My new "Pale Rider" gun....

[linx310]

My Remington 1858 New Army came in today and I am impressed. I paid less then $199 for the steel frame version of it on sale right now on the Cabelas website.

In the past the Pietea replicas had mixed reviews but recently there quality has been good. When I pull back the hammer on mine it syncs up with the cylinder wonderfully.

Also the cylinder wall and the barrel mate up nice and tight, another complaint from a number of years ago about these guns that has seem to have been corrected.

For those that don't know the Remington 1858 is a better design (and gun IMHO) then the Colt 1851 & Colt 1860. Unlike the colts it has a stronger receiver and the cylinders can be changed quickly. This gun was truly the 1800s version of the magazine fed pistols we have today in terms of reload speed.

Video of the "Pale Rider" reloading his 1858

For those interest BP pistols are great fun and cheap to shoot. When I take my Colt Walker to the Machine Gun shoots it gets just as much attention as my machine guns to. BP pistols have a certain coolness and mystic. And BP pistols can be shipped to your door.


Pics of my 1858

[mriddick]

I have it's twin, but my favorite BP revolver will always be the little 1862 Colt. They are alot of fun to shoot and always a crowd pleaser.

[slamfire51]

I noticed a lot of shooters use the Remington in competition.
Apparently they are very accurate.

[awp101]

I have the 5 1/2" barrel and it's a blast (so to speak). Go get one of the .45 Colt conversion cylinders for dual purpose fun.

[O.S.O.K.]

I prefer one of the "Josey Wales" guns - the 1860 Colt - not the Walkers... the 1860 just points so naturally and of course, its also a .44 (.454" balls).

But, regardless - congrats!! You will really enjoy shooting that. I also have one of those - only mine has adjustable sights - the "target" version. You can stuff more powder into the 58's cylinder - about 5 grains more.

I also took advantage of the Cabelas sale - they sure are running it for a long time! I got two 1860 "Sheriff's" models:



They take #11 caps - which is different than the older full-sized model that I have which takes #10's...

ETA: and before anybody asks... my balls are white because they're old

[linx310]

ETA: and before anybody asks... my balls are white because they're old

Don't lie...you know thats part of the cocaine stash you had....

[Kadmos]

Nice looking piece, I've got the brass frame version.

The Remington is a good gun, my shoots pretty much to point of aim, but my 60 army still feels better in the hand, I guess thats the AR vs AK debate of back in the day

[NAPOTS]

My father has one, I enjoyed shooting it as a kid but my hands are too big for it now. my knuckles are jammed into the trigger guard.

[awp101]

I always enjoy getting the chance to post this...

Why I don't shoot Black Powder

Understand that from the time I could put together a rational thought, I’ve been fascinated by guns. My mother used to prop me in front of the little round picture box as a baby so I could watch men on horseback shooting at each other with guns...

The first “real” shooter I owned was a Mattel Fanner 50... it shot Mattel Shootin’ Shells and used Greenie Stick ‘Em caps. I was greased-lightning fast and Grim Reaper deadly with it... for my punishment of erroneous deeds my mom would take the gun away for a few days... dad, on the other hand, used the gunbelt for a more heartily applied punishment to the South end of this Northbound cowpoke.
It seems like that gunbelt got as much [applied] use as that Fanner 50. Who knew old people would jump that high when you shot them in the butt? Sorry, Nana... but the bone china tea set dad bought to replace the one you were carrying was much prettier and newer than that 150 year old set you were always bragging to Aunt Gladys about...
And Cousin Peter?
Sorry about the eye, buddy.
But at least it kept you out of the army...

When I was twelve I was shipped off for the summer to church camp, where I was introduced to the joys of the .22 Long Rifle cartridge. There were six shooters in my squad and we could choose from the six semi-auto and two bolt action rifles available. Even then it was evident I’d be a purist: I was the only one to choose a bolt action.
While the other kids were busy shooting hundreds of rounds of ammo downrange as quickly as they could, I carefully aimed my bolt action in the general direction of the targets... while actually shooting birds over by the pond like Gary Cooper taught George Tobias to shoot turkeys in Sgt. York– “sorta from back to front...”, and imagining each of those evil birds was wearing a German helmet. I still say the counselors should have told us on Orientation Day. I mean, who even knew there WERE swans, huh? They looked like big ducks wearing holdup masks, if you really want to know the truth.
Dad didn’t see it that way, though... especially since he had to pay for the swans– and they didn’t refund the seven weeks’ unused camp tuition when they expelled me, either. Did I mention what dad used my Fanner 50 gunbelt for?
After my exposure to the real thing at camp– albeit for only a brief period– I wasn’t too interested in playing with the Daisy BB guns my friends had. I was above owning one of those childish things... but not above borrowing one to play with every once in awhile.
And Ritchie?
Sorry about the eye, buddy.
But at least it kept you out of the army...

I finally turned eighteen and could [legally] own my own black powder revolver, but I was just a bit short in the savings department. Not being the patient sort, I chose the most expedient means to get the money. As I look back now, I suppose I am sorry those junior high kids couldn’t turn in their paper route money that week...

I’d been looking at a pretty, brass-framed BP revolver in the case at Shattuck’s Hardware for a couple of months, and boy! Was I ever proud the day I went in and plunked down the money for it! Eleven dollars in one dollar bills... and eighteen dollars in quarter and dimes.
Old Man Shattuck was a great old guy, whose eyesight, thankfully, had gotten really bad over the years... otherwise he’d have chased me out of the store like he used to after he caught me stealing that Barlow when I was thirteen... but he didn’t recognize me as he sold me the .36 caliber pistol... he even threw in a box of pure lead balls with the pistol and percussion caps when I bought the pound of black powder.
I told Mr. Shattuck that I was anxious to shoot it and was heading straight for the dump, and asked him to show me how to load the gun.
“It’s pretty simple,” I recall his telling me. “You measure your powder into the cylinder chamber, put a bullet over it, ram it down in with the hinged thing under the barrel, put your cap over a nipple, and you’re set to shoot.”
I thanked him for his help and headed for the door.

“One last thing!” he called to me as I was running out the door, “Don’t forget to put grease over your balls! Crisco works fine!”
I didn’t understand the need for the last part, but I stopped at Tony’s Grocery and bought a little blue can of Crisco grease.
And now... to the dump! Where bottles and cans, rats and crows were just waiting for this ol’ cowboy to do ‘em in!

I replayed Mr. Shattuck’s instructions in my head as I laid out all my gear on the smoothed-out, brown paper bag at my feet. The first thing I realized was that I didn’t have anything to measure the powder with... UNTIL I remembered my knife! I carried one of those folding stag handled camper’s knives– you know, the ones with a fork on one side and a spoon on the other? The spoon was perfect for what I needed!
Very carefully (thank heaven there wasn’t any wind blowing) I poured a spoonful of powder from the can into the spoon, then tipped the spoon up and tapped the powder into the cylinder. Sure, I spilled a bunch over because the spoon held so much more, but what the heck! Powder was cheap, back then... and I had plenty to spare...
Being a methodical kind of kid, I filled all six chambers with the powder, managing to spill as much around my feet, I suppose, as I was getting into the cylinder. I can laugh now, but when I bent over to get the bullets all the powder fell out of the cylinders onto my boots... so I had to fill them all over again!
I managed to get all the chambers filled with powder and then stuck a bullet into the first cylinder... I had to really tap it in with my knife to get it started... then shoved it in as far as it would go with the rammer thing. I lost a little powder in the process, but eventually I had all six chambers loaded and ready to go.
Then I put percussion caps over the things sticking out the ends of the cylinders...
Oops! I forgot a couple of things!

Now, I’ll admit my ignorance about a lot of things... but why I was supposed to smear Crisco on my balls is still a mystery to me.
But I figured Old Man Shattuck knew what he was about, so I looked around to make sure I was alone, then dropped my pants to my knees, opened the can of Crisco and began to smear it over Lefty and Righty.
Standing there in the hot summer sun, slowly massaging soft, silky grease into
my scrotum... gee WHIZ!
I guess the old man knew what he was talking about after all ! Welcome to the joys of shooting!
I had to force myself out of my reverie...

One last thing and then I’d be ready to shoot... I took my baseball cap off and stuffed it inside my shirt over my left nipple. Okay... I guessed I was ready (except, of course, that in my haste I’d forgotten to pull up my pants...)

Well sir, I crooked my left arm out in front of my face, rested the trigger guard of the pistol in my right hand on it, drew a tight bead on an old Four Roses bottle, and squeezed the trigger.
I remember a bright flash, a burning sensation on my arm and face, then something hit me square in the forehead and the lights went out.

It must have been quite sometime later when I awoke. I was laid out across the back seat of Sheriff Miller’s car (I knew this from the plexi-glass partition and a previous ride when I’d been sixteen), the rider’s side door was open and my feet and lower legs were hanging out.
As I raised my head to look for the source of the voices I heard I felt like someone had hit me in the head with a sledgehammer. I could see two men in the dim, evening light, just outside the door and within my range of vision. At least, I thought they were two men... I could hear two speaking but they were sorta spinning around and they looked like six. From the voices I knew they were Sheriff Miller and my Dad...

“... busy on another call so the volunteer fire department was the first out here,” I heard the Sheriff explaining to my dad.
“Mabel Krutchner called it in... said she saw smoke comin’ from the dump and had heard an awful explosion over this way.
“Near as I can tell from what the firemen say, when they got here they found your boy lying over there. At first they thought he was dead. The dump was on fire all around him, his left arm and face were all black, his boots were scorched pretty badly, he had a HUGE knot on his forehead where somebody’d cold-cocked him... and... well, we think the boy’s been... well, taken advantage of.”
“What do you mean ‘Taken advantage of?’” I heard my dad ask.

“Well, Al, it’s like this,” the Sheriff said.
“The first men to get to your boy said he was unconscious; they found part of a gun by his body; his pants were down around his ankles, his crotch was all greased up-- and he was sportin’ a boner...”

Then I heard Mr. Shattuck’s voice.
“I always knew there was something wrong with that boy...
This will probably keep him out of the army...”

And THAT’S why I don’t shoot black powder...


This is a work of fiction. Any similarities to persons living or dead... are pretty close!

copyright2006 BostonJohnDoucette

[slamfire51]

I'm guessing he forgot to put the cap on the powder can. Or the gun fired all cylinders and the gun recoiled into his forehead.

[Kadmos]

That is freaking hilarious!

[Faulkner]

That was funny! After reading that I don't think I'll shoot black powder guns either.

[O.S.O.K.]

Blackpowder ain't for sissys.

[mriddick]

Nice looking piece, I've got the brass frame version.

The Remington is a good gun, my shoots pretty much to point of aim, but my 60 army still feels better in the hand, I guess thats the AR vs AK debate of back in the day

I think back in the day "gun fighters" preferred the colts (atleast most of the famous shooters) while for most (and the Army) the 1858 was seen as the better weapon, being more durable and accurate. Even to this day it's not tough to find a well used but workable original 1858, the Colts aren't found in nearly such numbers (in used and working condition). I do see more mint Colts of the era though so even back then they must of enjoyed more of a collectable status.

[mustangpd]

I want one

[O.S.O.K.]

I want one

http://www.cabelas.com just click on shooting gear on the left menu bar

[Kadmos]

I think back in the day "gun fighters" preferred the colts (atleast most of the famous shooters) while for most (and the Army) the 1858 was seen as the better weapon, being more durable and accurate. Even to this day it's not tough to find a well used but workable original 1858, the Colts aren't found in nearly such numbers (in used and working condition). I do see more mint Colts of the era though so even back then they must of enjoyed more of a collectable status.

I disagree on a few points. The Colts were made in far larger numbers. Remington made about 130,000 of the 58's. Colt's Army well over 200,000 add to that the 51 navy which continued to be made right up to 1873 past 250,000 peices.

Most argue that the colt is more accurate, the Remington cyclinder rides on a pretty skinny pin which tends to have quite a bit of play, which cannot particularly be tightened readily like the colt with its large arbor and easy to tighten wedge system.

I think there are so many more mint colts because there were so many more colts made. There are certianly a large number of well used colts floating around.

The real advantage of the Remington is the easy to change cyclinders and the deep notches that allow for safe carry of 6 loaded chambers, the latter probably actually being the more desired selling point.

Perhaps a person would carry one, maybe 2 extra cyclinders, however plenty of people simply found it easier to just carry an extra gun. A few units did find the remington and its easily changable cyclinders much more desirable, such as artillery men. It let them be armed without near as much bulk, leaving thier hands and body more free to do thier work.

[awp101]

BTW, if anyone reading this is thinking about a conversion cylinder (which you should because they are damn fun!), don't unless you revolver is steel framed. The brass has the real potential to stretch when moving up to brass cased cartridges (a bit ironic IMO).

[linx310]

Well I put 6 quick shots through it Sunday. Didn't really have a chance to check for any true accuracy. I shot at an old bike helmet from about 15 feet and every round hit its mark so at least I know if I aim at some ones head at around that distance I can hit it...lol

I'm so happy with the quality of this 1858 I am thinking about picking up one of the Colt 1860s.

Any of you guys handled the 2010 model of the 1860? How is it?

[O.S.O.K.]

I've got those two above - which are nothing more than chopped versions of the 1860 Army. They are of excellent quality. They shot really well - good accuracy with the Pyrodex P loads that we used. They do want the #11 caps though - the #10's are tight as hell.

Here's a vid for your viewing pleasure: (you can see the trouble we had with the #10 caps - this will not happen with the #11's)