Range Report 11NOV2023: Comparing the Johnston and Dow and Kerr Cartridges in a Colt 1860

Uberti Colt 1860 with accoutrements and both J&D and Kerr cartridges.

J&D (top) and Kerr (bottom) cartirdges.

I purchased an Uberti reproduction of a Colt 1860 Army with a great deal a trepidation; my experience has been that Uberti's are prettier but Piettas shoot better, and for me, shooting is all.  Still, I got a deal, so I bought the revolver.  I took it to the range and was incredibly disappointed--it was extremely inaccurate, it had the tiniest most useless rear sight notch I had ever seen (the Piettas are much more functional), it had a weak spring which meant the caps often didn't go off, the hammer was very sharp which lead to constant cap sucking, and it never seemed to go together quite right (because of arbor problems endemic to Ubertis).

Still, I see all of the cap and ball reproductions as "kit guns" that require extensive work, so as I have with all my other revolvers, I sent this off to Gary Barnes (https://www.facebook.com/cartridgeconversion) to have it reworked.  Mr. Barnes, as usual, worked wonders.  He  did a trigger/action job, adjusted the forcing cone, reamed the chambers to a correct and uniform diameter, resurfaced the hammer to reduce cap sucking, corrected the horrible wedge/arbor problem that Ubertis typically have, stripped and refinished the grips, and, most importantly, opened the loading port so I can shoot correct ammunition instead of having to waste my time with round balls.  I also replaced the crappy nipples with Slix Shot nipples, which are essential for good shooting.

Today was my first chance since getting it back to take the revolver to the range, so I thought it would be interesting to use it to do a comparison between the Eras Gone Johnston and Dow ("J&Ds") bullets and their Kerr bullets.  I tend to prefer the Kerrs because they have a wider base for attaching the envelopes for paper cartridges, whereas the shoulder on the J&Ds is a bit smaller, making getting the envelope to sit correctly a bit more problematic.  Honestly, I just need to develop a pattern specifically for the J&Ds and it should be less of a problem, but I make so many Kerr cartridges I have refined my pattern to be ideally adapted to the Kerr.  To learn how I make combustible paper cartridges, go HERE.

Precision is a measure of the consistency of a specific weapon with specific ammunition, disregarding the shooter as much as possible; it's basically similar to, although far superior to, group size.  It should always be done from rest (to take the shooter out of the determination as much as possible).  Originally, my intention had been to focus on the precision of the this revolver and ammunition using the Figure of Merit ("mean radial deviation") system to compare the two cartridges, but honestly, as will be seen below, the groups were so tight and close that it would be hard to mark the individual hits precisely, especially since many of them went through the same hole.  To learn more about how the Figure of Merit was used in the nineteenth century, read this ARTICLE.

When I saw how tight the groups were, however, I decided that the Figure of Merit would be pointless, so I just calculated the String Test instead, counting all the rounds that went through the same hole as being the same distance from the Intended Mean Point of Impact.  To learn how to gauge accuracy (not precision) using the String Test, read this ARTICLE.

Shooting Conditions:  Bright and clear, 58 degrees, Wind 8 mph from 11:00 (gusting much higher), 19% humidity, Barometer 30.11 inHg.

All shooting was done at 15 yards from a rest; the sight picture was a 6:00 full hold at the bottom of the 3" black disk on the target.  I fired 12 of each cartridge type.  Each was made identically with 25 grains of Schuetzen 3F powder.

Table One:  Johnston and Dow
12 Rounds, String Measurement 13.25 inches.
String Test:  1.1 in./rd.

Table One: Johnston and Dow.

Table Two: Kerr
12 Rounds, String Measurement 9.0 inches.
String Test:  0.8 in./rd.

Table Two: Kerr.

Conclusions
In all honesty, I don't know what I was expecting, but this wasn't it.  I did expect the revolver to shoot higher than it did--my Colt 1851 Navy certainly does, and Colts are notorious for that.  These kinds of results are phenomenal, even allowing for them being made from rest, and I couldn't be more pleased.  Honestly, the two bullet types seem functionally identical--the slight difference could be a matter of me twitching as I shot.

I had intended to chronograph the cartridges as well, however, I forgot my chronograph.  I am planning to to a head-to-head comparison between my Remington NMA and this Colt soon, so I will get chronograph results then.

Despite these superb results, the day was not without problems.  The Uberti spring is still too weak, and almost 1/3 of the caps failed to go off the first time they were struck.  In addition, I had intended to shoot the same test offhand, comparing the cartridges that way.  Unfortunately, I had some J&D cartridges I made using cotton rag paper that I wanted to test, but when I tried to fire them they refused to ignite at all, even after repeated caps.  Since I didn't have the tool I use to remove bullets from the chamber, that put an end to today's shooting.  In truth, it's just as well, however, since the rear sight on this revolver is practically unusable--the notch is far smaller than in my Pietta Colts, and the front sight can barely be seen through it, so offhand shooting would have been extremely difficult.  I will have to work on opening the rear sight notch up more.  Finally, although the work Mr. Barnes did on the hammer face prevented the cap sucking which so plagued this revolver right out of the box, and the Slix Shot nipples heled reduce cap jams, caps were still a problem.  None jammed so badly that I had to disassemble the revolver, but I constantly had to use a small pick to remove pieces of spent caps.  Once again, I return to my conclusion that Pietta are far better than Ubertis, and Remingtons are far better than Colts, although I confess I like the balance of the Colt slightly better.  Watch for a coming article comparing my Colt and Remington.