Oldguy

Someone told me not to get one of the 1858
Navy pistols with a brass frame. Just wondering
what you folks experience was?

Thanks for any feedback

cayugad

There is nothing wrong with the brass framed Navy revolvers. The thing you need to be careful about is not to over charge them or the frame will stretch and the revolver is then not much good. I shoot a Steel Framed 1858 New Army with the top strap. They are a little more able to with stand the charges.

If you get one, keep the charges around 25 grains and do not go more then that. They should work just fine then.

Rebel Hog

If you can't afford a Ruger, than get the one I have in .44 Mag Rem. SS 1858 Army.

Pittsburghunter

For casual target shooting with my brass framed 1858 I have used 25-30g of fff goex and it has not hurt the gun at all. The load is in the manual that came with the pistol and it doesn't come close to filling the chambers but fills it enough that I need no filler.

I keep my fff T7 loads to 25g and love the way that powder works in the pistol. I ran the Pyrodex P up to 30g did not like the power or the dirt and quit using it.

cayugad

My first black powder revolver was .44 caliber Navy model. I was shooting targets with friends one beautiful afternoon. And then the thing chain fired. Talk about make you take notice. After that the revolver would not cock right and the cylinder did not line up just perfect. I took that to a gun smith and he said it was stretched. They cut the thing back to make it work and I sold it to a person that wanted a wall hanger. Actually that Navy revolver was an excellent shooting revolver.

This present revolver I shoot is a F.L. Lippeta (made in Italy) 1858 New Army Target model in .44 made I bought through Cabela's. This thing with 25 grains, felt wad, .451 roundball and some Crisco over the end will shoot excellent groups. We even rabbit hunt with them. We don't get a lot of bunnies, but we sure have a lot of fun chasing snowshow rabbits on our snowshoes.

Rebel Hog

Cayugad, I have the one I posted above and it is the same make as yours. I also purchased an extra cylinder for it.

What I have learned from the US Black Powder ShootingTeam is to load your powder in the cylinder, place your wad over the powder, fill in just the right amount of cream-of-wheat that will keep the ball even with the cylinder hole and wipe some bore butter over all the loaded cylinder holes to keep from getting a cross fire. This way the bullet will not have to jump, it will be right at thebarrel.