Little Rem .31 pocket fix

I meant to post this earlier, but better late than never. Thanks to all who gave me advice regarding the little .31 Remington pocket revolver that wouldn't snap caps. The fix was just as simple as you suggested: I backed the nipples out about half a turn, and now it goes bang right away.

KISS is the way to go, isn't it? :grin:

Thanks again.

PS: This shouldn't cause any problems for the nipples or cylinder, should it?

How accurate is the gun?

I can hit the side of a barn. As long as I'm inside. And standing close. And the light's good.

Seriously, I'd say this is one of those card table / bar-room pieces, a little better than a Derringer. You could hit a man-sized target at ten yards. Even plink some cans at that distance. Much further and it's real iffy.

(My experience, and that's only been one cylinder so far, mostly just to see if the caps would go off. Could be a lot different in more experienced hands.)

My son has one.When he tried it out for the first time, he shot at a coffe can about 10 foot away. Using the reccomended load he went tru one side of the can. The ball then did one of those cartoony things and went zing zing zing spinning around inside the can. You could hear it spinning from the 10 shooting range. It was hilarious :rotf: :rotf:
He never lived fired it again he said it felt lie he was holding an M80 in his hand every time he fired it.
Since the cylinder was basicall in the palm of his hand.

Homesteader: I suppose if you don't plan on shooting your pistol much, backing the nipples out 1/2 turn might be OK for a few shots.
I myself wouldn't use that "fix" though because the nipples should be lightly tightened against the rear of the cylinder to prevent excessive gas leakage thru the threads (which can burn them out).

If 1/2 turn of the nipples fixed your problem then a little calculating says that if you fix the hammer (or the frame) your nipples can be installed as they should be and everything will work fine.

As you recall, the nose of the hammer has two steps on it. The outer (or upper) step stops against the frame while the lower, slightly inward surface actually hits the caps.
If you remove about .020 (6 or 7 thicknesses of paper) from the outer (upper) step of the hammer your problem would be fixed.
If you don't want to file the upper step of the hammer, you could achieve the same results by filing the brass surface on the frame to remove about .020 of material. This would have the same effect by allowing the hammer to fall .020 more than it does now.

Excellent suggestion! Thanks Zonie. I've been sitting here examining the little Remmy and I see exactly what you're talking about. Makes perfect sense.

I'm figuring on using my dremel to take the outer hammer surface down to where it needs to be. Sound right to you? It looks like it'd be easy enough to use a hand file, though, if that'd be better.

I definitely like being able to seat the nipples all the way. Just didn't seem quite right to leave them out. Worked, but I'd rather have them fully seated.

Thanks again.

It may just need New nipples too. Be worth a try.

The Dremel is great but it is really easy to touch something with the grinding wheel or burr and remove something that shouldn't be removed. :grin:

For that reason, I would use a fine toothed file to carefully remove the offending material.
When using the file, I would cock the pistol and then clamp the hammer into a small vise so the gun wouldn't accidentally move. I have a little 3 inch Pony vise that clamps to a table that would be ideal for this kind of work.

Just a point of intrest (maybe) I used to carry mine around out side for snakes,small pigs, ect BUT kept forgetting to take it out of my pocket when I would run into town (back in th days I could walk) dont know how many times that gun has been in and out of stores ect, lucky I dont seem to ever have law troubles, out of my last 7 speeding tickets al I got was a warning ( 64 in a 35??) You can put 15grs of 4f and push that ball down/ I've blown 3 or 4 springs on the ? (it movs the cyl) It will go hru a can BOTH sides! :rotf: and then some, ck back my post on here some months to a guy shot by one, he didnt think it was fun at all. Also youcant aim this thing as you know but if you use the Mil point it shoots right on! :thumbsup: Fred :hatsoff:

Worked perfectly! I took a needle file and carefully removed some of the brass on the frame just under the hammer. Looked like an imperfect casting. Then I seated the nipples all the way onto the cylinder, and it snapped off the caps just like it's supposed to.

Thanks for the great advice.

Anyone ever read the novel "Spirit Lake"..?

It was about the 1857 Spirit Lake Massacre in Iowa. One of the Sioux Indians named, "His Sacred Curly Penis" laughed when they raided a settler's cabin and a baby Colt .31 was leveled at him, he mocked the little pistol, but quit laughing when he was shot in the belly with it. Another Indian character named "He Who Makes Fat Bad Smell" thought that outrageously hilarious. His Sacred Curly Penis moaned and groaned, then died a couple days later.

It has been over 50 years since I read the book, but remember it as a pretty good novel.

http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:QgGfRURMXtUJ:www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,873521,00.html+spirit+lake%2Bnovel&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=us