I have a brass framed Pietta 1851 Navy, .44 caliber. I was bored yesterday, and gave in to the urge to shorten it. It's kind of a spare pistol, I have a steel framed one also, so I felt okay playing with it. I have minimal tools in my garage, so I knew going into it that I would have to improvise and
So I removed the loading lever, put the barrel in the vice, and used a reciprocating saw with a hacksaw blade to cut the barrel down to 5 inches from 7.5. Then I put a grinder on the electric drill and smoothed out the front end of the barrel and made it as close to square and flat as I could get it without precision tools. It looked good. Then I put a ball grinder on the drill and re-crowned it. Again, no problems. So far, so good.
Here's where it gets tricky. I went to Sportsman's and looked around, picked up a green dot sight for a shotgun. It looked like the best option given what else they had in stock. I have nothing to tap the barrel with. There were no simple press-on post sights like those installed. The good news, the screw was slightly smaller than post sight. I can order one off the internet and drill a larger hole if need be. Or I can cut off another half inch or so and start fresh if it doesn't work out. Anyway, as an expedient measure, I drilled a hole the size of the screw, and tapped the sight into the hole with a hammer. It wouldn't stay in. So I applied Super Glue and pressed it back in. It stayed, and is very secure. It's not the prettiest solution, but it works, and it doesn't look bad.
So what do you all think will happen when I fire it? Will the recoil or the heat damage the bond? I didn't think it likely, but now I'm wondering. Again, I can go back and re-do it if need be, and order proper parts from Dixie gun or another internet retailer. But does anyone have any experience with using Super Glue on a black powder firearm? They don't seem to get as hot as a modern design, and the recoil doesn't seem too intense, so my first impression is that it should be okay. But I thought I'd throw this out there to see if anyone else has done something similar. Again, I was bored, and decided to fiddle around with it.
BTW, the revolver handles a lot better with the shorter barrel. I don't know what the accuracy will be, though. It fired one inch groups on the first cylinder at 30 feet, standing, weaver stance, accuracy decreasing with subsequent cylinders due to fouling. I don't expect that now, but we'll see what it tests out at.
happybrew
Edit: Here are the pictures.
The tools
The results
Comparison: Top is an original sized Colt 1851 Navy, middle is the newly shortened Colt 1851 Navy, and bottom is a NAA mini revolver
My camera isn't the best, and I didn't have the best light. Had I been able to use better light, I could have shown you the crown and the front sight up closer.
So I removed the loading lever, put the barrel in the vice, and used a reciprocating saw with a hacksaw blade to cut the barrel down to 5 inches from 7.5. Then I put a grinder on the electric drill and smoothed out the front end of the barrel and made it as close to square and flat as I could get it without precision tools. It looked good. Then I put a ball grinder on the drill and re-crowned it. Again, no problems. So far, so good.
Here's where it gets tricky. I went to Sportsman's and looked around, picked up a green dot sight for a shotgun. It looked like the best option given what else they had in stock. I have nothing to tap the barrel with. There were no simple press-on post sights like those installed. The good news, the screw was slightly smaller than post sight. I can order one off the internet and drill a larger hole if need be. Or I can cut off another half inch or so and start fresh if it doesn't work out. Anyway, as an expedient measure, I drilled a hole the size of the screw, and tapped the sight into the hole with a hammer. It wouldn't stay in. So I applied Super Glue and pressed it back in. It stayed, and is very secure. It's not the prettiest solution, but it works, and it doesn't look bad.
So what do you all think will happen when I fire it? Will the recoil or the heat damage the bond? I didn't think it likely, but now I'm wondering. Again, I can go back and re-do it if need be, and order proper parts from Dixie gun or another internet retailer. But does anyone have any experience with using Super Glue on a black powder firearm? They don't seem to get as hot as a modern design, and the recoil doesn't seem too intense, so my first impression is that it should be okay. But I thought I'd throw this out there to see if anyone else has done something similar. Again, I was bored, and decided to fiddle around with it.
BTW, the revolver handles a lot better with the shorter barrel. I don't know what the accuracy will be, though. It fired one inch groups on the first cylinder at 30 feet, standing, weaver stance, accuracy decreasing with subsequent cylinders due to fouling. I don't expect that now, but we'll see what it tests out at.
happybrew
Edit: Here are the pictures.
The tools
The results
Comparison: Top is an original sized Colt 1851 Navy, middle is the newly shortened Colt 1851 Navy, and bottom is a NAA mini revolver
My camera isn't the best, and I didn't have the best light. Had I been able to use better light, I could have shown you the crown and the front sight up closer.
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