Michael Tinker Pearce
Member
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2016
- Messages
- 1,576
Last year I bought a very rough 1849 Colt reproduction. It appeared to be a kit-gun that had been assembled with no attempt to finish the parts; the brass trigger-guard and frame were as-cast, and the steel parts weren't much better. The one-piece wood grip was not matched to the frame at all. The locking bolt was missing. Here's what it looked like when I first saw it-
First thing was to replace the locking bolt. I bought an Uberti part and managed to modify it to make it work. That done I turned down back of the cylinder on the lather and bored through the chambers, then lined them for .22LR. I cut the barrel down and profiled it in the style of 'Avenging Angel' pistols popular with early Mormons, them bored out the rifling and sleeved it with a .22/5/16" rifled barrel-liner.
The breech-plate is made from 1/4" 5160 spring steel, and has a loading aperture and a rebounding firing pin. Once I was getting reliable ignition I finished and polished the metal parts, fitted the wood and reshaped the base of the handle to be much flatter. The wood is finished with Carnauba wax. I mounted a post front-sight and cold-blued the parts; I'll finish them properly after I've tested it and made sure that everything is working right.
Here's the gun as it looks now-
Linda's comment was, 'Avenging Angel? More like an Irritable Cherub.' So this gun is now 'The Cherub.' I'll be trying it out this week when I go to the range. Pretty pleased with how it's come out.
First thing was to replace the locking bolt. I bought an Uberti part and managed to modify it to make it work. That done I turned down back of the cylinder on the lather and bored through the chambers, then lined them for .22LR. I cut the barrel down and profiled it in the style of 'Avenging Angel' pistols popular with early Mormons, them bored out the rifling and sleeved it with a .22/5/16" rifled barrel-liner.
The breech-plate is made from 1/4" 5160 spring steel, and has a loading aperture and a rebounding firing pin. Once I was getting reliable ignition I finished and polished the metal parts, fitted the wood and reshaped the base of the handle to be much flatter. The wood is finished with Carnauba wax. I mounted a post front-sight and cold-blued the parts; I'll finish them properly after I've tested it and made sure that everything is working right.
Here's the gun as it looks now-
Linda's comment was, 'Avenging Angel? More like an Irritable Cherub.' So this gun is now 'The Cherub.' I'll be trying it out this week when I go to the range. Pretty pleased with how it's come out.