expat_alaska
Member
Hi folks!
A while back, I won at auction a Replica Arms El Paso Texas / Made In Italy 1848 Pocket Pistol .31 5-shot 6" barrel with load lever/rammer squareback TG date code XIX (1963: first year of manufacture ASM). It has rectangular stop slots w/ no approaches.
The auction pictures looked good but it was not so good when I received it (no returns to seller as stated in the auction). Surface metal/wood was pretty good for a 53-year-old pistol, but the rammer would not align squarely with the chambers unless I pushed up the rammer slot-end into the load-lever pivot when actuating the load-lever.
Here is the pistol and the rammer/plunger (notice that the TG rear shoulders at the screws is not correct, both of the load-lever/rammer/plunger screws enter from the right side, and there is a considerable "droop" at the rammer/lever pivot area) :
The function of the hammer/trigger/cylinder/hand/bolt was correct except it was rather stiff. Rather than completely disassemble the pistol, I removed he wedge, barrel, and cylinder and applied copious amounts of gun oil into every nook and cranny, reassembled the pistol, and proceeded to work the action (dry-firing the pistol with a piece of leather between the hammer and the nipples) MANY times.
(I might add that the load-lever latch at the catch has a lot of sideplay, and the hammer does not even come close to hitting the frame before contacting the nipples: it will punch holes completely through a 1/16" piece of moosehide leather every time.)
End result: the hammer will now not stay at half-cock unless I push the trigger forward at the same time. The hammer will stay at full-cock with the bolt firmly seated in the stop-slot, but the trigger pull is VERY light so as to be dangerous.
So, I tried to disassemble the revolver completely (I have done so with my 2014 Pietta 1851 Navy .36) but the screw fastening the backstrap to the bottom of the TG was completely frozen (probably cross-threaded) even after removing the 2 backstrap-to-frame screws. I had a machinist friend remove the frozen screw, modify the backstrap screw-head recess, and re-tap the bottom TG hole for an 1851 Navy screw. That went well.
After completely disassembling the remainder of the pistol, I was disgusted to find lots of minor corrosion, especially in the area of the trigger-bolt spring, as if it had been fired a few times and never thoroughly cleaned. After cleaning those areas with #0000 steel wool/small brass wire brush/oil, it looked pretty good; the wear seemed to be on the tip of the long leg of the spring. the trigger/hammer/bolt/hand surfaces were good.
I reassembled the pistol and still: no joy.
I am contemplating ordering (from VTI) an ASM trigger-bolt spring (in stock: $6.50). Would I do better ordering a Uberti spring as it will most likely be of better quality? The ASM rammer/plunger is no longer made and out of stock. Would a Uberti 1848/1849 Pocket part fit, even with a small amount of fitting?
I will await opinions from all of you learned smiths (most of you know my favorites) as to how to correct this situation. I think it is repairable and am not ready to just yet to put it in a shadow box for display. I never intend to fire the pistol; I just want it to work as it was designed: correctly.
Thanks in advance!
Caveat Emptor,
Jim
A while back, I won at auction a Replica Arms El Paso Texas / Made In Italy 1848 Pocket Pistol .31 5-shot 6" barrel with load lever/rammer squareback TG date code XIX (1963: first year of manufacture ASM). It has rectangular stop slots w/ no approaches.
The auction pictures looked good but it was not so good when I received it (no returns to seller as stated in the auction). Surface metal/wood was pretty good for a 53-year-old pistol, but the rammer would not align squarely with the chambers unless I pushed up the rammer slot-end into the load-lever pivot when actuating the load-lever.
Here is the pistol and the rammer/plunger (notice that the TG rear shoulders at the screws is not correct, both of the load-lever/rammer/plunger screws enter from the right side, and there is a considerable "droop" at the rammer/lever pivot area) :
The function of the hammer/trigger/cylinder/hand/bolt was correct except it was rather stiff. Rather than completely disassemble the pistol, I removed he wedge, barrel, and cylinder and applied copious amounts of gun oil into every nook and cranny, reassembled the pistol, and proceeded to work the action (dry-firing the pistol with a piece of leather between the hammer and the nipples) MANY times.
(I might add that the load-lever latch at the catch has a lot of sideplay, and the hammer does not even come close to hitting the frame before contacting the nipples: it will punch holes completely through a 1/16" piece of moosehide leather every time.)
End result: the hammer will now not stay at half-cock unless I push the trigger forward at the same time. The hammer will stay at full-cock with the bolt firmly seated in the stop-slot, but the trigger pull is VERY light so as to be dangerous.
So, I tried to disassemble the revolver completely (I have done so with my 2014 Pietta 1851 Navy .36) but the screw fastening the backstrap to the bottom of the TG was completely frozen (probably cross-threaded) even after removing the 2 backstrap-to-frame screws. I had a machinist friend remove the frozen screw, modify the backstrap screw-head recess, and re-tap the bottom TG hole for an 1851 Navy screw. That went well.
After completely disassembling the remainder of the pistol, I was disgusted to find lots of minor corrosion, especially in the area of the trigger-bolt spring, as if it had been fired a few times and never thoroughly cleaned. After cleaning those areas with #0000 steel wool/small brass wire brush/oil, it looked pretty good; the wear seemed to be on the tip of the long leg of the spring. the trigger/hammer/bolt/hand surfaces were good.
I reassembled the pistol and still: no joy.
I am contemplating ordering (from VTI) an ASM trigger-bolt spring (in stock: $6.50). Would I do better ordering a Uberti spring as it will most likely be of better quality? The ASM rammer/plunger is no longer made and out of stock. Would a Uberti 1848/1849 Pocket part fit, even with a small amount of fitting?
I will await opinions from all of you learned smiths (most of you know my favorites) as to how to correct this situation. I think it is repairable and am not ready to just yet to put it in a shadow box for display. I never intend to fire the pistol; I just want it to work as it was designed: correctly.
Thanks in advance!
Caveat Emptor,
Jim
