Thursday, March 29, 2012

Pull Your Pistol and Step Back in Texas History



I drew my pistol, cocked the hammer back and pulled the trigger. Fire and white smoke belched from the barrel and my advisory fell to the ground with a hole in its side. As it rolled to get away I fired one more shot and the coffee can was hidden from sight in a cloud of white sulfurous smelling smoke. As the smoke cleared the can lay still with holes to show where both round balls had passed through. I was firing a Replica of an 1851 Sheriff’s model cap and ball revolver. I could have been a Texas Ranger holding off a group of Comanche raiders bent on taking my hair or even a Texas Lawman facing down a desperate badman. These guns were also used in the Civil War and many Texans carried them long after. Some relied on the cap and ball revolver even after cartridge revolvers came on the scene. They were carried by such men as the James brothers and Bill Hickok.




People often ask me why I shoot the replicas of old cap and ball revolvers. They are slow to load with round ball, loose powder and percussion caps. They must be thoroughly broken down and cleaned within 24 hours of shooting or they will rust up terribly. I have to answer that they are the most fun of all the guns to shoot. It also seems that no matter how serious life or how old I get they let me step back in time for a while and relive a little history. I won’t go into all the loading and care of the old time revolvers as that information is available on the net and even videos of how to load and shoot them is available to watch on YouTube. I will tell you that today there are more replica types of black powder revolvers available to choose from than you could have found back in the time of the original Colts and Remingtons that were available to our ancestors. I am including some links to some forums I like that can put you in touch with those that shoot the revolvers on a regular basis and would love to help you get into the sport and hobby. I will warn you it is addictive. Get out and make some smoke of your own, Wild Ed


http://1858remington.com/discuss/index.php

http://blackpowdersmoke.com/forum/index.php

http://www.possibleshop.com/pistol-uberti.html

http://www.possibleshop.com/did-you-know/d-y-k-loading-the-c-b-pistol.html

http://www.voy.com/60048/

http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/browse/shooting-black-powder-pistols-revolvers/_/N-1100201/Ns-CATEGORY_SEQ_104503680?WTz_l=SBC%3BMMcat104792580%3Bcat104701680











You may wish to scroll down to the bottom of the page and mute or cut off the playlist sound before playing the video.





The following book is one I highly recommend if you wish to learn more about the Percussion Revolver.

3 comments:

THE FISHING MUSICIAN said...

Thanks for the links and info, Wild Ed. I guess that explains the white smoke and thunderous booms I occasionally hear from up your way, just to the northwest of me! LOL

Seriously, I've been wanting to get several revolvers like these as well as a Kentucky rifle for a long time, and I think I'll do some shopping this weekend and start with a percussion pistol to harken back to my Texas heritage.

Hope you're getting some of this good rain like we are. Last night we had to have gotten 3 inches! Hope it keeps up!

Wild Ed said...

If you are shopping you might want to check out Cabelas online before their sale is over. I am not always a fan of Cabelas as the last two times I drove down to Buda for a sale they did not even have what was in the ad, however online they have a sale on some of their Blackpowder revolvers with some really good deals on a few models.

THE FISHING MUSICIAN said...

Thanks, will do. I also get various discount coupons from them from time to time.

Take care and good shooting!