Birthday 1858 from Pietta

[nilo52]

Well, another year older, but the wife got me a 1858 Remington type revolver from Pietta :grin:
I've never held one before :idunno: and my question is this, I figured out how to release the cylinder but are you supposed to put the pistol in half-cock before you remove the cylinder, or are you supposed to just pull the trigger back enough for the hand to retract to clear the cylinder ? The instructions from Pietta are not clear on this. It states that you "rotate the cylinder clock-wise to remove it from the frame". When I try to do this I can remove it o.k. but putting it back is not so easy. I have heard here in the forum that the 1858 is easy to reload compared to my Dragoon but the process is ( at least to this old guy ) un-graceful to say the least. what am I doing wrong ? (I'm sure it's just me probibly) What is the "real way" to do it ? Any help would be greatly welcome .
playing with my new toy, nilo52

 

[Zonie]

Congratulations on your Birthday and on your new toy. :thumbsup:

Put the hammer at half-cock to guarantee the cylinder bolt stays retracted into the frame.

When you put the cylinder back into the gun, rotate it clockwise (aft looking forward) just like it would turn when you are cocking the gun.

That will push the hand back into the frame and allow the cylinder to be lined up with the cylinder pin. It's kind of a shove and rotate at the same time motion.

 

[nilo52]

Thank you for your help ! I just got back from 5 Dogs Range here in Bakersfield, and boy did I have fun making smoke :thumbsup: I shot 72 rounds of .454 RB's and learned a great deal about my new Remmy.
First: It seems to like 30 grains of Goex 3f and my Ted Cash teardrop capper will not fit the pistol. I will have to find a new capper or cap by hand (a tedious job).Also harder to use the loading lever than my Dragoon.
Second: It shoots LOW about 12 inches @ 25 YDs,and to the right about 9 or 10 inches.
Third: After shooting 72 times my cylinder pin was stuck solid :shocked2: I Had to use a wooden mallet to pound it out from the frame. The cylinder itself was getting hard to rotate also. In the future I will have to clean the gun sooner before shooting that many times. One of the range officers told me my 1858 "is a Beautifull Revolver", and better than the Colt guns in that it's less likely to jam due to cap fragments "Because the cut out on the reciever is thinner(as is the hammer) and stops cap fragments from falling in the gun" . I will say that my 1858 never jammed due to this problem and I have had this jam happen in my Dragoon from time to time. Anyway , I had a Blast in every sense of the word !
A very happy nilo52

 

[mazo kid]

I don't know if you greased your arbor pin, but I use Mobil Synthetic grease for range work. It won't turn gummy like petroleum based grease does and keeps the cylinder turning freely for a longer time.

 

[nilo52]

That sounds very interesting. I would not have thought of using synthetic lube :hmm: I used vegtable oil to keep it HC but I guess at the range it really dosen't matter. I will try it next time I go to the range. Thanks for the tip.
Nilo52

 

[rafterob]

A good high temperature grease works well for that arbor pin, just don,t use it for topping off the cylinders (if you are using grease over the ball). I started off using crisco on my cylinder/arbor pin but could only get about 5 cylinders shot before it would stiffen up. The crisco melts out pretty quickly and then the fouling gets in there and gums it up.

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

Happy Birthday to a fellow Pistolero!

When I use my Remmys, I put the cylinder back into the frame with the hammer starting-out at rest. Then I slowly pull the hammer back and the cylinder seems to just "fall into place", allowing me to make use of the center pin. I've tried the half-cocked hammer position, and the one I use seems even smoother and quicker. :idunno: So use what ever works best for you. My arthritic hands seem to do O-K the way I'm doing it :haha: .

Have fun with your Remmy.