Pietta Remmi no more!

[himem777]

My new Pietta remmi has fallen a part. This is the second one the first one the loading lever broke at the pin and the front site fell off while washing it. The replacement pistol's loading lever screw broke in half and sheered the end of it in half taking part of my finger with it. I am using .451 round Hornadays. UGGGGGG :shake: :cursing: :cursing: :shake: My Uberti also had a loading lever pin break. At the time I blamed it on the hardness of the lead I was using, but now I wonder. Are all remmis this weak, I am a small man not built like an ape. Are colt 1860 any stronger?

 

[junkman_01]

Is this gun a .36 caliber? :hmm:

 

[Pete Gaimari]

Is this gun a .36 caliber? :hmm:

With a .451 ball?

 

[Pete Gaimari]

My new Pietta remmi has fallen a part. This is the second one the first one the loading lever broke at the pin and the front site fell off while washing it. The replacement pistol's loading lever screw broke in half and sheered the end of it in half taking part of my finger with it. I am using .451 round Hornadays. UGGGGGG :shake: :cursing: :cursing: :shake: My Uberti also had a loading lever pin break. At the time I blamed it on the hardness of the lead I was using, but now I wonder. Are all remmis this weak, I am a small man not built like an ape. Are colt 1860 any stronger?

Hornady balls are all lead.

My Colts have never broken.

 

[junkman_01]

Yeah, I figured that might be the cause of him breaking two guns! :wink:

 

[Pete Gaimari]

Yeah, I figured that might be the cause of him breaking two guns! :wink:

That would be funny seeing someone try to squash a .451 ball in a .36 cal. :shocked2:

 

[napolean]

Something don't add up here.
I've loaded thousands of .451 rounds in my 32 year old ASP remmy. No problems. Have not seen any threads on this problem as related to Pietta's or Uberti's at least not to the point that it would be a chronic problem.
Jon D

 

[Zonie]

Seems to me that it would take a lot of force on a Remington loading lever to shear off the screw.

Matchlock:
I can't figure out why a .451 diameter lead ball would require a whole lot of force so that brings up the method your using to ram the balls into the chamber.

Are you slowly lowering the loading lever to slowly ram the balls home or are you whacking the lever with your hand?
The instantaneous force caused by whacking the lever down could easily shear off the small screw in the frame because the forces are much higher than those caused by using a slow technique.

As for the Colt's loading lever, the 1851 models are about the same as the Remington but the loaded screw(s) are in a slightly different place.

The 1860 and 1861 models use a 'creeping lever' with multiple teeth on the loading lever.
These teeth engage a number of holes in the bottom of the barrel rather like a gear would engage a rack of gear teeth.

Although this would seem to be a stronger system, the holes in the barrel are not hardened and they will wear.
I recall at least one person here on the forum who for whatever reason, actually tore out the holes in the barrel with the teeth on the loading lever.

I haven't had this problem but I can see where it could happen. Especially if he was whacking the lever to drive the ball in.

 

[east texas]

hey troy,is this the same gun you loaded to max :rotf: seriously tho we got both our remmies at about the same time and mine seems to be holding together pretty well despite all its other shortcomings! im saving for the 60 army now mike

 

[Norinco]

Wow, the Pietta gremlins really hate you for some reason.

You could ream and chamfer the chambers. I bought a Colt 1860 from kwilfong that he did that to. It is such that a .457 ball fits right in with very little stress. It doesn't shave lead, but it is quite a tight fit and no way can the loading lever be damaged,

 

[cowpoke1955]

I've had my Euroarms Remington for over 20 years, with no problems. I shoot .454 balls that I cast myself and load it as Zonie mentioned.

 

[arcticap]

I use a loading press to load multiple cylinders off the frame.
Are you using a loading stand to help achieve a smoother stroke while ramming?

 

[himem777]

Upon closer inspection I found that there was a chunk of metal not taken out of the frame that would allow the link to pass all the way. This put undo upward force on the screw causing it to fail. Once again it was solely the fault of Pietta. How in the world I got 2 lemons in less than 2 months time is beyond me. :idunno:

No I overloaded my old gun, I wanted to baby the new one with light (25Grn) loads and factory ammo.

The Good news is I made all necessary repairs to my older Uberti and purchased a loading stand as to baby my repaired gun.

I think I will save up for another Uberti as I just have had bad luck with the Pietta. There are probably only 2 of 100 that are bad from the factory. Problem is both of them will be delivered to my house. :grin:

 

[DanChamberlain]

Interesting.

I bought a Cabelas Pietta Remington some years back for an article in Handguns Magazine. It was very nicely appointed, tighter than a Ruger Old Army and exceedingly accurate. I gave it away to someone a bit less fortunate than I, and I'm under the impression it's suiting him just fine.

Dan

 

[himem777]

I will now say to Pietta a quote given to me by a half dozen ex-girlfriends, "its not you its me"! :rotf: Two in a row however unlikely, is plausible. Meanwhile back at the ranch my 25+ year old Uberti is still plugging away. This in the face of having been used for torture testing.

 

[east texas]

since i bought the remmie,two friends bought one too so we could shoot and when showing them how to load, i noticed that the timing was off a little and the ram was trying to catch on the edge of the cyinder . could this be happening to yours? it could cause a lot of stress on the pin if it wasnt going straight down couldnt it?

 

[himem777]

In my case I could see what it was hitting, I just have trouble describing it nor can I post pictures. The problem was in the valley that the link goes threw. There was extra material on the floor of the valley that was left in place. This material caused the link to "High Center". It would not allow the ram to move very far and put undo stress on the end of the arm where the retaining screw is. The screw snapped.

When the screw snapped it also broke the arm where the screw went threw this is ancillary, but would have been the next problem. The relief cut in the arm cut for the link is not supposed to infiltrate the screw hole. There is no reason for it to do this, and it dose not on the other arms I have been exposed to. Had the screw not failed this would have. It was all just a matter of time. :shake:

Eastteaxs I am glad to hear that yours is working well, this is just one more example of me being the exception to the rule. :shocked2:

 

[east texas]

yea mechanically it functions well but i can barely get on paper at 25-30 yds its gonna take a lot of lead for me to get good with this thing!, the biggest drawback being the availability of roundballs this rural!hope you get a 60 so you can tell me all abut it till i can get mine! mike

 

[himem777]

I have another mold that will fix that...

 

[Norinco]

A mould is cheaper than two boxes of round balls. You should have tossed one in on your Cabelas order. All the other stuff you can scrape up (big spoon for ladle, old cast iron pot for lead, scrap lead, etc).