Traditions 1851 Navy

[timspawn]

My thirteen year old (soon to be fourteen year old) just informed me he wants a BP revolver for his birthday. I am thinking of buying the Traditions 1851 Navy. Traditions web page says use #10 or #11 caps. Is one going to fit better than the other? I don't own any BP stuff so I am making one order and trying to get it all in one shot. Another question, can any type grease be used to seal the front of the cylinder after loading it or do I have to buy something specific?

[Bardo]

That is made by Pietta and remington 10 should fit it the best. You may look at getting felt wads that go over the powder. They are alot less mess.

Bardo

[sidecarmike]

I haven't shot black powder in many years, but we always used Crisco to seal the cylinder. Never quite saw the advantage, though, because it melts out with the first shot. #10 is just a fraction smaller than an 11.
My wife used to compete with a Hopkins and Allen underhammer and an 11 would fall off the nipple when she cocked it. A 10 would fit snug.

99152
Sometimes it just matters on what fits the best. I would buy 11s to start. you can usually squeeze one to fit tighter if need be. Some folks claim one is hotter than the other, but we never found that to be the case.
Things may have changed over the years. It's been an easy 20 since we competed.

[Omnivore]

Remington #10 caps fit my Pietta well, but are slightly tight and need to be pushed on with some effort otherwise I'll get the occasional failure to fire. What happens is the not-quite-seated cap gets hit by the hammer and the hammer's energy is spent seating the cap farther instead of popping it. Maybe start with Remington 10s and CCI 11s, if you can find them. From the way things look, you may simply have to use what you can find. If you want to get fancy, the Treso AMPCO nipples fit the Remington 10s perfectly.

There's a ton of information here, which you'll find when you start using the search function for this site. There's practically no issue that hasn't been addressed many times.

An over-powder wad is very easy to use. They come in dry, dry lubed and greased. The main purpose for grease is to keep fowling soft so you can keep shooting without stopping to clean. That goes for the barrel bore and the cylinder axis, or arbor (often called also a base pin), the latter of which makes the cylinder very hard to turn after a few cylinders full of powder and lead. If you use an over-the-ball grease and it blows out of adjacent chambers on the first shot, you can harden it with bee's wax. Crisco, tallow, bee's wax or paraffin wax, and olive or Canola oil are common ingredients, though there are many others. The idea is to match the consistency with the ambient temperature. Grease over the ball won't do much to soften the barrel fouling because it all gets blown out in front of the ball, but it definitely will help keep the fouling in the cylinder arbor soft. One trick is to use a wad of any of the aforementioned types, and put a bit more grease on top of it, just before you seat the ball. Grease under the ball will however contaminate the powder to some extent, and leaving it loaded that way for extended periods will result in very light shots as a result.

Proper loading and proper cleaning will result in a very reliable (and fun) gun.

If the cap pops, but there is a delay before the main charge ignites (Ka-Pow), or the cap pops and the main charge doesn't ignite at all, you've loaded it wrong. Almost always this is the result of grease or oil left in the nipple or chamber from the last cleaning. Make the habit of swabbing the chambers hard, and popping a cap on each nipple before the first loading after a cleaning, and then swab the chambers again. After that you can just load and shoot until you after clean the gun again. You'll always get good ignition that way, so long as you keep your powder dry.

Real black powder seems to ignite more easily than Pyrodex, so if you think you're loading cleanly and you're still getting delayed fire, try some real black. Many complain that they can't get real black in their area. Doesn't matter. It can be ordered on-line from several vendors. Volume for volume, Swiss powder is a little more energetic than regular Goex. Both are readily available. Lay in a supply, store it in a dry place and it will last for many years.

If you're thinking of getting a brass frame Navy, think again. While many have reported satisfaction with the "brassers" they will in fact break down and develop more cylinder gap over time due to peening of the soft metal on the extremely small recoil surface that all Colt open tops have. Pay a few dollars more and get the real deal; a steel frame. They were designed for steel, and only in dire emergency were any made of brass (or bronze - typically melted bell metal) by the confederacy. Colt's never made any brass revolvers.

[Texantothecore]

Tim,

One of our members uses Emmerts to seal the chamber. He puts a foam earplug in the breech of the barrel, pours hot Emmerts down the barrel, waits until it cools down and pushes the emmerts out of the barrel with a wooden stick.

You then have a lube stick which is an exact fit for your cylinder and it will lube the barrel and keep the fouling wet and easy to clean.
Just put stick in the cylinder and cut it off and you are good to go. May want to push the resulting plug a small bit to expand it.

Emmerts is made with 50% vegetable oil and 50% beeswax or paraffin or soy wax. I make a half pound at a time and it goes liquid at 2 minutes in the microwave.

The mix is not critical and you may wish to use less vegetable oil if the sticks come out sticky or are hard to handle.

[timspawn]

Thanks guys. I'll let you know how it goes.

[johnson1942]

i think what you will like about the navy is that it will probably fit his hand a lot better than the army. unless he is a really big young man. the navy has a good grip.

[Hickok]

I shoot BP revolvers regularly. I perfer to load powder, a wad, then roundball. You can get wonder wads or make the wads yourself. Either way works, felt wads or grease over the roundball.

Make sure your caps fit snug and are pressed all the way down. Causes for chainfire have been debated, but loose caps can also cause chainfires as fire jumps from chamber to chamber in the rear of the cylinder.

[Texantothecore]

You can also use paper cartridges with these guns. Sally Beauty Supply has end wraps that seem to leave no residue and they about 3.89 for 3000. Cheap.

Apparently this was common in the old west and it allows quick loading.An Altoids square can will hold about one dozen charges and it is commonly used in the field when rabbit or squirrel hunting.

[doc1876]

Tim
Shooting the '51 is a great start for a young man. I started with one when I was 15, and learned so much from that gun. He will be amazed at what he can learn just in cleaning it. You might pick up an extra cylinder paw and a spring for the trigger/cylinder stop....these seem to be the weak points. I am sure when you have your back turned, he will learn the hard way not to "fan" the thing!!