1858 Rem New Army arrived!

[eagle24]

Just received my "replacement" 1858 Rem New Army from Cabelas. I'm very pleased. The cylinder alignment is right on the money and the lockup is good and tight. Bbl to cylinder gap looks OK. Timing is almost perfect (the hand may be a hair long), action needs work but is better than the first one, fit and finish are very good. I was right though, the first gun had an exceptional set of grips, but these are nice. I am very glad that I stuck with Pietta and Cabelas. Cabelas made it very easy to return the gun that had some problems. As for Pietta, they would have exceeded my expectations if I had received this gun the first time. Thanks to those of you who helped me decide what to order and for suggesting that I return the first one for a replacement. I think it was built on the Monday morning after the Super Bowl. Oh well, things like that happen with the best of companies. Now I'm ready to smoke some powder and see what she'll do!

 

[Beartracker]

Eagle24, That's good news! Once you get it stoned and polished you will be all set for many long day's of shooting fun. There are a lot of little tricks that will help you along the way with that Revolver but for now I would just go shoot and have fun! Mike

 

[Weird Guy]

I am ignorant. What is stoned and polished?

 

[BP Hunter]

i'm glad somebody came out. i'm also quite ignorant. what is a "spread"? i hear alot in shooting reports.

 

[Beartracker]

Weird Guy, Stoned and polished is in reference to smoothing all the action parts of these revolvers to make them run smoother. Some people use stones , files and sand paper to do the job. You don't want to remove much steel , just "Polish it". In other words, get rid of all the burs and buggers , snags and hard or rough edges that may catch and cause rough operation of the Hand, Bolt, Hammer, trigger, Cylinder rod, cylinder star, and so on.

 

[Manyirons]

But put in a few hundred rounds FIRST before any 'Stoning', this will create wear marks showing you WHERE you need to POLISH!!! Read AGAIN POLISH!!! Removing metal is NOT what you want, light polish is.

 

[Beartracker]

I agree with Manyirons. The only time I had to remove metal was if a hand was to long or it had extra rough edges on them and also to reduce the hammer spring or the trigger pull. DO NOT even think about messing with the trigger pull unless you know what your doing. The hands are stamped and not machined so they can be rough. The smoothing of some of the parts can take a little time but worth it and can really make a difference.

 

[eagle24]

Took mine apart last night and did all the polishing of the action parts. The hand needed the most work. It had a few burrs on the sharp corners that I removed with a stone and there was a burr on the full cock notch of the hammer that also required stoning. Everything else I polished with 600g sand paper. I've still got a little creep in the trigger so I'm going to tear it back down tonight and get that worked out, but other than that It's smooth and ready to go. Personally, I would polish everything before shooting the gun. The action parts were fairly rough and lack the finish normally found on modern revolvers, but for now I just slicked and deburred everything. I also removed a couple of burrs from the inside of the frame and polished the channel that the hand rides in. Now I'll put some wear on it an inspect everything each time I tear it down for cleaning. I agree with Manyirons that you don't want to remove ANY metal, just polish. And I would be particularly careful with the hand, It's a pain for the average joe to get the compound angle right when refitting a new hand and it don't take much to screw em up. Ask me how I know! Then again, I'm probably not as good as the average Joe.

 

[bs32]

1858 Remmy action work

Y'all got it right. If ya don't have experience or "know" what to do on certain parts, like the hammer cam, bolt arm, and hand, ya can ruin the revolvers timing. Not to scare anybody from tryin it- but just a light polish and deburring. Don't change the sear angle on the trigger (top where it contacts the hammer full cock notch), and don't mess with the angle of the hammer full cock notch - just polish. I bought a "spare parts" kit with my Remmy when I got it- though I haven't had to use it (yet) but it's good insurance against parts breakage and me doin somethin stupid in working the parts. However, the actions do respond well to a proper slick up- makes 'em nicer to use.

B.

 

[ackattack]

1858 cylinders

hello eagle 24, i'am having problems with my rem. 1858 target from cabella's. i'am on my second set of extra cylinders that do not allow me to hold the hammer to full cock. i just sent them to a gunsmith for a quote. why did you send your first revolver back? the cylinder that came with it works fine, do you think it just needs a gunsmith to check for burls? i only fired 12-18 out of it. talk to you later, dom.

 

[eagle24]

If I am understanding you're problem, it sounds like the spare cylinders are reaching lockup before the hammer is pulled back far enough to engage the full cock notch. Is this correct? If this is the case then the timing is off with the replacement cylinders which can be caused by a couple of things. But if it works fine with the cylinder that came with it then the replacement cylinders are machined a little differently and some honing, maybe even significant metal removal will have to be done to correct the timing. I'm kind of a "newbie" to this BP scene myself so I really don't know how to advise you. If you time the gun to the replacement cylinders you may have problems with the cylinder that came with the gun. It sounds like it may be a little more than a few burrs though. Other thing, I don't know who makes the cylinders, are they Pietta or some other manufacturer made them to fit the Pietta? Wait for some of the more experienced folks to respond. Mec, Beartracker, Old Dragoon, too name a few, know a lot more than myself. I'm comfortable working on my guns, but would rather hold off on giving advice to others on BP revolvers.

I sent my first gun back because the bore was off center in the barrel. Also, the trigger guard fit was really bad (cosmetic issue). It is obvious, that I just got a bad one that slipped through QC at Pietta. The replacement is great and I will be posting the results of my first trip to the range. Don't get frustrated, I'm sure you'll get some help here to straighten out the problem.

 

[gmatov]

ackattack,

If you just bought this pistol from Cabela's, at least within the last year, do NOT take it to a gunsmith for a "quote". Take, or send it, back to Cabela's.

You will have a hard time finding a dealer who will be more willing to bend over backwards to try to please you.

If, as you say, you are on your second "set" of replacement cylinders (what does that mean, "set", you bought more than 1 and sent them back?) then more than likely the cylinder that came with the pistol had a timing issue that was corrected, but with a bad cylinder. IT works, but "good" cylinders don't work.

Back to the store with it.

Ask them for a good one. They should be more than happy to accommodate.

Cheers,

George

Just reread, what does "Doesn't allow me to hold the hammer back to full cock" mean? The bolt falls into the notches before you reach full cock? The hammer won't come back further because the cylinder is in battery, you are trying to force the hand to push the cylinder further? If you look down the barrell, is the barrel and chamber lined up?

If it is, are they lined up properly with the original cylinder? No crescent of chamber mouth showing, one side or the other? If there is, the hand was fitted to a bad cylinder.

Repeat, back to Cabela's.

 

[Low Key]

i'am on my second set of extra cylinders that do not allow me to hold the hammer to full cock.

Sounds like the hand is a bit too long. You basically have 2 options, refit the hand yourself or send it back to cabela's. If I'm understanding your problem correctly, it sounds like gmatov has diagnosed your problem already.

"Doesn't allow me to hold the hammer back to full cock" mean? The bolt falls into the notches before you reach full cock? The hammer won't come back further because the cylinder is in battery, you are trying to force the hand to push the cylinder further?

If you don't know how to shorten the hand to the proper length you can just send the gun back for a replacement and that would be the easy solution, and my personal suggestion. If you choose to shorten the hand, do it slowly, remove just tiny bits of metal and then put it back in the gun and test it. Cock the revolver and see if everything locks up properly. If you remove too much metal, the hammer will reach full cock before the cylinder is in battery and then you have to order a new hand and start over again.

 

[mec]

"Sounds like the hand is a bit too long...."

It sounds like one of the stages you encountered with a colt type when fitting a hand and the hand is still a bit over-long. The gun will go to full cock with the cylinder out but not with it installed.