Problems with 1847 Colt Walker

[Marplot]

Having problems with 1847 Colt Walker cylinder getting stuck on fired percussion caps. I am using SliXshot Nipples and using #11 caps. 55grains 2ffg powder, .454 round balls. I am using a Polish Capper.

I am planning to use 40grains in the future. Could the 55 grain powder blow back through the nipples and dislodge the spent caps?

 

[deermanok]

I once owned a 44 cal. New Arrmy revolver, which would jam up occasionally because of the spent caps.
I never loaded more than 20 grains in the cylinders.
I can't say if it makes any difference by using different brand caps, or if one used # 10's as opposed to the # 11's.
I sure that another member would have better information than I.

 

[michiganmuzzy]

Having problems with 1847 Colt Walker cylinder getting stuck on fired percussion caps. I am Sliz nipples and using #11 caps. 55grains 2ffg powder, .454 round balls. I am using a Polish Capper.

I am planning to use 40grains in the future. Could the 55 grain powder blow back through the nipples and dislodge the spent caps?

It definitely could. Especially if you're using 11s on a #10 nipple and not pinching them tight enough. Or possibly a weak hammer spring could be an issue on that big of a load. Are the caps getting blown apart? Try a lighter load. Or cut up by the nipple? File/soften the edges a tiny bit.
What brand caps are you using? It may be as simple as switching brands. A thicker cup material could be the solution. I was using those foil lined caps years ago and they kept plugging up the nipples.

 

[Marplot]

CVC paps. SliXshot Nipples I try to pinch them after installing them. The Polish capper is tight and I may be loosening them having to pull the capper off.

They do seem blown apart, slightly, but mostly pushed off the nipples.

Possibly #10 caps might be better, but i just bought 500 #11 for my rifles!

I am going forward with 40 grain loads after this.

Walkers can handle 60grains, but I really think it is excessive. Try it once and that's enough.

 

[michiganmuzzy]

CVC paps. SliXshot Nipples I try to pinch them after installing them. The Polish capper is tight and I may be loosening them having to pull the capper off.

They do seem blown apart, slightly, but mostly pushed off the nipples.

Possibly #10 caps might be better, but i just bought 500 #11 for my rifles!

I am going forward with 40 grain loads after this.

Walkers can handle 60grains, but I really think it is excessive. Try it once and that's enough.

I pinch mine down before putting them on. I squeeze them down as much as i can while still allowing them to push on to the nipple, before i even put them in the capper. My capper doesnt seem to pull on the caps that hard when i install them. I bet dropping down that load will help.

 

[BigBoresmokepole]

Having problems with 1847 Colt Walker cylinder getting stuck on fired percussion caps. I am using SliXshot Nipples and using #11 caps. 55grains 2ffg powder, .454 round balls. I am using a Polish Capper.

I am planning to use 40grains in the future. Could the 55 grain powder blow back through the nipples and dislodge the spent caps?

Wow that is alot of powder 30 grn. Is the max that I would go you will have blowback at 55grn. I would use #10 caps good luck finding them that's why I don't shoot mine. I would not put that big of load on that gun , if was a full frame maybe 45grn.

 

[Marplot]

Wow that is alot of powder 30 grn. Is the max that I would go you will have blowback at 55grn. I would use #10 caps good luck finding them that's why I don't shoot mine. I would not put that big of load on that gun , if was a full frame maybe 45grn.

Google sez:

"The Colt Walker holds 60 grains (3.9 g) of powder in each chamber, which is more than double the amount of powder that a typical black powder revolver holds

"The Colt Walker was the most powerful commercially manufactured repeating handgun from 1847 until the .357 Magnum was introduced in 1935. The Colt Walker is a .44 caliber blackpowder revolver that fires a .454" diameter lead ball weighing approximately 140 grains at a muzzle velocity ranging from 1000 to 1350 Feet Per Second. The .357 Magnum has an average velocity of 1300 feet per second and an energy of 593 foot pounds."

Uberti suggests that you replace the wedge after 80 shots

You would not believe how the gongs rung! And spun! Clouds of black smoke! And a few people came over to look. Wow!

But, forward, I am dialing it down to 40grains. Let the old fella relax.

 

[Solomoriah]

I load mine full. I do not have problems because I make my own caps and the copper sheeting I use is heavier than the commercial caps. I also cock the hammer historically correct. I always thought it noteworthy that in the 1940's enough people remembered cap& ball revolvers that Yosemite Sam is firing them correctly in the Bugs Bunny cartoons.

 

[Jitterbug]

I load mine full. I do not have problems because I make my own caps and the copper sheeting I use is heavier than the commercial caps. I also cock the hammer historically correct. I always thought it noteworthy that in the 1940's enough people remembered cap& ball revolvers that Yosemite Sam is firing them correctly in the Bugs Bunny cartoons.

Could you give us the specifics about Yosemite Sam’s rootin’, tootin’, shootin’ techniques?

I never gave it a thought, I always assumed that he was shooting single-action cartridge revolvers!

 

[Marplot]

Google sez, he Could have carried .38 special revolvers, or John Wayne's personal .44-40 WCF Colt, serial no. 309795, a modified Bisely.

But Yosemite Sam no longer carries any guns. PC wokers have denuded him.

I always loved to hear, "

“Oooo ya long eared, fur bearin' flat-footed varmint!”. “Say yer prayers ya long eared galoot!”. “Any one-a-you lily-livered, bow-legged varmints care to slap leather with me?”

 

[45D]

Wow that is alot of powder 30 grn. Is the max that I would go you will have blowback at 55grn. I would use #10 caps good luck finding them that's why I don't shoot mine. I would not put that big of load on that gun , if was a full frame maybe 45grn.

#10 Remington and #11 CCI caps fit the same size nipple. #10 CCI's won't fit. Cap sizes only mean anything within the particular brand . . . not from brand to brand.

Nothing wrong with maximum loads in these revolvers when the arbor length is correct. "Full frame" doesn't mean anything, the open-top platform handles heavy loads just fine.

It definitely could. Especially if you're using 11s on a #10 nipple and not pinching them tight enough. Or possibly a weak hammer spring could be an issue on that big of a load. Are the caps getting blown apart? Try a lighter load. Or cut up by the nipple? File/soften the edges a tiny bit.
What brand caps are you using? It may be as simple as switching brands. A thicker cup material could be the solution. I was using those foil lined caps years ago and they kept plugging up the nipples.

Same info as above, cap size without cap "name" is just confusion.


Mike

 

[michiganmuzzy]

#10 Remington and #11 CCI caps fit the same size nipple. #10 CCI's won't fit. Cap sizes only mean anything within the particular brand . . . not from brand to brand.

Nothing wrong with maximum loads in these revolvers when the arbor length is correct. "Full frame" doesn't mean anything, the open-top platform handles heavy loads just fine.


Same info as above, cap size without cap "name" is just confusion.


Mike

#10 Remington and #11 CCI caps fit the same size nipple. #10 CCI's won't fit. Cap sizes only mean anything within the particular brand . . . not from brand to brand.

Nothing wrong with maximum loads in these revolvers when the arbor length is correct. "Full frame" doesn't mean anything, the open-top platform handles heavy loads just fine.


Same info as above, cap size without cap "name" is just confusion.


Mike

Whats the real point youre trying to make here, Mike? We all understand that a #10 or #11 cap are only marginally standard sizes.

 

[45D]

Whats the real point youre trying to make here, Mike? We all understand that a #10 or #11 cap are only marginally standard sizes.

Telling someone to get #10 caps is no help.

Telling them to get #10 Remington's or #11 CCI's or 1075 RWS's is much more helpful. All those will work on Slix nipples or Treso and usually stock nipples.

If they go and buy #10 CCI's, they won't fit anything made in the last 30 yrs. . . .

That is my point.

 

[michiganmuzzy]

Telling someone to get #10 caps is no help.

Telling them to get #10 Remington's or #11 CCI's or 1075 RWS's is much more helpful. All those will work on Slix nipples or Treso and usually stock nipples.

If they go and buy #10 CCI's, they won't fit anything made in the last 30 yrs. . . .

That is my point.

Ok, then what is your advice? Quick to criticize but not offering any real help.
Btw, the problem is not the brand of cap. Its actually the nipple. There are so many different makers of nipples and very often a cap that fits on one makers nipple for a specific gun doesnt fit at all well on another makers nipple for that same gun. The caps can be easily “pinched” to hold better on a nipple. Its the easiest first step to try when having the kind of problem the OP was talking about. And keep in mind just how hard it is, now, to find any caps of any size, let alone a specific brand and size.

 

[ComeOnChristmas]

Having problems with 1847 Colt Walker cylinder getting stuck on fired percussion caps. I am using SliXshot Nipples and using #11 caps. 55grains 2ffg powder, .454 round balls. I am using a Polish Capper.

I am planning to use 40grains in the future. Could the 55 grain powder blow back through the nipples and dislodge the spent caps?

Egad! You’re actually stating the reason there are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd dragoons. Soldiers were loading them chock full o black powder. Loading conicals backwards and blowing up the pistol.

With slow burning black powder what is not needed to expel the bullet out the barrel burns in the air in front of it.

I hope I have not given you another idea about conicals.

30, 40, grains is sufficient.

Please don’t be known as Blind Melon Marplot. Enough of this foolishness.

Google what I am saying, “White Man speak the truth.”

 

[ComeOnChristmas]

Egad! You’re actually stating the reason there are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd dragoons. Soldiers were loading them chock full o black powder. Loading conicals backwards and blowing up the pistol.

With slow burning black powder what is not needed to expel the bullet out the barrel burns in the air in front of it.

I hope I have not given you another idea about conicals.

30, 40, grains is sufficient.

Please don’t be known as Blind Melon Marplot. Enough of this foolishness.

Google what I am saying, “White Man speak the truth.”

Actually Cavalry soldiers, don’t cause weeping and wailing on Calvary hill.

 

[BigBoresmokepole]

Telling someone to get #10 caps is no help.

Telling them to get #10 Remington's or #11 CCI's or 1075 RWS's is much more helpful. All those will work on Slix nipples or Treso and usually stock nipples.

If they go and buy #10 CCI's, they won't fit anything made in the last 30 yrs. . . .

That is my point.

Wow sorry I made a suggestion the op is having trouble with blow back just wanted to let him know to go lighter load and see if the caps don't come off and jam the cylinder rotation load what ever pops your bubble 45d. I use cci#10 on my cap.and ball 44 it wasn't made 30 years ago maybe 10years and I use 35grn of powder and it groups really good.

 

[45D]

Ok, then what is your advice? Quick to criticize but not offering any real help.
Btw, the problem is not the brand of cap. Its actually the nipple. There are so many different makers of nipples and very often a cap that fits on one makers nipple for a specific gun doesnt fit at all well on another makers nipple for that same gun. The caps can be easily “pinched” to hold better on a nipple. Its the easiest first step to try when having the kind of problem the OP was talking about. And keep in mind just how hard it is, now, to find any caps of any size, let alone a specific brand and size.

Well gosh, there's a big ol "hint" in post #13 above. That the #10 Remingtons, #11 CCI's and 1075 RWS's fit Treso, Slix shot and most factory nipples. I'm not sure I can make it any more clear.
I haven't had anything through the shop the #10 CCI's will fit. They are too small.

 

[45D]

Wow sorry I made a suggestion the op is having trouble with blow back just wanted to let him know to go lighter load and see if the caps don't come off and jam the cylinder rotation load what ever pops your bubble 45d. I use cci#10 on my cap.and ball 44 it wasn't made 30 years ago maybe 10years and I use 35grn of powder and it groups really good.

No need to be sorry, what revolver are you using them on? I just gave away a tin of #10 CCI's that have been in the shop for 10 + yrs because they can't be used on anything that's been through here.
Maybe you could post a picture of this revolver of yours?

Mike

 

[michiganmuzzy]

Well gosh, there's a big ol "hint" in post #13 above. That the #10 Remingtons, #11 CCI's and 1075 RWS's fit Treso, Slix shot and most factory nipples. I'm not sure I can make it any more clear.
I haven't had anything through the shop the #10 CCI's will fit. They are too small.

Ok, a hint isnt help, and you havent made anything clear.