Thinking about a cap and ball revolver

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Kmck

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I'm thinking it would be fun to add a cap and ball revolver to my collection, does anyone have experience with pietta revolvers specifically the 1858 Remington?
 
I own three Rem .44 cap & ball revolvers, one Uberti, one Pietta, one built from a kit. The kit gun is the best of the lot, put together by someone who knew his stuff.

Remingtons lack the cachet of the open top Colts, but are much more reliable and not prone to jamming with cap fragments as are the Colts. I've owed ALL the Colt models from the Walker to the diminutive .31s. They are all gone now. I refer to them as Colt "wedgies' due to the barrel being attached to the cylinder arbor by means of a wedge. Brilliant.

The newest Piettas have more room behind the trigger guard making them more comfortable for people with large hands. Some people hog out the area on older models for that purpose.

There was a reason Bill Cody loved his Remington .44s - "They never let me down."
 
Had an older Pietta 1858 in .36. It looked rough and either wasn't blued well or was faded and worn from handling but wasn't mechanically worn much.

It outshot most of my modern guns and was neck and neck with my Old Army Rugers. Would seize up pretty quickly if you didn't pull the cylinder pin and regrease every cylinder or 2 though. Have it to a relative who will probably be lucky to use it more than once a year.

Find a decent deal on any used one that strikes your fancy. You won't have too much tied up in it and can cut your teeth on it to see what you like or if it's something you want to really dive into.
 
I have a Uberti 1858 and Pietta 1860 Army. The 1858 is much stronger due to top the strap and easier to reload if you want to pop out the cylinder. IMHO the 1860 looks better but the wedge system is a PITA.
 
A shot of Ballistol occasionaly on the cylinder arbor will alleviate binding from BP fouling.

I also grease it with SPG during long strings or 10 stage matches as necessary.

Most '58s shuck off their fired caps when the cylinder rotates. Not so with Colts.
 
vagrantviking said:
Had an older Pietta 1858 in .36. It looked rough and either wasn't blued well or was faded and worn from handling but wasn't mechanically worn much.

It outshot most of my modern guns and was neck and neck with my Old Army Rugers. Would seize up pretty quickly if you didn't pull the cylinder pin and regrease every cylinder or 2 though. Have it to a relative who will probably be lucky to use it more than once a year.

Find a decent deal on any used one that strikes your fancy. You won't have too much tied up in it and can cut your teeth on it to see what you like or if it's something you want to really dive into.
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An old US armorers trick that they used was to cut a series of shallow grooves/rings at the muzzle-of-the-cylinder end of the pin and then copiously use a thick grease (I think they just used animal fat but we have much better stuff avail. to us) in the pin bore. The heavy grease sticks in the grooves and doesn't allow the powder fowling to migrate into the pin hole as bad. I used to have to pull the pins on the wifes Uberti's with pliers after a couple of shoots but after giving them "the treatment" I can pull the pins with my fingers afert 1/2 a summers shooting.
 
That's because the old frames didn't have much room behind the trigger guard. The new ones do. Like I said - you can hog out the frame to accommodate large paws.
 
I am a big fan of the Colt design cap and ball revolvers. I have two Uberti's, an 1853 36 cal and an 1860 44 cal. I must be lucky because I never had the cap sucking issues with mine. They don't seem to foul as bad as the Remingtons so you can shoot more before you gave to do some cleaning.

Regardless of which style you choose there are two basic rules for buying one of these. First, don't buy a brass framed revolver, stick with a steel frame. The brass frames tend to stretch rendering the gun useless. Second, stick to Pietta or Uberti. Both are good quality and will last you a long long time.
 
joe6167 said:
Who in Canada sells supplies for Cap and Ball Revolvers?
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Every local gun store will have lead balls and wads and caps.

Just don't ask for revolver stuff.

The stuff hides in the muzzleloader aisle.

My Ruger Old Army uses .457 balls that are quite often on sale - as no other gun needs that specific size! The wads are .44/.45, but you have to look for them.

Also, Track of the Wolf ships to Canada without hassle.

RustyWood has the stuff, and is quite knowledgeable.
 
I have two pairs of Uberti 1860's, one is C&B, the other pair are Richards-Mason Conversions; both sets are very well made. I use them for CAS shooting. My most recent acquisition is a Pietta LeMat Revolver, very nicely made, a whole bunch of fun to shoot. I love shooting C&B, it is much more relaxed pace and the smoke & flame has a serious WOW! factor for people who have never seen BP firearms fired before.
 
fingers284 said:
An old US armorers trick that they used was to cut a series of shallow grooves/rings at the muzzle-of-the-cylinder end of the pin and then copiously use a thick grease (I think they just used animal fat but we have much better stuff avail. to us) in the pin bore. The heavy grease sticks in the grooves and doesn't allow the powder fowling to migrate into the pin hole as bad. I used to have to pull the pins on the wifes Uberti's with pliers after a couple of shoots but after giving them "the treatment" I can pull the pins with my fingers afert 1/2 a summers shooting.
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Uberti ,colt 1860 army model.
I use a few drops of canola oil on cylinder shaft, no grease on balls and just a couple of drops of canola on each ball . No more fouling.
Brownie
 
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