CVA COLT 1850 44 revolver need help

[casca]

GREETINGS,
I have obtained my first black powder revolver, I have no clue where to even start to find any info on basic loading or how to shoot the darn thing.

Now I have fired every thing the army had from the 38 special all the way to stinger missle.

I would like some help on casting , shooting this new TOY. My plan is to try and get a coyote with one of these. Hey a man's gotta have a challenge

thanx
casca

[docone31]

You will need a .454 Round Ball mold. You will also need to get a flask that will measure. Crisco and Beeswax makes good lube. You can play with adding Olive oil to the mix. Melt them together and try them. If it gets runny, mix in some more beeswax and Crisco.
They definately are not fast pistols but they can be very accurate.
I use #10 caps from CCI.
Enjoy.

[Boerrancher]

I agree with everything posted above, and would add, start with 20 grains of 3Fg powder. Don't exceed 30 grains especially if it is a brass frame. Excessive powder charges can stretch the frame and make it loose.

Best wishes,

Joe

[KCSO]

A 38 special case makes a good powder measure if you don't want to buy a flask. Wether you grease over the ball or use a grease wad under makes no difference in preventing chain fire but wads under the ball with a lighter load seem to be a tad more accurate. Be prepared for the gun to shoot way high, 6" or more at 25 yards. I put on a silver blade front sight and file it down on all of mine. I also get a little better accuracy with FFg instead of FFFg powder. Check the nipples for dry fire damage and if they are good invest in the right size caps for the nipple you might have to go with #10's instead of the standard #11.

[Sixgun Symphony]

Get the Lyman Blackpowder Handbook. Also get the Dixie Gun Works printed catalog. There is a chapter in back of the DGW catalog with information on using blackpowder.

[Tom-ADC]

Just curious steel or brass frame?

[casca]

brass, but if I need power I have a ruger super redhawk in 454
so no need to be a powder burner, just want try and hit what we aim at,
my 11yr old and I. Thanks for the input keep it comming

casca

[Omnivore]

If everything works OK, you won't need much more advice. Search videos for loading and shooting Colt percussion revolvers. You'll see that there are many different loading "recipes" and that most of them work OK.

It is common to pop a cap on each nipple after the gun has been cleaned, before it's loaded, so any grease or such will be blown out of the nipples. That's probably good advice, but do it outdoors as the primers use a lead compound.

Also search for cleaning techniques. Depending on how you maintain the gun, it's probably a good idea to clean it the same day it's fired, or no more than a day later (though some say they can wait much longer with no trouble, more often than not you'll start to see rust "zitz" after a few days in a dirty gun. If it's humid in your area, sooner is much better than later, but I've gone as long as a week of hunting season, keeping the gun in the dry, heated Idaho winter indoor air with no trouble. Almost all will recommend hot soapy water for cleaning. Hot because it heats the steel, loosens the grease, and makes the steel dry out faster. Soapy to cut grease. Water because the salts left over from black powder are what you want to remove and they disolve in water. However I have seen the steel rust extremely fast, as in right in front of my eyes, after using soapy water. Some say they've never had a problem, but I say I've never had a problem using plain hot water and not cutting the greas film left over from shooting. There are almost as many cleaning regimens as there are shooters. Some will do a full disassembly for cleaning, and others will only do the full takedown once in several shooting sessions, cleaning it with the lockwork in place otherwise and using a spray water displacement oil inside the works and/or blowing it out with compressed air after rinsing. Removing nipples is not always necessary, but always install them with some grease-- for that I use Bore Butter and have never had a problem getting them back out after several years of doing this. Some will recommend a choke lube or other anti-seize but in my opinion that's over-thinking it unless you're having problems getting the nipples out.

Some will say that your balls should be big enough to shave (stop it - keep reading) a little ring of lead when you load them. That's true, but others will say that your chamber mouths should be chamfered so as to swage and not shave the ball to size. Then again, it probably won't matter either way except that by swaging and not shaving, loading is a slightly cleaner process.

You can use an equal volume of the Pyrodex P powder for a tad more velocity, but it's also a tad bit harder to ignite. If you're having too many delay fires, either try some better nipples (I like Treso Ampco nipples) different caps, or go back to real Black. CCI and Remington caps are most common, and they fit defferent, so if you have trouble with one, try the other. I had to order Remington #10 caps from Cabela's, but it was nice to have a stash of 1,000 of them. Each gun (or rather each set of nipples) is prone to liking a particular brand and size cap.

Once you get into, if you have any problems you'll have a lot more questions. Go thee hence and burn charcoal.