kBob
Member
Some may recall that last Thursday I let my eyes get bigger than my piggy bank and wasted 3/4 of a C note on a non replica ( Colt never made one) C&B revolver of .44 caliber with an octagonal barrel on a 1851 type frame and could not identify the manufacture. Hereafter referred to as “The Clunker.”
Well no closer to identifying the thing. Some suspicion it is the mid 1970's FIE import, but no substantiation.
To night having noted that I needed three parts ( bolt, bolt trigger spring, screw for same) I tore down my Cabella’s Pietta that seemed so similar. I installed the bolt and got everything lined up and began to sweat the fear placed in my head by many voices on THR about timing and need for professional gunsmiths. Not installing the trigger/bolt spring, and without the main spring bolted back on using Bob power only The Clunker neatly flipped the cylinder free as the bolt dropped at half cock then pooped back up and locked that puppy tight. With the hammer down it appeared the chamber under the hammer aligned perfectly with the forcing cone of the barrel.
All seemed right with the world. With visions of stumping The Clunker and firing a few reasonable loads through it to be able to say I shot it before making a gift of it I dropped in the bolt trigger spring and screwed it down.
Fortunately I determined to do another test before reassembling the trigger guard and back strap. The blasted trigger leg of the bolt/trigger spring is to long!
Wife and kids had long bedded down so I decide to put the Cabellas gun back together and working then assemble The Clunker so as to not loose parts.
I messed up. In putting together the Cabella’s gun I noted difficulty in reattaching screws. I figures I would go out to the shop ( I was working on the dinning room table) for some grease or other petroleum lube. I stopped to grab a paper towel and there next to the same was a bottle of olive oil. Remembering the sticky and advice that included good things said about olive oil. I proceeded to drop a hint of it on every screw to be reattached to either gun.
Worked great and no petroleum smell or stains in Mamma’s kitchen. Well I got carried away. Soon The Clunker’s hammer roller cried out for olive oil. Then the loading lever linkage insisted it was only fair it have some as well. Wouldn’t you know it? The loading lever lock cried out for it as well. Before I knew it the entire revolver had been wiped down some what gently and stingily with olive oil on a paper towel. 95 percent of The Clunkers surface rust is gone in two minutes of wiping down. It appears there may be some color in the hammer and loading lever.
The Clunker is starting to look more like a keeper and shooter than a decoration for Dad’s wall (what I bought it for)
Oh and how I messed up? I neglected to take before olive oil pictures.
Definitly going to take a chance and buy the new parts. If others’ dire predictions come true, maybe I will cannibalize the Cobella’s Pietta for that bolt that works and Dad will get a shiny newer looking revolver that does not work.
-Bob Hollingsworth
Well no closer to identifying the thing. Some suspicion it is the mid 1970's FIE import, but no substantiation.
To night having noted that I needed three parts ( bolt, bolt trigger spring, screw for same) I tore down my Cabella’s Pietta that seemed so similar. I installed the bolt and got everything lined up and began to sweat the fear placed in my head by many voices on THR about timing and need for professional gunsmiths. Not installing the trigger/bolt spring, and without the main spring bolted back on using Bob power only The Clunker neatly flipped the cylinder free as the bolt dropped at half cock then pooped back up and locked that puppy tight. With the hammer down it appeared the chamber under the hammer aligned perfectly with the forcing cone of the barrel.
All seemed right with the world. With visions of stumping The Clunker and firing a few reasonable loads through it to be able to say I shot it before making a gift of it I dropped in the bolt trigger spring and screwed it down.
Fortunately I determined to do another test before reassembling the trigger guard and back strap. The blasted trigger leg of the bolt/trigger spring is to long!
Wife and kids had long bedded down so I decide to put the Cabellas gun back together and working then assemble The Clunker so as to not loose parts.
I messed up. In putting together the Cabella’s gun I noted difficulty in reattaching screws. I figures I would go out to the shop ( I was working on the dinning room table) for some grease or other petroleum lube. I stopped to grab a paper towel and there next to the same was a bottle of olive oil. Remembering the sticky and advice that included good things said about olive oil. I proceeded to drop a hint of it on every screw to be reattached to either gun.
Worked great and no petroleum smell or stains in Mamma’s kitchen. Well I got carried away. Soon The Clunker’s hammer roller cried out for olive oil. Then the loading lever linkage insisted it was only fair it have some as well. Wouldn’t you know it? The loading lever lock cried out for it as well. Before I knew it the entire revolver had been wiped down some what gently and stingily with olive oil on a paper towel. 95 percent of The Clunkers surface rust is gone in two minutes of wiping down. It appears there may be some color in the hammer and loading lever.
The Clunker is starting to look more like a keeper and shooter than a decoration for Dad’s wall (what I bought it for)
Oh and how I messed up? I neglected to take before olive oil pictures.
Definitly going to take a chance and buy the new parts. If others’ dire predictions come true, maybe I will cannibalize the Cobella’s Pietta for that bolt that works and Dad will get a shiny newer looking revolver that does not work.
-Bob Hollingsworth
