Loading Cap and Ball Revolvers

In this article we will examine how to load a cap and ball revolver using both paper cartridges and loose powder and round balls, relying on both cavalry manuals of arms from the period and on Sam Colt’s original loading instructions.

Remington and Colt revolvers with cartridge packets, loose combustible cartridges, and a period-correct reproduction cap tin.

To Load the Pistol
These instructions come from Cooke’s 1862 Cavalry Tactics (pp. 93-94) and cover loading the revolver while mounted.  Cooke also gave instructions for loading when dismounted, however, they differ only in saying that loading should be done sitting on the ground when doing so (p. 57).  Note that although earlier manuals (e.g., Pointset and Congdon) said that troopers should be able to load from horseback while moving, by this point in the War they had learned that doing so was extremely impractical, which is why Cooke says it should be done from a standing horse or sitting on the ground.

            177.  The horses must be quiet; at the position of raise pistol, the instructor commands:

Load at—WILL
1 Time.

            At this command, let the reins rest on the pommel, half cock the pistol, take it by the stock with the left hand, the guard to the right, and lower it until the hand rests upon the inner side of the left thigh, the butt of the pistol touching the saddle, the hand and cylinder resting against the side of the pommel, the pistol being inclined to the front and right; with the right hand take a cartridge and place it in the chamber, turn the cylinder and force in the ball; repeat this until the cylinders are loaded.  Then hold the pistol against the right side of the pommel, pointing downward, to the right and front, and put on the caps.  Take the position raise pistol.

Return—PISTOL
1 Time.

            178.  At the command, PISTOL, place it in the holster, and button the flap.

Loading a Cap and Ball Revolver with Combustible Cartridges
This is a more detailed version of the loading procedure described above to help a modern shooter who is new to the hobby understand how to load his weapon.  We will assume that the shooter is dismounted and that he sits down on the ground (or at a shooting bench) to load.  It is easy to load standing up, but when doing so it is awkward to manage the cartridges and percussion caps during the process unless they are carried loose in the pouch.

1.      Remove a cartridge pack and use the string to tear it open.

2.      Draw the revolver, place it on half cock so that the cylinder spins freely, and take the grip in your left hand, muzzle facing up and to the right front with the back of your left hand against the inside of your thigh.  Ensure that the muzzle is not aimed at anyone.  Fig 1.

Fig. 1.

3.    Take a cartridge with your right hand and insert it into the chamber adjacent to the loading port, pushing it firmly into place with your fingers. Fig. 2.

Fig. 2.

4.      Rotate the cylinder so that the bullet is directly under the rammer, then pull down firmly on the lever with a steady, smooth pressure until the bullet is firmly seated in the chamber.  Ensure that the nose of the bullet is below the mouth of the chamber or else the cylinder won’t be able to rotate. Figs. 3 & 4.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

5.     Repeat steps 3 & 4 for each of the other chambers.  Ensure that the cylinder spins freely; if not, any protruding bullets will need to be rammed more deeply.

6.      Take out a cap tin and remove a cap. Fig. 5.

Fig. 5.

7.     Holding the grip in your left hand, place the revolver over your right thigh, the muzzle pointed down and to the right front.  Make sure to keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.

8.     Press the cap fully onto the nipple, ensuring it is well set by pressing on it with your right thumb or, if preferred, with a small piece of wood (do not press on it with anything metallic) so that if the cap goes off accidentally—an unlikely but not impossible event—your thumb will not be damaged. Figs. 6 & 7.

Fig. 6.

Fig. 7.

9.      Repeat step #8 for each of the loaded chambers.  Ensure that the cylinder spins freely; if not, check that each cap is seated fully.

10.  Taking the grip into your right hand, rotate the cylinder with your left hand so that the hammer is between chambers.  Placing your right thumb on the hammer and your right index finger on the trigger, pull the hammer back to full cock and pull the trigger while your thumb prevents the hammer from falling.  Rotate the cylinder until the notch or pin is directly under the hammer with the fingers of your left hand and use your right thumb to gently lower the hammer into the notch or onto the pin.  The weapon is now safe and ready to shoot or to be returned to the holster. Fig. 8.

Fig. 8.

Notes on Loading
Check to be sure that a small ring of lead has been cut from the sides of each bullet as they went into the chamber.  This guarantees that the bullet is seated properly and that the chamber has been sealed so that hot gases cannot enter another chamber to cause a chain fire.  Note that it's not the cutting a ring of lead that does so, it merely demonstrates that the bullet is large enough to seal the chamber; if the mouths of the chambers are chamfered there will be no ring of lead cut off but the chamber will still be sealed if the bullet was of the correct size.  A chain fire occurs when a chamber or chambers other than the one aligned with the barrel discharges as the weapon is fired; these are alarming and potentially quite dangerous, but as long as the bullet is the correct size and is seated properly chain fires will almost never happen from the front of the cylinder.  The rings of lead will also have grease and paper mixed with them, so take care to remove them from the front of the cylinder so they don’t clog the action.

Some modern shooters prefer to load only five cylinders rather than six in order to be able to rest the hammer onto an empty chamber for safety.  This practice, called the “cowboy load” today, is an artifact of modern shooting clubs (e.g., the North South Skirmish Association or the Cowboy Single Action Shooting groups) and really derives from metallic cartridge revolvers which had no safety notches on which to rest the hammer, so it was common to only load five cartridges for safety when carrying them.  Most cap and ball revolvers, however, do have either pins between each chamber in the case of Colts or notches between each chamber on Remingtons, and the hammer can be rested on these in order to safely carry the weapon with all six chambers loaded.  Each shooter must decide for himself how he feels about the safety of doing so, and should, at a minimum, experiment by handling his revolver roughly (unloaded, obviously) to see whether the pins or notches on his specific piece are sufficient to the task before deciding.

Some modern shooters prefer to use capping tools to apply their caps.  These are brass devices which hold percussion caps, dispensing them one at a time into a spring-loaded clip from which the cap can be placed onto the nipples.  Although cappers did exist in period (Colt sold them with the early Paterson revolvers), they seem to have gone out of favor early, and were certainly not part of military issue, nor does there appear to be any mention whatsoever of them in documents from the War.

Make sure to use caps which fit the revolver nipples correctly.  The various brands of percussion caps differ in size, and some work better or worse on the various nipples by different suppliers.  If the caps are too large they can fall off during firing or if they are too small they may not seat fully, thus making it difficult to get them to discharge, and may stick up too far to allow the cylinder to rotate.  When caps are slightly too large people often recommend pinching them slightly before putting them on, however, it is possible this may lead to chain fires from the back of the cylinder, a far more common occurrence than chain fires from the front of the cylinder.

Loading Loose Round Balls
Although all military revolver ammunition issued during the War came in the form of paper cartridges with conical bullets, it was also true that some soldiers carried round balls and loaded them with loose powder.  Elmer Keith wrote that he knew two Civil War cavalrymen who had seen a tremendous amount of fighting in the Civil War; Major R. E. Stratton fought in the Confederacy’s 1st Texas Regiment and Samuel H. Fletcher fought in the Union’s 2nd Illinois Cavalry.  He related their experiences with round balls and conical bullets:

            “Maj. Stratton said that for a man stopper he preferred the round ball with a chamber full of FFg to the pointed conical bullet.  Sam Fletcher also told me he preferred a pure lead round ball in his Navy Colts with chamber full of black powder, to the issued conical ball load.

            “Fletcher claimed the round ball dropped enemy cavalrymen much better and took all the fight out of them, whereas the pointed bullet at times would only wound and leave them fighting.  Fletcher stated, however, that when foraging and shooting cattle for meat, the pointed bullet was the best for body shots that had to be taken where penetration was needed. But that on all frontal shots on beef, the old round ball was plenty good and would reach the brain—even on bulls.”  (Keith 1992.)

Presumably, round balls had a better effect because they tended to stay in the body while pointed conicals, with better penetration, tended to pass through, meaning that not all of their energy was expended on the target.  Regardless, this suggests that round balls with loose powder were certainly in use during the War despite not being common and never being issued that way, so we should consider how to use them here. 

We are fortunate in that we have extant copies of Samuel Colt’s original loading instructions for his revolvers, the relevant portion of which is quoted here:

Directions for Loading Colt’s Pistols
            First explode a cap on each nipple to clear them from oil and dust, then draw back the hammer to half-cock, which allows the cylinder to be rotated. A charge of powder is then placed in one of the chambers, keeping the barrel up, and a ball with the pointed end upwards, without wadding or patch, is put in the mouth of the chamber, turned under the rammer, and forced down with the lever below the surface of the cylinder, so that it cannot bind in rotation. (Care should be used when ramming down the ball not to shake out the powder from the chamber thereby reducing the charge). This is repeated until all the chambers are loaded. Percussion-caps are then placed on the nipples on the right of the lock-frame. When by drawing back the hammer to the full-cock, the arm is in condition for a discharge by pulling the trigger; a repetition of the same motion produces the like results with six shots without reloading.

            N.B.: It will be safe to use all the Powder the chambers will hold, when loading with the flask, leaving room for the Ball whether the Powder is strong or weak. Fine grain Powder is the best. Soft lead must be used for the balls. The cylinder is not to be taken off when loading. The hammer, when at full cock, forms the height by which aim is taken.

            To carry the arm safely when loaded, let down the hammer on one of the pins between each nipple, on the end of the cylinder.

            —>The arm should be thoroughly cleaned and oiled after firing, particularly the home pin on which the cylinder turns.

Loading with Loose Powder and Ball

1.  Use a powder flask to pour the powder into a powder measure set for the appropriate volume of powder. Fig. 9.

Fig. 9.

2.  Pour the measured charge into the first chamber. Fig. 10.

Fig. 10.

3.  Place a greased felt wad over the powder in the chamber and push it into place, using a wooden or brass rod to seat it firmly on the powder.  Skip this if you plan to put grease over the chamber mouths (see below). Fig. 11.

Fig. 11.

4.  Place a loose round ball into the chamber.  Fig. 12.

Fig. 12.

5.  Rotate the ball under the rammer and ram it home as shown above with the paper cartridges. Fig. 13.

Fig. 13.

6.  If desired, and if you haven’t used felt wads, scoop up some hard grease to seal the chamber. Fig. 14.

Fig. 14.

7.  Add the grease to the chamber over the ball, filling the entire space between the bullet and the mouth of the chamber, then scrape away the excess.  This is completely unnecessary if you have used a felt wad.  Repeat steps 1-7 for all chambers. Fig. 15.

Fig. 15.

8.  Add caps and place the hammer on a safety pin or safety notch as described above with combustible cartridges.

Notes About Loading with Loose Powder and Ball
Note that Colt’s instructions do not mention grease at all, neither on the balls nor over the mouths of the chambers.  This may be surprising to modern shooters who recognize that grease is essential for good shooting with black-powder weapons, but it must be remembered that Colt did not envision his revolvers being used for dozens of shots before being cleaned as we might in a modern range shooting session.

Note, too, that he did not call for measured charges, saying only that the chamber should be full of powder with only enough space for the ball to rest in it; remember that black powder is highly compressible so it is possible to fill the chamber almost to the top and the act of ramming it will compress the powder enough for the ball to be fully seated.  Loading in this way will use significantly more powder than the government-issued cartridges, which used approximately twenty-five grains for .44-caliber revolvers and seventeen grains for .36-caliber models (MacDonald 1972 p. 35).

Loading loose powder and ball is not tremendously different from loading combustible cartridges.  The biggest difference lies in measuring out the powder; it is best to use a powder flask rather than loading directly from the can so that there is no way that an errant spark can set off an entire can of powder at one time, and flasks are much more convenient to handle.  Although it is possible to fill the chambers as Colt suggested, and doing so occasionally can be interesting from a historical standpoint, modern shooters will rarely need or want that much powder.  If you don’t want to fill the chamber you should get a non-ferrous graduated powder measure for loading.  Although one of the advantages of loading with loose powder is the ability to easily test different charges for accuracy, a good starting point is to use the government loads mentioned above.

Another issue when loading with loose powder and ball is that of grease.  Although Colt’s instructions do not call for grease, note that all military bullets were greased with a mix of tallow and beeswax (see the link at the end for my article on making cartridges which includes information about making grease) for  the simple reason that it really does work by softening the fouling which accumulates in the bore so that when a bullet passes through it will remove some of that fouling.  It also helps reduce lead buildup in the bore.

Dipping round balls in grease is not easy and they become difficult to handle, but there are two ways to use grease with loose round balls: greased wads and applying grease over the chamber mouth.  Greased wads are available from several suppliers, but are also very easy to make:  Simply soak a piece of heavy felt (of a natural fiber) with hot grease, allow the grease to cool, and use a punch to punch out wads of the correct size for the revolver chambers.  These wads should be stored in plastic bags to help prevent them from drying out.  To use them, first pour a measured charge of powder into a cylinder, then push the wad down over the powder, seating it with a small wooden dowel.  The loose ball is then inserted into the chamber and rammed home.

Greasing the chamber mouths is messier and less sure.  Make a batch of grease and allow it to harden in a convenient container for taking to the range.  Load a measured charge of powder into the chamber, add the ball, and ram it home.  Then use a small knife (one with a rounded tip is best) to scoop some of the grease out of the container and use it to pack the mouth of the chamber until it is completely full, scraping off any excess.

Some modern shooters use soft materials such as Crisco shortening or Bore Butter for this purpose, but they are drastically inferior to purpose-made bullet grease.  Because they are soft, in hot weather they tend to simply run out of the chambers, especially if the chamber is hot from being fired.  In addition, they tend to “splatter” out of the chamber, with much of the grease being wasted and not going down the bore.

Of course, it is possible to load a revolver without any grease at all, and it will shoot just fine for a time.  It would be best, however, to run a brass bore brush followed by a wet patch and several dry ones down the bore after every cylinder of fire, otherwise accuracy will drop off rapidly.

Note:  To learn how to make combustible paper cartridges, read the article HERE.

Works Cited
Cooke, Phillip.  Cavalry Tactics, or Regulations for the Instruction, Formations, and Movements of the Cavalry of the Army and Volunteers of the United States. New York: J. W. Fortune, 1864.

Keith, Elmer.  Sixguns by Keith.  1961. New York: R and R Books, 1992.

Macdonald, K. Dale. “M1860 was Colt Most Used by Civil War Combatants.” The American Rifleman, February 1972, pp. 33-35.

The Manual of Arms for the Revolver from the Civil War

The Revolver Manual of Arms

My belt kit.

Militaries always appreciate uniformity of both equipment and procedure because it simplifies both training and logistics, so modern militaries develop a manual of arms to govern the use of each weapon they issue.  This term applies both to the physical books in which the procedures were written and to the actual processes for using the weapons described therein.

For the historical shooter, manuals of arms are more than simply a way to practice shooting as it was done in his period of interest; by reading between the lines of the text it is possible to learn a great many things about how the weapons and equipment worked, were used, or were carried at the time, as we will discuss below.  We will focus here only on those portions of the manuals of arms which apply directly to shooting.

Manuals of arms were usually very precise, detailed procedures showing an ideal evolution—one which was not always expected to be followed perfectly in actual combat, but which served to make training uniform in order to help soldiers build the muscle memory necessary for using their weapons under the stress of combat.  The evolutions were usually numbered in step-by-step order to make them easy for an instructor to call out to formations, even though some steps might be combined in actual practice.  The evolution below is taken verbatim from the revolver manual of arms in Cooke’s Cavalry Tactics of 1864 (pp. 56-57 and 93-94) and includes the commands instructors would call out for each step.

Military commands are usually given in two parts:  A “preparatory command” and a “command of execution,” such as “Platoon—” (the preparatory command warning the unit that they are about to receive a command), “ATTENTION!” (the actual command of execution telling the members of the platoon to come to the position of attention).  There is usually a very slight pause between the parts of the command.  Not all commands have a preparatory command, however; some, such as “AIM,” are given alone.  When soldiers receive a command they are not to move until the command of execution is given (Poinsett 1862 p. 104).

In addition, most multi-part evolutions are described as being done in a specified number of “times,” with the instructor often calling out the number of the part of the action to be performed, such as “Preparatory command” …  “COMMAND OF EXECUTION” …”TWO!” … “THREE!”  When an evolution is intended to be performed continuously on the soldier’s own initiative it is said to be “in one time,” even if it has several distinct parts.  Giving orders “by the numbers” is most often done with raw recruits, but with experienced soldiers the manual of arms evolutions are often performed in one time, even when they have several parts.

Please note that the instructions herein are for dismounted operations only.

Manual of the Pistol

            61.  The army revolver being worn in a belt-holster, suspended by the belt at the right side of the back, the instructor commands:

Draw—PISTOL

1 time.

            62.  At the command, PISTOL, with the right hand unbutton the flap of the belt-holster, draw the pistol, and, holding it at the stock, with the point of the forefinger reaching above the trigger guard, carry it vertically, with the hand as high as the right shoulder, and six inches in front of it.

            63.  The instructor commands:

READY.
1 time.

            At this command, place the pistol in the left hand, at the height of the breast, the muzzle elevated and directed to the left front, cock and raise pistol (position No. 62).

AIM.
1 time.

            64.  At this command, lower the pistol to the front, the arm about three-fourths extended, the forefinger upon the trigger; aim with the right eye, the left eye closed.

[NB:  In Congdon’s Cavalry Compendium, troopers are given specific instructions as to aiming:  “Lower the pistol, the arm half extended, and place the forefinger lightly on the trigger, the muzzle directed to the height of a man’s waist” (Congdon 1864 p. 97)].

FIRE.
1 time.

            65.  At this command, fire and raise pistol.

            66.  At the position of AIM, the instructor may command, raise-PISTOL, at which command the men raise the pistols to the position No. 62; and if the pistol is not fired, at the command, return-PISTOL, first let down the hammer.

            67.  To cock the pistol rapidly without the use of the left hand, place the thumb upon and press down the hammer, throwing forward the muzzle with a rapid motion, to assist the action of the thumb.

            68.  In a possible case requiring it, the revolver may be used in rank dismounted with great effect, in firing to the front, or right or left oblique, by volley or file firing.

            To reload, the rank would be ordered to sit on the ground and load at will.

            69.  Being at the position of raise pistol, the instructor commands:

Return—PISTOL
1 Time

            At the command, PISTOL, lower the pistol, carrying it to the rear, and return it to the holster, and button the flap.

To Load the Pistol
These instructions come later in Cooke’s manual and cover loading the revolver while mounted; they are included here because the dismounted loading instructions given above in paragraph 68 do not go over the detailed steps required for loading as these do.

            177.  The horses must be quiet; at the position of raise pistol, the instructor commands:

Load at—WILL.
1 Time.

            At this command, let the reins rest on the pommel, half cock the pistol, take it by the stock with the left hand, the guard to the right, and lower it until the hand rests upon the inner side of the left thigh, the butt of the pistol touching the saddle, the hand and cylinder resting against the side of the pommel, the pistol being inclined to the front and right; with the right hand take a cartridge and place it in the chamber, turn the cylinder and force in the ball; repeat this until the cylinders are loaded.  Then hold the pistol against the right side of the pommel, pointing downward, to the right and front, and put on the caps.  Take the position raise pistol.

Return—PISTOL.
1 Time.

            178.  At the command, PISTOL, place it in the holster, and button the flap.

Ready.

Draw--PISTOL

Cocking.

Raise--PISTOL.

AIM and FIRE.

Raise--PISTOL.

Return--PISTOL.

Observations on the Pistol Manual of Arms
Note that the position of raise pistol is central to this evolution; the revolver is intended to start in this position and to return to it with each shot.  This gives a significant advantage when using cap and ball revolvers, but modern shooters accustomed to metallic cartridge revolvers often ignore or abbreviate this action.  When fired, the spent percussion caps are supposed to blow off the nipple and away from the weapon, but they often fail to do so which can lead to them getting stuck in the action.  Returning the revolver to the raise pistol position between each shot helps spent caps fall out of the weapon without getting caught in the action, thus reducing cap jams.

Note, too, that when talking about holstering the pistol when it hasn’t been fired in paragraph 65 Cooke does not mention placing the revolver on safe by putting the hammer between chambers before returning it to the holster, he just says to “let down the hammer.”  This is extremely interesting—does it represent a lack of concern or an unspoken assumption that soldiers will know to do that?  If it hasn’t been fired then simply lowering the hammer would place the hammer on a live cap, which is incredibly dangerous.

Modern shooters sometimes think that the practice of keeping the shooter’s finger off of the trigger until he is ready to shoot is a modern custom, but as paragraph 62 above shows, this is not the case.

Earlier versions of the manual of arms are almost identical to this one except with regards to the loading procedure.  As discussed in Chapter Two, the Walker and Dragoon revolvers used cartridges which were not combustible; in those cases, the cartridge was merely an envelope for holding the powder and bullet, much like the musket cartridges of the time, and in Congdon’s Cavalry Compendium the manual of arms clearly refers to this procedure (Congdon 1864 p. 95-96).  It is clear, however, that Cooke expected the revolver to be loaded with combustible cartridges as his loading instructions make plain.

One other difference between Cooke’s manual of arms and earlier manuals is that they indicated that troopers should be able to load while on a moving horse (e.g., id. p. 98).  As Cooke’s change requiring loading to be done either sitting on the ground or on a standing horse makes clear, loading while moving on horseback is extremely difficult and was found to be impractical.  “Reloading a caplock on horseback was difficult, although not impossible, which at least partly explains why men can be seen in Civil war photographs with three or more revolvers thrust into their waist belts” (Walter 2020 p. 104).

Note that the manual of arms specifies that the holster is to be worn at the “right side of the back,” that is, to the rear of the right hip.  Revolvers were worn with the butt facing forward, and many people today believe they were worn this way so that the left hand could be used to reach across the body to draw the revolver while the right hand would reach across to draw the sword, allowing the soldier to use his sword in his right hand and his revolver in his left.  While there are references to shooting this way, those doing so are invariably officers and the sword is typically being used to signal or guide their men rather than for combat.  Cavalry troopers did not wield both weapons at once for the simple reason that sabers were rarely used on foot and, when mounted, one hand was needed to hold the reins.  In fact, Whittaker gave specific instructions about how to use the revolver before switching to the saber:  “The revolver on the right hip should have a cord fastened to it a yard long. The men should be practiced in firing at a target when passing at speed, and then dropping the pistol on the opposite side, to use the cord while they handle the sabre.” Whittaker 1871 pp. 14-15.

Added to this is the fact that the holster was intended to be worn on the rear of the right hip where it would be almost impossible to reach with the left hand, which makes it obvious that revolvers were not worn butt forward to facilitate drawing the revolver with the left hand.  This modern myth has spread by word of mouth without any real research to support it and is without basis.  In actuality, military revolvers were worn butt forward because their long barrels made them harder to draw straight out when worn the other way.  Some cowboys did use the cross draw, but this was usually done with the holster worn on the front of the user’s left side.

When using the so-called “cavalry twist draw” described here it is important to keep your finger off of the trigger as you draw and to keep the muzzle oriented toward the ground until starting to rotate it up, at which point you do so perpendicular to the plane of your body so that you do not sweep yourself with the muzzle.

These instructions, as detailed as they are, leave out, or are vague on, several issues.  For example, Cooke said to “take a cartridge and load it into the chamber,” but was silent as to where the cartridges were.  We might presume that cartridges were carried in the pistol ammunition pouch, but typically they were carried there in cartridge packages, not loose; moreover, photographs make it clear that cavalry troopers didn’t always wear a pistol ammunition pouch, especially if they wore the carbine cartridge box.  Congdon said to take cartridges from the pouch (Congdon 1864 p. 95), but this may reflect the fact that Congdon was referring to non-combustible cartridges, which were less delicate, however, Cooke does not mention it.  This suggests that combustible cartridges may have been taken directly from the cartridge packages, which could have been opened and then set on the ground (note that the dismounted loading instructions call for loading while seated on the ground) or on the saddle in front of the rider when mounted.

When cartridge pouches were not worn, cartridge packages may have been carried in a haversack, in saddle bags, or in pockets, etc., and removed for loading.  This would not be problematic since, unlike the carbine, pistols were probably not reloaded during combat which meant the trooper would have time to pull out the ammunition for loading without the need for having it on his belt.

Balanced against this, Whittaker does say to load by taking combustible cartridges out of the pouch, which suggests not only that cartridge pouches were worn, but that the cartridges were carried loose in them which suggests they may have been dumped into the pouch from the packets:

The instructor then commands, LOAD BY THE MOTIONS. (Colt's.). Motions: 1. LOAD. At this word carry the left hand to the lever, the pistol at a raise, and halfcock with the right thumb. 2. Take two or three cartridges from the pouch, insert one in the chamber with the fingers, revolve the cylinder till the load comes under the lever. 3. Ram it down and catch up the lever. 4. Put in a second cartridge. 5. Ram it down; and 6,8,10, and 12, insert cartridges; 7,9,11, and 13, ram them. 14. Cap the cones, after which come to a ready. Whittaker 1871 p. 119.

Percussion cap management is likewise vague.  Troopers wore cap pouches on their belts, but presumably these were used to hold the larger caps used for their carbines.  Pistol caps are much smaller, and experimentation has shown that it is difficult to reach into the cap pouch and pull out a small pistol cap when there are carbine caps in the pouch as well, moreover, when removing carbine caps it is almost impossible to avoid inadvertently pulling out pistol caps as you do so, which invariably fall to the ground and are lost.  These problems suggest that small cap tins may have been carried separately, perhaps in the haversack or in a pocket or even in the cap pouch with the carbine caps, and that caps may have been loaded from these tins.  Some manufacturers made blocks to hold the cartridges which had a separate slot or opening for percussion caps (Thomas 2003 pp. 129-130) and when using those no separate tin would have been required, however, most blocks were not so equipped.

Of course, officers would not have had these difficulties since they didn’t carry long arms.  They probably did carry pistol cartridges in the pistol cartridge pouch and pistol percussion caps in the cap pouch.

Works Cited
Congdon, James A. Congdon's Cavalry Compendium. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1864.

Cooke, Phillip. Cavalry Tactics, or Regulations for the Instruction, Formations, and Movements of the Cavalry of the Army and Volunteers of the United States. New York: J. W. Fortune, 1864.

Walter, John. Weapons of the Civil War Cavalryman. Oxford: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, Kindle Edition, 2020.

Thomas, Dean S. Round Ball to Rimfire: A History of Civil War Small Arms Ammunition. Part Three, Federal Pistols, Revolvers & Miscellaneous Essays. Gettysburg: Thomas Publications, 2003.

Whittaker, Frederick. Volunteer Cavalry: The Lessons of the Decade. New York: Self-Published, 1871.

 

Range Report 13AUG2023: 1851 Colt Navy and Smith Carbine

A few weeks ago I posted a range report in which I said I don’t normally make blog posts for routine practice range sessions but that I’d had such a spectacular day I wanted to write about it.  Well, today I had another such experience, and frankly, if I wasn’t there I wouldn’t have believed it.

Today I shot my newly reworked 1851 Colt Navy and my Smith Carbine.  The Navy was upgraded by Gary Barnes (cartridgeconversion.com/), and I am thrilled with it.  This was my first BP firearm, and it was so bad I almost quit the sport before even getting started.  Since Mr. Barnes' work, however, it is a delight to shoot, and I’m getting much better with it.  Most of my String Tests were in the 2.5-3.5 in./rd. range, and that’s actually quite good, but after working on trying to find the right way to aim off with this revolver (and that’s tough given what utter garbage Colt sights are), I actually shot two Tables of Fire with String Tests of only 1.8-1.9 in./rd., which is (by my standards), a fantastic score.  I shot 36 rounds with it today, and didn’t have a single cap jam (part of which must be attributed to the Slix-Shot nipples) nor any other failure to fire, and it was as easy to load as a modern revolver.

The real star today, however, was my beloved Smith Carbine.  Those who follow this blog will know that it is my favorite Civil War firearm, bar none, and that I consider it vastly superior to any other carbine of the War, with the possible exception of the Burnside.  David Stavlo at Lodgewood Mfg. (www.lodgewood.com/) did a great job reworking this carbine; among other things, he installed a thicker front sight blade and reworked the trigger, both of which added a lot to its accuracy.   I have been working on the front sight for a couple of months (ever since losing my previous front sight blade) in order to bring my MPI to my IMPI, and today I believe I have it as perfect as it can possibly be.  I shot several very good Tables of Fire, gave the sight one more pass with a file, and it now shoots point on at 50 yards.  In fact, in the last Table of Fire (see Table 7 below), all ten rounds literally went through the same hole, and the hole was on the 3” disk at which I was aiming.  I can’t even really determine a String Test for this result, except by noting that the center of the hole was 0.5 inches from the exact center of the disk.  I can’t distinguish any one hit from any other.

The revolver cartridges were combustible paper cartridges with a .36-caliber Richmond Lab bullet cast using an Eras Gone mold over 15 grains of 3f Schuetzen powder.  To learn how I load combustible paper revolver cartridges, see HERE

The carbine cartridges used Smith bullets cast using an Eras Gone bullet mold in a nylon cartridge case that had been blocked with a disk of nitrated paper and filled with 35 grains of 3F Schuetzen powder. To learn how I load ammunition for the Smith Carbine, see HERE.

To learn how to upgrade from nearly meaningless group size measurements to the String Test as a gauge of accuracy, see HERE.

Shooting Conditions:  Lytle Creek.  Bright and sunny.  82 degrees.  Wind 5 mph from 11:00.  Humidity 31%.  Barometer 29.93 InHg.

All revolver shooting was done Standing Offhand at 15 yards.  All carbine shooting was done Sitting Unsupported at 50 yards.

Tables One and Two.

Table One: 1851 Navy
6 rounds, 22.75 in.
String Test: 3.79 in./rd.

Table Two: 1851 Navy
6 rounds, 20.0 in.
String Test: 3.33 in./rd.

Table Three.

Table Three:  Smith Carbine
8 rounds, 13,75 in.
String Test: 1.72 in./rd.
(I ran out of time, and could only get 8 rounds off before the RSO commanded a cease fire, which explains why the next Table of Fire is 12 rounds.)

Table Four.

Table Four: Smith Carbine
12 rounds, 10.5 in,
String Test: 0.88 in./rd.

Tables Five and Six.

Table Five:  1851 Navy
6 rounds, 14.25 in.
String Test: 2.37 in./rd.

Table Six: 1851 Navy
6 rounds, 19.25 in.
String Test: 3.21 in./rd.

Table Seven.

Table Seven detail.

Table Seven: Smith Carbine
10 rounds, 0.5 in.????
String Test: ??? 0.5 in./rd.???
There’s no way to measure to each hole since all ten rounds went through the same hole, but the center of the hole is about half an inch from the center, so that’s what I’m counting.

Tables Eight and Nine.

Table Eight: 1851 Navy
6 rounds, 15.0 in.
String Test: 2.5 in./rd.

Table Nine: 1851 Navy
6 rounds, 10.75 in.
String Test: 1.79 in./rd.

Notes:  If you look at the targets pictured above, you will see that some of them are peppered with small dots, and even a few ragged tears.  These are not bullet holes (I marked some of the larger rips with Sharpie), but were caused by my neighbor hitting the ground in front of my targets with high-power revolver bullets and kicking up gravel and stones.

Range Report 07AUG2023: 1859 Sharps Rifle and Smith Carbine

 It was a beautiful day at the range today, and I had some decent results.  I took my Pedersoli 1859 Sharps Infantry Rifle and my Pietta Smith Carbine out today, and was pretty happy with the results.  I found that I still need to shorten my Sharps linen tubes for the cartridges as they still stick out just slightly when the chamber is fouled, which can cause the block to get clunked up.  Still, this was the first time I was able to actually shoot a large number of rounds from the Sharps, and it’s a truly remarkable weapon, although fussy and problematic.  I cleaned the bore after every 10 rounds, and ran a brush through the chamber after every five rounds, then removed the block and cleaned and oiled it after 20 rounds, yet despite this fouling was still an issue.

I shot 30 rounds for score, plus 20 rounds with some cartridges I bought that are made with the Charlie Hahn tubes and the ugly, modern “Christmas Tree bullets.”  I’ll say this:  The modern cartridges are easier to make, and I plan to make some of them myself for casual plinking, but they were massively disappointing compared with shooting real, historically accurate linen cartridges with the Eras Gone Richmond Labs historically correct bullet.  They have their place, but I will never like them.  My linen cartridges have 65 grains of Schuetzen 2F powder over an Eras Gone Richmond Labs bullet.  To see how I load linen cartridges for the Sharps, see HERE.

1859 Sharps Infantry Rifle with linen cartridges and period-correct cartridge packages.

I had another good day with my beloved Smith Carbine.  This is, hands down, the best carbine of the Civil War.  I had a problem (again!!) with the front sight.  I accidentally knocked the carbine over, and the soft brass front sight was bent off to the left slightly, causing all my rounds to hit slightly to the right of my Intended Mean Point of Impact.  On the second table of fire I shot with the Smith (see Table 4 below) I was very careful to aim off, and, as a result, I got what I believe to be my best String Test ever with the Smith:  1.7 in./rd., a score I consider to be truly excellent, especially since I had to aim off by guesstimate (I normally consider anything less than 3 in./rd. to be good shooting).  I am so very pleased.  I am still shooting just slightly low, so I need to take one or maybe two more licks of the file to the top of the sight (as well as straightening it, of course).  I really need a sight protector.  My last table of fire with the Smith I tried using some cartridges loaded with 40 grains of 2F Schuetzen powder (as opposed to my usual 35 grains of 3F), and the results were a little disappointing (see Table 6 below).  To see how I load Smith cartridges, see HERE.

Smith carbine with nylon cartridges, a correct cartridge box, and correct cartridge packages.

As always, the scores shown below are *not* the crude, nearly meaningless “group size” numbers most people use.  Instead, I use the historical String Test to gauge my shooting, and so should everyone else.  To learn how to use the String Test (including a link to a video I did), see HERE.

Lytle Creek Shooting Conditions:  Clear and very bright.  Temperature: 87 deg.  Humidity: 61%.  Wind: 10 mph from 4:00.  Barometer: 19.9 inHg.  All Sharps rounds were fired from 100 yards and all Smith rounds were fired from 50 yards, with all shots fired from a seated unsupported position with both weapons.

Table One:  Sharps.

Table One:  Sharps
100 yards, 65 grains Schuetzen 2F, linen tube, Richmond Labs bullet.
String: 27.75 in., 10 rounds.
String Test:  2.8 in./rd.

Table Two: Smith.

Table Two:  Smith
50 yards, 35 grains Schuetzen 3F, nylon tube, Smith bullet.
String: 22.25 in., 10 rounds.
String Test:  2.2 in./rd.

Table Three:  Sharps (NO PICTURE!  Sorry!)
Same range and load as Table One.
String: 30.25 in., 10 rounds.
String Test: 3.2 in./rd.

Table 4: Smith.

Table Four: Smith
Same range and load as Table Two.
String: 17.25 in., 10 rounds.
String Test: 1.7 in./rd.  (YES!!!)

Table 5: Sharps.

Table Five:  Sharps
Same range and load as Table One.
String 22.0 in., 10 rounds.
String Test:  2.2 in./rd.

Table Six: Smith 40 grain 2F.

Table Six:  Smith
50 yards, 40 grains Schuetzen 2F, nylon tube, Smith bullet.
String: 31.0 in., 10 rounds.
String Test: 3.1 in./rd.