I got one of these delivered from Cabela's for a bit under $177 (their pre-Christmas sale - took almost a month to fill the backorder). I was impressed by the lightness of the trigger, but not by the creep and overtravel in it.
So, I got out Cumpston and Bates' percussion revolvers book (they have a new one going to be released soon) and a Fadala book on gunsmithing blackpowder stuff and tore the thing completely down today. I started off by chamfering the chambers a teensy bit (used my Lee Chamfer Deburring Tool - I'm not sure I should admit that), as I'd read some pretty good arguments that the guns shoot better if one does this. Then I looked at the internal parts.
The hand was kind of horrific looking: scabie-looking, with a prominent ridge and all manner of lumps and burrs. The hammer and bolt were so-so, with some burrs and ridges, and the trigger looked pretty remarkably clean.
I used some of cheap-o Harbor Freight diamond files to kill the ridges, then used my Lansky stones to dress everything kinda flat (a little worried about the full-cock notch, since my stone didn't really want to go in there right and my Italian fratelli had left me burrs on both corners of it), then used the Lansky sapphire stone to polish it up a bit. Cleaned everything, degreased the entire gun, re-oiled with Ballistol (did the bore with bore butter after warming the barrel), buttered the nipples and reinstalled them, then put the innards back together.
The trigger was remarkably improved: no creep, just crisp. It took me a little while to realize I'd put the trigger spring in wrong (it hadn't grabbed the trigger, so the gun only wanted to cock properly when it was pointed down), but once I got that fixed, I was in business.
Triple7 just kicks butt.
Cleaning after the range too two whole patches to clean (three more to lube afterward), and I probably was being frivolous with that second patch.
It delivers the mail, too.
It was gorgeous at the ABQ City Range (5950'>sea level) last Sunday. 52 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, only a slight breeze - just lovely. Ten-minute relays are a little short for shooting percussion revolvers, but I got into the swing of it.
First thing I learned is that this gun likes CCI #10s, not #11s. The bigger ones kept falling off. Okey-doke.
I started with 35-gr of 3F 777, compacted it with a Wonder Wad that I put a little extra Crisco atop, then dropped a 135-gr Cabela's ball on it and packed it down pretty good.
I wasn't surprised to find only decent accuracy with the 35-grain load. Here's a group at 10 yards, the POA being the bottom of the dot.
Velocities were all that I'd hoped with the hotshot powder: M 1120 fps/S46.78/D 20.27
I was amused to find a Wonder Wad embedded in the target.
Anyhow, I dropped it back five grains. With 30 grains of 777, I lost surprisingly little velocity and picked up some accuracy. And a heck of a lot more smoke, for some reason I can't discern.
M 1109/S 76.94/D 30.16
Just for kicks, I tried some .457 balls. They were notably more difficult to seat, and less accurate than either of the .454 charge combos. Still choking levels of smoke.
M 1045/S 32.78/D 12.88
The gun cleaned up very well, as I noted. I dropped the metal parts in the toaster oven and, when it was hot, glopped bore butter down the barrel and greased the chambers with the stuff. Ballistol all over everything and into the sleeve until next time.
So, I got out Cumpston and Bates' percussion revolvers book (they have a new one going to be released soon) and a Fadala book on gunsmithing blackpowder stuff and tore the thing completely down today. I started off by chamfering the chambers a teensy bit (used my Lee Chamfer Deburring Tool - I'm not sure I should admit that), as I'd read some pretty good arguments that the guns shoot better if one does this. Then I looked at the internal parts.
The hand was kind of horrific looking: scabie-looking, with a prominent ridge and all manner of lumps and burrs. The hammer and bolt were so-so, with some burrs and ridges, and the trigger looked pretty remarkably clean.
I used some of cheap-o Harbor Freight diamond files to kill the ridges, then used my Lansky stones to dress everything kinda flat (a little worried about the full-cock notch, since my stone didn't really want to go in there right and my Italian fratelli had left me burrs on both corners of it), then used the Lansky sapphire stone to polish it up a bit. Cleaned everything, degreased the entire gun, re-oiled with Ballistol (did the bore with bore butter after warming the barrel), buttered the nipples and reinstalled them, then put the innards back together.
The trigger was remarkably improved: no creep, just crisp. It took me a little while to realize I'd put the trigger spring in wrong (it hadn't grabbed the trigger, so the gun only wanted to cock properly when it was pointed down), but once I got that fixed, I was in business.
Triple7 just kicks butt.
Cleaning after the range too two whole patches to clean (three more to lube afterward), and I probably was being frivolous with that second patch. It delivers the mail, too.
It was gorgeous at the ABQ City Range (5950'>sea level) last Sunday. 52 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, only a slight breeze - just lovely. Ten-minute relays are a little short for shooting percussion revolvers, but I got into the swing of it.
First thing I learned is that this gun likes CCI #10s, not #11s. The bigger ones kept falling off. Okey-doke.
I started with 35-gr of 3F 777, compacted it with a Wonder Wad that I put a little extra Crisco atop, then dropped a 135-gr Cabela's ball on it and packed it down pretty good.
I wasn't surprised to find only decent accuracy with the 35-grain load. Here's a group at 10 yards, the POA being the bottom of the dot.
Velocities were all that I'd hoped with the hotshot powder: M 1120 fps/S46.78/D 20.27
I was amused to find a Wonder Wad embedded in the target.
Anyhow, I dropped it back five grains. With 30 grains of 777, I lost surprisingly little velocity and picked up some accuracy. And a heck of a lot more smoke, for some reason I can't discern.
M 1109/S 76.94/D 30.16
Just for kicks, I tried some .457 balls. They were notably more difficult to seat, and less accurate than either of the .454 charge combos. Still choking levels of smoke.
M 1045/S 32.78/D 12.88
The gun cleaned up very well, as I noted. I dropped the metal parts in the toaster oven and, when it was hot, glopped bore butter down the barrel and greased the chambers with the stuff. Ballistol all over everything and into the sleeve until next time.
Nice photos as well. Tell me about that holster.
