Cabella's repair kit

F

foolzrushn

New member
I've had an old Naval Arms 1851 steel .44 Pietta for 30 years or so. It was rescued (missing some parts that I replaced) from a gunsmiths junk box. I finally took it out and shot maybe four cylinders of .451 Hornady balls with 25 and 30 gr of Pyro P, home-made Gatofeo #1 over the Durofelt wads. I also found a tin of antique Italian Leon Beaux caps which fit the standard cones.

Nothing like an initial shakedown to find a host of irritations. The balls cut a ring mostly, There may be some size differences in the chambers, but I have a Cabella's replacment cylinder that I didn't try yet. I really wanted to try the old one first. The bore may have some minor pitting but looks pretty shiny. The arbor is tight.

The accuracy however was not good. I may have not wedged tight enough. The wedge was one of the things I had replaced from Dixie many moons ago.

I would like to know where to get a new one because I fear that I may have filed it too narrow back when. I could also use a primer on fitting a wedge. How far should it stick out and how firm should it stick when pounded in. I have seen where you back it up slightly if there is not cylinder/barrel clearance. Wouldn't that make it loose in the slots? Perhaps my wedge angle is wrong.

Also wondering about Cabella's 1851 repair kit parts. Is that the best option for internals?
thx
 
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Well I'm hoping it was a typo, you meant .451 not .351.
You might want to go to a .454 a bit tighter fit.
You say a navy Arms pietta in 44 from 30 yrs ago.
I was under the impression those Navy Arms were made by Uberti.
Least ways mine was. And mine (2 of them) from 1978 are very accurate.
I use BP, Pyro, 777 30 gr both RB and conicals.
But both of mine are Remington style.

But then you talk of a wedge. Is the a Colt style or a Remington style?
As Long as the wedge is holding the barrel tight to the frame, it is probably ok.
The toe of the wedge should protrude just enough so the spring in the toe pops up.
This spring does NOT hold the wedge in place, but rather catches on the screw head so it doesn't fall off and get lost when the barrel is being removed.
I have some wedges on hand PM me.

Normally a wedge should be just finger tight. Properly fit you should be able to remove it with finger pressure.
Properly speced the wedge in and of itself won't affect end gap. The depth of the arbor hole and length of the arbor will control that.
That and the machining on the forcing cone and cylinder.
Over tightening can and will however, bind the cylinder.
Not being there to see what you have this is the best general info I can give you.
 
Yep, typo. Should have been .451. It was kinda late. I guess I thought 1851 was pretty much Colt in the replicas. Mine is a Pietta with the trademark on the butt of the grip strap, but I don't know how old it is. It's a 2065xx serial.

I may have several problems, it just seems to me that the barrel is not held tight enough to the frame. The two pins in the frame are soft and one is slightly unseated. Perhaps it was replaced. I hate to grab the pins with pliers and ding them up, but maybe I should just make some oversized threaded harder pins and drill out the holes to fit tight. How do you tell if the fit is too loose. Should you have to use the ram to separate the frame and barrel?

And also, how long do you have to type before you have to log in again? I am always having to log back in. When it's late I am hunting and pecking one letter at a time on the "dumb" TV instead of using all my fingers on the computer.
 
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When you login, check the "remember me" box. It will keep you logged in for about a month.

Been there, done that on MANY forums.
 
I bought a Pietta that some one had broken the pins off when they got rusted rusted in to the barrel.
The pins were stepped, smaller in to the frame, the barrel end is 3 mm. To replace the pins I drilled the frame to 3 mms and soldered new pins in with low temp solder. I made the new pins with axle stock from my model RR supplies.
This gun also had excessive barrel/cylinder gap which I was able to take care of before replacing the pins.
 
44Dave: My frame / barrel pins are stepped as well, and seem to be the same size as yours were. I tried to pull one pin that was not seated completely with a small side cutter and it snapped off even with the barrel / frame interface. The other pin rotates freely in the hole and moves in and out about .007", but refuses to come out all the way. I tried working acetone into the pin hole in case it was epoxy holding the pin, but no luck.

Now I am worried about drilling a straight hole, as I don't have a lathe and it will be tough to make a jig to hold the frame straight. I thought about using a small roller bearing like in an automotive U-joint, but finding the right size and length might be tough. The pins were a little dinged up and the holes in the barrel side seem a little sloppy. I think I will try to make them a little deeper.

I will also make a longer brass front sight while I am making things. What kind of barrel cone / cylinder clearance is good?

AKexpat: I kind of hate to leave something logged in for days, but I wish the forum would allow the typing of a message to keep the login hot.
 
Gary: Not sure what you mean. The rifling looks acceptable, and there doesn't seem to be any size difference between the muzzle end and the cylinder end of the barrel (but I have not measured it yet). What should I look for?
 
How would you measure without the caliper falling into the grooves differently. It does measure smaller at the muzzle but don't see how to get a valid comparison.

Nah, I tried to get both sides of the caliper in a groove at both ends of the barrel and got the same thing. .444" Is that good?

I just used the tips of the dial caliper and tried to get them into the grooves that were opposite each other on each end of the barrel. Don't see how that's very accurate though.
 
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repair parts

I think I hijacked my own thread.:)

I'm still interested where parts for the Pietta 1851 Colt can be found besides the Cabella's repair kit. Also interested in how the parts in the Cabella's kit worked for anyone. I know that Dixie has some parts, but are there other places ? Does Pietta supply most parts?
 
I used the Cabela's parts kit in an old brass framed Navy. Everything was pretty much a drop in fit. I was well pleased for the price of the parts.
 
By checking the muzzle, you're looking at the functional crown (as opposed to the decorative crown). Look at where the crown meets the lands. Is it even all the way around the barrel? Look for nicks or dings around that area (or where the groove meets the crown).
 
Gary,
The crown does not have any dings and seems in good shape. I guess if it did, that would let the gases out differently on one side? I thought a crushed round ball wouldn't be very even anyway.

One thing in checking the barrel closely though. I hadn't noticed how thin the barrel gets where the relief for the loading lever cuts away the bottom thickness of the barrel. Also where the bottom lip of the forcing cone is relieved for the arbor. And then there is the relief for the wedge screw when looking through the arbor hole at the bottom of the barrel.

I don't know if the old Navy Arms '51 Colts (mine's an AH) are any different than the Piettas that you buy these days, but there is only about .03 thickness on the bottom of the forcing cone, and maybe less where the wedge screw relief is. Those look like really weak points.

You look at the crown of that hex barrel and feel pretty good about the force it could take until you notice the other places. Are they better now?
 
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