Need some info and/or advice.
An elderly gentleman that lives down the street has one of those 1862 Navy Colt cap and ball pistol kits that he's trying to sell me.
I have no desire what so ever to fire one of these things, I saw one gang fire once and that doesn't look like a party I want to be around for.
I've seen the cylinder conversion kits that change it from cap and ball to regular pistol ammo.
My question is this... do you know how much gunsmithing is required to change it over or is it more of a simple "bolt on" conversion?
I've fired one of the .44 cal conversions, it worked great and the pistol was surprisingly accurate, without the dangers that come with the standard black powder version.
The only potential problem with this particular kit is the guy doesn't remember if it's a .36 or .44 cal.
What he described sounds like an 1862 Confederate Navy Colt with the brass frame and it should be a .44cal but some of those kits came in the later .36cal version and I can't think of anything that fires a .36 cal round.

Thanks in advance for whatever advice you can give.

WOLF

Edit: called him and he said it was the brass frame 1860 Army Colt rather than the Navy version so it just about has to be .44cal.

I used to own two Colt Navy's and a Remington Army. Replicas of course. The Colt Navy's are .36 caliber and Colt Army's are .44. '51 Navy has an octagonal barrel while the Army and the '61 Navy have a round barrel.

As far as chain fires go, as long as you load the weapon correctly they seldom happen in my experience. Powder, ball and then some 'bear grease' in the end. I don't remember what the correct name for the grease is but that's what we called it. It helps lubricate, loosens powder deposits, and protects against chain fires. The one time I took a shortcut and failed to use the grease was the time I had 3 rounds fire at once.

Sorry, I don't know anything about the conversions.

I know practically nothing about black powder pistols and not much more about the rifles.
I've fired my uncle's .50cal Hawkins and Kentucky rifle replicas quite a bit but never had any direct dealing with cap and ball pistols.
Looks like it would be an interesting hobby but I was just a bit leery about firing them.
The guy I saw that had the gang fire probably didn't use the grease, which by the way I've always heard referred to a bear grease.

Howell makes a drop in cylinder, Kirst makes a "Konverter" kit that requires cutting back the recoil shield a bit so the loading gate fits. No gate, you have to pop the wedge and remove the barrel to reload each time.

But... as it's a brass frame, I'd leave it be. Brass frames aren't even supposed to fire the original strength black powder charge with ball, let alone handle the increased recoil/stress of black powder cartridges. Forget modern powder cartridges; without a steel frame you're back in the car headed to that party you wanted to miss. .

You might get away with making your own diet *black powder* .45 Schofield cartridges, but even then it could end up warping. If you did a light load, I'd steer clear of .45LC. Schofield only weighs a hair more than a .451 round ball, the Long Colt up to 1 1/2 times as much. If you do convert it, you'll want to be as gentle as you can.

No real experience with it. I'm afraid that the work involved would exceed the cost of the pistol. Even then you would have to stick to firing low pressure cartridges, so what's the point ? Here is something :

http://www.kirstkonverter.com/

I think Dastardly seems to be right on target with his comments.

sfviper's advice is good.

chainfires won't happen if you use grease and load the gun properly. the grease really makes a chain fire impossible.

i love old flintlock and matchlock guns, as well as the cap and ball ones, they just require a bit of care when loading. they're great fun to fire.

I went and talked to the neighbor when I got home from work and this is actually what he's got...

link

It wasn't one of the actual kits but had the started kit included.
He said he won it a few years ago at a charity raffle at his VFW hall, put it in his gun cabinet and it's been there ever since.
He made me a great price on it and I'm seriously considering buying it.
This one has a max powder load of 25 grains but it looks like 18 to 20 grains is perfectly acceptable for target shooting.
One fellow said that 15 grains of Pyrodex worked just fine and placed a minimum stress load on the frame.

Thanks for the replies and advice guys, I appreciate it.

Jim

I think those are really cool. Cap and ball pistol is on my list of to do's.

I own that exact pistol, mine is a good shooter and quiet accurate. I second everyone that going to a centerfire conversion cylinder is probably not the best option. As already noted using any kind of non-petroleum grease over the end of each cylinder hole will prevent a chain fire. Cabela's pistol lube works quiet well, and actually IMO smells pretty decent once it's been fired.

-Jenrick

Ok, decided to go for it and I'm making the arrangments to get the gun transferred to me.
The old gentleman wanted to make everything legal, which I have no problem with so it'll be a week or so.
Alabama has some very relaxed laws concerning transfers of non-restricted firearms between private citizens, especially black powder weapons and there really isn't any paperwork requirement demanded by either the State or the Feds as long as both parties can legally own firearms.
However, since I've known this fellow all my life, I'll be more than happy to pay the transfer fee if it makes him more comfortable about the transaction.
I'm leaning towards Pyrodex and Remington caps but if anybody has any suggestions about a better product I'm all ears.

Jim