bedbugbilly
02-22-2021, 06:34 PM
The other day, DCB posted on here about his new Uberti Colt Walker that he ordered from Midway and later posted some photos of it – a mighty nice shooting iron. I have been rebuilding my loading bench here in AZ – needed to make it a bit heavier duty and I decided to go with the Lee bench plates so I can switch out the two presses I have as needed. I’m limited on space. So I have been hunting for a source for them as just about everyone is out of stuff – found then at Midway. While on was on their site and thinking about the Walker that DCB had bought, I decided to take a look at what stock, if any, they had in cap and ball revolvers – MISTAKE! I knew they were out of just about everything in that category – but much to my surprise, they showed Uberti Leech & Rigdon and Uberti 1851 London Colt Navy in stock – minimum amount but they showed them in stock. I shouldn’t have done that.
Now for the “Nostalgia” . . . . . .
I’ve been shooting BP for over 55 years now . . . developed a love for history and old guns when I was young and read anything I could find on them. My Dad had my grandfather’s .45 “Plains Rifle” – a high quality one. My grandfather was born in 1867 and he bought the rifle from an early pioneer who had come to the Michigan Territory in the early 1830’s – my grandfather used the rifle up into the 1930s – sadly it went through a fire and tahe stock was burned badly. Before my grandfather died, he made my Dad promise he would get it fixed up for us kids. This is where the “nostalgia” starts. My Dad found an old gunsmith – a fellow by the name of Ingersoll – he had a small gun shop about 20 miles from us. I went with my Dad when her took the rifle to Mr. Ingersoll to see if he would put a new stock on the rifle and he agreed to – mind you – Mr. Ingersoll was in his late 80’s. We would often stop in to see how he was coming on it and I will always remember those visits. The place was small and it smelled of cutting oil and other odors you’d expect in a gun shop – leather smell from the holsters and slings he had for sale, etc. Mr. Ingersoll was, by appearance, a gruff old guy . . . but once you got to know him, he had a heart of gold. And make no mistake - he was a Master Gunsmith.
In the process of waiting for my grandfather’s rifle to be restored, I fell in love with a Remington Zouave rifle he had in the rack. It had a price of $65.00 on it – a lot of money for kid but I worked my hiney off mowing lawns at 75 cents to a dollar each. Every time we stopped, I looked at that rifle on the rack and Mr. Ingersoll knew I wanted it in the worst way. He would talk to me about old guns and shooting muzzleloaders and I grew to be very fond on him. He was a “mentor”. I remember the day when I finally had enough money for the rifle and my Dad took me to his shop and I laid my hard earned cash on the counter. He smiled at me and said, “You know, I’ve had the chance to sell this rifle a half dozen times but every time, I told them it wasn’t for sale because I was holding it for a young fellow who will be coming in here someday to buy it.”
Mr. Ingersoll asked my Dad to bring me back the following Saturday and he would show me how to shoot it – which he did. At the same time, we went out in back of his small shop and he handed me an original Colt 1851 London model. It had been his grandfather’s and that day, Mr. Ingersoll taught me how to load, shoot and clean that beautiful old Colt. If I remember correctly, he was about 88 at the time. It was a thrill to say the least.In the next few years, I would always buy my powder and caps from Mr. Ingersoll. I still have one of the 1 pound cans of DuPont 2F with the price of seventy-five cents written on the can with a black grease pencil. A tin of Remington caps was 25 or 35 cents a tin if I remember correctly and a tin of Alcan musket caps seventy-five cents. Age caught up with Mr. Ingersoll and by the time he was around 92, he had to close his shop. He did get my grandfather’s rifle restored and it remains in the family to be passed on to future generations. I never knew what happened to the contents of his shop but soon after he had to quit, the building was emptied out. Mr. Ingersoll died shortly afterwards.
Since that time, I have always favored the 1851 Colts – maybe because of Mr. Ingersoll, I don’t know. I have owned many through the years and currently have a nice 1st Model Uberti with the square back trigger guard. It shoots great and I love it. And like many others, I have more cap and ball revolvers than I need, but I enjoy each of them.
When I saw that Midway had some Uberti 1851 London Navy revolvers in stock, I must have gone back and looked at the listing a half a dozen times – thinking “I don’t need another one”. But something kept clawing at me. I got to thinking about all those years ago when an old man was kind enough to teach a kid how to shoot his grandfather’s ’51 London Colt Navy. Mr. Ingersoll was a gruff old guy on the outside, but he taught this youngster the lesson of passing on the love of shooting black powder and the thrill of shooting an original
Colt. He was just one of a number of “old men” who taught me things through the years and “passed it on”.
Yeah, in the end, I added one of the Uberti ’51 London Colts to my basket and I got an e-mail that my items were shipped today – pretty good for these times that we are going through. Do I need it? No. So what made me buy it?
I got to thinking about Mr. Ingersoll and the “gift” he gave me on a Saturday afternoon many years ago. I hope in some way that I let him know how much I appreciated everything he taught me. I still have that Remington Zouave that he “saved” for me and wouldn’t sell to anyone else, and I have fired literally tens of thousands of rounds in it. I hope he somehow knows all the happiness his gift of teaching me to shoot his grandfather’s old Colt has given me through the years – the many rabbits and squirrels I used a ’51 Navy on when hunting, the fun of plinking and killing cans, clay pigeons on a board and the enjoyment of carrying on what he started and teaching others how to shoot cap and ball revolvers. The smiles on the faces of those that I have let shoot my cap and ball revolvers were just as wide as the grin on my face when Mr. Ingersoll handed me that loaded ’51 Colt London Navy and I pulled the trigger for the first time, took in the aroma of the holy black and saw that the can that I had aimed at on the fence was no longer there. No . . .I didn’t need the Uberti ’51 London . . but I am sure glad that I decided to get it because every time I shoot it – I will think of you, Mr. Ingersoll, and I hope you’ll be looking down on me with a big smile on your face.
In the end . . . we all have lots of “yesterdays”, but we never know how many “tomorrows’ there will be. That is an important thing to remember whether it be your family, friends or the things that bring happiness to you and that you enjoy. We get out of life what we put into it . . . so if someone takes an interest in your cap and ball revolvers, BP rifles or shotguns . . . share what knowledge you can with them and let them shoot them . . . you never know what “spark” you will help light or the influence you may have on another person in carrying on traditions and skills of those who went before us but left their mark on us in a very special way.
Even today I smile when I think about the sage advice Mr. Ingersoll gave me when he was teaching me to shoot muzzleloaders. I had a thousand questions but I remember when I asked him how to calculate the amount of BP to use when loading. His advice was simple: "Use enough to get the job done, but not so much as to waste any."
Now for the “Nostalgia” . . . . . .
I’ve been shooting BP for over 55 years now . . . developed a love for history and old guns when I was young and read anything I could find on them. My Dad had my grandfather’s .45 “Plains Rifle” – a high quality one. My grandfather was born in 1867 and he bought the rifle from an early pioneer who had come to the Michigan Territory in the early 1830’s – my grandfather used the rifle up into the 1930s – sadly it went through a fire and tahe stock was burned badly. Before my grandfather died, he made my Dad promise he would get it fixed up for us kids. This is where the “nostalgia” starts. My Dad found an old gunsmith – a fellow by the name of Ingersoll – he had a small gun shop about 20 miles from us. I went with my Dad when her took the rifle to Mr. Ingersoll to see if he would put a new stock on the rifle and he agreed to – mind you – Mr. Ingersoll was in his late 80’s. We would often stop in to see how he was coming on it and I will always remember those visits. The place was small and it smelled of cutting oil and other odors you’d expect in a gun shop – leather smell from the holsters and slings he had for sale, etc. Mr. Ingersoll was, by appearance, a gruff old guy . . . but once you got to know him, he had a heart of gold. And make no mistake - he was a Master Gunsmith.
In the process of waiting for my grandfather’s rifle to be restored, I fell in love with a Remington Zouave rifle he had in the rack. It had a price of $65.00 on it – a lot of money for kid but I worked my hiney off mowing lawns at 75 cents to a dollar each. Every time we stopped, I looked at that rifle on the rack and Mr. Ingersoll knew I wanted it in the worst way. He would talk to me about old guns and shooting muzzleloaders and I grew to be very fond on him. He was a “mentor”. I remember the day when I finally had enough money for the rifle and my Dad took me to his shop and I laid my hard earned cash on the counter. He smiled at me and said, “You know, I’ve had the chance to sell this rifle a half dozen times but every time, I told them it wasn’t for sale because I was holding it for a young fellow who will be coming in here someday to buy it.”
Mr. Ingersoll asked my Dad to bring me back the following Saturday and he would show me how to shoot it – which he did. At the same time, we went out in back of his small shop and he handed me an original Colt 1851 London model. It had been his grandfather’s and that day, Mr. Ingersoll taught me how to load, shoot and clean that beautiful old Colt. If I remember correctly, he was about 88 at the time. It was a thrill to say the least.In the next few years, I would always buy my powder and caps from Mr. Ingersoll. I still have one of the 1 pound cans of DuPont 2F with the price of seventy-five cents written on the can with a black grease pencil. A tin of Remington caps was 25 or 35 cents a tin if I remember correctly and a tin of Alcan musket caps seventy-five cents. Age caught up with Mr. Ingersoll and by the time he was around 92, he had to close his shop. He did get my grandfather’s rifle restored and it remains in the family to be passed on to future generations. I never knew what happened to the contents of his shop but soon after he had to quit, the building was emptied out. Mr. Ingersoll died shortly afterwards.
Since that time, I have always favored the 1851 Colts – maybe because of Mr. Ingersoll, I don’t know. I have owned many through the years and currently have a nice 1st Model Uberti with the square back trigger guard. It shoots great and I love it. And like many others, I have more cap and ball revolvers than I need, but I enjoy each of them.
When I saw that Midway had some Uberti 1851 London Navy revolvers in stock, I must have gone back and looked at the listing a half a dozen times – thinking “I don’t need another one”. But something kept clawing at me. I got to thinking about all those years ago when an old man was kind enough to teach a kid how to shoot his grandfather’s ’51 London Colt Navy. Mr. Ingersoll was a gruff old guy on the outside, but he taught this youngster the lesson of passing on the love of shooting black powder and the thrill of shooting an original
Colt. He was just one of a number of “old men” who taught me things through the years and “passed it on”.
Yeah, in the end, I added one of the Uberti ’51 London Colts to my basket and I got an e-mail that my items were shipped today – pretty good for these times that we are going through. Do I need it? No. So what made me buy it?
I got to thinking about Mr. Ingersoll and the “gift” he gave me on a Saturday afternoon many years ago. I hope in some way that I let him know how much I appreciated everything he taught me. I still have that Remington Zouave that he “saved” for me and wouldn’t sell to anyone else, and I have fired literally tens of thousands of rounds in it. I hope he somehow knows all the happiness his gift of teaching me to shoot his grandfather’s old Colt has given me through the years – the many rabbits and squirrels I used a ’51 Navy on when hunting, the fun of plinking and killing cans, clay pigeons on a board and the enjoyment of carrying on what he started and teaching others how to shoot cap and ball revolvers. The smiles on the faces of those that I have let shoot my cap and ball revolvers were just as wide as the grin on my face when Mr. Ingersoll handed me that loaded ’51 Colt London Navy and I pulled the trigger for the first time, took in the aroma of the holy black and saw that the can that I had aimed at on the fence was no longer there. No . . .I didn’t need the Uberti ’51 London . . but I am sure glad that I decided to get it because every time I shoot it – I will think of you, Mr. Ingersoll, and I hope you’ll be looking down on me with a big smile on your face.
In the end . . . we all have lots of “yesterdays”, but we never know how many “tomorrows’ there will be. That is an important thing to remember whether it be your family, friends or the things that bring happiness to you and that you enjoy. We get out of life what we put into it . . . so if someone takes an interest in your cap and ball revolvers, BP rifles or shotguns . . . share what knowledge you can with them and let them shoot them . . . you never know what “spark” you will help light or the influence you may have on another person in carrying on traditions and skills of those who went before us but left their mark on us in a very special way.
Even today I smile when I think about the sage advice Mr. Ingersoll gave me when he was teaching me to shoot muzzleloaders. I had a thousand questions but I remember when I asked him how to calculate the amount of BP to use when loading. His advice was simple: "Use enough to get the job done, but not so much as to waste any."