NF "Wild Bill"

[JPChurch]

This motion picture was on TV today that featured Jeff Bridges. A mostly fictional account when you compare his life to the screenplay. Too bad it didn't include all of his goings on during the War while in Union service. They say he was a crack shot with his Colt Navy .36 revolvers. If you've ever shot an original or a replica, they are prone to misfiring/chain firing if not loaded/greased properly and the caps once expended fall off and jam the rotating cylinder. If your caps were rotten/wet or not placed proper on the cylinder cones that created misfires as well. It was a great movie to watch but it did have its Hollywood moments.

 

[mofederal]

I've seen Wild Bill several times, and I own the DVD. It's better than most movies about Hickok. I liked him in Deadwood, but he's in like 3 episodes. It is enjoyable to watch. Thanks for posting.

 

[DixieRifles]

I dont think I've seen that movie. If I did, it didnt make much of an impression.
Did he shoot 8 tomes with his Colt like he did in "True Grit"?

I owned and shot a replica Colt Model 1861 Navy and never had a chain fire. If I ever did that would have ended my black powder hobby. I had a few other minor problems that I learned to control.
Example: Poor too much powder and the ball wont seat so you cant rotate the cylinder. Remedy--carry a pocket knife and trim off the nose of the soft lead ball.

 

[JPChurch]

I think the Colt .36's used 20 grains of FFFG as the powder charge. The Colt Army '61's ( I have an old Pietta repro) used 28 grains(?). Well, that's what I use in mine and the balls seat perfectly without having to shave them off. Problem with the old Pietta's made in the late 80's was that the chambers varied in size. I use a .457 Speer round ball in mine. Some fit tight and some go right in without much effort. But, it may be the Speer round balls are not exact. I hear the newer Pietta repros are far improved.

 

[ikesdad]

If ya read Rosa"s book(s), the only things true in the movie are the names. Totally inaccurate.

 

[saddlebum92]

One thing that comes across in the Truest Accounts of Hickock' s brief life is that he was VERY workmanlike about his guns. He was known to clear, clean and reload them every day, almost religiously. Makes sense if your life depends on them. I have to think that he learned this lesson from a critical misfire. But then, Hickock carried the Navy Colts long past the point where he had to. That suggests that he was pretty comfortable with them and the performance expectations he had of them.
As an aside, back in the 1920- 30 era, Ed McGivern was claimed to have duplicated all of Hickock's "impossible shots", in shows across the Country. HE did it with a .38 S&W, but the cartridge is similar to the older loading. And Cody always said the difference between Hickock and anybody else was that JBH went into a fight "willing" that someone was going to die, and did what was needful without further thought. I have to wish Ol' Bill had lived to write memoirs. Would have been a worthwhile read.

 

[ikesdad]

Yes, according to Rosa, he did that each morning. If he had written his memoirs, I think they would be so embellished that it would rival the movie in fiction. He was known to overly elaborate when it came to talking to writers.

 

[saddlebum92]

Mayhap, but at least theyd have come from the horse's mouth...