Got the paperwork squared away and bought this from my neighbor. It isn't required here since the ATF doesn't consider this a firearm but my neighbor wanted to make sure there were no legal hurdles later.

1851 Confederate Navy Colt


The fit and finish is very very good and after doing a few calculations it's going to cost about 22 cents per shot.
I may just have found my new hobby.

I like that. One of those is in my future.

Yeah I can see how loading that thing could be considered a hobby hehe. When it comes to buying guns I've never ventured further in the past than the SAA so my knowledge is spotty at best about anything older. I see a little bead on the barrel but what do you use for a rear sight? Is the top edge of the face of the hammer notched or something so that it acts as a rear sight when cocked?

Here you go OG.

Link

Yep Colt, top edge of the hammer is indeed notched, as I understand all these shoot a little high till you get out to about 50 feet.
Never fired a cap and ball pistol myself either, I've shot several replica rifles and those generally were surprisingly accurate.

Interesting...the tolerance on the fit of the hammer would have to be pretty tight to get good accuracy. If there's any slop in the hammer your POA could be different for every shot!

I agree, right now the hammer is very tight but with this being a brass frame that might not last long, however, some of the folks I've talked to said they've never had problems with the hammer walking.
The general opinion is that as long as you don't overcharge them they'll last a very long time.

Had mine delivered last week. Not bad for a buck fifty.

Getting all Josey Wales! Nice!

I'm looking forward to getting some range time with it.
I don't hunt anymore but I do enjoy shooting, problem is that it costs so much to shoot my rifles and the local range isn't really set up for rifles so it takes away a lot of the enjoyment as well as not being able to afford going very often. (M1 Garand, 03' Springfield, 1917 Enfield and K98)
Large caliber handguns aren't cheap to shoot either so this might just be a good way for me to get some enjoyable range time as well as getting the family involved.

If I didn't reload I'd be in the same boat as you Wolf. It costs me about $11 to load 100 centerfire pistol rounds if I have to buy the bullets(hard cast lead), a bit more for rifles(my rifles don't see anywhere near the round counts my handguns do). That cost drops to a bit less than $4 a 100 using bullets I cast myself(I get lead free from melting wheel weights I get from a local tire shop then cut them with a bit of tin for hardness). I only cast when it's cold and I never am able to cast a year's supply but it helps. I cast a little over 3K bullets last winter and that kept me from having to shoot purchased bullets in my most shot calibers until June. Have you considered buying a centerfire pistol with a .22LR conversion kit? That would allow you to train at a greatly reduced cost while still developing your muscle memory for the same platform in centerfire.

Very nice. This is something I dream of owning but an impossibility at where I live.

No doubt it is a natural pointer. Didn't Colt get the idea of the naturally indexing grip from a farm plough ?

I've given it some thought Colt but the few gun shops around here are mostly cash and carry and getting 4 or 5 hundred bucks together for the gun and the conversion kit is difficult these days.

Sorry to hear that Harry, here we sometimes lose sight of the fact we have the right to own guns and that right is far from being universal.
I think you're right about the grip though, the gun does have a natural feel to it, the grip is a bit small but I think that's part of what makes it work.
The hammer is surprisingly easy to cock without changing the relative position of where you're pointing it, something I suspect was a vital consideration for the design of a single action pistol.

Very nice! Makes me miss mine. Guess I had one of these moments:

Beautiful revolver!

The grip is generally referred to as a "plow handle" which is what it was based on. It is designed to prevent a plow from being pulled out of your grip by pulling towards the top of the hand, unfortunately a pistol recoils and pivots towards the bottom of the hand. Fortunately the middle finger braces the hand against the frame to keep it from slipping as much. Later revolvers with heavy loads will BEAT your hand up from that torque when using a plow style grip. In a black powder though it's comfy and points well so absolutely nothing wrong with it.

-Jenrick

Color me stupid, but when you say 1851, I assume you mean it's based on that design, not a museum piece right? Was it a kit?
I've only shot a pistol a few times, but that looks like another level of fun due to the history factor.

Keeping your powder dry will have new meaning,lol.




Bullet

Naw, hurricane season is over, right?

Firearms created before... 1891 or so are not considered firearms here in Norway either, so you can acquire them legally without any hassle (originals that is, replicas are considered firearms).

I'd prefer a cartridge based gun, but I have shot a cap'n'ball one before. But I hear ugly things about addition to black powder. Just one shot, and you are hooked for a looong time, *kaching* Must resist.....

It's a repro. In many states Black powder weapons (new, old, it matters not) are not regulated as firearms. There's a rather large industry & market for repros over here, both in finished & kit form. Can buy a Brown Bess, Springfield Model 1863, and everything in between.