Shooting the Pietta Pepperbox .36 Revolver!

This gun is so much fun to shoot; 10/10 recommend based on enjoyment factor, 0/10 recommended for historical accuracy.
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[@samirish6696]

You're shooting that odd contraption much better than most videos i have seen of it! Nicely done.

[@blackpowdershooter44]

Haha! I was surprised at the accuracy of this gun. Thanks for watching!

[@spiritualawakenings6251]

Just shot mine yesterday. 20 grains pyrodex P, half gram of magnesium shavings on top of that, lubed wonder wad topped of with a 36 cal lead ball. It was fun . Mini dragons breath . Try it sometime.

[@ChacoteOutdoorRecreation]

A Mariette Pepperbox is used by Count Beklemishev (Vladimir Mashkov) and Chichagov (Dmitriy Kulichkov). Beklemishev calls the gun a "Allen and Thulber Bundelrevolver (a German term, used for pepperbox guns in Russia), with rifled barrels (incorrect statement), and six bullets fired in one shot". According to an interview with the movie armorer, two guns were used: a genuine 19th century pepperbox is seen in close-ups, and in shooting sequences it is replaced with a specially made blank-firing replica. The Duelist (Duelyant) is a Russian 2016 action drama directed by Aleksey Mizgiryov.

[@blackpowdershooter44]

Thank you for the insight, that is really interesting!

[@Varmint.357]

This in .44 cal would be even cooler!

[@blackpowdershooter44]

Agreed!

[@robbiewilliamson357]

my buddy has one in .45. he bought this exact one and bored the cylinders out to .45 at the machine shop where he works. i think the main incentive was the fact that he has a lifetime supply of .45 ball. also: an unintentional perk is that the shaft that the cylinder rides on was then able to be used as a ramrod. i don’t think he normally uses it for that but it will fit.

[@ronaldkennedy2401]

I got that gun from midway in sale last year.40 grains triple seven and 2 balls works well.a chrono would've been informative.i don't have one but I will say that it penetrates half inch plywood easily and at close range would make a viable night stand gun.although that spot is currently held by the agc diablo.the diablo is quite a beast...

[@blackpowdershooter44]

The Diablo is one cool gun. Probably a ton of fun to shoot on the range

[@user-be9ii9ut4t]

35gr w 3 balls x 6 beats diablo

[@johnzx6r]

Very nice, my friend. Looks like you were able to get better results from yours than I was with mine. I need more practice...

[@blackpowdershooter44]

I was surprised at how accurate it actually was offhand. Thanks for watching!

[@gunsnwater2668]

Good to know you can hit stuff with one of those. They should put a front end on there to support a front sight and get rid of the screw.

[@blackpowdershooter44]

I was surprised at how accurate it was with no sights at all!

[@bertroost1675]

Put a small brass sight above each chamber

[@warux8674]

Go with a red dot

[@Stevenyoung100]

Please please please keep coming out with more awesome content!

[@blackpowdershooter44]

Thanks Steve! New video drops the last Friday of every month!

[@BlackChowder]

He always does!

[@MichaelJohnson-tw7dq]

You won’t be disappointed if your expectations are low enough. Great marital advice.

[@DickTickles]

At short ranges the pepperbox revolvers were capable of hitting a person and they were popular in the mid 1800s because they were cheap and had double action triggers. Karl on Inrange did a video of a match where he used an antique pepperbox and got good scores; being effective under stress is always the mark of a good gun. I don't have an issue with Pietta making a pepperbox, even if it's not traditional or based on a traditional design. The pepperbox design hasn't been used in firearms much since Colt revolvers started being made, there have been a couple modern cartridge pepperboxes, so if those are okay then a percussion pepperbox based on the Colt open top frame is fine. Would be nice if Pietta would do a .44 pepperbox, little more power and would hold more birdshot. Given the length of the cylinder and higher powder capacity, have you thought about loading two round balls instead of one? A little more recoil and lower velocity, but double the projectiles increases hit potential.

[@blackpowdershooter44]

A .44 pepperbox would be a winner for sure. So it crossed my mind to load 2 balls, but I am hesitant to load 2 RB's on top of each other for safety reasons tbh. I feel like that could potentially lead to an issue.

[@DickTickles]

@@blackpowdershooter44 I don't think there's going to be a pressure spike, it's black powder, it hits peak pressures almost immediately and since there's no forcing cone or rifling all it's doing is propelling one more ball out the hole. And consider that 130gr conicals are used frequently with the .36 caliber percussion revolvers with bullets that have a longer bearing surface in rifled bores, but have no issues. 150gr of round balls with almost no bearing surface in the smooth bores would have no problems. I've played a lot with two round ball loads in .38 Special and .45 Colt, one of the things I tried with .45 was the first ball I loaded in the case was a .454 while the top ball I used a .451 because the goal was to have the larger ball seal the gasses and the smaller ball didn't need to bottom out in the grooves of the rifling since the gasses were already sealed. The same thing could be done with the pepperbox, but you'd have to use some wadding to stop the top ball from falling out.

[@blackpowdershooter44]

@@DickTickles Thanks for the insight!

[@kitsor791]

I fired two balls. Stronger recoil and louder shot. The wall thickness of the drum allows it to withstand high loads.

[@whitechrist2965]

@@kitsor791 Hovey Smith shot 2 and 3 ball loads on his channel years ago.

[@uncoolsticcboi]

they should make a 12" buntline revolver with a modified frame to accommodate this longer "pepperbox" cylinder. Keep it in .32 or .36 caliber. I tihnk it would work well especially if it came with a removable stock.

[@snappers_antique_firearms]

This gave me a idea. I have always wanted to build a 51 navy rifle. It would be cool to lengthen the frame a bit to use that cylinder. Kind of interesting to find out what kind of velocities you could get with that long cylinder and a Long 20-30 inch barrel. Great video btw your the first person i have ever seen shoot one.

[@blackpowdershooter44]

Thanks Snapper. You're the second person in the comment section here who mentioned the idea of a longer frame to accommodate the longer cylinder. That would be really neat to see how it would do with the extra powder capacity.

[@snappers_antique_firearms]

@@blackpowdershooter44 lol really guess i am not the only crazy person

[@ronaldkennedy2401]

John z has a video shooting his.

[@DJb-ill219]

Nice shooting I've seen others not hit anything hardly with this lol but a cool kinda replica in a way

[@blackpowdershooter44]

It was surprisingly accurate! I was not expecting that, lol. Thanks for tuning in!

[@davidsquall351]

Im surprised it shoots accurate like that! Really cool Man!

[@blackpowdershooter44]

As was I! Thanks for watching!

[@INeverMetAGunIDidntLike]

I picked one up not too long ago (B-day discount from Midway) but I have not shot it yet. I was hoping that they would have included a loading rod like what was included with my 1860 Army Snub Nose. I also think that a birds head grip would be neat on this model, oh well, it is what it is.

[@blackpowdershooter44]

I agree with you, it should come with a loading rod for sure. I just happened to have a rod to load it with so I was lucky. A birdshead grip would be a winner on this model for sure, as it is the grips look to big for the rest of the gun. All that said, it was a ton of fun to shoot.

[@Puppy_Puppington]

Happy late b-day man! I agree with you totally. But if you happen to see this, if you have the time, I really appreciate it. I have a question you see. How you managed to get percussion caps… and if you have made your own, how did you do it? I ordered from 22 reloader website. And I feel scammed cause it’s been more than a week and I missed my chance to have fun with my father whom I barely see on visits… no response. Email and social medias. And I’m dumb cause I only read the good site reviews from a year or two ago… not the recent few months…. Man I’m so desperate to find a decent store or something. Anything.

[@INeverMetAGunIDidntLike]

@@Puppy_Puppington Thanks and I kept watching Cabelas web site for remington #10s. It's been a while since they had some in stock so hopefully they are due for some more soon. The last time they had some in stock, I made a Y.T. announcement video and Y.T. said that I was violating a copyright rule. LOL.

[@Americanparty1856]

Fun gun, I charged mine pretty hot.. Shot ball, buck & ball, loaded the cylinders with BBs, double ball.

[@dianehuston1721]

Mr.Thomas Durant in Hell on Wheels had one. Pretty cool.

[@blackpowdershooter44]

Did not know that, thanks for sharing!

[@spiritualawakenings6251]

I have had one for years but haven't had a chance to shoot it.

[@blackpowdershooter44]

You need to bring it out to the range, it's a lot more fun to shoot than I originally thought!

[@spiritualawakenings6251]

@@blackpowdershooter44 no outside ranges where I am within a reasonable distance and the inside ones don't allow black powder. I miss ky where I could just sit on the back porch and plink cans.

[@davidfine9323]

Always loaded mine with three balls and a 25 grain charge.....

[@blackpowdershooter44]

Out of curiosity, how was the result; large spread at point of impact, power, etc?

[@P61guy61]

Thank you for sharing this.

[@blackpowdershooter44]

Thanks for tuning in!

[@benjaminjarrett9816]

I want to buy one just so I can play gunsmith by casting a longer frame out of brass and then attaching a barrel to it

[@thomasozminkowski2589]

If nothing else its fun and challenging. Imagine a massive chain fire with all cylinders at once!

[@blackpowdershooter44]

I agree. A chainfire out of this pistol would be something, lol!

[@LuccaReakt]

Really, really wish you can make another video of this gun but modify it to have a Paradox Rifling in each chamber and look how much accurate become.

[@missk1697]

Could you fit 2 of these iron orbs into a barrel instead of just 1? Seems like it has plenty of space.

[@GLH1213]

some put 3 lead balls in each cylinder

[@Unholymackrl]

Really cool, I have always wanted one of those

[@blackpowdershooter44]

It's so much fun

[@jeffshootsstuff]

Silly. But at least you don't have to worry about a chainfire LOL. The real pepperboxes were double action and were pretty dang advanced for their time.

[@blackpowdershooter44]

It is a silly design, but a lot of fun to shoot! A 6-shot DA would be a lot of fun to shoot

[@68able2]

original ones weren’t double action you had to pull the hammer to half cock move the chamber manually without indexing and then you put full cock then shot

[@kraftmachine825]

At least U can not afraid chain fire here 😂

[@khester7397]

You should test the bird shot. You can't know the spread till you try, right? I mean, there's no rifling.

[@blackpowdershooter44]

Well the problem is that while there is no rifling, there is also no barrel hardly. I think I would get worse results with birdshot in the pepperbox than I have gotten in the past with a 1858 remington. I remember @johnzx6r has a video testing some birdshot in his pepperbox revolver

[@khester7397]

@BlackPowderShooter 44 Be nifty to see, in any case. Plus, whats to say you've gotta load it with bird shot vs, say double ought?

[@markfrench2980]

It would have bee more dramatic if at the 5:43 mark you would have be wearing a black hat similar to Lee VC, but the twirl at the 5:54 mark was great .LOL

[@blackpowdershooter44]

You're right! Lol

[@thomasozminkowski2589]

Cool video for sure.

[@blackpowdershooter44]

Thanks Thomas!

[@khester7397]

Cool! Looks like fun.

[@blackpowdershooter44]

It was! Thanks for watching

[@patriot3431]

How is the pepper box holding up with 30 grains of powder?

[@thought_crime1979]

You can get nearly 200fpe with round ball (80 grains)and 30 grains of swiss no1.

[@danielballinger4135]

Awsome video..thank you

[@blackpowdershooter44]

Thanks for watching Daniel!

[@almartin4284]

No sights, that's impressive.

[@blackpowdershooter44]

Thanks Al, I was surprised I was able to hit anything lol!

[@RufusCapstick]

Compact enough for an everyday carry 😅

[@blackpowdershooter44]

Of course lol!

[@lorenray9479]

4 paces is a long shot?

[@blackpowdershooter44]

It can be for me some days! Lol

[@bradb.4570]

I love it

[@blackpowdershooter44]

So much fun!

[@eliasricard6143]

You can probably fit the conversion cylinder ofln this and shoot 38 special out of it

[@westdesertoutlaw724]

Actually no rifling be good for snakes shot

[@blackpowdershooter44]

While I agree, no barrel is not good for snake shot either so I could I'm not sure how birdshot would fare from this revolver.

[@David0lyle]

Actually, pepper box’s in general aren’t particularly easy to classify. 🤔 There’s relatively complicated machining required to get a revolver to properly align the frame and barrel. 🤔 Machining that is completely irrelevant if each chamber has its own barrel. There are more than a few drawbacks to the design but the advantages mean that the first pepper boxes we made firmly in a preindustrial age and the last were the semi homemade versions produced in Finland in the Second World War. It’s not a great gun but for it’s intended application it’s the easiest to make.

[@psychologicalsigma9917]

Looks like when u pull the trigger, it draws up and to the left.

[@spiritualawakenings6251]

Next we need fps and penetration.

[@blackpowdershooter44]

I would but the chances I will shoot my chronograph are too high!

[@spiritualawakenings6251]

@@blackpowdershooter44 I actually saw another video where a guy did just that but I think you have a bit more experience.

[@juanvaldes1837]

​@@blackpowdershooter44 getting closer makes too much smoke and wont record? I too would be interested in velocities

[@juanvaldes1837]

Yes fps and penetration

[@martkbanjoboy8853]

It needs a longish barrel and the appurtinances to make that happen, & then some chrony/accuracy/gelatin block tests. C'mon machinists make it so!

[@blackpowdershooter44]

Pietta, you listening? Lol. A pepperbox with a long barrel would be a hoot!

[@martkbanjoboy8853]

@@blackpowdershooter44 Someone on castboolit forums is probably on it.

[@blackpowdershooter44]

@@martkbanjoboy8853 Oh yes, lol!

[@fjbdffddfgf313]

مسدس ممتاز

[@daneldwinbrooks8444]

They had up to 9 shots

[@davidcurlee5085]

You are going to damage that cylinder loading it like that , rethink what you're doing

[@improvisedsurvival5967]

That sucks you’d need a hammer and poke to seat ball after you take the cylinder off with screwdriver. How you gonna do this in field. Just a hassle for low power and accuracy. A regular revolver is better

[@blackpowdershooter44]

Yes it is a hassle, more of a 'novelty' gun to enjoy on the range IMO.

[@user-be9ii9ut4t]

To seat bullet, leave cyl on, bump rammer with tree. Quick/easy

[@improvisedsurvival5967]

@@user-be9ii9ut4t 🏳️‍🌈but I suppose it will work

[@martinwagnerproductions]

Is it a rifled barrel?

[@blackpowdershooter44]

It's not

[@martinwagnerproductions]

@@blackpowdershooter44 So you could in theory shoot shot through it with wads...hmmm. Maybe try some 7.5? 1 1/8oz of shot is roughly 75 grains measured in the powder measure. That would be interesting to see.

[@ltjon1924]

Yeah, you need to do a little bit better research! 4 barrels? You're confusing a Derringer with a pepperbox pistol. Try 24 barrels? There's many that 6 and 8 barrels. 1851 Colt is one of the single most popular revolvers ever made. It's quite feasible that somebody actually made a similar custom pepperbox from this popular platform. Nothing about it is a bastardization. Also, I will tell you from experience, you can fit 60-65 grains triple f and still managed to cram in 3 80 grain 0000 buckshot for a total of 240 grains of lead which is in excess of mass of a standard 45 ACP. The extra mass and back pressure probably would create surprising velocities. It's a little sketchy when that Max of a load also gets chain fired. It's probably diminishing returns into waste of powder, but it's fun and the fireball is cool! Fireball = wasted powder, man complaining about wasted powder that lives in the first world = flaccid beta male soyboy

[@ltjon1924]

Honestly, I have one Max loaded all six barrels, and I want to try to intentionally cause it to chain-fire all six barrels at once for 18 80grain 0000buck blast, and I mostly made a safety box to test it, but I've been a little chickenshit. I need to break out the calipers and do measurements of the cylinder beforehand, and after intentional Mega Chainfire to see if there is any risk of distortion and catastrophic failure. Eventually I'll make it happen. I'll have high-speed video of it. I think three layers of plexiglass should be enough to protect the camera?

[@kevincowan4887]

Hovey smith did a video where he put 3 balls in each chamber really cool