Ballistol ?

My shop keeper made a mix of 1 part ballistol to 10 parts water and cleaned everything from guns, glass, wood etc. and still has 3/4 of his mix left. I don't care if it's $1.00 an ounce because you can dillute it -delute it-delute it and it still works magic. Best thing in the world for cleaning percussion revolvers. A 12 oz bottle will last forever and do your guns better than anyting I know of. I shoot bp revolvers-never use soap and water-clean it with a water/ballistol mix and DONE! A big thumbs up on this product! The recommended mix for cleaning BP is 1 part B to 5 parts water-then swap your barrel with pure B. Your innerds won't rust because the ballistol remains after the water dries. I have a 20 year old blue ford tractor in the field where the hood faded. I rubbed some ballistol on it an it came back bluer than it did from the factory!
 
I know everyone here wants to be as authentic and to period as possible to the care of their BP weapons.Pam & Olive oil won't work!! And also it don't smell good after awhile--like stale kitchen odor! I don't know how many hammer hand springs break but I've experienced three but not since using Ballist. Our customers drop their jaws to what theseC&B re replacement parts are. Some are more than what that 200 hundred dollar gun that is now depreciated is worth. Now that should ring loudly. Our cheaper guns are going to break springs unless the hobbist is so anal about caring and cleaning. I don't think folks should shoot these guns unless they understand them and care for them properly. But it's hard for the average J Doe to do all what it takes. . They clean um with soap and water and then oil them. But--did they get that water out. ? seasoned gun shooters of BP know the ropes but I've found that cleaning with a water mix of ballestoll and just a mild app of B for finishing inside of barrel etc. is sufficent to keeping these guns clean and working. A guy walked in the shop today w/ a broken hammer hand spring on his cheap brass Pietta. Also, he had broken a sear spring and roughed up his hammer. We didn't have the hammer hand but we had the others that we replaced last week--- but the cost now of just these parts plus shipping is almost 1/2 the value of his now depreciated gun. He used soap & water and hpps #9 in his care--- He said he was a southern reb and didn't need any more oil than what he was using. OKAY. So now he had bought a sear/hammer and now needing a hammer hand. Look up the price for hammer hands?!:} Anyway-you get what you pay for and these guns are not the best engineered with good steel in the world but some are better than others. Uberties are better than Piettas.(In my opinion) Anyway I believe Ballistol would have lubricated his springs and they wouldn't have broken. But he never used it. I guess I'm going to tell him the cost for a new hammer hand and suggest he trade that brasser in on a better quality gun and lubricate it w/Ball. Or send it back to the manufacture in hope s they fix or repace, Or if he so desires---we'll order him a new hammer hand assembly.I'll be gracious on the price. But they ain't cheap!
 
I'm a bit confused here - what do you mean by the terms 'hammer hand' and 'sear spring'?

I'm also wondering about your arithmetic - what do you think the value of this depreciated gun is and what are you paying (or charging) for these 'hammer hand' and 'sear spring' parts? It's certainly not my experience that a hand spring or trigger/bolt spring costs as much (with shipping) as a revolver with a broken spring, so I must not be understanding something.

You seem to be implying that failure to use a mineral oil based cleaner/lubricant on leaf springs is a proximate cause for failure of that spring. Is that what you intended to say?
 
Internal parts wear and break, no way around it, even my cherished S&W's. Ballistol is a great product but it's not a magic elixir that well keep hand springs from breaking.
Making sure the hand channel in the frame is free of burrs and the hand it's self is free of burrs well go a long way toward improving reliability.

These small parts don't cost that much! Under ten bucks in most cases.
 
You are right -it isn't a magic elixor but the best stuff I've found so far. give me a lead on buying hammer hands for $10.00 bucks or less. Sure sear and bolt springs are less but hammer hand springs come expensive in our sources.
 
You are right -it isn't a magic elixor but the best stuff I've found so far. give me a lead on buying hammer hands for $10.00 bucks or less. Sure sear and bolt springs are less but hammer hand springs come expensive in our sources.
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:eek::eek: What???????? Whadayamean it aint a majical elickzer??? I've heard it'll grow hair on a bald man and cause a long lost dog to find it's way home again.

Ya mean I've bin lied too????:confused:
 
give me a lead on buying hammer hands for $10.00 bucks or less. Sure sear and bolt springs are less but hammer hand springs come expensive in our sources.
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I still don't recognize the term 'hammer hand' so I'm not sure if this is the part you mean, but Dixie Gun Works sells hand spring assemblies for the midsize framed Colt replicas for $6.
Dixie Gun Works Colt hand spring assembly
Which is less than $10, and considerably more than 'the depreciated gun' is worth, I think, although you haven't answered that question yet either.

You must have missed my earlier post, so I'll repeat it here, with apologies for the redundancy:
mykeal said:
I'm a bit confused here - what do you mean by the terms 'hammer hand' and 'sear spring'?

I'm also wondering about your arithmetic - what do you think the value of this depreciated gun is and what are you paying (or charging) for these 'hammer hand' and 'sear spring' parts? It's certainly not my experience that a hand spring or trigger/bolt spring costs as much (with shipping) as a revolver with a broken spring, so I must not be understanding something.

You seem to be implying that failure to use a mineral oil based cleaner/lubricant on leaf springs is a proximate cause for failure of that spring. Is that what you intended to say?
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Well. Fingers--I guess I'm trying to get along w/eberone here! Yes--you turned me on to ballistol but it seems no one is buying it here on this thread since it costs $1.00 per oz! in The 16oz can which we sell retail is less than $1.oo an OZ. And of couse you know--it can be diluted. AND-- No--I can't find a hammer hand w/spring for $10. Unless someone is breaking down guns and just selling parts off it!

They are $25 +/- in all my sources---so please tell me where I can get them cheaper!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I think those parts yours are refering to is the sear and bolt assemby. The hammer hand fits on the left side of your hammer and rotates your cylinder---right, Fingers?
 
Mckeel---I didn't mean that. What I meant is that guys clean these things w/soap and water. Maybe they don't dry them good and the small parts get brittle and rusty. Ballistol is good for cleaning and leaves the lube after water dries. But not forever! But for a long time! Not the aerosol. But that's good to apply after gun is cleaned with B/water mix. I'm sure.
 
OK --I stand to be hanged! i saw the post for Dixie on hand asemblies---I can't believe it ! Great job! I'll check into that tommorrow. There might be a catch, though. their catelogue posts them much higher. I'll order 4 or 5 .
 
An oz of Ballistol to 1 gallon of Sevin insecticide will make the spray cling better and even allow it to last thru a light rain.
I tried brushing my teeth with it but it's not recommended.
 
I checked on those hammer hand assemblies and orderd 2 for around $6.00 each. The colt parts are over 25 each. Now what concerns me is the girl on the phone said all these springs fit any c/b revolvers. I know the hammer and sear are longer on the 44's than 36's. I guess you can file them to fit. anyway, I'll see if these hammer hand assemblies are worthy and how they fit; since that was my most expensive(lil spring part} to order until yesterday.


Ballistol won't grow hair on a bald head but it'l clean and polish it--put an earing on and you can be MR CLEAN lol
 
I checked on those hammer hand assemblies and orderd 2 for around $6.00 each. The colt parts are over 25 each. Now what concerns me is the girl on the phone said all these springs fit any c/b revolvers. I know the hammer and sear are longer on the 44's than 36's. I guess you can file them to fit. anyway, I'll see if these hammer hand assemblies are worthy and how they fit; since that was my most expensive(lil spring part} to order until yesterday.
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The internals on .36s (1851/1861) and '44s (1851s and 1860s) are the same. Only difference between the two are the rebated cylinder, lower shelf cut on the frame, and bore diameter. Same goes for the .31 cal (1841/1849) and .36 cal (1862s). That is of course, within the same manufacturer.

FM
 
Why was the hammer hand and flat spring larger on the Pietta 44 Navy"LAWMAKER" than the Ubertie 1861 Navy!? I broke down one of those "piettas" { Cause it was already broke} and they wouldn't fit the ubertie Navy. I'm learning and you've helped me. I guess education is expensive unless you have friends on this thread:}
Billy
 
Fingers McGee said:
The internals on .36s (1851/1861) and '44s (1851s and 1860s) are the same. Only difference between the two are the rebated cylinder, lower shelf cut on the frame, and bore diameter. Same goes for the .31 cal (1841/1849) and .36 cal (1862s). That is of course, within the same manufacturer.
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Fingers spoke volumes with those few words.

Even the original Colts needed hand fitting at the factory in order that the action parts fit and worked together. Final assembler was a skilled position that required years of apprenticeship.

Skip forward to today: we tend to expect everything that kind of looks the same and does the same job to be the same in every instance. Unfortunately, one of the things that the modern replicas have done is replicate the need to do some gunsmithing on new parts. The parts ought to interchange, but it's often the case that one needs to do some filing on your new replacement parts; they don't just drop in, even when dealing with the same OEM.

I'd modify Finger's words as follows:
Mykeal said:
The internals on .36s (1851/1861) and '44s (1851s and 1860s) are the same design. Only difference between the two are the rebated cylinder, lower shelf cut on the frame, and bore diameter. Same goes for the .31 cal (1841/1849) and .36 cal (1862s). Minor dimensional differences between internal parts may require some minor fitting. That is of course, within the same manufacturer. When parts are changed between brands some parts may require more modification to fit properly.
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Cheers to Fingers and Mckeel---let's have a toast of ballistol! those parts will be in Fri---A guy with a 44 reb confederate wants them and he's bringing his gun in Sat to put it back together. I'll keep my fingers crossed---got a small Chicago grinding wheel -----Shoot me if I turn it on Saturday-- or maybe my customer will. Just bury me somewhere on boothill.
 
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