A Time for Renewal

Mrs. Bugbear agreed to go on a shooting date once we were moved back into our bedroom.    After  four months of installing flooring, installing new trim and painting we are finally sleeping in the master bedroom again.  We were going to go on a shooting date this weekend but Mrs. Bugbear is entering the third trimester of her pregnancy and likes to nap on the weekend.

I therefore found myself out on the range alone with my both my STI 1911 and my Colt 1860.  I was again playing with loads for the 1860.   I've discovered that I get the best accuracy with 20 grains of Triple 7 (3F formulation), a denim patch lubed with Bore Butter (by Thompson Centerfire), 10 grains of corn meal, a .454 swaged round ball and a bit more Bore Butter applied infront of the round ball to prevent chain fires.  I haven't had a chance to try conicals yet but I think that I might get a bit better accuracy with conicals. I also purchased some CCI No.10 primers.  Seating the CCI primers on the nipples was quite difficult, seating the Remington No. 10 Primers was much easier.  The trigger in the 1860 was feeling a bit heavy as well..  Obviously it is time for some maintenance.

When I was cleaning the 1860 I examined the action closely.  The percussion caps have a depressing tendency to drop into the action unless you hold the gun upright or tilted to the side when cocking the hammer. The Remington caps were much worse for this than the CCI caps.  There were no caps in the action this time.  In this instance I noticed that the pin that the trigger rides on is slightly bent.  I also removed the nipples from the cylinder and closely examined them.  Frustratingly, all but one of the nipples are too large for the No.10 primers.  This may be due to some slight 'mushrooming' from the hammer striking the nipple or all but one of the nipples are the wrong size.

So now I have to order some parts to get my cheap revolver working again.  The price of the order is almost the cost of the revolver...Of course I could forgo ordering replacement nipples AND a new cyclinder AND I don't really need a new hammer and spring set.

Still...it was a cheap purchase to begin with and the replacement parts aren't all that expensive.