How they did it back then

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rvenneman

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I've been searching for info on the loads used back in the 1850s in Colt and Remington revolvers, without much success. I get a little info here and there.
I know revolvers are less sensitive that autoloaders, but were they as strict as we are now-a-days with the weight, size, type and powder measurements?
I just can not picture the cowboys and outlaws around a fire melting lead. But I guess it was easier the melting wheel weights.
 
They did in fact sit around the fire melting lead, if they were out away from civilization long enough.
When buying a new revolver in those days you would usually have found a ball mould in the kit. Usually a dipper, too.
Black powder loading is very straight forward. A standard dipper would fill the chamber to the correct level, and the ball would top it off.
For more answers to your questions you should peruse our blackpowder forum.
 
I've never loaded black powder but I was told by someone that does a lot of it that the correct amount of black powder for any cartridge is "full". If you can get the bullet in your good, or so I was told. This is why the old cases like 45 colt have huge capacity. It takes a lot of black powder to match smokeless powder performance.

PS, don't take my word on it, I don't know what I'm talking about.
 
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It's a little known fact that the Lewis & Clark Expedition had to carry all the powder and lead they thought they would need for their trip across the great unknown to the Pacific Coast, and back, from 1804 to 1806. They determined the amount of lead it would take to cast round balls for their rifles which would require a pound of black powder. That lead was cast into containers and sealed, with a pound of powder inside each one. That way, they didn't have the extra weight of containers for the powder. When they divvied up the pound of powder between the crew, they then melted the empty "container" into the round balls required and distributed those, too.

In the 1850's, which is the date mentioned by the OP, there weren't many settlers west of the Mississippi River until you got to the West Coast, so there weren't many cowboys out there, if any. The Oregon Trail was starting to get quite a bit of use around the early 1840's, but few settlers along the way, other than traders, etc. Other than Utah, most travelers either continued on to the coast, turned back at some point, or died along the way. The Gold Rush of 1849 was just really going by then, but those folks were plunging headlong to California to strike it rich...........

Hope this helps.

Fred

PS: This isn't an exact treatise on the history of the West, so don't be too critical. It's just a very, very general overview of the time and area.....
 
For my .36 cal Navy cap & ball I just use a powder horn that comes with a preset length brass 'nozzle' that holds a single powder charge. A simple slide system opens and closes access to the powder. IMHO black powder is FAR more forgiving of charge weight variance. Whatever doesn't burn just gets blown out the barrel of a muzzleloader (pistol or rifle).
 
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