45collector
NES Member
This was gifted to me months ago by friends of family. Made in 1861, completely matching and original, with military acceptance stamps. No doubt it saw action during the civil war. If only it could talk.
I knew next to nothing about cap and ball guns before this, so I did plenty of research on what would be needed to safely fire it. I collected all the stuff to get it going, and figured I’d wait until the anniversary of the battle of Antietam to fire it. Sept 17th is too far away so I put 10 rounds through it yesterday, and loved every minute of it. And trust me it took many minutes of careful preparation and loading to make sure I didn’t blow it or myself up.
I used an old peppered IDPA target and aimed way low for the first shot. I had heard these guns shoot low at 25 yards but I was only at about 12 yards. Next round was a bit high, and 3rd round was a bit low again but then I dialed it in somewhat. The bore on this old beauty is pretty gnarly, with some areas significantly pitted. But hell, not too bad for combat distance with an almost 160 year old piece!
Stuff I had to get:
.451 pure lead round ball. (Apparently I should have gone with .454 or .457 based on wear and tear/ age.)
Black powder. 3f Goex
Lubed wads, for placing between the powder and ball, for insurance against chain fires.
Little discs of solid lube to place over ball, again for avoiding chain fires but also to help lube the bore on each shot.
Percussion caps, #10.
Cap keepers, which are just little rubber donut looking things that help keep the caps on the nipples, and help to keep any wandering sparks out of adjacent nipples during firing. (More insurance against chain fires).
After 10 rounds it was quite black and filthy. I took the barrel and cylinder and dunked them in hot soapy water.
After a 10 minute soak I blew everything out thoroughly with compressed air, swabbed the bore about 15 times with CLP until it no longer spat out blackened patches, and then wiped it all down with CLP throughout.
Tedious yes, but the history!!! What a hoot to shoot.
I knew next to nothing about cap and ball guns before this, so I did plenty of research on what would be needed to safely fire it. I collected all the stuff to get it going, and figured I’d wait until the anniversary of the battle of Antietam to fire it. Sept 17th is too far away so I put 10 rounds through it yesterday, and loved every minute of it. And trust me it took many minutes of careful preparation and loading to make sure I didn’t blow it or myself up.
I used an old peppered IDPA target and aimed way low for the first shot. I had heard these guns shoot low at 25 yards but I was only at about 12 yards. Next round was a bit high, and 3rd round was a bit low again but then I dialed it in somewhat. The bore on this old beauty is pretty gnarly, with some areas significantly pitted. But hell, not too bad for combat distance with an almost 160 year old piece!
Stuff I had to get:
.451 pure lead round ball. (Apparently I should have gone with .454 or .457 based on wear and tear/ age.)
Black powder. 3f Goex
Lubed wads, for placing between the powder and ball, for insurance against chain fires.
Little discs of solid lube to place over ball, again for avoiding chain fires but also to help lube the bore on each shot.
Percussion caps, #10.
Cap keepers, which are just little rubber donut looking things that help keep the caps on the nipples, and help to keep any wandering sparks out of adjacent nipples during firing. (More insurance against chain fires).
After 10 rounds it was quite black and filthy. I took the barrel and cylinder and dunked them in hot soapy water.
After a 10 minute soak I blew everything out thoroughly with compressed air, swabbed the bore about 15 times with CLP until it no longer spat out blackened patches, and then wiped it all down with CLP throughout.
Tedious yes, but the history!!! What a hoot to shoot.
