.31s?

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Panzerschwein

Panzerschwein

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Anyone shoot a .31?

Been thinking on getting a Uberti 1848 Wells Fargo Colt .31 "baby dragoon" pocket rocket:

RH0452.jpg

Seems like a cool little thing, looks sharp. How do they run? I hear the .31s are more finicky over the larger guns. Thoughts?
 
Well, mainly the thing is you need to disassemble the barrel & cylinder to load it. The front of the arbor is milled out to use as a bullet ram to load. It isn't really hard, just sort of time consuming. Also I probably would not expect great accuracy with it ....but you could get lucky there. Mine isn't that accurate, but I knew one guy who had one that he could shoot the whiskers of a gnat at 300 yards with.
OK ... perhaps an exaggeration but it was quite accurate.
The biggest thing really, is how easy the particular gun's wedge is to move .....
 
I had one, not a Baby, but a 6" M1849. Fun gun to shoot, not a tack driver. I was told to use 4F, but 3 worked fine. The round balls worked great as rabbit and squirrel poppers on top of a light load of Red Dot in a .30-30 to boot.
 
I was tempted to buy a used 1863 Pietta Pocket with brass frame recently. IMO the .31 percussion revolvers are WAY too big for the lack of power coming out the muzzle, you're better off getting a Uberti 1862 Pocket (just not a used one from a pawn shop located in Alabama) and buying a spare barrel and chopping it down to 2 inches.

The .36 is a lot more powerful and you can get conical bullet molds easy. Oh, btw, I think you can swap the cylinder and barrel and shoot .31 anyway, the frame is the same as the 1849 Pocket.

Bottom line for me personally is until I can find a conical bullet mold for the .31 percussion revolvers, I will not buy one. I'd rather have a North American Arms percussion revolver instead. Yes it's not very powerful, but it's smaller, better made, and I believe will penetrate more with the 30 grain bullets over a 47 grain ball.
 
TTv2 said:
...the .31 percussion revolvers are WAY too big for the lack of power coming out the muzzle

Bottom line for me personally is until I can find a conical bullet mold for the .31 percussion revolvers, I will not buy one.
Click to expand...

They shoot and penetrate just fine with 4F powder. This is what was used back in the day before lawyers.

As for the lack of conicals for the .31 caliber: Lyman 31950, Hensley & Gibbs #79, Dixie CA0901, Big Lube DD 32 RNFP
 
The current Uberti Pocket models appear to have lighter mainsprings than in the past. I have two recent purchases--a 1849 Pocket(31) and Pocket Navy(36). With moderate loads(12 gr 3F in the 31 and 15gr 3F in the 36) both guns have a tendency to blow the hammers back on ignition. That with stock Uberti nipples. I installed Slix-Shot nipples and got similar, but slightly improved performance. By the way, the Slix-Shots needed to have the shoulders turned down as they are a larger diameter than stock Ubertis. The threads are the same as most of the full size models(not Walker or Dragoon) but there is a little less space in the Pockets nipple well. Anyway, I took two stock Colt mainsprings, trimmed the length, and installed them in the Pocket models. That improved things quite a bit but not totally. I had two similar Uberti Pocket models 20 years ago and didn't experience the hammer blowback and I just don't remember the mainsprings being as light as the current ones.
 
I used to own an 1848 Pocket Pistol .31 imported by Replica Arms El Paso Texas, 6" barrel with load-lever. I was told by Dr. Jim L. Davis that it was a first year of manufacture (XIX) 1963 by ASM. Bought from someone on GB years ago, paid too much for it, and I will never go to GB again.

I bought it because it had a squareback trigger guard.

It was very much too small for my hand, it had a bad trigger/bolt spring, and I paid too much for it. I gave it to another member of this forum and he got a new spring made for it and I understand it works very well.

He can respond if he wants to, and I know he watches this forum a lot.

Jim
 
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I bought a couple hundred balls from Track of the Wolf. The cylinder chambers on my Uberti 1849 aren't of consistent diameter and I had to get .330 balls to not have a loose fit in a couple chambers. The 1849 is on the left in this pic.
DSC00023

DSC00023

1849 next to short 1862
 
Jim, it's not Gunbrokers fault you paid too much for it - it's your fault. GBer just list the items people have for sale and those people put the price on it. GBer is just a listing agent. I go on GBer all the time. If I can't make the deal I want then it's a no sale for me. I just bought a Remington carbine from a guy on GBer and was pleased until I found out my local BPer gun dealer could have gotten me a new one for another $50. Good luck in the future.
 
dickydalton said:
I bought a couple hundred balls from Track of the Wolf. The cylinder chambers on my Uberti 1849 aren't of consistent diameter and I had to get .330 balls to not have a loose fit in a couple chambers. The 1849 is on the left in this pic.
DSC00023

DSC00023

1849 next to short 1862
Click to expand...
This is another problem I'm repeatedly seeing with the .31's, especially the Pietta Remington. The chambers are too big, they don't match the groove diameter in the bore... it's not rocket science but idk, maybe because the diameter is so small that the tooling used can't accurately cut it.

Whatever the deal is, having to shove a .330 ball into a .31 is nuts. Even with conical molds out there, there's no guarantee the bullet will fit properly in the chambers of a .31. If they do, great, but I doubt it.
 
paul harm said:
Jim, it's not Gunbrokers fault you paid too much for it - it's your fault. GBer just list the items people have for sale and those people put the price on it. GBer is just a listing agent.
Click to expand...

Paul,

I fully agree with you. I just dislike the fact there are many spurious/wrongly described guns on that site.

As one example, a good acquaintance of mine on this BP forum recently bid upon/won a Pietta 1851 Navy .36 for a very good price. The stock photo the seller used showed a round trigger guard, but when it was received the pistol had a squareback trigger guard. He was more than pleased with his acquisition, but my point is: why could the seller not have done a modicum of online research for a correct photo, as in a very easily found Dixie Gun Works RH0850 listing?

https://www.dixiegunworks.com/index.../RH0850+Pietta+M1851+NAVY+YANK+LONDON+REVOLVE

And DGW has the wrong title for the gun.

I think a lot of LGS/FFL owners just want to move metal, are really unaware of what they are selling, and don't want to spend the time/energy to properly list it.

Thanks for the reply!

Jim
 
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Every Uberti Pocket in .31 that I've had experience with has performed well with .323 round balls. They have always shaved a ring upon loading in the cylinder. Warren used to make them but no longer. They are a little hard to find but The Log Cabin Shop has them.
These things are not as practical as the full size models but are still neat. I always wanted one after reading many years ago about how Elmer Keith used to carry an ivory stocked 1849 Pocket while inspecting his trap line. He used it to dispatch animals in the trap so it must be somewhat capable.
 
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Panzerschwein said:
Thanks, gang! Maybe a .36 Police would be a better choice? Are they more accurate?
Click to expand...
Given they shoot a heavier bullet and can come with a 6.5" barrel, I'll say inherently it's slightly more accurate. The open top Colt sights don't help you much though, I've struggled shooting my 1851 and 1862 accurately and I blame it on the sights. I can shoot the 1858 lights out.
 
324496D4-6396-4D5F-A640-1745619BB0D0.jpeg Don’t get me wrong, I love my little Pietta .31 pocket, it’s fun to shoot, but my Pocket Navy in .36 will outshoot the .31 all day and has the power to back it up(comparatively it’s not quite fair).
 
Converted my Uberti 1849 Wells Fargo to .32 S&W and never looked back, it is a fun little pocket rocket. Before I converted it is was least fun BP gun I owned, hard to load and finiky on accuracy (none even with proper ball fit) and reliabilty. It seems 100% with the center fire cylinder I fitted, 6" accuracy at 50 feet 6" high. I am happy with that. Love my .36 s tho.


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