Mark@Sea

Green Tag, here. A bit expensive, but I hit where I want to every time.

Mike, flasks and spouts have arrived, thought you'd like to know. I ended up with a pack or two of extra 44 wonderwads, in case you want to try them. XD, you live in town, I take it?

Last time I was home I set up a grill, this time I'll be lucky to get the grass trimmed beforehand. I had hoped to get off early Friday, but it isn't going to happen - I should be home by midnight, though. If someone wants to bring a grill, or bring the fixings and borrow a coleman, its' fine with me. If you'd prefer meeting somewhere beforehand, thats' fine too.

I think Tungsten has the right of it, with that photo as proof. Conclusively, Satan would carry a Glock. It would follow, therefore, that the angels may have a flaming sword in one hand, but the other is holding a 1911.

Hello Angel, I'm Mark. Between Mike and me, we got XD interested in black powder - feel free to call me names, I'm a long way from home. Welcome to the board, and welcome to the shooting fraternity. Congratulations on the HCP, you've just become a full-fledged adult; self reliant! Where do you and XD shoot, and have you introduced Dakota to shooting yet? It's a bit of a drive for you, but if you and XD ever have a free weekend and can make it to Kingsport for an East TN meetup, you're welcome to come and shoot with us. The range is private, there are no fees, the gathering is usually fairly small and we try to have fun.

Hi Angel. You and XD, by any chance, cellmates? Just kidding. Really! What you need, Angel, is an 1849 or an 1862 - they have significantly smaller grips, weigh about half what that one does, and shoot a smaller ball (.31 and .36, respectively), so have less recoil. Naturally, XD would have the cleaning chore, seeing as you are kind enough to shoot the BP with him...

Been there two or three times, spent most of my time at Indian Island (naval magazine). Best thing about Seattle is there are several roads out of it.

Hi Fullmetal, welcome to our little circle. XD has a point - at $165, its' a pretty fair deal. Ubertis are better fitted, but this'n (pietta) is a quality piece. Gonna be fun making smoke, even more fun if you've got a buddy to shoot with... XD, at this point I'd tend not to sell the ar (it is an M4 configuration). Heck, in 3 years it may be worth 4 times what it is now - or it may be contraband. Time will tell.

Just found a reference that indicates the nickel plate may be original. It's worth at least $4000, and as only a few were cut for the shoulder stock, I'd guess (don't hold me to this) $7000. Not too much of a bummer, I hope.

That is a 3rd model dragoon. Caliber is .44. The barrel mounted rear sight is probably factory, as it has the cuts for a shoulder stock. The plating probably isn't factory, which is unfortunate. I see no traces remaining of the cylinder engraving, which is also unfortunate, value-wise. Depending on markings remaining, and whether serial numbers match (colt numbered virtually every major part) ballpark on this pistol may run 3 to 5 thousand, possibly more. If you had the shoulder stock for it, I'd ballpark it at 25,000. That help? http://www.collectorsfirearms.com/admin/product_details.php?itemID=22049 Another example of the terrible resale value of steel frame pistols. Now if it was a glock, you'd have something there

Clean, ask Mike how expensive it is to set up for reloading... you might be surprised.

Gee, XD, along about Christmas I was trying to sell my AR. Little matter of not getting paid when I was supposed to. Oh well. Mike if you gave up on those grips bring 'em along, I'll give 'em a whirl.

Also known as nitre bluing (you can also get a kit from Brownells) or fire blueing. Gives a beautiful shade of iridescent blue, but is easily scratched or worn off... Just found this on another forum: The process for charcoal blue is a fairly simple one : polish, degrease and heat! Heat slowly and evenly, until you get the color. To heat slowly and evenly I use a cast iron jar filled with river sand, I put the prepared metal in and I let it cook in the kitchen for 2 to 3 hours. After two hours, I brush off the sand to get a look at, and when the metal is dark purple, I cut the fire. It'll turn blue as it cools. Oil it and you're done. Don't forget that the obtained shade will darken when oiled! So must give it a few tries before getting it right. Also found that the temperature you need to reach is 600 degrees (F). Rust bluing is also something you can do at home, but there is a learning curve to getting it looking right.

They do burn evenly, but they aren't nitrated... nitrated papers go up with a flash. We'll see how the folded bases do, I made a dozen last night.

Sweet! I want one. And I want a Walker, and maybe a Dragoon, and still want a trapdoor, and a pony, and... Dang it, Mike~!

Dixie gun works has grips (walnut blanks, they're inletted, but will require shaping and finishing) that will fit the 1851. $4.75 Item #WP0203 https://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?products_id=1085&osCsid=53167a2256da0e2e8100205b78c460a0

Mike, I should be able to - I'll find out when I get home. Reading another board, something that came up was using nitrated paper. Sounds like the way to go, but I don't have the setup (here in the hotel) to do it.

Looks nice, how does it feel (action)? Good deal for 165, I think.

If nobody else steps up, I gotcha covered. You reloading?

NO joy on the pictures, my camera is dead. Picked up a can of 3f this afternoon, and have made a couple of modifications to my procedure: Fold the paper lengthwise almost in half, then cut and discard the smaller piece. Holding the pen barrel vertical with one hand, first place the ball on it, then wrap the paper around ball and barrel with about 1/2 inch of the paper above the ball. Moisten the paper where it touches the ball and above, twist the small (upper end). Pull the paper/ball off the pen barrel, put them into the cartridge tray, ball down. Do a dozen or two, by then the first one you did will be dry. Pour in your charge (I'm using 20 grains), grasp the paper and gently bounce it up and down (still in the tray) to settle the powder. Pull the cartridge out, trim about 3/8's of an inch above the powder line. Holding the cartridge by the ball, use something to fold the open end of the cartridge down - 3 folds - then moisten along the gum line and the folded end. Give it a few seconds for the paper to have some adhesion, then place back in the tray, ball up. With the cartridge ball end up, the weight of the ball will keep pressure on the flapped bottom end of the cartridge until it is well and truly dry. See that twist of paper above the ball? Leave it there. It makes a dandy handle to grab the cartridge and pull it out of the tray when you want to load up. I don't think that little twist of paper will make a rats patootie difference in accuracy one way or the other. Recap: Ball end of cartridge twisted, powder end folded flat. Don't cut the twist. Don't worry too much about getting the powder a little moist, it'll work just fine when it dries again.

Guys, I was rudely interrupted by work in the middle of my last post... go back a page for a chuckle...

Seems to be working great so far. Bought it recently enough that I got the map upgrade (2009) free. But, ha ha, if you follow it to my place, it stops at the edge of the property, which will confuse anyone looking for a house, mailbox or what have you. Wife has decided it is good to have, but still would rather have a male voice. I just tell her that I'm used to a woman telling me how to drive, she can get used to it too...

I'll try to post pictures this evening - the ball sits on the upright pen barrel, I moisten the entire circumference of the ball and the paper extending above it, then twist. I clipped a few twists short, but decided to leave it alone until after I charge with powder and close the other end, so I'd have a little extra strength to keep the powder from forcing the ball out while I shake it down and close. Anyway, once it is dry, I turn the whole thing ball-down, hold the ball and pull the pen barrel out, and drop it into the cartridge box 'mouth' up, ready for filling. I tried the oxyoke wonder-wads (lubed) last time I was home. They work quite well. Barrel wasn't really fouled and was easy to clean. Also the wads can be pushed in with a fingertip, so my loading sequence was powder-wad all 6, tamp all 6 with the loading lever, and then ball, tamp all 6. Went quick, no worries about powder spilling, and a lot less juggling of flask/balls.

That stinks. So does giving a "gunsmith" a serviceable pistol and getting a paperweight in return. About that time I decided I didn't need gnats-ass accuracy, extended, swept, tuned frippery or superdooper sights, and decided to stick with the original recipe. My groups suffered a little, but for real-world purposes rather than fun and games, they're still fine. It isn't vice-grip tight, but FTF/FTE's only happen when I feed it crappy ammo. Turns out that a well built box stock pistol is reliable, accurate enough for gunfighting distances, and easily maintained. Who'da thunk? I guess I'm conditioned to like the 1911 trigger and grip angle. The glock IMO is a serviceable pistol that has an unsettling history of catastrophic failures. Steel is sure heavy, but it is also stronger and does a better job of containing a failure in the breech area. There are give and takes to both sides of the issue. No single right answer for every person that carries a pistol, and every make of pistol out there has a wart or two somewhere. Vinyl siding and plastic pistols are, to me, an offense against nature. Others see no point in toting around a heavy chunk of steel, especially when only old fart reactionaries and comicbook reading wannabe's refuse cutting edge technology. Gotta keep a sense of humor about these things.

Mike, I'm not using filler, or even powder yet. I don't have any powder here. Last night I rolled a dozen of them. This afternoon I'll pick up a can of powder, I hope, but I don't figure to use filler. I found a reference where the guy was shooting for accuracy trying different variables, and the filler didn't make enough difference to be worth it. That was his result, anyway. As I don't have a cylinder here to see how much filler can be used and still fit, I'm going to skip it for now. The cartridge box I bought will allow me to make up a hundred tubes ahead of time, and fill them later. Gives me something to do at the hotel this week. I couldn't find 36 caliber wads, so right now, no, not using them. I've been thinking about the whole process, though, and have a couple ideas. First, I am pretty sure I can build a fixture (slotted tray and dowel) to make the tubes easier/faster to roll and more consistent. Second, I have about five pounds of natural beeswax at home, and was thinking that with a .36 punch, I could cut out thin slices. The idea is to roll the ball in beeswax to give it better adhesion to the paper, then a very thin slice of wax, then wad, then another thin slice of wax between wad and powder area. This should protect the powder, allow use of a wad, and provide more strength to the paper tube. The question here is will the beeswax contaminate the powder... and the way to find out is to build two or three like this, get 'em warm enough to make the wax soft and see if they'll go bang. I figure if it gets hot enough to melt the wax, its' liable to be going bang anyway.