Remington 'Shooters' Revolver

[Jim Wimbish, 10395]

I noticed that Dixie has reduced the price on this gun to just under $600. There were two reviewers and I noted that one had trouble getting the gun to shoot with .457" roundballs and had to go to a .464" oversize ball to get good accuracy out of the gun. Is it true that the gun won't shoot well with .457" roundballs?

I was thinking about getting one of these things and wanted to know if I have to buy another mould to with the gun.

Thanks,

Jim

[Tom Magno, 9269V]

I bought a "shooter's" model from Cabela's back in 2003. Same gun, I think. Progressive rifliing, dovetailed front sight, and stoned action, and silver trigger guard. Accurate right out of the box with .454 or .457. The bore is .452 on my gun. So even if I could shove a .464 ball into the cylinder, it would look like a football, and would probably shoot ok, maybe. I am now working up a load for a conical to eliminate the filler. The manual states .464 ball should be used, but I think it's a typo, as there are several typos I found.
It's a great shooting revolver for the money.

Tom

[jbarber]

Jim, I have had good luck with this revolver, shooting it just as it came 'out of the box'. I had to drift the front sight slightly to the right but that's all. The cylinders match up to the bore perfectly and the trigger is a crisp four lbs. As to the .457 round ball question, I can't answer because I have only used the Lee conical designed for the Ruger cap and ball. It shoots splendidly. This bullet mikes at .4568. I tapped one through the barrel and found that it was well-engraved with the sides of the bullet touching the bottom of the lands. It's a little fussy to start the bullet into the chamber, but the heel is a couple thousandths smaller in diameter than the rest of the slug, so that helps. I use 20 grs of GOI 3f and dip-lube the bullet. This mould is inexpensive and I urge you to try it. If you do acquire this piece, I would be glad to send you some bullets to try. Jon Barber 1483-V, 110th OVI

[pastore]

There were two reviewers and I noted that one had trouble getting the gun to shoot with .457" roundballs and had to go to a .464" oversize ball to get good accuracy out of the gun. Is it true that the gun won't shoot well with .457" roundballs?


Thanks,

Jim

The chamber diameter of this revolver is .456. If you could somehow get a .490 ball forced into it, you would still be shooting a .456 ball. DUH !

[hobbler]

Sometimes using an "oversized" ball produces better accuracy due to the change in weight and the bullet to barrel contact length. Sometimes a "conical" like Lymans old 45266 will do the trick.
45's don't need brass to be tack drivers. But they each prefer something a little different.

[Jim Wimbish, 10395]

Fellow Skirmishers,

Before I took the Remington 'Shooter's revolver to the range, I miked the chambers. They were .454". I also took one of my .457" roundballs and held it against the chamber mouth. The .457" balls looked to be a good fit and I used them when I went to the range. With a powder charge of 20 grains of 3f Goex and filler, I was getting great results. The front sight blade was a little tall and I had to make some adjustments to bring the point of aim up. Some paint on the front sight blade helped me take care of this.

I have shot many other revolvers before including some that had been accurized. The trigger on this gun was heavier than you will typically find on an accurized revolver, but it was acceptable. Overall, I was very happy with the performance of the gun.

While a larger ball may give more bearing surface when forced into the chamber, I don't think that you would ever to need to use larger than a .457" ball with this revolver to get good results.

When shooting Remington revolvers, I have had problems with residue build-up on the cylinder pin, making the cylinder pin hard to pull out when reloading. This is the first Remington that I have ever shot that didn't have this problem. I fired 30 shots and never had any buildup. Cylinder was just as easy to pull out the last time as the first. Overall, this gun has the best manufacturing tolerances of any black powder revolver that I have ever shot. You get what you pay for with this revolver.

[Richard Hill]

After the starr debacle I decided to finally retire my 23 year old Remington Shooters Revolver (from Navy Arms) and get a new RSR. Dixie was the only place I could find that sells them, other than Le Hussard in France. The new one has arrived and I find that that the barrel flats are not lined up square with the frame, meaning the front sight is tilted to the right. The slot in the frame for the locking bolt is almost twice as wide as the bolt, and, compared to my first one, the center pin the cylinder turns on is a sloppy fit in the frame. The thing seems to lock up OK, but the decline in workmanship is very disappointing. Before I shoot it for the first time, has anybody had a similar experience with a recently made example, and are my complaints merely cosmetic and won’t detract from the accuracy like my first one had? Can these guns be had any other place than Dixie? Cabellas and Taylors don’t list them.

[pastore]

I would contact Dixie and have them replace the revolver. For what they charge for them, I would not accept one that was less than perfect.

[John Holland]

Richard,

I'm curious, why did you retire the first one?

JDH

[Richard Hill]

Many thousands of rounds thru it. The old grey mare ain't what she used to be. She’s gotten kinda sloppy with age and has been tightened up a few times before. Considering a re-crown if I can find somebody competent to do it. After seeing the newest production of this gun I think I need to work on the old one some more.

[John Holland]

Richard,

Thanks.

Tightening up isn't too hard to do, and with the availability of a new liner for the barrel with a new forcing cone...I think I'd look long & hard at the "Ol' Grey Mare!"

John

[Don Dixon]

Richard,

Take the old revolver to Rob at Tri-L at the spring nationals and have him screw a new barrel into it. He does good work. It IS possible to shoot out the barrel in a black powder revolver, or wear the muzzle from cleaning, or both. You probably need more than a new crown, but Rob could do that too. Since Tom Ball died, Rob has been working on my revolvers. I've done fairly well at Winchester (Distinguished Skirmisher and Distinguished Revolver). And, I've won a some international medals with some original and reproduction Remmington revolvers Rob has worked on when I've shot with the U.S. International Muzzle Loading Team.

I wondered if you had made any progress on the translation of the French language book on Belgian arms we discussed in our earlier e-mail exchanges?

Regards,
Don Dixon
2881V

[Southron Sr.]

Are you sure you actually got a Remington "Shooters Revolver?"

Regardless of what it said on the box, a RSR should be of high quality, have a sivler plated trigger guard and gain twist rifling. Is the front sight dovetailed into the barrel?

I did have to have a custom RB mould made up for my RSR that threw out .464 round balls and accuracy is absoutely SUPERB.

My understanding is that the Pietta factory, RSR's are made on a separate production line from Pietta's regular repro Remington Revolvers and the RSR's are handfitted together by gunsmiths in the factory.

DGW has outstanding customer service when it comes to returns and refunds. Based on the revolver you describe, I am thinking that somehow a regular "Garden Variety" repro 1858 revolver got put in a RSR box at either the factory or later. Does the serial number on the box match the serial number on the revolver?

Definitely contact DGW and let them know of your problem. I would send it back for a replacement.

[Boge]

...It IS possible to shoot out the barrel in a black powder revolver, or wear the muzzle from cleaning, or both...

The latter yes, the former highly unlikely. A Colt 1911 barrel can go 60,000 rds. with smokeless before some throat erosion and smokeless burns hotter than BP. I have one BP ctg. revolver with over 10,000 rds. through it and it looks as good as day one and slugs exactly the same. Before I splurged on a new barrel for a percussion revolver I would try reaming the chambers, cutting the forcing cone and giving the muzzle a new crown. That covers about 99% of most barrels. However, there will sometimes be the rare recalcitrant barrel that will not shoot.

[Richard Hill]

For those who don't understand my first post:

Yes, it was a Remington Shooters Revolver. The price was $611 delivered to my door. The trigger guard was silver plated and the front sight was dovetailed. Advertised as the world renowned "Remington Army Shooters Revlover".

I've sent the gun back for a refund. I do not believe this was a fluke, and don't want another one just like it.

Add to the list of faults: the bore was not concentric with the barrel.

[Southron Sr.]

I am sorry to learn about your bad experience with the RSR. Appalrently, the Itralians have really "dropped the quality" of their RSR.

Sadly, I hae noticed this over the years with several brands of Iralian repro's. The first imports that are sold in the U.S. are of high quality and then as time passes, the quality drops.

I guess the "all time record" for a "low quality" European made repro goes to a Spanish made Zouave I saw for sale at a gun show years ago. The "patch box" was a one piece casting. The lock and barrel looked like they had been hammered out of scrap metal in someone's back yard.

When I picked up the arm to examine it further, I quickly regretted that as I got a splinter in my hand!

[Jim Wimbish, 10395]

The quality of the revolver that I just purchased through DGW is fine. I have no issues with the gun whatsoever. It looks and shoots fine. Based on my experience, I would recommend that others interested in a fine competition revolver consider it.

As far as the .464" roundballs are concerned this looks like overkill for my gun. To use a ball this large, I would have to push a .010" ring off the ball to seat it in the chamber. Perhaps earlier guns had a larger chamber diameter than mine (.454").

I have only owned one revolver where the barrel was turned slightly so that the front sight had a clear lean to the right. It was a Pietta stainless steel '58 Remington. I had it accurized and to my surprise the new barrel had exactly the same tilt as the first one. While I was quite disappointed to see this, the gun shot fine and the small amount of tilt really made no difference.

Jim

[Don Dixon]

Boge,

It depends on the accuracy level you're looking for. I needed a revolver capable of shooting 98 or better on the international metric target. The barrel I had replaced wouldn't do that. But, it went on a practice gun which is perfectly capable of shooting mid-90s on the much larger N-SSA/NRA/MLRA 25 yard target. And yes, it is shot out at the breech. A .457 round ball virtually disappears in the forcing cone. You should take a look at the breech through my Hawkeye bore scope. I hate to think about how many rounds have gone through it.

Regards :) ,
Don

[Mike McDaniel]

For those of you not familiar with the B-17, the 10-ring is about 1.2 inches in diameter...roughly an X-ring shot.

And if you want the World Championship, you will have to put more than 50% of your shots into it at 25 meters.

[devisser]

I have several revolvers, but I decided to test the difference between an original Remington (Made in 1862 against a repro ( made in 1966). Both shot as well as I am able at shooting at 25 yards. However I have noticed that the original shoots better then the 1966 repro. adding to the mix, I converted the original to shoot 45 colt. OK. the results is that the original using a 250 gr bullet with 45 grains shoots great. At 25 yards it shoots 8's 9's and 10's using the converted cylinder. Changing gears , switching to the orginal black powder cylinder, the revolver shoots left, low and sometimes off the target. Using the same bullet, powder charge, etc why the difference? is it that that a cartridge case develops more pressure then the standard cap and ball reloading we use in normal N-ssa shooting ?