How a Black Powder Revolver Saved My Life

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Thanks for posting the link to that interesting article. This is why I never leave the house unarmed. At my age I'm not going to outrun an arthritic snail, so it's either fight or surrender and possibly die. A cap and ball revolver wouldn't be my first choice but it could certainly do the job.

Jeff
 
The number one rule for defensive firearms carry is "Have a gun". A good ball & cap revovler satisfies this criteria. The .44 1858 style "Sheriff" guns seem to me to be the optimal set-up, giving .38 Special energy levels with a pre-expanded .45 diameter bullet. I would feel far from unarmed if similarly equipped.
 
Right on. They go boom pretty much every time. I wouldn’t hesitate to carry my ROA or any other BP revolver. Especially if that’s all you got. Plus, like the article, just the sight of a gun diffuses the situation most times I would think. Luckily I can’t speak from experience.
 
The Author was lucky. There's something wrong with the mind of anyone who would attack another person for gain, whether it be sexual, monetary or else. I say or else because back on the 80's at a place west of Boulder, CO called Left Hand Canyon, I was shooting SA's in 45 with the S.O. when we were suddenly 'greeted' by a large group of Dirt Bikers who were not happy that we were using the area to do some afternoon, fun target practice. The leader of this pack swung off of his Bike and started to march up to us to give us what for. He was a big, good looking guy who had the standard, entitled smirk and attitude of a man with a crowd of his buddys backing him up for whatever play he made. The area that we were in was marked for shooting along with the signage to clean up after yourself, etc. so we were in the Right to be there, this guy just must not have liked shootists, etc. To this day, I do not know. I remember that a calm came over me and I was thinking clearly ( more than my normal, file cabinet in a computer age brain does at any other time ) so while this guy was yelling at us and working up a fine old rage on, I calmly stood there and ejected the empty brass from my .45 and loaded it up again with six instead of five, cocked it and dropped the hammer slowly into place then holstered it and left my hand on it. I was able to do all of this while not looking away from the face of the guy yelling at me and I do not know what clicked then but suddenly he noticed my hand on the butt of the revolver and some of his friends behind him began muttering that maybe they should just go. They did, without another word being said by him or any of them. I had said nothing during his entire tirade just reloaded and reholstered my revolver. These guys were not armed that I could see and I would not have shot the guy for swinging at me one on one but if the whole group had gone Biker Gang, well, I was a young man then with good reflexes and had used a SA all of my shooting life. Six guys would have really regretted that maneuver. The S.O. was no slouch either back then and was similarly armed so that could have only gone one way for the group and that would have been badly. Be safe out there, folks. The World is off on a tangent these days and it is going to be a while before things settle out, I think....
 
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I think cap and ball guns are great for defense. A lot of people say its stupid or that its unreliable etc...but my guna go boom EVERYTIME and are waterproof when capped. Now not saying all stock black powder guns are like this..but if you work the gun over and make it reliable then its just as good as a cartridge gun in my opinion. I always remove the flat steel seer spring for the bilt and trigger and install my own custom two part wire spring set up, add a cap post to keep caps from jamming the gun, hammer sheild to provent fouling and cap fragments from falling into the guns inner workings, polish the rough edges etc. I cant even remember the last time my guns didnt fire on the first try , cap jammed, or broke a spring. They can be made extremely reliable.
 
TheOutlawKid said:
I think cap and ball guns are great for defense. A lot of people say its stupid or that its unreliable etc...but my guna go boom EVERYTIME and are waterproof when capped. Now not saying all stock black powder guns are like this..but if you work the gun over and make it reliable then its just as good as a cartridge gun in my opinion. I always remove the flat steel seer spring for the bilt and trigger and install my own custom two part wire spring set up, add a cap post to keep caps from jamming the gun, hammer sheild to provent fouling and cap fragments from falling into the guns inner workings, polish the rough edges etc. I cant even remember the last time my guns didnt fire on the first try , cap jammed, or broke a spring. They can be made extremely reliable.
Click to expand...

What is the hammer shield? Can you show how it works?
 
Hammer sheild is installed to keep fouling and cap fragments from falling into the works via the hammer slot. I install a cap post to prevent caps falling into action and then the sheild keeps fouling out but also any cap fragmennts that may get past the cap post. I posted pics of it and also someones gun i worked on...you can check it out here:
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ths-repair-tuning-and-conversion-work.870077/
 
I have actually been thinking of the same kind of thing, but couldn't figure out any good way to attach it to the hammer. Is it slipped into a groove cut into the hammer?

I don't mean to try to get you to reveal any trade secrets, if so, I apologize. ;)
 
Oh its not a trade secret...and im a firm believer in sharing knowledge. I will admit that its easy to mess up. But i use sheets of hard aloy aluminum (not flimsy like soda can) or brass. Its fitted to the hammer by cutting a notch and press fitting but also using a strong adhesive like JB weld. The hard part is getting the size and shape just right. It has to be smooth too and not run into anything moving inside the gun as this sheild goes deep into the guns inner workinhs when the hammer is dropped. You cant see in the picture but it has a bend at the end that "scoops" out anything that falls down into the hammer slot. So it not only blocks but scoops items out. I dont really do this for money but ill do all the work i mentioned for about 60 bux plus shipping. The whole pandemic thing has caused me to have less working hours and i have a disabled 4 year old daughter who takes speech and physical therapy and i pay for extra sessions that insurance wont cover, but smaller checks have kinda made that difficult...so now ill slick up a gun for a small price. It helps me and it helps the gun owner...who like me may not have a lot of extra spending cash. But im a firm believer in sharing knowledge and helping out, especially in this small community of black powder shooters. Heck, most of my knowledge was trial and error but i got a whole lot of guidance from Mike from Goons Gun Works...and he too is very helpful to folks when they need help or ask questions...most gunsmiths wont share any advice or knowledge. Although i will make it very clear that im not a gun smith...just someone who loves working on open tops.
 
Excellent! Thank you! I had been contemplating something like this, and wondering if it would work and ran across this post! Apparently I'm not the first to think of it! I was having trouble figuring a way to affix it in place, though.

Being gunsmith-inclined, I'm working on my own 1860, and have a cap rake threaded in place, I just need to file it all down and deepen the hammer notch to accommodate it. If I weren't doing it myself, I'd send it to ya! I would encourage others to do so, if they don't have the ability. 60 dollars is cheap, I know the time and effort and skill needed for this type of work. ;)
 
Yeah it takes a lot of time...i usually dont stop until the gun is fixed...so ill work on it all day. I like to return guns within a day or two of receiving it.
 
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