Pietta Griswold & Gunnison

[forging.a.better.tomorrow]

My Pietta, a while back I changed the factory nipples to stainless steel RMCs. Just realized that those are for #11 caps not #10 like before, now I have some Remington #10s. Likewise, I filed the left face of the hammer a bit because it seemed to be reducing the amount of force to detonate the cap, by rubbing against the side of the frame.

I seem to have better experience with Remington caps than CCI caps and Winchester caps.

Any comments about improving the function of cap and ball revolvers?

I read on another site where the author said that it was better to chamfer the cylinders, instead of letting the cylinder shave some lead.

 

[winch]

Tag....I've got nothing but interested in ideas. All 3 of my BP pistols are stock.

 

[AntiGun]

I like shaving a lead ring so that I know I've got a sealed chamber.

 

[forging.a.better.tomorrow]

The writer on this site

http://www.geojohn.org/BlackPowder/bps2.html

seems to think that shaving the lead ball means that the ball is not sealing the chamber. It seems sound to me, kind of like when you cork a bottle, the cork doesn't shave off but it still creates a seal. Can we equate that to cap and ball revolvers?

I just tried the Remington #10s and I was able to achieve detonation every time. I will say though it is important to use some sort of lube. I use Wonder Wads and some ox yoke Wonder Lube. If I don't the pistol fouls and the hammer will not want to move.

Anyone experiment with the corn meal filler idea? Supposedly, reducing the distance between the ball and the forcing cone is supposed to increase accuracy.

 

[Melnic]

Read on about cylinder reaming. It's a risky procedure but just know these lesser expensive replicas don't always match the cylinder to the bore but leave room for slop
I took a ball that shaved rings and put into my bore and could see light in the grooves.
Pull the nipple
Seat a ball
Push it back out
Then shove into bore
Pull cylinder and put light into breech and look down muzzle
No powder or primer is involved in this procedure of course!

 

[AntiGun]

Lubed wads with a shaved ring and then blowing away loose powder from the loaded cylinders has been my method. I don't like covering the cylinders in lube for the very reason the author states in his article, collection of powder in places you don't want it. The lubed wads provide seal between ball and powder but also act like a brush sweeping away powder. I saturate my wads with lube, not dripping but greasy to the touch.
I can see how poorly machined cylinder edges could cut a channel in the ball and that's something I'll look into but I wouldn't just start grinding edges without there being an actual problem to fix. My rings look uniform but closer inspection is warranted.
Seating a ball is not comparable to placing a cork. Corking involves compressing the cork that expands to fill the space thus no shaving of the cork.

 

[Threeband]

...
Anyone experiment with the corn meal filler idea? Supposedly, reducing the distance between the ball and the forcing cone is supposed to increase accuracy.

I tried corn meal many years ago.

I found it was a lot of extra trouble, and didn't help accuracy noticeably, while turning my Uberti '51 Navy into a boring popgun that smelt like muffins.

So I started filling the extra space with...




































MORE POWDER!!!!!



Much better! Just as accurate, easier to load, and much more satisfying to shoot.

Fill that puppy up with as much FFFg as it'll hold.

 

[forging.a.better.tomorrow]

Hmm more powder sounds fun. That's a lot more than Pietta's recommended load.Does it matter if I'm using a brass framed revolver?

 

[Threeband]

People have always said the brass frames will stretch and get out of time with heavy loads.

However, I have heard that that's a myth, so I do not know.

Mine are all steel framed, and I understand it is not possible to fit a dangerous amount of black powder in the chambers.