• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

Just got two new revolvers first impressions

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Paul LaFranco

36 Cal.
Joined
Apr 21, 2007
Messages
64
Reaction score
15
Hi All,
yesterday my new blk powder revolvers came in, an Uberti 1862 Colt Police , and a Pietta ( Taylor’s) 1851 Colt Navy. First the Uberti 1862 police, when I pulled it out of the box it was covered with preservative oil, when I tried to pull back the hammer , I also had to spin the cylinder with my other hand to get it to turn, but after a few cocks the cylinder was turning with out help. I took the barrel, and cylinder out and cleaned the gun up, I used conventional cleaning supplies to clean it as I want to get the gun freed up, as it was it felt like some one threw a handful of sand in the action. After I had the barrel, cylinder and frame all cleaned up I put two drops of oil into the hammer mechanism, and used Tetra grease on the cylinder rod, and all the other moving parts that I could get to without taking the whole gun apart. Then I seasoned the bore and cylinder chambers with bore butter. When I reassembled the gun I found that if i drove the wedge in too far it locked up the cylinder so I backed the wedge out just enough so that the cylinder would rotate easily when cocking the gun. I must have cocked that gun 200 times last night, and it’s 100% better, but still not great, I’m sure there’s gonna have to be a break in period, so I plan on shooting a few houndred rnds out of it before I even start thinking of having the action slicked up. As far as fit and finish, its pretty good,wood to metal fit is excellent. Befor I shoot it I’m gonna have to clean it again to get rid of the Tetra grease I put on the moving parts, but that grease sure helped get things moving on that gun.
Now the Pietta .44 1851 Colt, it too had lots of preservative oil on it, but the action was much better than the 1862 Uberti but I still won’t say it’s great, I think it too needs to be broken in. I cleaned and lubed it the same way as I did the 1862 Uberti, and its much easier to cock now but still nothing even close to a butter smooth action but much better. The fit and finish is just as good as the Uberti, and wood to metal fit is almost as good as the Uberti 1862, it has the checkers grips which I can’t say I’m crazy about, I’m sure I’ll replace them. I plan on putting the .44 1851 Pietta through its paces tomorrow, I gonna spend a lot of time with it and put a lot of rnds through her. I’m No expert on blk powder revolvers for sure but in my experience with modern hand guns, you can work the action all you want while watching TV, but nothing smooths them out better than shootin em. One last thing, I have Pyrodex “P”
both # 10 and 11 caps, felt wads, and .454 rnd balls, can any of you recommend a good load for the first time shootin the 1851 Colt in .44?
 
This is a pic of them, the one on the left is the Pietta ( Taylor’s) 1851 Colt Navy in .44, the other is the 1862 Uberti police model In .36 cal.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    90 KB · Views: 84
Sorry you’ve lost me, as I’ve said I’m certainly no expert, and I’m not sure what you mean by arbor bottom out fit.
thanks
Paul
 
Paul there's a long thread on the arbor fit on this forum. Lots of good tips about how and why to check and correct the fit. Also some misinformation that can be sorted out easily. In the end I think you can correct the arbor fit and enjoy your Uberti for years to come.
 
If they're new guns, I would think that things have changed at Italian gun factories (maybe from employee COVID issues ? ) since I bought my new .36 Uberti 1862 Pocket and .44 Pietta 1860 Army - both of which were smooth & accurate right out of the box, as is the unfired .31 Uberti 1849 I just bought from another board member here (in our classifieds).

It's good to hear that you have the expertise to deal with your gun's issues - please let us know how you ultimately come out.
 
This is a pic of them, the one on the left is the Pietta ( Taylor’s) 1851 Colt Navy in .44, the other is the 1862 Uberti police model In .36 cal.
I always liked those Police models; don't know why I never picked one up back in the day. Thanks for you experience with them. I have Pietta 1860 and ASM 1860 along with Rogers-Spencer. Maybe this will be the year of "Police", not the band!
 
I would take the Uberti apart and look closely at the hand and check for interferance with its frame cut out and the arbor - had problems with mine
 
Take barrel off and remove cylinder. Put barrel back on but rotate to miss frame mating surface. If it overlaps the frame then that is the basic amount of shim needed in bottom of arbor hole. Adjust shim till the barrel assembly just meets the frame mating surface. Washers that are the diameter of arbor end will do. Clean the arbor hole and install the shim with a drop of epoxy. Oil the arbor and assemble till set. Only install the wedge with thumb pressure.
A lot of colt style revolvers need this tuning. Not uncommon at all.
 
Well I want to thank all of you for the kind words,and GREAT INFO, its gonna be close to 70 here in central Indiana tomorrow, so they’re both gonna get shot A LOT. Yeah that 62 police model is a cute little thing, I plan on puttin on Pearl grips for her, I think then she’d be a daisy. I don’t really care for the checkered grips on the 51 Navy, but I’m not sure what kind of grips to get for it yet, but one thing is certain, down the road I can see a .45 Colt conversion cylinder for it. I was reading the conversion cylinders for the .36 cal‘s are .380, now ain’t that cute, but I don’t think I’ll bother with a conversion cylinder for the 62 Police model.
paul
 
Just going to bring in unmentionables for the sake of pointing out the variations possible in factory fit and finish. I have two S&Ws bought new and the actions are very nice. I have another two that are variations finished in the S&W Custom Shop. Butter does not even begin to describe how smooth the actions are on the Custom Shop revolvers right out of the box.
 
I just bought a Uberti 1851 London Navy and had the same issue when putting the wedge in for the first time. Then read a LOT on this site about what could be wrong. For my 1851 I had to add two small stainless steel washer to the arbor hole. Now when I put the wedge back in and really pound it in all the way it's all nice and tight but the cylinder moves without issue. You may want to look into fixing the Uberti short arbor issue also.
 
Oncewas - your description of reinstalling the wedge "really pounding it all the way in" makes me shutter :rolleyes: :ghostly:.
 
New Piettas will have the correct arbor fit

I also usually try to shoot the Holy Black only but I also pick up a pound of 777 here and there when I see it, and use it for range popping , to save my stash of Black
 
One last thing, I have Pyrodex “P”
both # 10 and 11 caps, felt wads, and .454 rnd balls, can any of you recommend a good load for the first time shootin the 1851 Colt in .44?
Most .44 percussion revolvers (besides the Dragoons and Walker) will find maximum accuracy around 18 grains of 3F black powder.

For Pyrodex you will have to dispense by equivalent volume.

Steve
 

Latest posts

Back
Top