I love this gun BUT!

[Fly]

I just love this Pietta 1858 Army but I have a question.I,m shooting real fffg
black powder threw her & you know how dirty that stuff is.

So today I go out back & shoot six shots,Mmmmmmmmmmm.I load her
back up I shoot five & on the six shot she seems a little hard to cock.I
bring her in & hot soapy water it really good & oil.

I look & there is very little clearance between the cylinder & barrel which
is good.But I'm thinking I'm getting fouling between that space after
several shots making the cylinder hard to turn in the gunk.

Is there a good lube to help prevent this.I'm shooting over prelubed
wads with no grease over balls.

Thanks Fly:Fire:

[Hickory]

You might be binding the cylinder, if you use the loading lever on the gun.
Load your cylinder with one of those loading platforms where you remove the cylinder from the gun.

And the black powder that gets in the action doesn't help either.

Use grease over the balls, that keeps things lubed.

[Lead Fred]

NO OIL Petroleum based oils mixes with burnt black powder and makes sludge

Take your barrel into the shower, run very hot water and dish washing soup though it until its clean and hot.

Before you can get toweled and dressed, the barrel will have cooled.

Next lube lightly with Thompson Center's 1000+ bore butter.

Use any of the pre-soaked patches with T/C 1000+ in them.

Before shooting, swap the barrel lightly with bore butter.

After you are done have a trouble free shooting time, run a patch with T/C Number 13 bore cleaner down it.

When you get home, swap again, and use clean patches until clean and dry.
Then lightly coat with bore butter.

Ive done this for decades, and have had zero problems shooting 25-50 rounds at rondy, with no hassles.

[curator]

The 1858 Remington revolver design is not real good for continuous firing without cleaning the cylinder face and pin. Loading on a cylinder loader where you remove the cylinder allows you to wipe the pin and cylinder face each reload. Also, not shooting full chambers of black powder helps a bit too.

Serious target shooters usually load about 20 grains of fffG black powder then 17-20 grains (measure) of corn meal or better yet, cream of wheat (COW), then seat the ball so it is just flush with the cylinder face. The ball is lubed with a bee's wax/grease by filling the recess around it's circumference. It doesn't take much if the ball is seated correctly so this is not too messy.

The 20/17 FFFg/COW load shoots almost the same velocity as 37 grains of FFFg but much cleaner and more accurate. Less cylinder binding fouling is created and the small amount of bee'swax/grease lube will splatter onto the cylinder pin and keep it from binding. No lubed felt wad can do this. Probably less than half of a full chamber load (37 grains) is actually burned anyway and the higher pressure and sealing effect of the COW plug behind the ball causes the smaller charge to burn more completely. Less fouling, better accuracy, and less problems with cylinder binding.

[bob208]

use crisco on the pin and over the balls. when the gun is fired the crisco gets blown down into the action and keeps the fouling soft. i know it works i shoot mine allday with full loads without cleaning. also i load with the cylinder in the gun.

[Dframe]

All good suggestions. Also keep some pre-moisned wipes on hand. You can buy a big plastic container of them at most any discount store for very little money. They are usually water based and can be used to wipe away fouling from the front face of the cylinder, rear face of the barrel, and the exterior of your gun. It's a great way to keep things running, while in the field. They're of course only a temporary fix and NOT a substitute for proper cleaning at days end.

[Fly]

Thanks to all.I did order the TC bore butter & reading the reviews on it sounds like a great product.I did up my powder load & think that also made things worse.All great suggestions

Thanks to each of you for the advice
Fly

[northmn]

Some shooters keep a cleaner like Hoppes #9+ handy and lub the pins with it during heavy shooting. The Remington as mentioned was noted for binding more than the Colt. The colts have a larger grooved cylinder pin which could withstand more fouling. Most should take the initial six shots fine. I used to use Crisco for lube over the ball and as stated sometimes squirt some cleaner into the cylinder pin area.

Northmn

[docone31]

The key is lube.
I do not use oils on my pistols. I use the lube itself. I make my lube.
It is about, the word here is about, 55% Beeswax, then I add corn oil, Olive oil, and Crisco untill I have my thickness I desire. When I load the chambers, I fill the chambers with the lube.
At the end of the day, I am tired, and when it is time to clean, it is a snap.
Yes, BP is dirty, but when lots of lube is used in the chambers, the fouling is loose.
A good lube is the trick.

[ruger44]

how about just using pyrodx?/ I use it in mine and so much easier to deal with and clean up is so easy ,i do use black but only in my cannon it eats it buy the oz. , so i use other when possible. just a idea Thanks praise god

[Hellgate]

I put a single drop of olive oil on the juncture of the cylinder face and the frame right over where the pin runs through. I do it between loadings with the gun held barrel up. A few giggles of the cylinder and a twirl or two of the cylinder loosens everything right up. No need to take the pin out each time and get your hands all black and tarry. Just keep a little squeeze bottle of oil in your loading box. Takes 10 seconds and will let you shoot all day. I also use over ball grease and lube wads. I charge all the chambers, put in a wad in all chambers, and ram a ball in each chamber while holding the gun barrel up. I don't bother with a loading stand.

[Multigunner]

The solid frame of the Remington made it more sturdy and more suited to use with fixed cartridges when converted, but most officers prefered the open topped Colt design.
The large diameter Colt arbor with grooves to allow fouling to be scraped off the arbor surface and out of contact, plus the abilty to increase the cylinder gap if necessary by leaving the wedge not fully home, allowed the Colt to operate when heavily fouled.

In combat both were more often quickly reloaded by use of precharged spare cylinders, when these were available at least. And both could get a quick wipe down of pin or arbor before securing the new cylinder.
Reloading a fired cylinder using paper cartridges was for when you'd used up your spare cylinders. Even then a quick barrel dismount and wipe down before reloading was common with the Colt.
Reloading either type when using a precharged cylinder is actually faster than reloading a Peacemaker, since no empties need be ejected and all six shots are reloaded in one operation.

Also it was common practice when using any breechloader or repeater, even the long arm type, to pour water into action and breech to free up a fouled mechanism.
Some carbines came with a bronze reamer/scraper for a quick cleaning of the chamber.

[Hellgate]

Multigunner,
I disagree on the reloading of C&Bs with spare cylinders during combat. I don't believe that extra cylinders were even issued. Basically, you shot your gun dry and then either pulled your sword or drew another spare loaded pistol not a spare cylinder to fumble and drop while the enemy is coming at you. The Confederate irregulars often carried multiple loaded pistols and were rarely if ever killed by a Union sword. I don't think it can be documented that cylinder changes occurred during combat. Maybe back in camp.

[docone31]

Didn't Dirty Harry, or someone like that do it back then?
Perhaps in the Spaghetti Westerns?