[shoey]

Ok, so I started a thread a while back in the revolver board, but figured maybe this was a more appropriate place. I'm looking at getting one of the Cabelas' reproductions of the model 1858 Remington New Army, pretty much decided thats the gun I want. Then today, I was looking online and saw they now have a 'Buffalo' variant of the gun. Brass framed, 8 inch octagon barrel, adjustable rear sight. And its 20 dollars less than the original version that has fixed sights. Any reason not to get this one. I do plan on using this for deer hunting, so I think the adjustable sight is a distinct advantage. Not to mention the contrast from the polished brass to blued steel is beautiful.

[Mike Weber]

I would strongly recommend avoiding the brass framed percussion revolvers. The frames tend to shoot loose after extended use and heavy loads will tend to speed up the process quite a bit. If you want an 1858 Remington clone with adjustable sites go with the 1858 New Army .44 Target Model from Cabela's, its priced at $20.00 more than the Brass framed Buffalo model. But its steel frame is much stronger and more durable, it is also safe to use with R&D or Kirst conversion cylinders in .45 Colt. Even the original style non adjustable sited models have the potential of being very accurate.The sites on these were calibrated for 100 yards. A friend of mine won the California State NSSA North South Skirmish Association pistol championships a couple years ago with one of the Stainless 1858 Remingtons he got from Cabela's this was shooting targets that were 4X4 ceramic tiles at 50 yards. Check your states hunting regulations regarding legal pistol loads for deer. If I were considering serious hunting of deer sized game with a percussion revolver my only choice would be the Ruger Old Army. The Ruger is capable of handling loads of up to 60gr. of FFFg Blackpowder with 180gr. roundball as compared to 35gr. FFFg charges out of a Remington New Model Army clone. Plenty of punch and energy delivered to target.

[shoey]

The regs are .44 cal or better, 7 inch barrel, and 138 grain projectile or better. If I would carry it for hunting, it would only be a short range weapon, 50 yards max, and thats assuming I can get good enough to shoot that far. More for walking around and being able to shoot at close range quickly.

Selection is slightly limited, since one of the driving forces behind this purchase is 80 dollars in cabelas gift cards. Thanks for the info, though, I will stay away from the brass framed guns. Kind of a shame, they sure are pretty. But I suspect this will be a gun that not only sees field time, but plenty of range time, like my .22. Fun to shoot means it'll get a few shots pused through it every trip to the range.

[shoey]

Another question. What is the actual bore diameter? Just asking, since they are listed at .44 caliber but can take a .45 colt at .452....

[Mike Weber]

With the percussion revolvers the bore diameters for .44 cal are actually .45 caliber. The Pietta revolvers seem to prefer .451-.452 Diameter bullets while the Uberti Revolvers work best with.454 diameter bullets and the Ruger Old Armies take a .457 diameter ball. I've never gotten the kind of accuracy with conical bullets from my percussion Remingtons that I get with Hornady swaged round balls. The exception being the 250gr PRS bullets that I use in my .45 Colt loads that are very accurate in my Remingtons. These PRS bullets are cast from a custom mold from LEE Precision, they have a single Huge lube groove. I use a 50/50 mix of Crisco and Beeswax with a dash of olive oil thrown into the mix as a blackpowder bullet lube. one of the tricks to keeping Remington revolvers working smoothly is to use plenty of soft bullet lube to keep the powder fouling softened up.

[Antlurz]

One of the prettiest old repro guns I have is a brass frame open top Navy.(closed top brass framed guns aren't quite as bad when it comes to stretching, but still....) Don't shoot it much any more. No place left to peen with a punch and hammer to tighten it back up. I'm too danged old to worry about brazing the pinion shaft hole up and reboring. ;) I'll leave that to the next owner and admire it as it is while it has a few rounds left before needing to "adjust" it again..

Ron

[Mike Weber]

One of the prettiest old repro guns I have is a brass frame open top Navy.(closed tops aren't quite as bad when it comes to stretching, but still....) Don't shoot it much any more. No place left to peen with a punch and hammer to tighten it back up. I'm too danged old to worry about brazing the pinion shaft hole up and reboring.
One of my friends in SASS who shoots a pair of 1860 Colt clones took a brass framed 1860 repro and converted it into a loading stand mounted onto his gun cart, quicker and easier to pop those cylinders out and reload em on the vertical loading stand than to do it with em in the revolvers. I know guys who shoot brass framed repros in CAS but they use only very mild loads in them. I would be reluctant to use a 58 Remington on deer although one of the deer that I took with a handgun I did use an original Colt SAA with a blackpowder handload that came close to duplicating the original loading for that cartridge.

[shoey]

Thanks. Maybe it will just be a range gun then, who knows. What kind of muzzle velocity/energy could one reasonably expect out of an 1858? 8 inch barrel...

[Mike Weber]

I haven't Chronoe'd mine but you can stuff 37gr. of FFFg Goex into a Remingtons chambers, with the Hornady Swaged round ball this should deliver a velocity in the neighborhood of 950-1000 fps with an energy somewhere around 200+ foot pounds When I use the R&D conversion cylinders my handloads are 37gr of FFFg Goex which is a compressed charge in modern brass I use Winchester brass and CCI large pistol primers combined with my 250gr PRS RNFP bullets. This is about as close as you can get to the original load for .45 Colt This is a full house blackpowder load.

[shoey]

Hmm, while the velocity seems like it would suffice, 200 lbs of evergy doesnt seem to be enough. Maybe it wont be a hunting weapon but rather a sidearm for a finisher if needed.

But I am pretty set on the 1858 Target model. Just have to wait for a couple paychecks to come in and then until I can get down to the new Cabelas store so I can look at them in person.