Oh Ya. I'm Hooked!

[686 Shooter]

So last Saturday I took my Uberti 1860 Army out for the first time. I have shot handguns for many years but this was the first time shooting a black powder revolver. I bought it on a whim, and am I ever glad I did!

And I am hooked. That was some of the best shooting ever! Talk about fun. There was a couple of other fellows out at the range that had never shot a bp revolver either. I let each of them shoot it and their smiles were from ear to ear as well.

It's going to be a fun, and smokey, summer.

Hmmmm. Now maybe an 1851 Navy........

 

[fraserdw]

Load it with 15 grains and 1/2 plywood behind the target. You will be able to shoot the same six balls all day.

 

[Edenchef]

Welcome to the Dark Siders.

 

[686 Shooter]

Load it with 15 grains and 1/2 plywood behind the target. You will be able to shoot the same six balls all day.

Really? You can do that?

 

[fraserdw]

Really? You can do that?

I do. Pull the balls out of the wood and roll em on a flat surface to round them again. They will not go deep with 15 grain and you can still shoot from about 20 metres.

 

[vagrantviking]

Congratulations on finding a new way to have fun at the range.

You might have to go lower than 15gr and use a filler if you can't seat the ball down to the power.

Black has more jam than people sometimes expect. A flinters pan worth 3-5gr is plenty to launch a ball out of a 42 inch barrel and slap a board 15yards away. Though it won't cut the paper. Lol

 

[Edenchef]

I do. Pull the balls out of the wood and roll em on a flat surface to round them again. They will not go deep with 15 grain and you can still shoot from about 20 metres.

LOL! Now that puts a whole new spin on the title..."cheap plick". I will have to give that a try sometime. I do find that with my "mouse fart" CAS loads (25 gn), I normally pick up more lead, on the grass in front of the gongs, after a CAS group practice session, than I actually fired downrange. And I figured I was being a "cheap plick", with that.

 

[Robert Nicholson]

I guess that it is something you have to experience to understand? What in particular is extra fun? Big smoke? Slow booming? Delayed bullet impact?

 

[686 Shooter]

I guess that it is something you have to experience to understand? What in particular is extra fun? Big smoke? Slow booming? Delayed bullet impact?

The smoke and the booming are awesome. One thing I really enjoyed was the whole reloading procedure. I thought that may be a real pain in the @$$ but it was blast too. If you have never tried it I would recommend doing so. Its great fun.

 

[wr.sainsbury]

Once you go black you can never go back!

 

[Cocked&Locked]

I'm still giggling at the idea of shooting into the plywood board and picking the balls out to use again. Brings a whole new spin to the concept of recycling.

i added a pair of uberti 1860's to the stable lately, and i've been happily impressed with how well the damn things shoot! Pushed back to 25 yards, they still print inside the black on a standard handgun target, and the limit is my aging eyesight and the microscopic notch on the hammer.

I just tried out the ampco bronze tresco nipples i've read so much about, and i have to say they make the pistols much more shootable. Far easier to cap, and they let the caps drop free. Fewer jams with cap fragments. Have to try them on the police model i have, that one ingests at least one cap a cylinder with the uberti nipples.

 

[BCRider]

I guess that it is something you have to experience to understand? What in particular is extra fun? Big smoke? Slow booming? Delayed bullet impact?

The smoke and the booming are awesome. One thing I really enjoyed was the whole reloading procedure. I thought that may be a real pain in the @$$ but it was blast too. If you have never tried it I would recommend doing so. Its great fun.

I think that sums it up nicely. If it were ONLY the boom instead of bang or if it were only the smoke by itself then I don't think it would have the same appeal to those that click with it. But put it all together and there's just something about it all.

And I agree that working with the goodies and the gun for the reloading is a part of it.

I wish we could skip the cleanup at the end of the day though. That part gets old pretty quick. But with a couple of tricks I've gotten to where if I put my head down and focus I can clean a C&B revolver in about 15 minutes from removing the trigger lock to wiping off the last licks of excess oil. This being for a "short clean" where I don't break down the action though. If I go the whole mile figure on a half hour each.

 

[BCRider]

.... and the limit is my aging eyesight and the microscopic notch on the hammer.

C&L, look at deepening that useless little hint of a "v" with a flat needle file used edge on to open it up into more of a "U" notch. I did that with my own two 1860's and the 1851 and it's like I suddenly got laser eye surgery. A bloke can actually FIND and USE the rear sights with this mod.

Start narrow and take the file with you to the range. Open up one side or the other more to fix any slight windage issue you caused with the original small notch. A delicate touch and patience will reward you greatly and increase the fun.

 

[Cocked&Locked]

C&L, look at deepening that useless little hint of a "v" with a flat needle file used edge on to open it up into more of a "U" notch. I did that with my own two 1860's and the 1851 and it's like I suddenly got laser eye surgery. A bloke can actually FIND and USE the rear sights with this mod.

Start narrow and take the file with you to the range. Open up one side or the other more to fix any slight windage issue you caused with the original small notch. A delicate touch and patience will reward you greatly and increase the fun.

great advice, if i could get around my pathological aversion to modifying firearms in non reversible ways. I mean it's ridiculous as one of the two has had the front sight swapped for a brass blade but i still can't force myself to mod it, even though it would be more shootable. Windage is right on the money but more light would be so beneficial...maybe i'll take the file and see if i can make myself....

 

[BCRider]

If you find the intestinal fortitude to proceed the trick is to start with the thinnest file used on edge and work the notch deeper and wider in small steps. It's best done at the range where you can cut a little then load and shoot a cylinder's worth to check it then cut a touch deeper and wider and so on. You really want to sneak up on it so you're sure that it's in the right place.

Of course keep track of the fact that the notch is closer to your eye so you want it to be no wider than or even smaller than the width of the front sight. Which is another reason I'm saying to start with one of the smaller size needle file sets and use the thin flat file on edge.

Doing it in this small "file then try" mode it'll be harder to mess up....

And take heart in the fact that it's not an irreplaceable old Jen-You-Wine Colt you're messin' with. The Italians are still making what you and I have....

 

[Cocked&Locked]

thanks for the tips BC I'm a tool and die maker, it's not the possibility of screwing up that worries me, i just seem to have an inbred aversion to modifying guns......not sure where it came from, both dad and grampa would ....actually, grampa's military model high standard still has a slight angle on the top of the front sight where he filed it decades ago, and i've yet to talk myself into fixing it....and it's already modified ,,,,sigh it's gotta be a dna thing.

 

[BCRider]

....i just seem to have an inbred aversion to modifying guns.....

I can't help you much there. Can you get a cream for that DNA thing?

I'm the other way around and if the gun in question isn't some old antique of high value I'm quick to study the options and dive in.

I do know that turning that vestigal "v" into the deeper notch has made a nice gun even better now that I can actually see what I'm doing. Even for slow bullseye style plinking I found that the notch helps my "old guy eyes" to get a finer sight picture.

I use a pair of Uberti Remington '58's and a pair of mixed brand 1860's for Frontiersman class cowboy action shooting. The deeper and wider sights sure helps get a bead a lot more quickly.

The issue of cap shards is certainly there and seems to occur with pretty well all nipples. I put some Slix Shot nipples on the '58's and they work pretty good. But I still roll my hand and gun over strongly to the right as I #### the hammer to encourage the cap shards to fall off to the side. Mind you I enjoy shooting loads that feel "right". So it's 30gns of 2f behind the .44 round ball for me. And that produces a pretty good thump that ensures the caps are fully split and looking like flowers.

 

[NorthCoastBigBore]

^^ Regarding the tiny sight notch, I have to say, I did the same thing to my Uberti Cattleman (SAA) for the same reasons. The result was a MUCH easier to use revolver. Like BCR says, just jump right in there with a needle file. I couldn't see the factory sight picture to save my life.

 

[Cocked&Locked]

I can't help you much there. Can you get a cream for that DNA thing?

I'm the other way around and if the gun in question isn't some old antique of high value I'm quick to study the options and dive in.

I do know that turning that vestigal "v" into the deeper notch has made a nice gun even better now that I can actually see what I'm doing. Even for slow bullseye style plinking I found that the notch helps my "old guy eyes" to get a finer sight picture.

I use a pair of Uberti Remington '58's and a pair of mixed brand 1860's for Frontiersman class cowboy action shooting. The deeper and wider sights sure helps get a bead a lot more quickly.

The issue of cap shards is certainly there and seems to occur with pretty well all nipples. I put some Slix Shot nipples on the '58's and they work pretty good. But I still roll my hand and gun over strongly to the right as I #### the hammer to encourage the cap shards to fall off to the side. Mind you I enjoy shooting loads that feel "right". So it's 30gns of 2f behind the .44 round ball for me. And that produces a pretty good thump that ensures the caps are fully split and looking like flowers.

Wish i had a cowboy group anywhere within an hour of where i live, but it seems i'm in a cowboy shooting black hole. It's all over an hour and a half away in just about all directions. I generally shoot 26-30 gn FFFg, and find it shoots well. Normally i see FFFG recomended, how do you find the FF?

I hear what you both say about making it more functional, and if i ever find a place to shoot em on the clock i will open it up, but for target work on the range i can still outshoot most of the centerfire guys as they are if i do my bit. I looked at the slix shot nipples, wasn't sure how they'd work. Maybe i'll find some to put onto the remintons. But i can't think of ever having caps jam up my remi's.

 

[lyman54]

Wish i had a cowboy group anywhere within an hour of where i live, but it seems i'm in a cowboy shooting black hole. It's all over an hour and a half away in just about all directions. I generally shoot 26-30 gn FFFg, and find it shoots well. Normally i see FFFG recomended, how do you find the FF?

I hear what you both say about making it more functional, and if i ever find a place to shoot em on the clock i will open it up, but for target work on the range i can still outshoot most of the centerfire guys as they are if i do my bit. I looked at the slix shot nipples, wasn't sure how they'd work. Maybe i'll find some to put onto the remintons. But i can't think of ever having caps jam up my remi's.

Slix Shot nipples are so expensive I don't know if it's worth it. Rusty Woods have them. Nipples have become expensive in the last few years. Turning the gun over after a shot and before bringing the hammer back will let them usually fall out. But hey, the old timers had to live with, that's kinda why we buy thses things isn't it?