Colt Country | Home of The Almighty Colt

I got a new 1860 Army by Uberti.  On sale from Midway.  The bolt was rising late and I fixed that.  Also installed Slix nipples and smoothed/defanged the hammer face.

First 25 yard group off a bench on Dec 3rd.  1st shot went with high, next five in an inch and a half with four touching. Probably a fluke but I'll take it. 35 grains 3F Goex and .421 inch cast ball.  Hits five inches above point of aim.  Sucked caps like crazy the first two outings.   No jams after installing the Slix Shot nipples.

Offhand at 15 yards it was shooting into 3 inches.

I am having trouble posting pictures for some reason.

I was able to do some chronographing last week during spring break.  I was interested in seeing the differences in velocity switching between 3F and 4F Goex and in the same powder but changing barrel length.

I used a 61 Navy with a 5.5 inch barrel and a 51 Navy with a 7.5 inch barrel and the 130 grain Lee conical pan lubed with a lube made from beeswax, soy wax, olive oil and pure lanolin.  Barrels were brushed with brass brush between strings loaded off the gun. 

Basically you gain about 100+ FPS using 4F over 3F.  Using 3F I gained about 70 FPS with 2 inches more barrel and had about a 100 FPS gain using 4F going from the short to the longer barrel.   The chronograph was 12 feet from the muzzle. 

This was just testing velocity, not looking at accuracy at all.  As an aside I had been using 17 grains 4F with the conical as the usual charge in the 5.5 inch, getting about 790 FPS from 24 shots over the chronograph (on a different day) with a standard deviation of about 41 FPS.  I tried 6 shots of that load off a rest at 50 YDs which hit into 8 inches but was 17 (!) inches above POA.  I think that is way high even the way these are sighted.  I will be making a new front sight after I try a few more loads with RB as well as conicals.

I have found that 4F in the navy and in the 31 Colt pocket revolvers burns cleaner and gives better velocity.  All the loads were poured using a volume measure, not weighed.  Given the same volume, you will get a bit more powder by weight going to the smaller granulation and as long as the charge burns efficiently you should get acceptable velocities IMO.  Others may disagree.

Regards
Gary

Pietta 1861 Navy 5 inch   
20 gr Goex 3F 130 Conical    
762.2   730.9 Vavg
735.9   
692           154.3 Ft-lbs
762.6   33.0   SDs
701.9            


20 gr 4F GOEX      
859.5   838.1 Vavg
781.4   
805.6   202.8 Ft-lbs
804.5   63.5   SDs
939.4      

Pietta 1851 Navy 7.5 inch
20 gr Goex 3F 130 Conical       
831.3   805.5 Vavg
833.6   
819.9   187.4 Ft-lbs
800.8   37.8 SDs
742.1      

20 gr 4F GOEX      
879.6   943.5 Vavg
931.4   
976.2   257.0 Ft-lbs
990.8   43.5  SDs
939.4      

         

I sometimes go to a public range located near where I live.  It is some miles out in the country.  I usually go on a weekday and in the summer it gets pretty hot and is less crowded.  There are actually two ranges connected and one of the benches is under the shade of some cottonwood trees in the summer mornings and it can be quite pleasant, especially when you have the place to yourself during the week. 

I went there on Tuesday to shoot the Uberti London Navy and was having a fine time when a man arrived with his two daughters who looked about 10 and 13.  He was shooting a modern 45 auto and having some trouble with it.  It turns out he used to have a remmi and he was interested in how I loaded my revolver, etc.  I let him and the girls examine the pistol, gave the girls a bit of a history lesson and let them see how it was loaded and fired and how that compared to Dad's pistol.  One of the girls took a keen interest in the pistol and how it was loaded and fired. She spent most of the time looking at my pistols and asking questions.

Dad said he used to load Crisco over the ball just like most of us learned and was surprised you could put the lube or wad UNDER the ball so you don't get all greasy.  No cap jams and the Navy performed flawlessly.  The same could not be said for the 45.

It was almost as big a kick to introduce the young kids to BP and teach them something as it was to shoot. 

A good day.

Went to the range Monday and shot the 1862 police and the Uberti London Navy.  Had the range to myself after it rained last weekend.  I put 30 rounds thru the Navy and 20 thru the 62 Police.  At 15 yards the 62 police shoots a foot high.

Load for the Navy was 22 grains of 3F Goex with a chunk of lube under the .380 round ball.  The 62 police was 17 grains 4f with the same ball and lube.

Will try to post photos from photo bucket.  So far its been an exercise in frustration.  Hope this works.  Sorry if it doesn't.

30 rounds from the London Navy

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh494/clementg1/Capandball/100_1363_zpssursyerx.jpg?t=1462243277

The  Navy and the 62 Police disassembled

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh494/clementg1/Capandball/100_1362_zpsv094fuo1.jpg?t=1462243279

The 62 Police target

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh494/clementg1/Capandball/100_1352_zpsngpx9dnh.jpg?t=1462243280