WOW!!...totally impressed!

[the Black Spot]

shot my pietta remington 1858 for the first time! first time to shoot a remington. first five shots at 8 yards went into 1". i was shooting 25 grains of schuetzen black powder, maine shooting supplies lubed wad and hornady .457 rb's. caps where dixie gunworks hot no.11's (excellent caps! no jams)

i did not have much time, so between cylinder fulls i would just run a windex soaked patch through the barrel followed by a dry one. let the barrel cool some while i was testing cast bullet loads for my .44 mag super blackhawk.

at 17 yards i was getting 2.5" six shot groups with the 25 grain charge. a 30 grain charge held 6 shots to the 2.5" grouping. if i shot from a totally clean barrel i am sure groups would probably be less.

after six shots the cylinder pin was easy to pull out.

conicals would not fit under the ram, so i could not try these(others doing tests show these aren't as accurate anyway).

i LOVE this gun, wish i would have bought one sooner. it is not as pointable as an 1860 colt. in my opinion, pulling this gun from a cross draw position, it is hard to get a good grasp in the right position on the grip. strong side was not a problem.
i definitely want to purchase another cylinder, and i might make a ten round block that would hold paper cartridges that would then fit down inside a leather belt pouch.
can't wait to shoot this again!

 

[BullRunBear]

Had a similar experience a few weeks ago with the Pietta 1858 that Cabelas had on sale some months back. Basically the same load as yours but with .451 balls. Couldn't measure the groups since I was shooting at 6 inch steel plates at about 30 yards. Two shots to sight in then the next 24 plates went down with a serious clang. My wife was spotting for me and said I was hitting the same spot pretty consistently.

This was the first 1858 I had fired. I still prefer the grip, balance and pointability of the Colt style C&B but can't complain about the Remington's accuracy. However, it's more fun to show the Colt's sights to newbies. That hammer notch always amazes them.

Jeff

 

[SC_Slowhand]

First Remmie

I just bought my first Remmie on Gun Broker. Stainless steel. I put the money order in the mail yesterday. Now I'm just sitting back and waiting.
Patiently of course.

 

[Bluehawk]

Windex offers no advantage to cleaning black powder firearms and if it contains ammonia it's actually harmful to steel. Use just plain water or soapy water to swab out the barrel.

 

[A. Walker]

Windex is a pretty tried and true method for cleaning your gun; don't worry about using it. To avoid rust in the tiny corners of your piece, use Hoppes #9+ Black powder cleaner and stay as far away from ther water method as you can get. Those folks are fooling themselves if they don't think pouring water down a steel barrel isn't affecting their guns... even those who will folow this up and deny that "Water isn't hurting my gun! Our ancestors used it, so it's good to go!" Our ancestors also used bloodletting for desease, coal for heating and kerosene coal oil for lighting. We've discovered better methods...

Gotta love the Remingtons

 

[junkman_01]

A.Walker,
+1 on the Windex. I have been using it for years with no ill effects to my guns. Cleans your hands good too!

 

[the Black Spot]

if windex is good enough for Mike Venturino and John Taffin, it is good enough for me. besides i do not let it sit long on the metal.

 

[Bluehawk]

The ingredients in Windex are Isopropanol, 2-Butoxyethanol, Ethylene glycol n-hexyl ether, Water. (ammonia also, if so stated on the bottle)

Windex is mostly water...the alcohol, ethanol, ethylene glycol, etc have no advantage as far as black powder cleaning is concerned. Hot soapy water is far cheaper and cleans better than Windex ever can. Hot soapy water is what you need to dissolve the by-products of BP residue...especially from the salts of potassium nitrate...the chemicals in Windex won't do that...it's the water in Windex that is doing it!!!!!

 

[the Black Spot]

ok, i may have to do some testing... i love these kinds of tests. two pieces of stark white clothe, 2 x 2 inches, both smudged with black powder fouling. for the soapy water test, mix 1/2 teaspoon in 2 cups of water? that work? then i will use windex with vinegar on the other patch. leave the patches in the separate solutions for 5 minutes. pull pathces from solutions and check. then rinse patches in water and check again. the whitest patch wins. sound reasonable?
someone may have done this test before, if so, please step up and save me some time.

 

[Bluehawk]

Instead of a clothes washing test why not two identical pieces of polished, degreased, steel? Burn a half teaspoon of real BP on each piece...wash one with hot soapy water...rinse and dry it. Do the other with Windex alone...no rinse but do dry it off. Don't wipe down with oil or anything...leave the plates outside for a few weeks and compare them.
On the other hand...at the expense of repeatability...it's the WATER in the Windex that's cleaning your barrel and that's very high priced water!

 

[JCT]

+1 on hot soapy water.....it doesn't hurt the gun if you properly dry it all after and treat with oil ( which displaces any moisture if present ) ..... My guns look good as new, even under a magnifier....metal is just fine if kept dry and oiled after the cleaning process.