Pietta Spiller & Burr repro

B

brazosdave

New member
Today, I finally got to fire my Spiller & Burr after a protracted wait due to a bent arbor. That is one thing I found with this particular style,(I also have a Whitney), it is a good idea to load off gun. the thin arbor and the attachments to the loading plunger are natural fail points, I spoke to another person who had the same issues. However, these are some dandy shooting guns! The cylinder has a smaller capacity than a 51 Navy, Griswold, etc., so I was shooting around 18 grains ffg, with a lubed overpowder wad and roundball. It has a nice natural aim, of course no recoil to mention, and is pretty durn accurate! As far as power, I was shooting at a target around 30 ft away, which was leaned against a 4 X 4 treated post, and a ball penetrated a little over halfway through it. It's more of a pain to reload than my other revolvers, but it is fun to break it out at shooting gatherings, as a lot of people have never seen one in person. I find folks always like to try shooting some of my more oddball repros, lol!
 
My S & B has become my favorite. It feels right and points well too, possibly because it seems more modern in design than the Colts and Remmies.

It's something that the design wasn't any more popular than it was historically.
 
Actually, the old Whitney repro is a better design. It's basically identical, only steel frame, and the loading lever is shorter and has a stronger lug for more positive rearward force than the S & B, which tends to exert pressure downward. It's a wonder that the Confederacy was able to mimic the arms that they did, with the shortages of material and tooling they were faced with.
 
Our S & B is a great shooter and was imperfectly made. The breech face is not parallel with the cylinder but it shoots and shoots and shoots. It tore up the original cones rather quickly and the Track of the Wolf replacements give flawless ignition. It shoots too high, even with a new front sight, I Pietta Tiro front sight will someday be dovetailed onto the barrel. Our children and their friends appreciate its smaller grip and one little feller has earned the nickname "Deadeye" while shooting it.
 
My S&B was purchased in kit form. Purposely I left a lot of imperfections when I did the refinishing to reflect the difficult state of gun manufacturing in the Confederacy. Originally it was a terrible shooter...at 25 yds it would consistently hit the target in the next shooting lane over...somewhat wide of POA!! A very slight turn of the barrel to square up front sight took care of that problem and it now at least strikes my target, but nothing like my other 36's.
 
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