T.E.Ryan retriever revolver

Made some progress on this revolver.

In my last posts I talked about recontouring the hammer. I did this and wound up with the hammer looking better.



The design of the hammer spring required taking some metal out of the heel of the hammer. So that was done too.

The frame of the revolver was damaged requiring a different approach to the hammer spring. That meant using a coil spring rather than a leaf spring including drilling through the frame and making a pad for the coil spring to be held in place. The screw that holds the pad and coil spring in place is not real noticeable.

Next step was the hand which had to be very small so as to be able to fit in the revolver without interfering with a bunch of stuff.

The port in the frame that the hand goes through is positioned such that I did not need to mill the hammer to accept the hand. Line up is perfect.

It took a coupla hours to calculate the length of the hand, the distance from the hammer pivot point to the location of the screw hole for the hand.

I fine tuned hand operation by reshaping the hammer to control the arch through which it travels. It now picks up the cylinder ratchet properly and also seems to index the cylinder fairly well.









The hand spring is next, followed by driving out the pins for the trigger and bolt. Both of those have broken springs which need to be worked out and the bolt needs to be remanufactured.

Then it is grips and smooth up the surfaces.

Anyone who can advise as to case hardening the hammer and hand, don't hesitate to give me some advice. I am looking into doing it with charcoal in a cast iron pot with a vacuum cleaner discharge blowing air into the pot to raise the temp. I am thinking about getting some bones from the butcher department in Farm Fresh.

Anyone with advice, your comments are welcome.
 
SP...

As the final step, I am going to bore out the chambers and barrel to accept .45 Long Colt.

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......;o)

On the serious side, thanks greatly for the compliment.
 
rebuild

What "semi" said. This is the neatist thing I've seen someone do. Doc, your an artist. I wish I had your talent, I've got an old S&W I wish I could fix up. Looking forward to see the finished product!!
 
Too kind....

with your compliments...

If you only knew how much of a duffer I am when it comes to mills and lathes.

I still need some rudder orders on heat treating.

I watched the you tube on Rose Mill and that looks pretty spiffy but it is eighty bucks plus shipping minimum for the materials.

I am still thinking cast iron pot, charcoal bricketts and bone chunks.
 
Tater....

I'd like it to look nice too.

Although the most important thing is to get the hammer hardened up so it doesn't wear. Goes for the tip of the hand as well.
 
I'm Not sure how you are set up, That’s a pretty big and unwieldy to try and dump correctly.
If its just the hammer, using a small half pint or pint can would work better. But, its all about the quenching..
 
Another milestone....

You can tell that I got to the point on this revolver where I needed to drive the trigger and bolt pins out.

I was terrified of doing this because the first pin that had to come out (The cylinder rod latch) had to be drilled out.

Wanted to avoid that if possible so I began soaking the thing with PB Blaster.

Laid it in my shop and just douched it down with PB Blaster about once per week.

Just went down to see how it was doing and was able to drive the pins right out. So now I have to figure out a trigger spring. Shouldn't be too hard. l also have to make a new bolt for it. Kind of an intricate piece It has a tiny leaf spring incorporated into the design.

Photos forthcoming when I get off my A __ __.
 
Boy, I'm glad I stumbled upon this thread! When I read the OP, I thought to myself "you've got to be kidding!" I happen to have a similar type revolver from the same era that I got in a box of parts - (I doubt any of the parts are compatible). I would never think that someone would ever think to rehab a gun like that, let alone have the skill to pull it off.

I can't wait to see more pictures. What do you plan on doing for grips?
 
Here are two photos



I have just got to get better with the blasted camera.

Here is a closer view



Spring loading the hammer won't be a problem. Small coil spring, drill a hole for the spring half way through the hammer and put the thing back together with the spring in place.

The bolt is going to need to be completely replaced. On the original, there was a crescent shaped extension which is what grabbed the cylinder. That extension is completely gone. In addition, the little spring has lost all of its tension (if it ever had any). Another problem is that there appears to be nothing for the spring to ride against on the frame.

More later.
 
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