Brass frame stretch with .36 caliber?

[TruthTellers]

Normally I only consider getting cap and ball revolvers with steel frames, but I'm considering buying a brass frame .36 caliber as a gift for someone. I don't want to buy something that's not going to last and I'd like to know can .36 stretch a brass frame?

 

[gwpercle]

Yes , if you shoot it enough.
My first revolver was an Italian copy 1851 Navy Colt , paid $35.00 for it. We would go shooting each weekend . I shot it so much, the frame stretched , the slot in the arbor that holds the barrel wedge cracked and where the arbor screwed into the frame , that area became loose. If you think the gift wont be shot a lot, a brass frame will do (maybe they are made better than in 1970).
I decided to get back into black powder shooting and got a steel framed one, but I'm in better fanancial shape than back then.
Now considering all the shooting I did with it, it held up OK...not great but OK.
I got surprisingly good with it.... would think of Bill Hickok at Deadwood ! Lots of fun !
Gary

 

[Fingers McGee]

As long as the loads used are on the mild side - < 16 grains for a .36 and < 22 for a .44, a brass framed revolver should last a long time.

 

[4v50 Gary]

What FingersMcGee suggested. Keep the loads mild and a brasser will hold up. When in doubt, go steel.

 

[midland man]

I have a 1858 rem, brasser in 44c I love it and I only shoot 20gr of 3f bp in it with 35grs cornmeal as a filler and it shoots super good! go get it you'll be happy!

 

[Prairie Dawg]

+2 to what Fingers said.
--Dawg

 

[Hellgate]

TruthTeller,
It is not so much that the frame stretches as it is the arbor pulls out of it's mooring in the soft frame or the recoil ring gets pounded back by the cylinder and the cylinder gap thus opens up to where the gun appears "stretched". Both can occur in the same gun. I'm convinced that most of the chain fires from the rear are from brass frames whose recoil rings have become so battered in that the back of the cylinder with its loaded & capped chambers slams into the recoil shield and kaboomboom.

GWPercle,
Your cracked wedge cutout is the first I've heard of in a belt pistol but obviously it happens. Another I read about was a Walker that came apart at the arbor wedge cutout from using full charges of 777. I guess the barrel assembly went sailing down range and the shooter ended up holding a very funny looking short barreled pepperbox.

 

[Gary B]

Brass frames

I have a Umberti 36 brasser G&G that I bought in the early 70's. I always loaded 15 gr. of BP and 375 balls. Must have shot a 100,000 rounds though it. One day I read an article that 380 ball's and T7 would be better. I bought some new nipples and loaded up with the new loads and fired off about two dozen rounds.
When I was done the arbor was so loose it shook like a leaf in a wind storm. The frame was cracked and the barrel falls off. Put it back together and polished it up, now it sits in the rack lookin' pretty but retired.

 

[TruthTellers]

Regardless of frame material, what would be considered a hot amount of powder in a .36? Over 20 grains? 25 grains?

 

[Panzerschwein]

You might want to consider a Spiller & Burr since it has a top strap.

 

[Hellgate]

For years it was often stated that "you can't over load a C&B revolver" i.e. the chambers won't hold enough powder to do it. In my younger days if I overloaded my colt Navy and couldn't get the ball/bullet to seat below the chamber mouth I would knock the gun apart, cock it, line up the overloaded chamber with the barrel, replace the wedge, cap & shoot it out. Now, with 777 and more lawyers I no longer hear that. I still think it is true as long as you are using BP. Also you could probably get a 30gr volume equivalent of Pyrodex-P into a Navy Colt (and pretty sure for a Navy Remington) by filling the chamber to the mouth because it is so compressible. It packs down like florists foam.

 

[swathdiver]

Regardless of frame material, what would be considered a hot amount of powder in a .36? Over 20 grains? 25 grains?

Over 20 I reckon. When we shoot 24 grain charges in our Remington Belt Model, they go supersonic. Our Pietta Griswold gets fed 15 grain charges.

 

[Fingers McGee]

Regardless of frame material, what would be considered a hot amount of powder in a .36? Over 20 grains? 25 grains?

My normal load in a pair of 2nd Gen and a pair of Uberti 1861 Navies is powder thrown from a flask with a spout stamped 21 grs. This charge weighs in at between 22 and 23 grains depending on which powder I'm using (Goex, Grafs, or Scheutzen). I've put thousands of rounds down range in CAS matches with no problems. If I'm shooting long range (over 50 yds), I bump the charge up by using a stamped 24 grs spout that weighs out to between 25 and 26 grains.

People that I shoot with swear my 22 grain loads sound awfully hot for some reason.

 

[dickydalton]

I have the same 21 grain spout as Fingers and sometimes I use an 18 grain one. I have loaded 25 grains too with no problem, but none of my 1851-1862s are brass framed. I use the 18 grain one all the time on the pocket pistols. All those loads are 3F Swiss. I do have a 1990 Pietta that I used to fill the chambers full with pyrodex or 3F Goex and smash the ball down that has a loose arbor and dents in the slot for the wedge in the barrel. It hangs over the fireplace.

 

[ZVP]

Yea what Fingers said!
He advised me the same with my first Pietta .44Navy and she shoots great and has remained tight.
I often load 15 - 18 gr and it's accurate too.
The big Brasser is very accurate and inherantlly smooth due to the slick Brass/ Steels low friction traits.
Except for that one all my BP revolvers ar Steel though but I'd not he's ate to buy another Brasser if I liked it!
ZVP