Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Cap and ball 1858

I hope this is the right place for this....
What is your experience with Pyrodex pellets in an 1858 cap & ball? What about loose Pyrdex? FFF still first choice? C & B will be a new adventure for me. Any suggestions are welcome.

I don't think you will be able to fit a pellet plus a ball in the gun, and they are HARD to ignite, IME. Loose 3F Pyrodex (Pyrodex pistol) will light up more readily, but still not as easily as true black powder, and is what I will be running in my soon to arrive replica Walker Dragoon. I might even try to find some loose 4F Pyrodex, but it is a rare occasion that I have ever seen that stuff.

Another option, and one that I would surely entertain if I had an 1858 Remington replica, is the conversion cylinder from various sources (Dixie, Cabela's and others) that allows for firing 45 Long Colt ammo in one's 1858 Remmy clone.

Swiss FFFG and a round ball. BPCR lube over the ball.
No pellets, takes more fire then caps. Loose Pyrocrap will fire OK but less velocity.

Didn't know that Pyrodex had less energy per volume, interesting notation. To me, the less risk of getting rusty parts and extensive cleaning being much easier might still win out with a quite pretty, still yet to be fired until I get it, Walker Dragoon replica in hand. Methinks it will be plenty powerful, either way.

Give us the details on that hog leg when you shoot it.

That is surely the plan! I have mis placed (again) my only decent digital camera, but hope to snag another one when I see my next (itty bitty) retirement check on Feb 3rd or so. Will try to post up some action shots and impressions of the gun then.

aj

My cap and ball revolvers enjoy loose Triple 7. Great velocity. Great accuracy, easy cleanup. Pyrodex is more corrosive. I don't use, nor have I tried pellets of any type because of rumored ignition problems. In this case, I didn't feel the need to prove or disprove the rumors because what I was doing worked well enough.

Best.

Dan

^^^ That.

ajHilgy,

Use one of the lubed felt wads to prevent chain firing... the lube over the ball just creates a hell of a mess.

Never quite got the Pyrodex thing... maybe it's the storage requirement for stores or that you can get off more shots in a rifle before you have to wipe the bore? But it is corrosive and been a long time since I tried it but if IIRC it was not much easier to clean than Black.

Jerry

i have a ruger old army that i play with once in a while. I have had consistent ignition problems using pellets or pyrodex. I have been told, haven't done it, to replace the nipples with a non factory type, and, to use original black powder, or some other type.
Was watching an old period western last night, and pointed out one guy was using a remington. Wife asked me how i knew, so i pulled the old army out this morning that she didn't know i had.
The are a pain to clean properly, but accuracy and power they have in spades.
The movie i was watching showed the guy tripping in the snow with the revolver just caked in snow when he fell. Can't imagine that was a good idea with cap and ball.
i can well understand why one would want to have a spare Loaded cyclinder on hand.

I'm leery of having a preloaded cylinder that is also capped. It's too easy to imagine either dropping the cylinder, or accidentally having a cap impact the frame during insertion.

Pellets are a real PITA in C&B revolvers, I much prefer real black or Hodgens 777.

Both 3F black powder from GOEX and Pyrodex P work well in my percussion revolvers. Swiss BP may be best of all by reputation, but I haven't tried it yet. Consider using an overpowder wad, then a dab of lube, then last the ball; I have been having really good results with this system in terms of lack of fouling and easy cleaning.

Thanks for the pointer Gents. So FFF it is.
Golfswithwolves: What is the "dab of lube" you put under the ball? Is it the same thing used for patched round ball in a rifle? What brand of #10 cap is recommended? Right now I'll probably buy whatever I can find.

Yes the lube is just standard blackpowder lube, the same stuff as most shooters put OVER the ball. I have been using a 85% Crisco/15% beeswax mix as suggested by a gentleman on the Percussionrevolvers.com site who also devised the idea of lube under the ball. Between the wad and ball the lube stays in place without being messy and seems to keep fouling in the barrel and chambers soft and minimal. But if this system doesn't work for you the standard way is either to use only a lightly lubed felt wad over the powder or to use just a dab of lube over the ball. Caps are whatever fits the nipples of your gun; usually CCI #11 or maybe Remington #10 is close. Good luck and have fun GWW

30 g goex 3f powder, .454 swaged ball, wonder wads, remington or CCI #10 caps. done and done. no sense in making it complicated.

I never had any failure to ignite with Pyrodreck P in my C&B revolvers (1858 replica and Ruger Old Army), but 777 in fffg works better. Easier to clean, too. No pellets - just loose powder.