
Brutus said:
Agreed about that Carbine. Maybe it's because this fine piece of metallurgy was designed by a combat veteran, just for combat along the Mexican-US border. Sam Walker assessed the earlier Colt Paterson, and this was his idea(s) that he put forth to Sam Colt during their meeting in NYC during 1846. The resulting Whitneyville-Walker went into production in early 1847.

I wonder how many bad guys from the wrong side of the Rio Grande fell under it's bullets? With the shooter proclaiming: Remember the Alamo!

It's an iconic design & is frequently associated with Capt Sam Walker and his sidekick John Coffee Hays, much like the S&W Model 29 is associated with "Inspector Harry Callahan."
Click to expand...

The Walker was the '44 Magnum' of it's day. Designed by Colt under Walker's direction to bring down a man at 100 yards, or the horse he sat on.

It commanded respect then, I don't know what words would have been used to describe it's presence in 1850 speak, but major wow factor sure fits today....
 
Sharps '63 said:
The difference being that while Walker and Hays were historical figures, Callahan was fictional.

The .44 Colts were known to blow cylinders due to poor metallurgy. You can't get enough BP powder and lead into a modern made cylinder to do harm. Steels are better.

Best fictional use of a Walker was in "True Grit" in the hands of Mattie. In the original book by Porteus, Rooster Gogburn uses her Walker to shoot two rats in the Chinese merchant's (Chen Li?) storeroom. He reloads it for her and that's why she has a misfire when she later tries to shoot Cheney.

We did that using either a Walker or a Dragoon (your choice) to begin a CAS stage, shooting two rds on one of those 'Dirty Bird' rodent targets. Great Fun!

Shooting any cap & ball gun in or out of something like an outhouse is memorable. The blast blows tape right off targets and the lube makes sticking new tape on difficult. I was getting bored with brass case CAS cartridge guns so I switched to shooting cap & ball. Now it's fun again and as "Cowboy" as it gets.

"Well, you gonna draw them pistols or whistle "Dixie?"
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That's why I placed quotation marks around the inspector.

Glad to see that you went back to cap and ball versus an open top revolver in 38 Special.

Cheers!
 
Brutus said:
That's why I placed quotation marks around the inspector.

Glad to see that you went back to cap and ball versus an open top revolver in 38 Special.

Cheers!
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I do have a couple of .38 Spl. Open Tops in the corral. Elegant handguns and great fun with BP. We see the Open Tops in .44 and .45 Colt as well, and that beats them up pretty good if you shoot real loads and not the usual CAS 'powder puff' loads. All the cap && ball shooters I know load 'em up!

You don't get into CAS without becoming a collector! My first CAS revolvers were a pair of Ruger Vaqueros in .44 mag which I still have. Bomb proof guns. They were followed by a pair of Uberti .45 SAA's, a Uberti .44 Russian, and so it goes .....

I've been through all the Colt "wedgies", including the Patersons. Only one I kept was the 3rd Model Dragoon. Remingtons are a far superior design for the pounding they take in several 10 stage matches a year. Colt shooters travel with a parts kit to rebuild a gun on the spot.

That's what is great about CAS - there are a lot of great historic guns out there that still work well in practiced hands. This applies to long guns as well.

In lever guns, the only rifle I have never warmed up to was the '73. I much prefer the '66 and my Henry, Browning '92, '86 and Win '94. Also had an original '87 which got sold to buy my wife a pair of Ruger .44 Spl. NM Blackhawks which she doesn't like!
 
No offence taken here. That's why I shoot "Frontiersman" class in SASS - cap & ball revolvers in .44 (33-35) grs FFFg, BP in 44-40 rifle/carbine (33 grs FFg/200 gr RNFP) and 70 grs FFG 12 ga. SxS. When I go "Boom", you notice.

The best of the best shoot BP in brass case guns as well, not fudging on their loads. Both categories also require shooting "Duelist", one handed, not two. It can be a man's game if you want it. We let the pop gun powder puffs do their thing and we all play nice in our separate categories.

Bird shot only in shotguns for safety. Pretty effective on steel and necessary for the flying clays in many stages.
 
Skinny 1950 said:
I now have two ASM Walkers one is engraved and the other a bit of a beater but they are fun to shoot.
I usually load about 40 grains FFFG and a .454 round ball..haven't tried any bullets because mine are all hard cast.
There was a report on another forum (THR) about a guy blowing a cylinder by ramming an oversize bullet on to a full charge.

Click to expand...

That's gorgeous!!!!
I'm a newbie to the bp.
I'd like a Walker but want something a little more special than an Uberti replica.
Is the ASM Walker expensive and where could one find one? Especially one like this one!
Any direction as where I should look? :)
 
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