Pair of Pietta 1860 Army revolver's & a Homemade barrel wedge tool

D

drobs

New member
Finally made it home to play with my 1860 Army Revolvers.
Bought the 1st one from Dixie Gun Works. Then bought a beater from Gunbroker.

The beater was missing it's original cylinder and came with a Conversion Cylinder. Ordered a spare cylinder from Cabela's and a set of Grace gun smith screw drivers.

Only 1 screw driver of the set fit the screws on the Colts.

The barrel wedge on the Dixie Gun Works 1860 Army was in there tight. So I made my own barrel wedge tool out a piece of 223 brass crushed in my bench vice:

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Works perfect!
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Thanks to Mike Beliveau - Duelist1954 for his awesome videos, I completely disassembled each gun:
https://www.youtube.com/user/duelist1954/featured

Got them apart and smoothed up the internals, focusing primarily on fitting the bolt head to the notches on each cylinder by polishing them on sand paper. Also polished the other internal part.

Plan to to shoot them in the next couple days.

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Edit: There was some discussion on making a wedge tool here.
https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=369061
The 223 brass works + 5lb sledge knocked it right out of there. Saving $5 as compared to buying this: https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/1041/1/TOOL-KEY-B
 
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Nice pair. Don't think I see a 'beater'. I like the striated grips.

Seems to me that the older pistols have grips with more character. Is that correct? Is that the older one?

Anyway you've got them both looking fine as frog hair.
 
Couldn't find my plastic mallet.

The newer one (right in the 1st picture) has the grips showing more wood grain. The older one (left in the 1st picture) has some screw heads that are munged up. I'll probably clean those screw heads up with some sandpaper and heat some oil to give them some color.

I shot 2 cylinders out of each gun yesterday afternoon using 20grs of FFFg, Hornady 454 ball, and Remington #10 caps. Found out that the replacement cylinder had a bad / rusted shut nipple. I'd previously bought a Pietta nipple wrench that came with a set of nipples. Replaced it and fired off the last chamber.

Will do some more paper shooting today.

I also tried out a RYDON 6 Round ReLoading Stand that I bought.
http://www.rydoncorp.com/inc/sdetail/rydon_6_round_reloading_stand/175/204
It works well! Think I need some more cylinders to make it worthwhile. Loaded 1 cylinder with the press vs 3 on the gun.

Just making 1 comparison w/ these 1860 Army guns and my Pietta 1858 NMA. Seem the loading lever on the Colts have more leverage and are easier to use than the Remington.
 
Used the last of my FFFg last night and need to get some more. Didn't shoot on paper but was shooting at my 25yd gong off my back porch. Took a couple shots to figure out where to aim. Find they shoot high - really need to aim under the gong to get them to hit the gong.

According to Mike Beliveau, the fix is to open up and lower the rear sight notch in the hammer. Might tackle that later this week.

Couple other small points. I had previously bought an in-line capper. It's a bit tedious to load the capper but but I found there is a trick to it. The caps like to spin sideways as you're loading them into the capper. Just have to keep a fingernail on top of the cap + give the capper a little bump to get them to go in there right. The capper really made capping the nipples easier!

I cleaned up the guns early this morning - still jet lagging - using normal gun cleaning products - Sweets 7.62, Gun Scrubber, Rem Oil, & Hoppes #9. I'm planning a trip to Bass Pro hoping they carry Ballistol + I need some more Black Powder.

Overall, I'm happy. These guns have some serious class to them and shoot well.
 
That loading stand looks interesting, is it compatable with both 1858 Rem and 1860 Colt cylinders ?.
How does it perform , ?
The Rem loading lever catch digs into my palm and bites a tad , not so much the colt.
Nice pair BTW.
 
Just tried it out, works on both 1858 & 1860 cylinders. The posts or plungers that drive the ball into the chambers is plastic. Looking at the picture, I'd have thought it was metal. That being said it worked just fine and cut 6 nice rings of lead like the one on the gun.

Speeds up the process but - really more beneficial if you have multiple spare cylinders.
 
Had to call around but found FFFg Black Powder in Springfield MO at Cherokee Firearms. http://www.cherokeefirearms.com/

They only carry 1 brand at a time but had all sizes 1F through 4F

Price was right - $20 per 1lb container.
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Bass Pro was out of stock and wanted $29.99 each for Goex.

The powder is from Grafs & Sons:
https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/5405

And is manufactured by WANO Schwarzpulver GmbH:
http://www.schuetzenpowder.com/schuetzen-black-powder

The gun shop had some real good deals on display model BP guns - that I'm contemplating the 1.5 hr drive (each way) to go back for. There was a Uberti 2nd or 3rd model Dragoon that IIRC was sub $300.
 
Shot my 1858 Pietta NMA along with 1 of the 2 Pietta Colts. Have to say I like the 1860. Thinking I need to disassemble my 1858 and try slicking up it's action. It's stiff and gritty compared to my polished 1860 action.

Looking at the line on the cylinder on the 1858 - probably need to fit that bolt to the locking notches too.

Right now the 1860 is in the lead for my favorite BP revolver.
 
The "line on the cylinder" sounds like you may need a new bolt. Are you experiencing throw-by (cyl over rotation)? Could be a broken ("breaking") bolt spring or a weak hand spring. If it's dropping too early off of the cam, reshaping the bolt arm may save it or it may be a worn cam. Lines on the cylinder have so many possibilities . . . . . .

Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com
Follow me on Instagram @ goonsgunworks
 
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Lines on the cylinder have so many possibilities
Click to expand...

This is true but it could be as simple as letting the hammer down from half cock. So many people do it that it isn't funny. I've seen people do it and then deliberately turn the cylinder until it locks in. :eek:
 
Took apart the NMA - the bolt actually fits the locking notches on the cylinder. Got some sharp edges on it. The hand is real sharp too. Gave all the parts a little fluff and buff. Seems a little better. Noticing that the mainspring is really heavy. Takes some effort to cock the hammer.

Not sure about where the cylinder ring between the locking notches is coming from, maybe I inadvertently fixed it? Watching the bolt, it drops then locks right before or right on the locking notch.

Edit:
The ring is coming from the overly heavy mainspring. Just confirmed it now. It's real easy to drag the bolt head on the cylinder if I'm not careful. Need firm movements of the hammer as result of the heavy spring to prevent than.

Took a comparison pic of my 2 1860's and 1858.
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drobs,
The mainspring powers the hammer, has no effect on the bolt. Do you mean the bolt spring (as in bolt/trigger combo spring)?
From your description it sounds like you have late bolt drop. The bolt should drop a full bolt width before the locking notch. Dropping on any part of the notch will cause damage to the notch. If that's the case, it's fixable, no new parts needed. The combo spring is too strong on all of them.

Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com
Follow me on Instagram @ goonsgunworks
 
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I see what you are saying. The bolt pops up early and touches the cylinder right before full cock of the hammer - before the locking notch.

Here's a picture of it happening on my NMA:
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Any tips on lightening that combo spring would be appreciated.
 
Ok, that's where it should drop.
The reason for the ring is probably a light hand spring. Does the cylinder spin real easy on half cock? If so, it's not applying any braking action for the cylinder. That is the hands secondary job.
The other possibility is a too weak (may be cracked) bolt spring. Some springs aren't heat treated correctly and won't keep tension. They may look "good" but a crack is hard to see sometimes so take it out and inspect it.

Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com
Follow me on Instagram @ goonsgunworks
 
The hand clicks while spinning the cylinder on half cock. Wouldn't say it's free spinning.

Mike,
I understand this is your custom smith bally-wick, if you don't feel like chiming in or offering help on this, it's all good. I don't want to take $ out of your pocket. I can google it and figure it out on my own. There's probably youtube vids on this or a thread here or elsewhere:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTracC6XvNk
https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=442235

These are hobby guns to me. I own and shoot modern firearms and play with gun smithing as a hobby - not a profession.

Thanks for your help and pointing out things to research.

Regards,

Edit: Early rise of the bolt fix - Looks to be covered here:
MannyCa:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c-8IySBwQ8

I'm probably going to hold off on this fix. Seems like it would be a good idea to have some spare parts on hand. I have 1 week left of my vacation before heading back to Africa for another 3 or 4 months.
 
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drobs,
I am perfectly OK with trying to help but be careful what/who you watch on YouTube. I wouldn't want some folks to ever handle a weapon of mine. I'm just saying . . . Some folks think a bolt slides off the cam at "just the right time" others actually understand how the design works.

If your cylinder spins "normally" that's fine. Then I would look for a weak/cracked bolt spring.
Maybe even a wrongly beveled bolt. The sides of the bolt should be perfectly 90 deg. with the frame /lock notches . . . never beveled to fit.


Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com
Follow me on Instagram @ goonsgunworks
 
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