1851 Navy or 1858 Army?

[Crighton]

Looking at picking up a repro block powder pistol for a little recreational shootingl.

Which would you go with? 1851 Navy Civilian .44 or 1858 New Army .44?

[Eagle]

not really familiar with either one but I always heard the Navy was pretty good by standards of the day.

[DeTrevni]

I've got a navy (not sure what year) and I love it, but I don't know how it compares to an army...

[Army]

'58 Remington was preferred for its topstrap, which the Colt's did not have. Consensus of the day was that they were stronger and more accurate. However, the Colt does have a more pre-civil war romantic appeal.

My old Pedersoli made .44 '58 was lots of fun, and it would group a max load into less than 2" at 30yds. Won a lot of hams at the Thanksgiving and Christmas meat shoots at my old club.

Nice thing about these revolvers, is that you cannot physically overload them. Too much powder will not let the ball be seated enough for the cylinder to rotate.