NAVY ARMS Remington Revolver Questions

G

Gator Weiss

New member
In 1978 I purchased a Remington Revolver from a vendor in Dallas, TX. It is a NAVY ARMS / Ridgefield, New Jersey marked revolver. It is all stainless and not the target model.

I have fired it literally thousands of times over the years, mostly with .454 soft round ball and on lesser occasions with slugs, with charges of 30 to 40 grains of black powder.

The tiny leaf spring on the "hand" broke. I bought some parts from off the shelf of a trader-type store to tune up the revolver. Among them was a "hand" for a Remington revolver and a cylinder-stop spring. The new "hand" is very slightly too short, so the cylinder doesn't fully rotate into the STOP position when you cock the hammer. You have to reach up and turn the cylinder a little bit until you hear the STOP snap into place. I have tried other "HANDS" from other sources over the years, and all have the same result - too short.

DOES ANYONE KNOW OF A SOURCE FOR THE CORRECT HAND AND SPRING PART FOR THE NAVY ARMS (Ridgefield New Jersey) marked Remington Revolvers? I can not find one anywhere that properly fits my revolver. They all seem to be slightly short.

The cylinder stop spring fits and works, but the end of it that ties to the frame with a screw has a slightly different shape and it wont allow the trigger guard to seat all the way down when you re-install the trigger guard. That is yet another part I will need and cant seem to find the right one. The original part weakened over time and this might be a tempering problem with the original spring.

Are there any parts anywhere that interchange exactly? I could make a new hand and spring on the bench, but I would rather just buy the part and install it.
 
Even if you find the right manufacturer for the new hand and spring, it will probably not be a drop in fit. Most likely you will have to do some fitting. I had the same sort of problem with a Uberti 1858 style carbine when I put a howell's conversion cylinder in it. I had to turn the cylinder a hairs width for lockup on each chamber. The cap and ball cylinder was fine. I bought a replacement Uberti hand and spring and lucked out. It was just long enough, without any fitting, to fix the timing issue. If you can't use your original hand, another option for you is to have a gunsmith knowledgeable in BP firearms to "stretch" your replacement hand a bit.
 
Like Hawg said, make a new spring with a bobby pin. I never throw out the original hand if it was working well when're spring broke.
Put the hand in a vise and slightly flare the crimp that holds the spring. Raid your wife or daughters bathroom/primp station for the appropriate thickness bobby pin and match the shape and lenght. Remove the broken fragment and put the bobby pin in its place. I create an hour glass shape to the buried part of the spring so I can stake it in place so it wont migrate out of place. Usung the original hand avoids the fitting process.
 
You might try....

....Dixie Gun Works.

But you will almost have to talk to the technical smart guys.

They once had what they referred to as internal parts for "Italian Revolvers" or "Other Italian Revolvers" implying that the parts were not necessarily for Pietta or Uberti. It has been a while since I have bought from them and the situation may be very different now.

The ladies who answered the phones were very good at recognizing when questions were being asked which they were not prepared to answer. They quickly connected the people who were smart about parts dimensional/technical/compatibility issues.

I recently talked to VTI about parts for a Regina .25 Semi Auto and didn't really get anywhere. I can't recall specifically but I either asked to speak to the technical support people or I asked for a call back from them. It didn't happen, but I do acknowledge they are very busy.

I think that if you look closely at the Navy Arms revolver you will find it was made by ASP. Now that does you no good whatsoever since you will not likely find ASP parts any more.

As regards fixing the hand, you might find the music wire works too. I never tried that myself but I have read of others doing it that way.

Here is another thought. There is interplay between the geometry of the hammer, the length of the hand and the indexing of the ratchet on the cylinder. I have never done a side by side comparison of these parts from different manufacturers accept to try parts to get them to work.

If the hand you bought is too short, one might arrive at the logical conclusion that the hand was designed to work with a hammer on which the distance from the pivot point of the hammer to the pivot pin hole of the hand is greater than on the hammer in your revolver. Or that the angle of the hand pivot hole in the arc of travel of the hammer is different.

I just looked at two hammers for Remingtons which I have in my box of parts. The location of the hand hole is different on these two hammers.

My comments are only intended to convey that if you really can't work with the original hand, you might get the alternate hand to work by swapping out the hammer. This is a hit or miss proposition but you might start by determining if the second hand is for a Pietta revolver. (For example) You might fix the revolver by putting a Pietta hammer in it.
 
Here is another thought...

I'll send you both of these hammers. Try them out and if one of them works, keep it. I would consider an Uberti 1873 Winchester in .45 Long Colt with octagon barrel in trade for the hammer that works.

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. . .. ;o)
 
A replacement spring for the original hand can also be made from an automotive feeler gauge tool.
There's so many of them in a typical set, one thickness should be found to work.
 
g.willikers..
I have a feelers guage from many years ago that I have used for many things, first time was a repair on a .45 blackhawk, select the correct size and very hard sping steel to boot.:D:D
 
Why not post some photos for us so we can identify the maker for you?

If memory serves, Uberti, ASM and ASP all made Stainless Remmies at one time or another. Anyone else?
 
Thanks Everyone. All of this is helpful to me.

I have kept the original hand and I like the idea of making a spring replacement. The methods and advisement I received I very much appreciate. Doc if I had one of those rifles I would hook you up for certain; but I don't have one of those. I love the Remington revolver and have owned it many many years and don't want to let it go. I am going to get the repair finished and get back to shooting it. Old Doc has been around the parts bin and seems to know some things. The other shooters posting here are obviously good old hands with lots of knowledge. It is very good to have a place like this to share knowledge and help each other.
 
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