Does anyone still make the 1863 .31 Remington Pocket Pistol

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

Smokeum

Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2020
Messages
3
Location
Lakewood, CA
Was watching YouTube videos on the 1858 Remington (in the process of finding one of those now), saw a video on the .31

Jeff
 
Dixie Gun Works lists the brass frame ones as currently unavailable and doesn’t list the steel frame ones at all. Looks like they may have quit making them.
For what it’s worth, I have one of the nickle plated ones that has never been fired. Why? Because unlike the .31 Colt repos I’ve owned in the past, the plunger on the Remington barely enters the cylinder and I’m am leery of a gap between the powder charge and the ball. Both the .31 Colt copies and the 1858 copy I have seated deep enough to feel the ball contact the powder. Unless the powder charge comes near the mouth of the cylinder that isn’t going to happen with the pocket Remington. I’ve thought of sizing some of the 80 grain bullets I use for 32/20 and trying them but there are too many other things I can shoot to mess with it.
 
Thanks for the quick answer Flintshooter. Rewatching the video, the Pietta plunger appears to go into the cylinder quite a bit> EMF tells me they're on backorder, I left a steel one on my wishlist

 
Smokeum said:
Thanks for the quick answer Flintshooter. Rewatching the video, the Pietta plunger appears to go into the cylinder quite a bit> EMF tells me they're on backorder, I left a steel one on my wishlist

Click to expand...

The one in the video looks like it goes in a LOT farther than mine. Maybe I just got a bad one.
If you get one, get the blued one. I didn’t know it when I bought mine, but the nickle plated one is brass framed.
I got it as kind of a curiosity thinking it might be useful as a tackle box gun. That niche is now filled with a Ruger Wrangler.
 
Flintshooter said:
The one in the video looks like it goes in a LOT farther than mine. Maybe I just got a bad one.
If you get one, get the blued one. I didn’t know it when I bought mine, but the nickle plated one is brass framed.
I got it as kind of a curiosity thinking it might be useful as a tackle box gun. That niche is now filled with a Ruger Wrangler.
Click to expand...

The brass frame 1863 is actually historically accurate despite the fact that brass framed guns are typically considered Confederate guns. Remington made four basic versions of the 1863, two had brass frames. The other two were blued steel, and of those one had a brass trigger sheath. Other minor differences included bead front sight and semicircular blade front sight, and slightly different shaped cut-outs in the cylinder heel for the nipples.

I don't know about nickel plating, but it was a common finish then as it was thought easier to clean. Of course, none of this is significant if it's the blued steel frame gun you want.
 
The Midway website says the steel frame is discontinued. However, the Pietta website still shows it as a current item, just sold out. Midway has a habit of showing things as discontinued, when they really mean "we are not carrying that item anymore" or "the manufacturer is on hiatus for a bit".
 
The Steel frame version is listed on Dixie's website but is now unavailable. They were available a few days ago (not more than 2 weeks.)

Both the brass and steel frame ones are historically accurate however not many of the brass framed ones were made. They were discontinued quickly and Remington went on to sell a lot of steel framed pocket models.

People back then just as now were not very fond of brass framed revolvers.
 
I have one (steel) and have shot several hundred rounds and still loving it.
The plunger on mine works just fine. But I use the .330 balls now, they are much more tighter so I load it off the gun.The only mod I did was add a taller front sight.
This is the loader, I took the center pin off
and use a brass plumbing fitting for the plunger.
20200819_200457.jpg
 
I bought a Pietta from Dixie about 3 years ago. The frame was full of pits and flaws. I called them and they sent me a new one that was flawless before I even sent the bad one back. I also got a conversion cylinder in .32 short from them.

The lady at Dixie is a gem .. good people.
 
the plunger on the Remington barely enters the cylinder and I’m am leery of a gap between the powder charge and the ball
Click to expand...
If you have a lathe making a stainless replacement that is 1/4" longer shouldn't be a problem, and polished up you may not notice the difference in finish.
I liked the looks of the ones I saw on YT but wondered why no one makes them in stainless. BTW, another YT video makes a good point about brass frames, he said that on Colt types the ratchet teeth ride the bras frames back plate and wear indentations over time, but the Remington type rides a rather large area at the rear of the cylinder that doesn't do that.

While I don't have nay Colt BP revolvers I have to say what he showed made a lot of sense. He also said the problem with brass frames never was that they stretch, merely that the cylinder gap opens up when the Colt ratchet teeth make indentations. I always accepted the "stretch" explanation but thinking it over he's probably right that a brass framed Remington type is not likely to ever stretch the frame even under heavy loads.
 
A person on Facebook reported the other day that he had just received a Remington Pocket steel frame that he had ordered in May from Taylors.
 
Last edited:
Whatever you do, do NOT order one that was imported by Traditions. I bought one last year from a place that has a no-return policy (which I neglected to notice beforehand). The barrel was not turned into the frame and indexed properly. So, I contacted the importer.... Traditions.... and sent it to them to repair or replace. That was July, 2019.

Can you deduce from this that I still haven't gotten anything from Traditions?
 
Stophel said:
Whatever you do, do NOT order one that was imported by Traditions. I bought one last year from a place that has a no-return policy (which I neglected to notice beforehand). The barrel was not turned into the frame and indexed properly. So, I contacted the importer.... Traditions.... and sent it to them to repair or replace. That was July, 2019.
Can you deduce from this that I still haven't gotten anything from Traditions?
Click to expand...

Please tell us more details. Did you follow up with them? What did they say?
That happened to me with a new but discontinued Navy Arms rifle.
I sent it to them because of a defective lock/ trigger and they gave me excuses for 1 1/2 years or more.
They couldn't fix it, and then somehow it was misplaced and lost.
In the end they gave me a choice of guns out of their gun shop which I sold to recoup my losses.
But it wouldn't have been resolved except that I kept bugging them.
I finally went to their shop while driving home from vacation and they let me pick out a replacement gun.
 
Last edited:
Oh, I have called them several times. I didn't hound them (don't do any good any way), and I didn't even ask about it until after a few months had passed. Their customer service department seems to be one man. And he didn't know what was going on... .but he'd call me back when he found out. Needless to say, he has never called me back, after each time I called.

I had actually pretty much forgotten about it the past several months, until just now! On Monday, if I remember, I will call and ask to speak to someone in an executive position.
 
HisSoldier said:
If you have a lathe making a stainless replacement that is 1/4" longer shouldn't be a problem, and polished up you may not notice the difference in finish.
I liked the looks of the ones I saw on YT but wondered why no one makes them in stainless. BTW, another YT video makes a good point about brass frames, he said that on Colt types the ratchet teeth ride the bras frames back plate and wear indentations over time, but the Remington type rides a rather large area at the rear of the cylinder that doesn't do that.

While I don't have nay Colt BP revolvers I have to say what he showed made a lot of sense. He also said the problem with brass frames never was that they stretch, merely that the cylinder gap opens up when the Colt ratchet teeth make indentations. I always accepted the "stretch" explanation but thinking it over he's probably right that a brass framed Remington type is not likely to ever stretch the frame even under heavy loads.
Click to expand...
I have a wood lathe I can do lots of things on and it has many hours of use on it. About once every three or four years I have a project that a metal lathe would be handy for. I don’t have a metal lathe
 
If I had to have a .31 I’d look for one of these... expensive but it looks like it would be useful. 34ADB8B4-C443-4EC7-89C0-7E1F31156F3A.jpeg
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

C
  • Locked
1863 Pocket Remington Kits
Replies
3
Views
821
LEE3370
L
G
  • Locked
Origional Remington 1863 Pocket with 2nd Cylinder
Replies
5
Views
945
swathdiver
swathdiver
mnrivrat
  • Locked
Remington 1863 Conversion Cylinder
Replies
2
Views
1K
mnrivrat
mnrivrat
G
  • Locked
Kirst Conversion Cylinder For 1863 Remington .31 cal Pistol
Replies
5
Views
2K
faustopph
F
Lokichoki
  • Locked
Pietta 1863 Pocket Remington .31 Availability?
Replies
4
Views
1K
Lokichoki
Lokichoki
Back
Top