First things first, I need to make and post some photos of the revolver!
I picked up a Cimarron imported Uberti 1851 Navy today. It is in .36 caliber. The finish of the revolver looks great. The fit of the wood grips is not so great (wood is proud of the frame in several places). The action is incredibly tight. I don't have feeler gauges, but I can barely see daylight between the front of the cylinder and the forcing cone. Overall I'm happy with the looks of the revolver, but I will certainly work on the grips at some point.
Loading was a bit frustrating. I failed to order some slixshot nipples in time to have them on hand today. Initially, I used CCI 10 caps on the stock nipples (because my CCI 11 caps would simply fall off unless I pinched them). Some of the CCI 10 caps would not seat on the nipples (one even split as I tried to seat the cap). I went back to CCI 11 caps and pinched them a bit and had no further issues with caps fitting the stock nipples. After the nipple issue, I discovered my .375 round balls were a bit small for the cylinder. I wasn't getting a shaved ring when seating the .375 balls. And one cylinder would not hold the .375 round ball (it would come back out with the rammer). I swapped the round balls out with some of my .380 conical projectiles made from an Eras Gone bullet mould. I had no issues with the conical projectiles.
Firing the revolver produced some prodigious jams. It seems the action is so tight that any fouling along the face of the cylinder binds the action up. Add in an occasional cap fragment into the mix and the revolver would jam hard.
Lastly, the back of the cylinder only has three safety pins. My other Uberti revolvers (1860 Army and 1862 Pocket Police) all have six or five depending on the model.
With all the above said, I'm happy with the finish of the revolver. I'm hopeful the action will loosen up a bit with more shooting. I think the cap jams will improve with the slixshot nipples installed. I'm not too worried about the missing safety pins, but those missing pins make me wonder who was in charge of quality control when that cylinder came off the line.
Enjoy!
BD
I picked up a Cimarron imported Uberti 1851 Navy today. It is in .36 caliber. The finish of the revolver looks great. The fit of the wood grips is not so great (wood is proud of the frame in several places). The action is incredibly tight. I don't have feeler gauges, but I can barely see daylight between the front of the cylinder and the forcing cone. Overall I'm happy with the looks of the revolver, but I will certainly work on the grips at some point.
Loading was a bit frustrating. I failed to order some slixshot nipples in time to have them on hand today. Initially, I used CCI 10 caps on the stock nipples (because my CCI 11 caps would simply fall off unless I pinched them). Some of the CCI 10 caps would not seat on the nipples (one even split as I tried to seat the cap). I went back to CCI 11 caps and pinched them a bit and had no further issues with caps fitting the stock nipples. After the nipple issue, I discovered my .375 round balls were a bit small for the cylinder. I wasn't getting a shaved ring when seating the .375 balls. And one cylinder would not hold the .375 round ball (it would come back out with the rammer). I swapped the round balls out with some of my .380 conical projectiles made from an Eras Gone bullet mould. I had no issues with the conical projectiles.
Firing the revolver produced some prodigious jams. It seems the action is so tight that any fouling along the face of the cylinder binds the action up. Add in an occasional cap fragment into the mix and the revolver would jam hard.
Lastly, the back of the cylinder only has three safety pins. My other Uberti revolvers (1860 Army and 1862 Pocket Police) all have six or five depending on the model.
With all the above said, I'm happy with the finish of the revolver. I'm hopeful the action will loosen up a bit with more shooting. I think the cap jams will improve with the slixshot nipples installed. I'm not too worried about the missing safety pins, but those missing pins make me wonder who was in charge of quality control when that cylinder came off the line.
Enjoy!
BD