CIVIL WAR question..Ballard .44 rimfire single shot

[urbanspaceman]

Thank-you CC. I was not aware of the percussion ignition spreading, but now I look at my Colt (made for export to London) pocket pistol I see just how much damage was done to the surrounding surfaces. Ouch! indeed.
When I was researching my Remington Rolling Block pistol, I read that the (US) Navy wanted to return the 5,000 percussion pistols they had recently acquired.
All you have said, plus salt-water, and freezing cold wet fingers attempting to get the caps fitted, rendered them useless a lot of the time. They were exchanged for the new .50 rim-fire cartridge, rolling-block pistols. It's not hard to see why. As I've said many times, I would sooner have one of those, with a bandolier full of ammunition, than any revolver - any time.
All but c.140 were soon returned for conversion to center-fire and a shrouded trigger. I was lucky to find that first generation model: it is a superb job, even with the spur trigger.