"Black Powder Revolver Myths" Topic

"It almost seems as though there is a near-religious hatred of research in the Black Powder community, with what I call "Red-neck lore," or word of mouth "wisdom" being passed around among people who don't (or won't) read. People often judge the quality of a fact according to how much they like the person presenting it or the length of time he's been shooting, ignoring the sources he used (or the lack thereof). Sadly, a lot of Red-neck lore gets repeated in modern books or "instructional" videos when the author or presenter hasn't bothered to research something he just takes for granted because So-and-So said it, or "everyone knows it," and this adds a patina of legitimacy to what is still just unsubstantiated nonsense.

Worse, people who know better will continue to at least tacitly promulgate these myths, either because they are too weak to risk offending someone or because they think people will misunderstand them if they call something by its proper name. Sufferance is equal to consent.

In this article we will debunk ten of these myths about black powder revolvers. The intention here isn't to write detailed analyses (which would take a book) of all the Red-neck lore being spread out there, but just to give the facts with a few brief notes as to where to look for more information. The myths here are in no particular order…"

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Historical Shooting of the Nineteenth Century

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Armand

Safe to say, I never "knew" any of these myths!

Before the Internet (when dinosaurs roamed the Earth), I was somewhat interested in black powder shooting and read about 2 of these myths (carrying 5 loads rather than 6 and using grease to stop chain firing), but the rest were news to me.

+1 gamertom, those are the two I'd heard of from friends who did black powder. The rest is new.

In a related story, had heard that cowboys carried burying money in the 6th chamber ?
having had a chainfire, I used grease over the cylinder mouths on my colt and remington.
This was a long time ago <sigh>

Number 9, seems to be arguing the semantics rather than the effect.

Have yet to shoot my replica 1860 Colt, the shop had me get ball size that seems way to big, but fully assumed he knows.
As article says supposed to shave off lead to seal bullet so ne grease is needed.

The ball is squeezed into the cylinder chamber by levering the (technical term -'Wine cork thingie' that is hinged under the barrel. >>>Still, Crisco wouldn't hurt.

I haven't used any kind of grease on a BP revolver in four decades and have never had a problem. I just make sure the caps are on tight.

I'm interested in "myth" number 7, relating to supposed Remington cylinder swapping. The author used the number of revolvers in possession of Confederate rangers under Mosby, when captured, as evidence that Remington cylinders were not swapped. As the Colt revolvers (Army and Navy) were much more numerous, how can this "fact" be cited as proof regarding Remington revolvers? From what I have observed, it would be very unlikely that anyone would attempt to "swap" cylinders on a Colt Army or Navy during battle as the procedure would require removing the barrel assembly and would likely require tools. Removing the Remington Army cylinder can be done rather easily, without tools.

As an aside, the movie "Gettysburg" has Col. J.L. Chamberlain exchanging cylinders on his Remington revolver during the fight on Little Round Top (without tools and as shown by Jeff Daniels in the movie, without looking). The same scene shows that the cylinder chambers packed with some form of grease. Hollywood is never a good "source" for a serious historical discussion, however, I just thought that it was interesting.

Regarding the other "myths," the one relating to carrying the revolver with its butt forward was interesting. I always wondered why that was regulation and assumed that it was because the trooper wore the sabre on the left side, for right hand deployment. It didn't occur to me that the barrel length made a regular draw difficult.

[q]a shooter who, realizing that his caps are a bit loose, pinches them to make them stay on — a horrid and dangerous practice.

Yee-Haa!!

re: Cowboy Loading:

My Father had a .455 Webley(*) and only ever loaded five rounds – because of the hammer. When carrying a Sten gun – he only ever loaded 28 rounds (to save the springs).

These habits were developed during beach landings at Salerno (Naval Gunfire FOO) and carried over to fighting insurgents post-WW2.

(*) He used to scoff at James Bond's semi-automatic pistols – far too unreliable for war service.

Thanks

Armand

Wouldn't the grease also act as 'water-proofing' the loaded chamber? (No, I didn't read the article… ;-)

On you tube the "11th OVC" site has answered a lot of these questions. It stands for The 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry.

Regarding the left-hand pistol, the French 1892 revolver has the cylinder come out on the right side, supposedly to facilitate reloading from the offhand.
Like all myth busting, not as easy as disproving Bigfoot.

Zephyr1, no, it doesn't. If the ball fits in the cylinder properly water isn't an issue. It all comes down the to fit of the cap.

It is an interesting article, in that it gets into things I didn't know about, in fact, things I never even thought about.

Now, I realize that even Confederate armies were larger, often much larger, that any armies that had been fielded on this continent before 1861, but he does seem to draw heavily on ACW experience and examples. Weren't other countries doing research, developing their own ideas on getting the optimum results from their guns? Or is his audience folks who re-enact mountain men, Civil War soldiers, and cowboys so we don't care about what those Russian officers did with their Smith & Wesson pistols?

Grelber

Thanks also…

Armand

Chain firing is a much bigger problem for reenactors using blank loads. There's no bullet to seal the chamber. I've seen it happen a few times. In fact I believe there's a brief shot in the movie "Gettysburg" where Colonel Chamberlain's revolver looks to have let off multiple chambers. :)

Interesting…

Armand