I find the question, "Will it work for self defense?" to be

by JT, Saturday, September 11, 2021, 17:07 (1169 days ago) @ Paul

As I was thinking positively about this last question I received confirmation of a sort. I correspond regularly with a reader in Arizona who is almost as old as I am. In his last letter he shared what his go to town guns were. He says he will remain a dinosaur as his main pistol, which he calls his Daily Carry Gun, is a replica 1849 Colt Pocket Pistol. Historically, the 1849 Colt was an extremely popular everyday carry gun with nearly 1/3 of a million being produced The quickest reload is still a second gun and this is especially true with a single-action sixgun and imperative with a percussion pistol and his 1849 Colt is backed up by a replica 1862 Colt Police Pistol in his boot.
He does not feel the least bit undergunned and the check through history will show just how potent these pistols have been in the past. I have also heard from two readers who carry .44 Remington cap and ball revolvers on a daily basis. One is a long-distance truck driver traveling through many states while the other drives daily in a city known for its anti-Second Amendment sentiment. The feeling on both of these men is if they do have to use or if they get stopped for some reason they are carrying sixguns which are not federally regulated as firearms.
In the early 1970s Ruger reached way back into history took a good look at the cap-and ball sixguns from the middle of the 19th century and decided those designs could be easily modernized. The result was the Ruger Old Army. Ruger used the same coil spring operated action in the Old Army as found in their extensive line of single action sixguns. They also offered it in the much easier to clean stainless steel, made the loading lever stronger as well as easier to remove and replace, and provided easily adjustable sights. The gun is rugged, simple, and extremely accurate. For whatever the reason Ruger stopped production of the Old Army more than 10 years ago and I doubt we will ever see it again. They still show up infrequently at gun shops and still at relatively reasonable prices. I purchased my first Old Army nearly 50 years ago. In fact, it was the first Old Army to arrive in Idaho. Over the years I have added more Old Armies, both blue and stainless with adjustable sights as well as three with traditional fixed sights. One was an 8” version while the other two were a pair of 5-1/2” easy handling sixguns. The latter two are much easier to carry than the longer barrel versions.
These 5-1/2” Old Armies perform well with Speer’s .457” round ball, Thompson's Lubed Wad, and CCI’s #11 percussion cap. My normally used three powders are used in both 35.0 and 40.0 (BY VOLUME) charges. Those powders are Goex FFFg black powder, Hodgdon's Triple-7 FFFg, and Pyrodex P. Charges are measured with a Thompson/Center powder measure. With 35.0 grains of Triple-7 FFFg muzzle velocity is 925 fps with six shots in 1-3/8” at 20 yards. Moving up to 40.0 grains of Triple-7 FFFg yields 1,130 fps and a group of 1-3/4”. These velocities are right at, or even exceed, the same experienced with the longer barreled Old Army.
There is no doubt the Ruger Old Army is the finest percussion pistol ever offered. Liking the 5-1/2” Old Armies mentioned above I decided to take a step further to give me more versatility starting with a pair of adjustable sighted, longer barreled original Old Armies I did two things. Both of these, one stainless steel and the other blued, were fitted with Super Blackhawk grip frames which not only gives them an 1840s Colt Dragoon look, they are one of the few sixguns I can handle with these grip frames without getting my knuckles rapped every time I fire. They were then turned over to Milt Morrison to have the barrels cut back to easier handling and packing 5-1/2” barrel lengths. They are expected to be way up towards the top of the list of Perfect Packin’ Percussion Pistols.
Just how potent are black powder loads? The standard .45 ACP Hardball load of a 230 grain bullet at 820 fps has long been regarded, and rightly so, as a highly dependable fight stopping load. This can be duplicated in a Ruger Old Army Percussion Pistol with a 220 grain conical bullet over 35 grains of Pyrodex. The standard 140 grain round ball at 1,000 fps is an easy handling and powerful load.
During the original days of the cap and ball revolvers from about 1836 until the arrival of cartridge firing sixguns in the late 1860s, Perfect Packing’ Percussion Pistols are not easy to find. Certainly individual owners cut the barrels of their pistols to make them easier to carry but what about short-barreled production cap and ball sixguns? It is easy to say there were none, however this is another example of Never Say Never. In his excellent book, “Colt Model 1860 Army Revolver”, which is a must-have for anyone interested in these wonderful Percussion Pistols, author Charles Pate states there were at least one each 1860 Army revolvers made with 4-1/2”, 5-1/2”, and 6-1/2”, and also interestingly enough one with a 10” barrel. Today, Taylors & Co. offers 5-1/2” 1860 Army and 1851 Navy easy packing pistols. A most interesting version has just been introduced. Known as The Ace it is a 3” 1858 Remington without a loading lever. It fits very nicely into a pocket. Both Taylor’s & Co. and Cimarron Firearms offer both blue and stainless steel 5-1/2” 1858 Remingtons and I found a 5-1/2” 1861 Navy .36 at Dixie Gunworks.
In more than 70 years of watching Western movies at the original Saturday matinees and on TV during the reign of westerns in the 1950s and now watching both on cable TV I can’t remember ever seeing a short-barreled 1851 Navy or 1860 Colt with a shorter than standard barrel length. At least until now. I was watching a 2017 movie, “Hickok”, and the short-barreled sixguns showed up several times so it appears the Taylor’s & Co. replicas have reached the Western movie industry.
Today we have so many choices when it comes to an everyday packin’ pistol or concealed carry firearms. Number one seller today is a compact 9 mm semi-automatic and one can always be found in the right-hand pocket of my denim vest. We have other semi-automatic pistols and a long list of caliber choices as well as both single-action and double-action sixguns. Even considering carrying a cap and ball revolver might be looked upon as a little strange. However, I certainly do not feel hampered by carrying a percussion pistol afield making sure it is one which is as totally reliable as possible first. To this end there are several things which can be done. One is to replace the original nipples with higher-quality aftermarket stainless steel or bronze alloy nipples. These will have a smaller charge hole which helps to prevent hammer blowback which can allow fired caps to fall into the mechanism. A heavier mainspring than normally used on say a Colt Single Action also helps along this line as well as providing positive ignition. Making sure the face of the hammer is smooth also prevents the hammer from pulling fired percussion caps off the nipple when the hammer is cocked for the next shot.
Self-defense use? They tell us statistics when it comes to gun fights are 3-3-3, that is most confrontations occur at three yards or less in three seconds or less with three shots fired or less. As stated previously the fastest reload is still a second handgun. A pair of percussion pistols may seem dinosauric but even after being basically replaced more than 150 years ago they can still be made to work.
Life has always been uncertain, however with the latest craziness it is being made even more so. There may come a time when reloading components will be nonexistent. A few pounds of lead, a small cast-iron skillet, a simple single-cavity round ball mold, a can of black powder, and some percussion caps could be the only thing between us and disaster.