ARTESH
Chief Master Sergeant
So beautiful!
The Guns We Own
- Thread starter ccheese
- Start date
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GrauGeist
Generalfeldmarschall zur Luftschiff Abteilung
Thank you!
As has been mentioned earlier, gun ownership in England is made very difficult but I have a 2 barrelled pinfire, a pinfire revolver, A pinfire shotgun with a Damascus barrell and an unidentified bolt action rifle that has been turned into a shotgun and needs a new stock, which is why I bought it many years ago for 6 British pounds!
I have also made non-working replicas of a Colt Dragoon, a Colt Pocket revolver (in stainless steel) complete with wooden case and accessories and a Remington New Model Army.
I have also made non-working replicas of a Colt Dragoon, a Colt Pocket revolver (in stainless steel) complete with wooden case and accessories and a Remington New Model Army.
ARTESH
Chief Master Sergeant
Wow, mate! Nice Collection you have!
Donivanp
Major
Gotta love that if you need to use it in the worse way, with a .45 ACP, even if you miss your target, you left a massive impression.
at6
1st Sergeant
It's beautiful !!!!
at6
1st Sergeant
Also beautiful.
Now WHY would someone convert a Trapdoor Springfield into a cap and ball?
Seems kind of retrograde to me. I also have a Trapdoor Springfield in .45-70 but in a Carbine length.
I tend not to be a fan of those. My preference is for the 1874 Sharps guns in .45-70 and Browning BPCR in .40-65.
Sharps carry the Pedersoli high-grade sights for the most part.
IMR 3031 works pretty well for a propellant and bullets are 450 grain Lee mould cast of wheel weights and actually weigh about 460 grains.
- Ivan.
Necessity. My 1873 Carbine was an attic find while helping a neighbor move, and the barrel was shot and the trapdoor missing. The modern replacement barrels were way too expensive for a college freshman in 1966, and came in rifle length only. Numrich Arms offered a drop-in muzzle loader conversion kit for $29.95 and free shipping. No brainer. The guys at various muzzle loading shoots I went to looked it over and said it was a conversion from an 1861 Robbins & Lawrence (Springfield) .58 rifle musket, not a new manufacture 1873, this from seeing only the lock and stock.
This piece shoots hand cast .445 round balls and Maxi Slugs and has served me well over the years.
From the markings, I'm guessing this was issued to Able Troop, Eigth Squadron, Third Brigade, Second Cavalry? Don't know much about cavalry unit organization back in the day.
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ARTESH
Chief Master Sergeant
It is very interesting! both back story you've told and the gun, itself.
Hello XBe02Drvr,
I was offered a Trapdoor Springfield at a very good price many years ago. I chose not to buy it because it appeared to me that the action had been "blown up" at some point and the breech block did not align or latch properly. I passed on it.
My actual Trapdoor Springfield Carbine is in very good shape, but I believe it is a reproduction without any collector value.
I tend to load my .45-70 rounds on the warm side and even on 10+ pound Sharps rifles, the recoil is quite noticeable. The Trapdoor is a much lighter gun and the recoil would simply be painful. In actual service, the .45-70-450 loads were reduced for use in the carbines and I don't cast any .45 caliber rifle bullets lighter than about 410 grains and have never worked up reduced loads.
I found that the powders needed for reduced loads such as IMR 4198 were giving way too much shot to shot variations in Muzzle Velocity (up to about 150 fps) because of the fairly small powder charges in a very large case.
Black powder might work better for reduced loads, but I don't tend to use black powder where I don't have to because I know black powder tends to be very hard on guns. Folks who are shooting 10 rounds or so during a range session may never see this, but I was running upwards of 100 rounds per session through a couple black powder Sharps guns and the etching on the stainless steel breech seals was very noticeable after a while.
The muzzleloader shooters were typically running about 5 rounds or less for the afternoon and a powder flask full of powder was generally enough for the day. I usually brought a full flask / measure and a 1 pound can that I refilled from 5 pound bags.
I tend not to use Pyrodex because the cost is several times that of Black Powder but I also know it is much less erosive on guns.
- Ivan.
I was offered a Trapdoor Springfield at a very good price many years ago. I chose not to buy it because it appeared to me that the action had been "blown up" at some point and the breech block did not align or latch properly. I passed on it.
My actual Trapdoor Springfield Carbine is in very good shape, but I believe it is a reproduction without any collector value.
I tend to load my .45-70 rounds on the warm side and even on 10+ pound Sharps rifles, the recoil is quite noticeable. The Trapdoor is a much lighter gun and the recoil would simply be painful. In actual service, the .45-70-450 loads were reduced for use in the carbines and I don't cast any .45 caliber rifle bullets lighter than about 410 grains and have never worked up reduced loads.
I found that the powders needed for reduced loads such as IMR 4198 were giving way too much shot to shot variations in Muzzle Velocity (up to about 150 fps) because of the fairly small powder charges in a very large case.
Black powder might work better for reduced loads, but I don't tend to use black powder where I don't have to because I know black powder tends to be very hard on guns. Folks who are shooting 10 rounds or so during a range session may never see this, but I was running upwards of 100 rounds per session through a couple black powder Sharps guns and the etching on the stainless steel breech seals was very noticeable after a while.
The muzzleloader shooters were typically running about 5 rounds or less for the afternoon and a powder flask full of powder was generally enough for the day. I usually brought a full flask / measure and a 1 pound can that I refilled from 5 pound bags.
I tend not to use Pyrodex because the cost is several times that of Black Powder but I also know it is much less erosive on guns.
- Ivan.
I like Pyro for my percussion guns; peak accuracy seems to come at lighter loads, but it doesn't work worth a damn in flintlocks. It does, however make for easier cleaning and less corrosion/erosion, and the price of black powder around here is nearly that of pyro. (particularly restrictive state laws about handling and storage) I don't shoot as much as you do, because of time and distance to ranges, so I get most of a year out of a one pound jar of powder. (Four years in the case of FFFFG flintlock primer.)
If I recall correctly, Goex black powder in 5 pound bags was about $6 per pound or maybe even a bit less.
Pyrodex was about $18 / pound at the time but this was all around 20-25 years ago.
Pyrodex is a bit harder to light. That was one of its safety claims if I remember right. I have used a few cans of it over the years.
I only own one Flinch Lock and have never fired it. It is a very nice looking Tower Sea Service Pistol (smooth bore) that my Fiancée gave me and we have been married almost 25 years now. Gun was made in Japan I believe. I have a few flints for it but usually have a piece of wood installed in place of the flint so it can be dry fired. I have no idea if the Frizzen is hardened or not.
Typical loads for the .54 cal Sharps guns is around 60-65 grains (by volume) of FFFg. I started with FFg but found the finer grain powder burned cleaner though I could not run quite as hot a load. That is with a Pedersoli gun.
There is another gun that was also nominally a .54 cal but took a different size bullet and had a significantly larger chamber. With that gun, I was typically running 75-80 grain charges.
At one point, I was making paper ca'tridges for the Sharps guns with wrapping tissue. Nitrated paper isn't really necessary. They were assembled on a dowel and were held together with a couple swipes of a glue stick. They worked fine but took too long to make.
I found that a test tube rack and some plastic test tubes that my Wife got for me were a much more efficient way to go.
Filling 20-30 tubes with powder charges while others were checking targets was easy. With the caps just snapped on but not screwed down, the tube was not airtight but it wasn't going to get set off by a spark or spill if dropped and the tubes fit nicely into the Sharps' open breech to load a charge behind a bullet.
With that setup and a tin of lubed bullets, I could shoot fast enough to rival a single shot cartridge rifle and definitely fast enough to get the rifle pretty hot.
I also have a few percussion revolvers but the only one I really shot a lot was the Ruger Old Army in stainless steel. Clean up was a lot easier than other guns. I also found out that unsized .452 diameter Semi Wadcutters that I was casting for my .45 ACP guns worked just fine from the Old Army. The accuracy was as good as the lead balls and they were a whole lot cheaper and easier to get.
There are a couple that I have only ever taken out of the box to admire as a bit of history.
- Ivan.
Pyrodex was about $18 / pound at the time but this was all around 20-25 years ago.
Pyrodex is a bit harder to light. That was one of its safety claims if I remember right. I have used a few cans of it over the years.
I only own one Flinch Lock and have never fired it. It is a very nice looking Tower Sea Service Pistol (smooth bore) that my Fiancée gave me and we have been married almost 25 years now. Gun was made in Japan I believe. I have a few flints for it but usually have a piece of wood installed in place of the flint so it can be dry fired. I have no idea if the Frizzen is hardened or not.
Typical loads for the .54 cal Sharps guns is around 60-65 grains (by volume) of FFFg. I started with FFg but found the finer grain powder burned cleaner though I could not run quite as hot a load. That is with a Pedersoli gun.
There is another gun that was also nominally a .54 cal but took a different size bullet and had a significantly larger chamber. With that gun, I was typically running 75-80 grain charges.
At one point, I was making paper ca'tridges for the Sharps guns with wrapping tissue. Nitrated paper isn't really necessary. They were assembled on a dowel and were held together with a couple swipes of a glue stick. They worked fine but took too long to make.
I found that a test tube rack and some plastic test tubes that my Wife got for me were a much more efficient way to go.
Filling 20-30 tubes with powder charges while others were checking targets was easy. With the caps just snapped on but not screwed down, the tube was not airtight but it wasn't going to get set off by a spark or spill if dropped and the tubes fit nicely into the Sharps' open breech to load a charge behind a bullet.
With that setup and a tin of lubed bullets, I could shoot fast enough to rival a single shot cartridge rifle and definitely fast enough to get the rifle pretty hot.
I also have a few percussion revolvers but the only one I really shot a lot was the Ruger Old Army in stainless steel. Clean up was a lot easier than other guns. I also found out that unsized .452 diameter Semi Wadcutters that I was casting for my .45 ACP guns worked just fine from the Old Army. The accuracy was as good as the lead balls and they were a whole lot cheaper and easier to get.
There are a couple that I have only ever taken out of the box to admire as a bit of history.
- Ivan.
A couple photographs:
The Sharps gun with the Schnabel and checkering is actually quite accurate.
The other Sharps gun has a much larger chamber and can't keep all the shots on paper at 50 yards.
The first two shots I ever fired from it were interesting because they actually touched each other at 50 yards, but after that, it never shot well again. FFg or FFFg makes no difference and different bullets or powder charges make no real difference.
The other photograph is my Tower Sea Service pistol.
The bore measures just a touch over .70 caliber.
- Ivan.
The Sharps gun with the Schnabel and checkering is actually quite accurate.
The other Sharps gun has a much larger chamber and can't keep all the shots on paper at 50 yards.
The first two shots I ever fired from it were interesting because they actually touched each other at 50 yards, but after that, it never shot well again. FFg or FFFg makes no difference and different bullets or powder charges make no real difference.
The other photograph is my Tower Sea Service pistol.
The bore measures just a touch over .70 caliber.
- Ivan.
I bought my Remington New Model Army (by Uberti, but before they were brave enough to label them prominently and sold through Navy Arms) brand new for a whopping $79....in 1971. Still shoots more accurately than I do!Nice pieces Ivan I have been trying to acquire replica 1860/65 Colt pieces .36/.44 on auctions closest I came was within $25.
ARTESH
Chief Master Sergeant
My ex fiance has given me a decorative lighter just like this! I still have it. Infact, only thing I kept from her is that lighter.
Yeah I have been seeing anywhere from $225/350 some more with the case with the trimmings 5 and up
Here's one up for auction tomorrow prefer octagon barrel myself
CVA .44 CAL. 8" BLACK POWDER REVOLVER COLT REPLICA
Bid is low now $95 I see 200/225 +18% and shipping is it worth 275/300?Attachments
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drgondog
Major
Interesting about your second Sharp's. Have you gotten a casting of both the chamber And the bore at both chamber and muzzle?Checked for Diameter to spec?
If the chamber is too long (shoulder to barrel bore) you have a free bore situation with unpredictable results for black powder/lead bullet.
Maybe you have just enough shoulder on the barrel that a gunsmith can thread one or more turns to close the chamber free bore dimension?
I can't see what seems so interesting about the Colts. I've beat Colt shooters at black powder events, then just for giggles, swapped guns and been consistently beat by my own Remington in the other guy's hands. The Colt's bullet strike seems to wander all over the paper as the gun heats up.Yeah I have been seeing anywhere from $225/350 some more with the case with the trimmings 5 and up
Here's one up for auction tomorrow prefer octagon barrel myself
CVA .44 CAL. 8" BLACK POWDER REVOLVER COLT REPLICA
Bid is low now $95 I see 200/225 +18% and shipping is it worth 275/300?
Also, the New Model Army is a true six shooter, unlike the Colt, which is dangerous to carry around with the hammer resting on a cap. The NMA has hammer notches in the cylinder between the chambers, so you can safely load and cap all six and ride around all day with it in your holster.
