!873 Uberti Cattleman

[Bridger]

Anybody have one of these? I am thinking of picking one up, as I want a gun I can shoot black powder in and they seem fairly reasonably priced. Anybody load for the 45 colt in black powder? Have any input? I have heard horror stories about the stuff but I don't care if it is dirty....the cowboys used it and I want to play with it too.

[J Miller]

Ummm ,yeah I got one. I've had it since 1975. But it's only been shootable for about 4 years.
Long story, posted somewhere here.

Black powder load = case full of FFg or FFFg bp full enough for some compression by the bullet. A lead bullet with a big grease grove filled with bp compatible lube.

That is a very simplified load. They go BOOOOOOM really nice, but to be honest I've never gotten any decent accuracy out of black powder loads.
Could be cos I didn't know what I was doing when I loaded them. Could be cos I'm not holding my mouth right. Could be cos I can't see the bloody target after the first shot.

But they sure are FUN.


Oh, I cheat when I clean mine. I just hose 'em with Windex that has ammonia and wipe 'em out. The later finish the job. So far no rust or problems.

Joe

[Mescalero]

And an epic story it was Joe.

[M. M. Wright]

Yep, pretty much what Joe said. I still shoot a couple of Colt 2nd gen 7.5" in .45 that I load with ffg Goex. Be sure you use SPG or some good black powder lube. I've used the hard cast bullets with "Crayola" lube, (you'll know what I mean if you smell them up close) but put about a 1/8th" grease cookie under the bullet. Hey, it works. I like about 1/8th" compression too.

I clean them with a mixture of 1 part Ballistol to 10 parts water. After they are clean, spray with the pure stuff. When they start to crud up making the cylinders hard to turn just a little spritz with Ballistol and they are good for another stage or three.

Be sure to free up the base pin bushing and lube it too. It's there because of black powder. That little doo-hickey on the end of the bushing is there for the same reason and is why Colt just blew Remington out of the water. The Colts, and your Colt copy, will shoot through 6 stages of SASS with only a little squirt of lube about halfway through and that's 60 rounds, well 30 per gun.

[Bridger]

What I still have a hard time with is transitioning my thoughts over from smokeless, where compression is real bad, to black, where it is good. Can black powder be compressed to much?

[J Miller]

You want to smell something really foul? Load your ammo with Pyrodex and put a factory made lubed wad between the powder and bullet. The ones I had just smelled hideous when fired. Made normal black powder smell like roses.

Joe

[Mescalero]

another reason not to go black.

[Old Savage]

Well now - back to the Cattleman - they are good shooters, been around a long time in one form or another.

[JimT]

They clean up really nice ... here's a piece about how to slick one up .. diy ..
http://www.gunblast.com/JimTaylor_Uberti.htm

[Lefty Dude]

I shoot a BP-sub in my Colt 44WCF. I prefer APP over the true BP because I can use my smokless lubed bullets. I have two loadings, I use. One is a CAS/SASS competition load. It uses a case filler and is a mild load for my Colt SAA. My other load is for my 1873 44WCF Uberti Carbine. This load has powder to the base of the bullet, not compressed, just a kiss.

Clean-up is very easy, I use a 50% mixture of Simple Green and Water.

Try APP, I think you will like the product. It is a low pressure propellent and is volume for volume equal to BP in it's measure. (Produces more Smoke than BP)
I also use the true propellent, but then I must use lube cookies, special lube on the bullets, big lube bullets, etc.

[JReed]

Have the Frisco model. Nice shooting gun

[Griff]

I shoot a pair of 3rd generation Colt .45 SAAs w/BP. I'm a "gamer", I load 'em w/Goex ffg from around 28 grains to full cases. I kinda settled around 30-32 grains with a 185grain bullet.

Cleanin' them? Hot tap water, then wpie dry and oil 'em just like you any gun. Let's see, I've been doin' it this way REAL regular like since 1986. Once you do it... shhhh! Keep yer trap shut. Let all the knuckleheads that say it hard to clean, keep on sayin' it! Messy? Sure. Hard? Not even worth mentionin'! Easier than cleanin' lead or copper out of barrels 'n such! Oh yeah. Did I mention that those are things of the past also?

Yep, a BP friendly lube makes 'em easier to clean, and doesn't "gum" 'em as much. I can shoot all six stages of a day's match before I need to think "time to clean". (Actually, I've been known to be lazy and wait tilll the match is over before cleanin' the pistols. Think 3 days!

Accuracy? Ain't something I worry about. I'm shootin' a 45 COLT at 'em! Hit 'em in the thumb and they fall over! Actually, I don't do much paper punchin', mostly steel. But I figure if I can keep 10 shots on a 6" plate at 15 yards, it's accurate enough! And that's tumbin' it back and firing as fast as I can!

Lastly, if you're gonna use Pyrodex, fergit everything I just said. The sugar-coated version is that that stuff is junk. Not worth the trouble to open and pour out on the gound. I won't even give it away. I ain't gonna treat another shooter like that.