Cap’n Ball Tips

After some more time with the Uberti 1861 Navy in 36 caliber I’ve learned a few things that will enhance the overall experience. While my experiences are limited to the ’61 Navy there are enough similarities with other pistols to warrant more of an overview.

Before I got into cap and ball revolvers I had some reservations. There are a lot of accouterments that go along with black powder firearms. Some you need, some are nice to have, and then there’s everything else. Well, you need caps. You need the right size caps. And the right size caps for my ’61 Navy, Remington #10s, are understandably very popular, thus not available all the time. Read about any cap and ball revolvers which fire a 36 caliber projectile and you will likely find a recommendation for Remington #10s. I found even before I bought my revolver that the caps I would likely need are in short supply. The only locally sourced Remington #10s were given to me by a coworker. They exist online at a high price of $6/100 not including a ridiculous $28 Hazmat charge and whatever shipping and taxes are left to be included. That left me with CCI #11s, which must be pinched to fit the nipples on my cylinder. No biggie. They go bang and function fine. But then that supply dried up. I lucked into a local source for CCI #10s, however, they are slightly smaller in diameter than their Remington counterpart. I found that using the CCI #10 cap required a hammer strike to fully seat the cap before it would fire on the second, but sometimes required a third strike.

The solution came in the form of some pliers. I figured if I could enlarge the skirt of the cap just slightly then it might be enough to fully seat over the nipple and provide reliable ignition of the powder. I set about making small cuts into the cap skirt for a tin of 100 as shown below. The cut does not need to be completely through the copper. It just needs to weaken the wall enough to allow it to stretch when pushed over the nipple so that it fully seats with finger pressure. I went out and tried the “cut caps,” as I call them, over several cylinders and did not have one cap related failure. As an aside I found the cut caps to be more resistant to falling off the nipple after firing which can result in immediate cap jams. Compared with Remington #10s I can’t distinguish a difference in performance. They work that well!

 

Then there is the issue of lubing the chambers. First off, get the idea out of your head that lube from six chambers will lubricate six balls down the bore. The first shot will typically knock whatever lube exists in adjacent chambers free from the cylinder. What residual lube exists will likely flow into the various crevices and moving parts on the revolver, including your hand. If it is warmer than 60 degrees outside use lube sparingly. I’ve been using Thompson Center’s Bore Butter and it is great at keeping fouling down and moving parts moving. But it flows like hot bacon grease in warm temperatures. Feel free to use a liberal amount in the dead of winter. But its not necessary. I will generally lube a cylinder when I begin shooting but not again until 30 rounds later. If anything that speaks to the efficiency of the product I used but I would imagine most black powder lubes could be utilized in the same fashion without undue fouling.

 I also played around with paper cartridges. From what I’ve read, most original paper cartridges used nitrated paper. As I understand you can manufacture the same product by soaking paper in an aqueous solution of sulfuric and nitric acid. While this results in an almost instantaneous combustible paper it is also time consuming and not much benefit to the recreational shooter. I chose to go with regular cigarette rolling papers for my cartridge project. Since my revolver uses .375” balls I selected a .350” wooden dowel from Home Depot to use as a cartridge rolling mandrel. Fine sand paper was used to round the sharp edge off the end to be used for gluing ball with case. I also selected a slightly smaller in diameter dowel to act as a powder tamp after charging a cartridge. Making your own paper cartridges is straightforward and the extra materials only cost me $11. Begin by rolling the paper around the mandrel as if you were rolling a cigarette. Lick the adhesive on one end and secure it to the outer edge of the paper, being sure that the paper tube slides easily on the mandrel. With the tube glued in place, slide it off the mandrel about .25” to make one end. Fold over the paper and flatten out on a smooth surface using the dowel to reinforce the fold. At this point I add a pin sized dab of super glue and press in a .375” ball. I like to hold the ball to the paper for 20 seconds to give it a good initial seal. I then back the dowel out of the paper another two millimeters and press the ball on the paper further to create a sort of neck around the ball. By pressing the ball into this excess paper, the glue has more surface area to bind paper and ball together. After another 20 seconds I place the cartridge, ball down, into a 9mm Luger ammunition tray.

I then dispense powder from a flask into a 32-20 case (which gives me roughly 17 grains of powder), and from the case into the paper cartridge. I use the smaller dowel to tamp the powder to ensure there are no voids in the paper. All that is left is to twist the excess paper so that it forms tightly to the powder charge and cut the excess paper away. I like to leave a small nub of paper that can be pressed against the base of the cartridge. If you cut it too close the paper will unravel and spill the powder.

My paper cartridges were almost fool proof. I did have one round that failed to ignite with three caps. I solved that problem by using an unfolded staple (any small wire like a twist tie would work) to prick the paper. The next cap ignited the charge without further effort. As interesting as paper cartridges look they did not shave a whole lot of time off the reloading process for me. It’s nice to be able to shove a cartridge into a chamber, whether it be from the front or rear of the cylinder. And although it is a little bit faster, I’ve become pretty proficient at loading powder and ball. The step which can still prove frustrating is maneuvering that little cap onto that little nipple. I meant to get a capper but never got around to it. Now that my cut caps have proved reliable and the paper cartridge shows promise, I may get one.

Uberti 1861 Navy

It was not so long ago that we entered the modern era of firearms. For several hundred years, man relied on single shots of various design and with rudimentary ignition systems. Sometime around the early 1800’s inventors redesigned the wheel and attached a barrel on the end of one side. A decade or so later and the cap and ball revolver made a debut in the form of the Colt Patterson, one of the first to be offered in sufficient commercial quantities. As war brewed between the states Sam Colt introduced a series of revolvers which utilized the latest in metallurgy, combining art with deadly effectiveness.

Since backing out of getting into cap and ball revolvers earlier I felt the need to revisit the topic. Whereas one supply of black powder dried up, another opened. Caps appeared, previously out of stock items became available, it just came together. So why the ’61 Navy in 36 caliber? Why not the iconic ’51? Because it’s been done to death. I actually wanted to review a ’62 Police or the ’49 Wells Fargo but felt my first steps should be with a less known classic.

Once I had the model picked I chose to order from Taylor’s and Co. There’s a ~$25 premium versus other vendors but my SAA clone is from them and its tops. It arrived in the mail a few days later and once again, the extra cost was not regrettable. My ’61 sports a steel frame with standard Uberti English walnut grip. The frame and rammer are finished in the case color style, while the 7.5” barrel, wedge, and cylinder come in standard blue. Also present on the cylinder is the engraved Battle of Campeche scene. My model has cutouts in the frame to accept a shoulder stock. I think this is more of a homage to historical accuracy as I’ve yet to see an aftermarket stock for something like this. The cylinder is six shots and is meant to be loaded with six. Pins between the chambers fit a recessed portion of the hammer, keeping it secure from negligent discharge. My revolver uses a .375” round ball and functions best with a Remington #10 cap; more on that later.

Field stripping the revolver is a simple yet tedious matter of dropping the hammer to half-cock, tapping out the wedge, aligning the rammer on a chamber wall (between any two chambers), and giving firm taps with a rubber mallet. My pistol is very tight in regards to arbor and barrel assembly, which necessitates the use of a mallet. Assembly is no different except in reverse with one catch, my pistol requires tapping the muzzle with the mallet in order to bring the arbor fully seated in the barrel assembly. I hate hammering the crown on any barrel, but it has yet to damage anything.

My first time out with the pistol went without a hitch. Just about everything I had heard regarding cap and ball revolvers – not true. Out of 60 or so balls I had one cap jam. And it was induced by an oversized cap that was not squeezed to fit. Also, my revolver did not suck caps. A lot has been said on the issue of cap sucking, the unfortunate event of back pressure upon firing causing the hammer to grab a spent cap from the nipple and lodge it in the firing mechanism, thereby jamming the gun. There was enough cap sucking horror stories on the ’62 to make me think twice of that model. Finally, my revolver did not shoot high. It did not shoot low, or to the side. It shot point of aim. In fact, it shot so well I moved from basic function testing to groups. I walked off 18 paces and loaded up three balls over 15 grains of Goex fff black powder.

I ended up not doing load testing. 15 grains just works. It’s the recommended starting load for 36 caliber. I did play around with 22 grains toward the end of the evaluation. It produces a little more smoke and noticeably more recoil, but kills my steel target no faster. I used Hornady .375” balls exclusively for the review. Each ball left a ring of lead when rammed so fit in the chamber was snug. I initially used Thompsons Center Arm’s Bore Butter to lube each chamber but stopped application after the third cylinder. It fast becomes a greasy mess in hot weather, leeching its way out of the chambers and into the hand. I recommend lightly lubing a cylinder-full every fourth for fifth cylinder to keep fouling to an acceptable minimum.

While lubing the chambers isn’t a bad idea, warm weather can make it difficult.

About the only thing that didn’t go as planned were the caps. I was able to chance into some Remington #10s, and those are definitely the ones you want for this pistol. Unfortunately, I was only able to get one tin. I tried some CCI #11’s and they work as long as I pinch the sides before inserting on a nipple. MY first cap jam involved a CCI #11 that was purposefully not pinched. Next are the widely available yet too small CCI #10’s. Slightly smaller in length than the Remington #10’s, these caps are not only the most difficult to maneuver on the nipple but they fail to fire half the time. The CCI’s short length inhibits a flush seat over the nipple. I often had to strike a cap twice; once to seat and another to fire. Perhaps they would work on a smaller revolver but for the ’61 Navy they just don’t cut it.

Seating a Hornady .375″ ball over 15 grains of Goex fff. A ring of lead in the adjacent chamber shows good fit, and can help protect against chain fires.

The durability of this revolver is better felt than read. It’s a solid chunk of steel. This isn’t the gun you’re going to slip in your waist band and forget about. Class and style always cost weight and the ’61 Navy is no exception. Aside from the trigger and cylinder, the only external moving parts on the gun are the rammer and hammer. With a v-cut notch in the hammer acting as the rear sight, I felt this was a weakness in the design that could prove apparent with use. Though I have no intention of wearing out this gun, future play in the hammer could take a toll on accuracy.

Cleanup isn’t that big of a deal once you get used to black powder fouling. It’s not the end all magic corrosion potion you’ve heard about. Yes, it will turn your gun into a pile of rust – but not outright. Just as a reference I usually let 3-4 hours lapse between shooting and cleaning with no ill effects. I will caution you on the nipples. I bought a nipple wrench to disassemble when I first received the revolver for an initial cleaning. I erred in screwing one of the nipples in too tight. Long story short, all but one nipple can be removed from the cylinder now. I would suggest cleaning each nipple before firing but only hand tighten them in the cylinder – do not torque.

This was a revealing review. Identifying quirks and other things like that is interesting, but delving into an historical replica is something else. Messing with black powder, caps, lube, and the like will never be convenient. But neither is shooting period correct guns. With nothing to compare it to I’ll stop short of saying this is the best gun. It did, however, debunk some “internet facts,” let me relive a classic, and put nice groups on paper. That works for me.