slowr1der

So a friend has a black powder revolver he'd like to fire. It appears to be a 5 shot with a 4" barrel and appears to use #11 caps. Doing some searching online shows that it should be a .31 caliber That's about all I know about it. He figured I'd know since I shoot black powder rifles, but I'm totally new to the revolver part of it. From looking over it the first thing I notice is the cylinder has a slight bit of play even when the hammer is ****ed. It just wiggles slightly. Is this normal, or should it be perfectly still? The only reason this worries me is it seems like it would have to be lined up perfectly with the barrel so that the bullet could go down the barrel. Does this slight bit of play matter, or is it normal as long as it's not major?

The other question is how much powder should we fire in this thing? Is Pyrodex safe or do we want real black powder? What type of bullet should we use? Do you load it like a modern inline muzzle loader with a sabot, or do we use a round ball and patch? I'm unfamiliar with that technique so I guess if that's what we do I need to read up on it. Also, if using real black powder is it safe to measure it out in a volume type measurer or should we weigh it?

I know he should probably have a gun smith check it out, but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a halfway decent one in this area or at least that we have found. So I figured I'd ask here for some help.

MountainDevil54

arbor pin sounds loose. The last revolver i had like that, blew apart in my hand the next time i fired it.

Pyrodex P is fine. For a .31cal it'd be a very small amount of powder.

slowr1der

So is this something that can be fixed? Should the cylinder be 100% still when it's ****ed?

cayugad

This would worry me also. My black powder revolvers lock up tight, even when not c0cked. So I suspect something is wrong with that revolver. I would have it checked by a gun smith.

With that small of a caliber I would guess it to be a small amount of 3f powder. I personally would see if I can find loading specs on that caliber. My .44 caliber has a max load of 35 grains. I shoot 20 and that is fine with me. I would suggest much less then 20 in that revolver. Also while Pyrodex P works fine, I like sub powders like APP 3f, JSG 3f or Pinnacle. Personally I would suspect a 10 grain load would be safe, if the cylinder did not wiggle. It should shoot a roundball. Which one I am not sure.

To load, you dump the powder (by volume) in to each cylinder. Then place a wad (if you like) on top of the powder. Or place the ball in the top of the cylinder. Using the loading arm of the revolver if you have one, you compress that ball all the way down the cylinder to where it rests on the powder charge. The ball should be so tight that the cylinder actually shaves the lead ball a little. Then using something like bore butter, Crisco, or some semi solid lube cover the ends of each cylinder. This will keep it from chain firing. If you have a chain fire you will never forget it. This revolver might have had one as that will stretch the cylinder rod and make them "wiggle." I got rid of the only revolver that chain fired on me because it did damage the revolver.

I will also guess that it uses #10 caps and not #11 caps.

RobertSubnet

Get that bad boy checked out by a gun smith. Hands do not grow back.

slowr1der

Thanks guys. It may very well take #10 caps. I just assumed #11 caps as the nipple looked similar to the one on modern muzzle loaders.

I guess I will tell him to try to find a gunsmith to check it out. Unfortunately all of them either of us have dealt with in this area are pretty bad and tend to not do very quality work. Does this sound like something that could be fixed if he was to find a decent gunsmith, or are they pretty much worn out once the cylinder gets play in it?

cayugad

I had a 1861 Navy Revolver. It chain fired on me. Only two cylinders thank goodness. But it shook the front sight off the thing, scared the devil out of me, and stretched the frame. I took it to a very good gun smith. He shortened the frame and replaced the pin and when he was done, he said it was as good as new. Well it no longer wiggled around as it did after the accident. But I never had the nerve to shoot it again. I sold it "as a wall hanger" to a person and told them what had happened to it. I have no idea if they ever shot it after that.

What make is the revolver? Perhaps they have a customer service that could check the thing out. The other thing you could try is to tire shoot it. Load it, put it in a tire and with a long string fire off each cylinder. Then check to see if it is damaged more. But I personally would find a good gun smith and have them check it. It if is something likes a stretched pin, they can replace that and get it working fine again.

Otherwise, clean it up. Make it look pretty, and hang it on a wall.