It’s the last one. I promise.......

Hope that case hardening show in the photo is representative of all. That looks nice.

That should be fun to play with. Keep us informed.

Is that in stock?

That's basically an 1860 with an 1851 grip frame.
Duelist1954 calls it his favorite Confederate gun.
Old South Firearms has 5 Old Silver Dance revolvers in stock that are"in the white." ---->>> https://www.oldsouthfirearms.com/search.aspx?find=dance

I also read that the Dance cylinder is a few thousandths longer than the 1860 cylinder.
But the rebated 1860 cylinder serves as a replacement or extra cylinder.
---->>>> EDIT - PLEASE SEE MY CORRECTIONS BELOW IN POSTS #9 & #11. <<<<----

arcticap said:

That's basically an 1860 with an 1851 grip frame.

Click to expand...

That is incorrect, sir. The frame has no cut water table. The frame is a Pietta 1851 Navy frame that has the entire water table lowered to accommodate the non-rebated Pietta .44 Dance cylinder, an anomaly of its own. The Pietta .44 Dance cylinder compared to a Pietta .36 cylinder.

I also read that the Dance cylinder is a few thousandths longer than the 1860 cylinder. But the rebated 1860 cylinder serves as a replacement or extra cylinder.

Click to expand...

That may be true, but I doubt it because the bolt won't come up far enough to engage the cylinder stop slots securely.

I have a passion for the Pietta (1996) and Uberti (1985) Dance .36 revolvers. Both were one-year runs. I have a Pietta Dance .36, SN C00013 that is one of 35 total number produced marked Angleton Texas.



I have written up a thread about these revolvers. If interested:

https://blackpowdersmoke.com/revolvers/index.php/topic,560.0.html

Regards,

Jim

expat_alaska said:

That is incorrect, sir. The frame has no cut water table. The frame is a Pietta 1851 Navy frame that has the entire water table lowered to accommodate the non-rebated Pietta .44 Dance cylinder, an anomaly of its own. The Pietta .44 Dance cylinder compared to a Pietta .36 cylinder.

View attachment 932811

Click to expand...

You seem to be right, the frame does resemble the 1851 frame more than the 1860.
I recently read an online review of the Dance and it was the author's opinion that it was built on an 1860 frame with an 1851 grip frame.
Maybe the author got his models mixed up because of the 8" round barrel.
Thanks for the correction.

expat_alaska said:

arcticap said:

I also read that the Dance cylinder is a few thousandths longer than the 1860 cylinder.
But the rebated 1860 cylinder serves as a replacement or extra cylinder.

Click to expand...

That may be true, but I doubt it because the bolt won't come up far enough to engage the cylinder stop slots securely.

Click to expand...

I was incorrect about the Pietta Dance cylinder being longer than the Pietta Colt 1860 cylinder.
The Dance cylinder is actually shorter than the Pietta Colt 1860 cylinder by ~120 thousandths.
However the 1860 cylinder does work in the gun as a replacement once a slight adjustment is made to the breech end of the barrel.
But that doesn't have anything to do with the cylinder stop / bolt.

The Kirst Konverter website states:

"The .45 Colt conversion for the Pietta made Dance Brothers revolver uses the exact same Konverter as the 1860 Colt Army. However, to convert the Pietta Dance revolver to .45 Colt you need to remove 120 thousandths of an inch from the breech end of the barrel. Note that the original Dance percussion cylinder will no longer fit, however a Pietta 1860 Army percussion cylinder will fit." --->>> https://www.kirstkonverter.com/dance-brothers-civil-war-revolver.html

To reiterate, the Pietta Colt 1860 cylinder is ~120 thousandths longer than the Pietta Dance cylinder.
And once the 1860 Kirst Converter cylinder has been installed and fitted, then the longer Pietta Colt 1860 cylinder must be used after that.

expat_alaska,
I'm glad that you caught my error because it helps to make it more clearly understood by everyone, that there's a slight anomoly with the Dance compared to other Pietta models when it comes to installing a Kirst Converter.

Also, Dixie sells a replacement Pietta Dance .44 cylinder for $99.50 --->>> https://www.dixiegunworks.com/index/page/product/product_id/7923

On another note,
The [original] Dance cylinder is slightly longer than an original Colt 1851 cylinder.
This is from the Pietta website which states:

"The .36 caliber Colt Navy cylinders, featuring the W. L. Ormsby engraving of the Texas Navy’s victory over the Mexican Navy in 1843, were 1-11/16 inches in length, whereas the Dance, which could be chambered in either .36 or .44 caliber, used a plain unmarked cylinder that was slightly longer." --->>> https://www.pietta.it/post/dixie-gu...s-revolver-the-confederacy-s-1851-navy-2-of-2

These two references may have been the reason for my confusion in my original post above.

Russell13 said:

Do grips for the ‘51 navy fit this revolver? Thinking about getting some dark wood grips with the Texas star in them. I found a place that you can send a tracing of your grip to insure the fit

Click to expand...

See the 2 - 4 - 2019 review by Shrub on the Dixie Gun Works product page. --->>> https://www.dixiegunworks.com/index...0344+Dixie+Pietta+Dance+and+Brothers+Revolver
From what he posts, the Dance is a .44 that's built on a .36 1851 frame, but I don't know if the 1851 navy grips are a direct fit or not.
However Schrub does claim that the cylinder has been shortened to not hold much more than 25 grains of 2F powder.

Mike said that it can be loaded with 30 grains, but that 25 grains is probably a more comfortable load, just because of the length of the cylinder.
See after the 3:10 mark:

Im considering bookmarking this thread so that i can send it to you later when you post about your next new gun. All in good fun of course. Hehe. That Dance looks great. Ive been on the fence about getting one. No doubt you will be happy with what EMF provides you.

This is from the late Dr. Jim L. Davis in 2010:

"It turns out that the Pietta .36 cal. revolvers that were marked DANCE FIREARMS CO. - ANGLETON, TEXAS are the fewest in number at only 35 guns. These start with serial # C00001 and continue through # C00047. There were an additional 4 guns produced that are marked DANCE FIREARMS CO. - ANGLETON, TEXAS in .44 cal. with rebated cylinders, # C00048-C00051. The .44cal. revolvers were prototypes of a possible .44 cal. series. These were produced in 1996.

Pietta continued shipments of the .36 cal. Dance revolver that are only marked F.LLI PIETTA MADE IN ITALY on right side of the barrel. This was at about the same time that they discontinued the marking of any revolvers with anything other than their own name. These terminated with serial # C00127. All production of the Pietta Dance revolver in .36 cal. were discontinued with serial # C00127. This is a total production of only 75 revolvers. The only revolvers left are only available from Tony Gajewsky. These now sell for over $1000. I acquired one of these Pietta Dance revolvers off the internet recently. It is like new condition with serial # C00096. This is the only resale I have ever seen. These were also produced in 1996."

The one I have (SN C00013) belonged to Davis at one time. I purchased it last December from October Country as part of a cased set for $325. OC had no idea what they had. I know the whereabouts of only two other Angleton-marked revolvers (C00007 and C00030) and one non-Angleton-marked revolver (C00096).

Regards,

Jim

The .36 caliber Dance is as rare as hen's teeth. So I made my own!

Didja mill down the blast/cap sheild on your own? Details sir! I have been contemplating making my own as well.

Is it the old Eynseford? You will be very happy with this powder.

TheOutlawKid said:

Didja mill down the blast/cap sheild on your own? Details sir! I have been contemplating making my own as well.

Click to expand...

Russell13 said:

Was it a 51 navy? How did you make it ?

Click to expand...

I am a good friend of Dave's so I know he won't mind me posting this:

https://blackpowdersmoke.com/revolvers/index.php/topic,591.0.html

Regards,

Jim

I just saw the other forum post and am very impressed! That was one neat project!

TheOutlawKid said:

Didja mill down the blast/cap sheild on your own? Details sir! I have been contemplating making my own as well.

Click to expand...

Thanks guys. I didn't want to hijack Russell13's thread.

Thanks for posting the link Jim. It's all explained in that post.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled post! LOL!!

Russell13, looks like ya got a shipment of powder! Where did you get it from if you don't mind my asking?

ShotgunDave said:

Thanks guys. I didn't want to hijack Russell13's thread. Thanks for posting the link Jim. It's all explained in that post.

Click to expand...

You did not hijack Russel13's thread. He wanted info on Dance .36 revolvers, asked the questions, and got replies. IMHO, no apologies necessary.

Jim