1851 Navy .44 vs 1860 Army

[dhayre]

I am new to this forum and wanted to get your alls input. It seems to me when I compare the cyclinder of the 1851 Navy .44 cal to the 1860 Army .44 cal, The 51 navy appears to have more steel then the 1860 army.

 

[peterbh]

The '51 Navy is a .36 caliber.

 

[LeMat1856]

.
. oct 2 / 00:10am


how did you arrive at the calibers for these revolvers ? is it stamped on the metal somewhere or did someone just tell you they were .44 ?

cabela is selling lots of "confederate" 1851 navy .44's with brass frames and even a "confederate" 1851 octogonal to round barrel .44 for slightly more..

they do say "...based on the original 1851..." so i can see why this topic is being seen more and more frequently.

 

[DanChamberlain]

Armi San Marco used to make and market a .44 caliber "Navy" pistol. It was a basic '51' with a frame modified to take the rebated cylinder of an 1860. Back some time ago, I bought a pair of ASMs, one being the .44 Navy and the other being the 1860 Army. Of course it wasn't authentic, but it was fun.

Dan

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

To make comparisons even more of an issue, some 1860 Army's have fluted cylinders with beautiful charcoal bluing. I have a brand new one in the box, and I'm saving it as a graduation present for my son.

Dave

 

[dhayre]

The 1851 Navy revolver that I am talking about is the .44 cal brass or harden steel frame made by pietta. I do know that the orginial is a .36 cal. But the .44 model due to the non-fluted cylinder makes it I believe a little stronger then the 1860 Army .44 cal, because the Army does have a fluted cylinder taking away some steel in needed areas, and while both are using the same ball and using the same powder load i believe would make the 1851 .44 model a stronger piece. I just woundered if anyone had noticed that.

 

[crockett]

Eureka, I have found it! I am unfamilar with the cylinders you are talking about but what I think you want is to know which of the two have the most volume. If that's true find a glass that the cylinders will fit into and put in one cylinder and measure the water level- magic marker, etc- then put in the other cylinder and see if the water level is higher or lower. If both cylinders are 44 caliber (even though the Navy is supposed to be 36) then I would venture to say that the two cylinders are likely very much the same.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

The .44 Navy just uses a .44 '60 Army cylinder and is no stronger than the '60 Army. The fluted cylinder revolvers were an attempt to lighten the '60 Army and few were made. The steels of the day weren't really up to the task of holding these fluted cylinders together, but modern metals do the job just fine.

 

[Zonie]

It isn't quite as simple as using a 1860 Army cylinder on the 1851 frame and modifying the frame to clear it.

The cylinder for the 1860 Army is about 1/8 of an inch longer than the 1851 cylinder so these .44 caliber 1851's need their own shorter cylinder.

This is born out by noting that the .44 caliber cylinder made for the Dixie "Wyatt Earp Revolver", which is a .44 caliber 1851 style pistol is part number CY0210 while the .44 caliber cylinder for the 1860 Army is part number CY0503.

 

[gooddw]

I had both. The cylinders are interchangeable in 44 caliber if both are made by Pietta. I've done it more than once.

I sold the 51 in 44 when I found out it was not a true replica but an invention by Pietta. Colt never made the 1851 in 44, only 36.

 

[madcratebuilder]

I had both. The cylinders are interchangeable in 44 caliber if both are made by Pietta. I've done it more than once.

I sold the 51 in 44 when I found out it was not a true replica but an invention by Pietta. Colt never made the 1851 in 44, only 36.

My Pietta .44 51 Navy has the same frame and cylinder as my .44 60 Army. Different barrel and grip frame.