Respect

[lilguy43uk]

I now have the utmost respect for the settlers and cavalrymen of America circa the civil war era.

I've just blown some coal from my .44 revolver and the time it took me to reload, a war would be over. I can't even begin to imagine what it must have took to load and recap while the indians were trying to give me a haircut or while cannons and muskets all were spitting nastiness at me.

No wonder they all carried several cylinders loaded and ready for insertion. Even so, after a dozen shots it took me some effort to withdraw the cylinder pin
so that I could drop the cylinder out.

Do you think the redskins would have waited until I got my act together? No, I thought not.

[LONG REACH]

Yep, I must agree,
I tried muzzle loading (a Uberti 1851 Colt Navy .36 cal revolver) for the 1st time on Sunday and talk about sausage fingers I found placing the cap's the fiddliest thing to do. I reckon if I'd been a new recruit, the enemy would have had time to over run my position, search the bodies for ammo, food, and other essentials and gone home, if they didn't find me , before I could have re loaded the pistol
But I suppose it will come with a LOT of practice

All the best
Baz

[robinghewitt]

They had pre-made paper cartridges, you rammed the whole thing and the primer blew a hole in the back. Adams used tinfoil and you had to pop the back end off before loading to reveal tissue paper below.

Some bunch got short of ammo and rolled catridges using pages from a bible, This was considered unlucky.

You can't do this on a repro because the breech is cylindrical, has to be conical.

I've just dug out an antique Manhatten mould for a fun shoot next month. Curiously it casts both a ball and a conical with one grease groove, didn't know they shot ball. Has to be the right mould because the conical tip fits the rammer indent perfickt

[john paul]

"Some bunch got short of ammo and rolled catridges using pages from a bible, This was considered unlucky".

In my experimenting era with B/P pistols I tried this using cigarette paper - not the standard Rizzla stuff, a tad longer. I think it was a brand called ZIG ZAG. I got the idea from a post on an American site, I'll try and find it.
You really need to coat the paper with an explosive liquid - I can't remember the exact substance it mentioned. It worked, though slight delay in ignition I never pursued it any further. I also tried opening up the cartridge via the nipple with a brass pin this didn't seem to make any difference.

[moonraker]

It was on a Forum site called "thehighroad.org". I have a copy of the page saved but haven't got around to trying it yet.