Pietta Open Top Revolvers - Required Tuning?

D

drobs

New member
So what do you think the chances are that my Pietta 1860 Army revolver bought from Dixie Gun Works is perfect right out of the box?

I've been watching Youtube videos and reading up on the required tuning for the Pietta 1860 Army I just bought. Seems most say to disassemble it and tune it before ever cocking the hammer past 1/2 cock.

The Pietta factory bolt is known to be thicker than of the locking notches on the cylinder and if left alone will gouge those locking notches to the point of ceasing function.

Found these 2 instructional PDF's:
http://www.theopenrange.net/articles/Tuning_the_Pietta_Part_One.pdf
http://www.theopenrange.net/articles/Tuning_the_Pietta_Part_Two.pdf

From what I'm reading on this board and others - the reason these guns (Uberti included) are so cheap is they are basically kits that will beat themselves apart if fired right out of the box.

I thought I'd be able to clean the grease off my gun off and step out back of the house and shoot. From what I've read so far - not a good idea.

I've built 4 AK47's from parts kits - so I figure I can tune this Pietta 1860 - just not sure the $200 some I paid for it was a good investment, knowing that it most likely needs work straight out of the box.

So someone recommend me some gun smithing screw drivers and whatever else I'll need to fix, I mean "tune" this gun.
 
When got my new Pietta 1860 I shot it for about a week and a half and the hand spring died so I made a " new " spring from a piece of something I had laying around, I worked but I'm no Gunsmith / tuner and feared I would screw the new gun up if I did anymore "shadetree" smithing so I did what I should have done in the first place and sent it to Mike at Goonsgunworks and he can do the tuning for me.
Not back yet but when it gets here I'm sure it will be a Cadillac and not the same gun I sent...
Doesn't answer your ??"s but that's what I did with my new one... YMMV :cool:
 
Most Pietta's are pretty good out of the box. I've never had one where the bolt was too big for the cylinder notches. The peening of notches comes from the bolt dropping at the edge of the notch when it should drop a full bolt width before the notch. Pietta did change the bolt width back around 2000 and the notches on older cylinders are too narrow for the newer guns. The only hand spring I ever broke was in a new G&G that had a ridge in the hand groove but that's the only one I've ever had that had one. IMO it may not be perfect but it will be usable. The biggest fault is the hammer springs are too heavy but the arbor length is usually spot on unlike Uberti arbors which do need work right out of the box.
 
The guns arent useless out of the box, but they can be better. Mike at goonsgunworks will do wonders to your gun, he can make the timing so good that you can fan it safely. Someone was selling a screwdriver kit made specifically for black powder revolvers, made by grace usa on ebay and gunbroker, I cant find it anymore though.
 
Yap Hawg, those are two major items that help keep SAs alive!
Of course, if the bolt drop is too late, that will eat up lock notches inna hurry!!

Hope the OP is going to let us know how the Pietta is out of the box.

Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com
Follow me on Instagram @ goonsgunworks
 
Bolt should fit into each cylinder notch. If it's gouging the notch, the look at:

What part of the cylinder notch? Is it where the bolt enters the notch or after?
If before, that is desirable as the bolt must rise to engage the notch before the cylinder finishes its rotation. If after, then the bolt isn't disengaging as the cylinder begins its rotation.

If it's peening the notch in, then the bolt doesn't fit very well.
 
Mike all this fan fare is gonna cause you to have to quit yer day job! :D I'm with Ben and the others. I'm so dang happy with my guns, ANY new ones will go get Goonerized. Heck if I order any new ones in the future the shipping address will probably be Goons Gun Works. Think about it, you paid 200 bucks for a real decent revolver, after sending it to Mike and when all is said and done you have a Revolver that runs like a gun costing WAY more than you will have in it. So you still come out ahead. Just my .02
 
Gosh Deerslayer303!! Thanks so much for that. I'm pretty much there now. I'm currently getting all the things I've had stacked up, out the door so soon I should have a true 2 week turnaround.
I'll finally have time to work on stuff to bring to the market like ROA conversions, Dragoons ready to shoot right out of the box.

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