Spiller and Burr Revolvers?

[ZVP]

I just read an intresting article in "GOW" about the Piettia Spiller and Burr .36 Revolver.
I am curious from owning a Brasser .44 Navy Style Colt if the S&B would have some of the same atributes?
Namely the buttery smooth cocking action and trigger pull that my Piettia Navy does?
I only load with 16 to 20 gr of Pyrdex to save strain on the frame. Seems to work well. Revolver is very accurate.
The S&B having a full frane ought to be stronger thus using similar light loads of powder, it ought to last forever!. 36 caliber, low pressures , from light balls.
Very nice looking revolver! Light on the belt! Ought to make a nice trail gun and plinker.
Gets many, many shots per pound too!
Got any owner opnions or others.
I already have several "Steel" framed revolvers and am looking at the S&B because it's different and appeals to me,
Please, any comments would be appreciated!
Thanks
ZVP

 

[rodwha]

I'm quite interested in it too, though the brass frame gives me reservation.

There's something appealing in the whole design, though I feel my first .36 cal ought to be a Colt '51 or at the least a '62 Police. Maybe a part of it is the solid frame similar to the Remington.

I'd like to know how the Spiller & Burr compares to a Colt '51 Navy in grip size and whatnot.

 

[BHP FAN]

I have two, one is an older ''Navy Arms'', and the newer one is a Pietta. the cylinders do not interchage between the old gun and the newer one. the old one has a super slick action, while the new one is more ''snikity''.....I have a spare cylinder for the new one, which slips right in the new gun, but won't work in the Navy Arms gun at all. The spare came from Dixie and is lacking the safety notches, and I'd send it back, but for two things. One is that I have read that this is true of some later cylinders on the real deal, and the second reason is it has REAL nice blue...

 

[BHP FAN]

 

[BHP FAN]

The grip is at least as small as a Navy and more like in between the '49 Pocket and the '51 Navy. I has a top strap, the frame is made from a single bar or billit of solid brass, and it takes quite a bit to shoot one ''loose'', and even then, like my old Navy Arms, it keeps shooting, and the action gets even smoother.

 

[EljaySL]

I really like mine, a recently made Pietta from Dixie. I'm not too concerned about the brass - it all appears to be very solid with the top strap and since it's a .36 it's not like you're going to be cramming massive amounts of powder in there. I run mine with 17 grains of 777 powder.

 

[Hellgate]

Where the brass Remington type revolvers "stretch" is at the front of the recoil shield where the cylinder rotates against it. The shield gets battered inward by the back of the steel cylinder and pounds an imprint of the cylinder into the softer brass and can eventually allow the cylinder to move further rearward which opens up the cylinder gap. Hence, the "stretching" of the frame. It's really an indenting of the frame. I've never handled a S&B so I don't know how the cylinder actually articulates with the frame but on the Colts there is a fairly narrow/thin recoil ring that can get battered in more easily by the back of the cylinder which make them shoot loose sooner than a Remington/solid frame gun.

 

[BHP FAN]

 

[Berkley]

I've never handled a S&B so I don't know how the cylinder actually articulates with the frame but on the Colts there is a fairly narrow/thin recoil ring that can get battered in more easily by the back of the cylinder which make them shoot loose sooner than a Remington/solid frame gun.

-Hellgate

No ring:

 

[Lightning12]

I got one a couple of years ago mainly because the appearance appealed to me and I got it at a good price.

It turned out to be the worst percussion revolver I have owned. The action was extremely rough and the cylinder wanted to lock up and quit turning even without being fired. The other deal breaker was that it shot at least 3 feet high at 50 feet. I have many other BP revolvers that are all good shooters so I didn't feel like messing with it, and I sold it almost immediately.

If you want a reliable brass framed revolver, my advice would be to get a remington.

Chaz

 

[BHP FAN]

must've been someone's half finished kit. Mine are smooth as butter. also, while I LOVE Remingtons, there was never a brass one.

 

[SleazyRider]

Very cool gun, though the grip is smallish. I like the way the cylinder comes out, too.

Be sure to get your hands on a copy of Colonel Burton's Spiller & Burr Revolver: An Untimely Venture in Confederate Small-Arms Manufacturing, as it add to your appreciation of the firearm.

 

[kBob]

I have always liked the look of the brass framed Whitney knock off.

I have yet to fire one but like the feel of the ones I have handled in years past. It seems that every time I get in financial straights I run into one and so I can not buy it..... I guess one of you will now offer me one for "a dollar three eighty" just to watch me squirm.......

Nice looking guns in the photos guys.

-kBob

 

[Dframe]

I have one that I've fired a lot. No ring and it shoots just like it did when new, about 5 years ago. I always use reduced loads and also load the cylinder out of the gun on a loading stand. Works great. I love the little gun.

 

[S Anderson]

Brass Frames

Brass frame Replicas are intended to be copies of Confederate made revolvers during the Civil War. Remington and Colt never made brass frames. The Confederacy was hard pressed as far as metal availability. Steel was as scarce as gold so they melted Church bells for frames so the limited steel could be used for other more stressed parts. Brass frames do not mean a cheap replica, just a replica of a Confederate "Replica" made during the Civil War. The Dance Brothers revolver which was made in Texas lacked a recoil shield, most likely because the steel bar they could get was not thick enough to provide one. Down here at Fort Morgan during the reenactments about all the Confederate reenactors carry brass frame Colts or Remingtons.

 

[Tommygunn]

Remington .... never made brass frames.

Not "QUIT" true. Remington never made brass framed pistols in the .44 caliber army version or the .36 Navy version; that is true.
But they also made a small .31 caliber revolver with a spur trigger.* Repros are made of this (by former ASM and now by Pietta) and historians recognize four variant of this cute little firearm. Two versions had brass frames and the other two had iron frames. One of those two iron framed variants had a brass spur trigger sheath. Other differences include different type front sights and a different shape in the cylinder heel cutouts for the nipples.
Just FYI.

* - See post #8, BHP Fan's photo, there is a good picture of a brass frame Remmie on the right; this is an accurate repro of one variant of the 1863 Remington.

 

[Fingers McGee]

Brass frame Replicas are intended to be copies of Confederate made revolvers during the Civil War. Remington and Colt never made brass frames. The Confederacy was hard pressed as far as metal availability. Steel was as scarce as gold so they melted Church bells for frames so the limited steel could be used for other more stressed parts. Brass frames do not mean a cheap replica, just a replica of a Confederate "Replica" made during the Civil War. The Dance Brothers revolver which was made in Texas lacked a recoil shield, most likely because the steel bar they could get was not thick enough to provide one. Down here at Fort Morgan during the reenactments about all the Confederate reenactors carry brass frame Colts or Remingtons.

Griswold and Gunnison, and Schneider and Glassick made revolvers based on or copied from Colt's 1851 Navy revolver, as did Columbus Machine Company, and Leech and Rigdon. Not replicas. The brass framed Spiller and Burr was based on the 1861 second model Whitney.

 

[Jim K]

The reason for the lack of frame bosses on the Dance revolvers appears to have been because the frames were machined out of boiler plate, rather than forged (as Colts were) or cast.

Jim

 

[S Anderson]

Tommygunn you are so right!

Are you ever right, I did some internet research and found that it is just as you say. My lack of Remington information was caused by my interest in Colt types. Thanks for for great post.

 

[BHP FAN]

this has been one of my favorite threads!