Colt Navy loading lever?

[alemonkey]

I used to shoot cap & ball revolvers when I was a kid, but I haven't had one for years. I'm looking at buying another one now, and I'm wondering about the loading lever on the 1851 Navy. I seem to remember the one I used to shoot had a problem with the loading lever dropping under recoil. Is this a problem with modern replicas or have they fixed that issue? Or, is there an easy modification I could do to resolve it (other than tying it in place)? I know it was a problem with the originals, especially the Walker.

I've thought about getting a Remington, but I just like the looks of the Navy so much more. I just don't want to deal with having to snap that annoying loading lever back into place after each shot.

 

[Tommygunn]

You must be thinking of the Colt Walker. The latch on the Walker was immediatly in front of the pivot and the lever is famous for dropping upon recoil even on originals. A leather thong was the classic cure and still works.
I have a number of modern repros of other guns and have never experienced the 1851 Navy or any other to have the loading lever fall ... though I won't claim it can't happen especially if there's one with a poor fit or a part breaks.

 

[Pancho]

I think Tommygunn's got it right. It didn't take Colt long to get it right. The Walker was the only one to have that type of catch. The rest of the Colts had a latch at the end of the lever. It was on the last of the Colt percussion revolver designs the 1862 Colt Police.

 

[mykeal]

Hey, guys, the loading lever latch on all the Colts after the Walker can become loose and fail to hold the lever in place. It wasn't just the Walker that had the problem. The Walker was just chronic, the others were unusual, even rare. I've seen the problem on an 1860 Army, but it wasn't mine and I don't know how he fixed it.

 

[alemonkey]

I bet the Navy I had was just poor fit, then. It was an old armi san marco, about 15-20 years ago, and the quality really wasn't the best.

 

[Im283]

the loading lever drops from time to time on my ASM '51 Navy. Simple solution I used was to just use one of them bread twisty things. Did not look all authentic or nothing but it worked just fine.

 

[bigbadgun]

I have a New Pietta '51 Navy in .44 when I say new ive had it maybe 3 months shoot it everytime I go to the range and its great never had the lever drop on it.