Post by Gatofeo on Oct 13, 2013 13:56:04 GMT -5
I was at the HUGE museum in Cody, Wyoming this summer.
In a glass case is one of the Colt 1851 Navy revolvers carried by Wild Bill Hickok.
I was surprised to see that the brass bead front sight was replaced by a long sight that resembled the 1861 Navy's. This sight appeared to be made of German silver, or possibly steel that had lost its bluing.
Equally surprising, the sight was mounted to a dovetail that was inletted into the barrel near the muzzle.
This made the sight windage adjustable, by tapping with a brass hammer.
I have NEVER heard that Hickok carried a modified Navy. This is a significant modification and would aid his uncanny accuracy.
How I wish that old Colt could be loaded, to determine if it's sighted in for conical or ball projectile. I've never heard mention of what he loaded his revolvers with.
I've always assumed that he used the paper cartridges of the day, which used conical bullets exclusively. If you wanted to load with a ball, you had to cast your own -- or probably get the local blacksmith to cast them for you.
Ever tried casting with one of those dinky Colt moulds? I have, and it's a real pain. Literally. The mould must be very hot to produce smooth bullets, so handling it -- even with heavy gloves -- is often painful. The heat goes right through the leather.
I suspect -- and I have absolutely no proof of this -- that many casters temporarily attached stick of wood to the handles with wire to provide cool handles.
I've cast in a campfire, using raked-in coals to melt the lead in a ladle, and this is a hot, messy, clumsy, finger-burning task.
The late gun writer Elmer Keith (1899-1983) knew Civil War veterans while growing up in western Montana early in the 20th century. They reported loading their Colts with balls, not conicals.
They said the ball was more effective against enemy soldiers. The conical didn't have as much effect.
I guess the conical was like pushing a sharpened pencil through paper, whereas the ball had more of a hole-punch effect.
I've seated both conicals and balls, then tapped them back out of the chamber to examine their shape.
The conicals retain a blunt point, though they're shortened to a squat shape by seating.
Balls are best described as looking like an orange half placed flesh-to-flesh against a grapefruit half. This is almost a semiwadcutter shape, but not quite. The effectiveness of the semiwadcutter, compared to a pointed bullet, is well documented.
So, yeahhhhh ... the seated ball would certainly have been more effective.
Either bullet would have been cast of pure, dead-soft lead. Or nearly pure. In those days, a 1:20 or 1:30 ratio of tin to lead was thought to be rather hard.
A soft lead bullet, upon encountering bone or heavy tissue, tends to flatten.
This flattening was evident in the Minie' conical bullets used in muskets and rifles of the Civil War. It caused wounds so horrific that, after the war, efforts were made to ban soft lead bullets from the battlefield.
Not until the metal-jacketed bullet of modern rifles was adopted, was this possible.
The Hague Convention that mandates full-metal-jacket bullets for warfare is a result of the experiences with Minie' bullets made of soft lead.
Would revolver bullets expand in flesh? Considering that the typical musket load of the Civil War propelled a heavy bullet at about 900 feet per second, and a heavily loaded Colt or Remington revolver can propel a ball at about 1,000 fps, then flattening of soft lead revolver balls was possible.
Conical revolver bullets, being heavier than balls and employing less powder, can't generate much more than about 850 fps.
Anyway, way off course here.
I was discussing my surprise at seeing that Hickok's old Navy Colt had a modified front sight.
If you're ever in the Yellowstone National Park area, do yourself a favor and visit the Buffalo Bill Cody Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming. It's about 55 miles east of the park's eastern boundary.
It's actually a number of museums under one roof dealing with the history of the plains Indian, Western art, the history of firearms and the Buffalo Bill Cody Wild West Show.
Plan on spending a full day. You'll need it. Also take the "trolley" tour that pulls up in front of the museum. This will take you around Cody, point out historical sites and neighborhoods you can explore later, and is well worth the cost.
Rats ... wandered off course again.
Anyway, Hickok's Colt. Yeah, surprising.
In a glass case is one of the Colt 1851 Navy revolvers carried by Wild Bill Hickok.
I was surprised to see that the brass bead front sight was replaced by a long sight that resembled the 1861 Navy's. This sight appeared to be made of German silver, or possibly steel that had lost its bluing.
Equally surprising, the sight was mounted to a dovetail that was inletted into the barrel near the muzzle.
This made the sight windage adjustable, by tapping with a brass hammer.
I have NEVER heard that Hickok carried a modified Navy. This is a significant modification and would aid his uncanny accuracy.
How I wish that old Colt could be loaded, to determine if it's sighted in for conical or ball projectile. I've never heard mention of what he loaded his revolvers with.
I've always assumed that he used the paper cartridges of the day, which used conical bullets exclusively. If you wanted to load with a ball, you had to cast your own -- or probably get the local blacksmith to cast them for you.
Ever tried casting with one of those dinky Colt moulds? I have, and it's a real pain. Literally. The mould must be very hot to produce smooth bullets, so handling it -- even with heavy gloves -- is often painful. The heat goes right through the leather.
I suspect -- and I have absolutely no proof of this -- that many casters temporarily attached stick of wood to the handles with wire to provide cool handles.
I've cast in a campfire, using raked-in coals to melt the lead in a ladle, and this is a hot, messy, clumsy, finger-burning task.
The late gun writer Elmer Keith (1899-1983) knew Civil War veterans while growing up in western Montana early in the 20th century. They reported loading their Colts with balls, not conicals.
They said the ball was more effective against enemy soldiers. The conical didn't have as much effect.
I guess the conical was like pushing a sharpened pencil through paper, whereas the ball had more of a hole-punch effect.
I've seated both conicals and balls, then tapped them back out of the chamber to examine their shape.
The conicals retain a blunt point, though they're shortened to a squat shape by seating.
Balls are best described as looking like an orange half placed flesh-to-flesh against a grapefruit half. This is almost a semiwadcutter shape, but not quite. The effectiveness of the semiwadcutter, compared to a pointed bullet, is well documented.
So, yeahhhhh ... the seated ball would certainly have been more effective.
Either bullet would have been cast of pure, dead-soft lead. Or nearly pure. In those days, a 1:20 or 1:30 ratio of tin to lead was thought to be rather hard.
A soft lead bullet, upon encountering bone or heavy tissue, tends to flatten.
This flattening was evident in the Minie' conical bullets used in muskets and rifles of the Civil War. It caused wounds so horrific that, after the war, efforts were made to ban soft lead bullets from the battlefield.
Not until the metal-jacketed bullet of modern rifles was adopted, was this possible.
The Hague Convention that mandates full-metal-jacket bullets for warfare is a result of the experiences with Minie' bullets made of soft lead.
Would revolver bullets expand in flesh? Considering that the typical musket load of the Civil War propelled a heavy bullet at about 900 feet per second, and a heavily loaded Colt or Remington revolver can propel a ball at about 1,000 fps, then flattening of soft lead revolver balls was possible.
Conical revolver bullets, being heavier than balls and employing less powder, can't generate much more than about 850 fps.
Anyway, way off course here.
I was discussing my surprise at seeing that Hickok's old Navy Colt had a modified front sight.
If you're ever in the Yellowstone National Park area, do yourself a favor and visit the Buffalo Bill Cody Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming. It's about 55 miles east of the park's eastern boundary.
It's actually a number of museums under one roof dealing with the history of the plains Indian, Western art, the history of firearms and the Buffalo Bill Cody Wild West Show.
Plan on spending a full day. You'll need it. Also take the "trolley" tour that pulls up in front of the museum. This will take you around Cody, point out historical sites and neighborhoods you can explore later, and is well worth the cost.
Rats ... wandered off course again.
Anyway, Hickok's Colt. Yeah, surprising.