I have an old Pietta 1851 Navy cap and ball revolver that was given to me several years ago. If I read the proof marks correctly it was made in 1971. Someone put it up without cleaning it properly it sat in a humid closet for the next 10-15 years. In short it was a mess when I first got it. I knocked a bunch of the rust off oiled it up with some CLP and it sat in my gun cabinet for another 12 years where it least the humidity was controlled. Last week I decided I wanted to try to shoot it. Before I even tore it down I saw:
Obvious timing problems. You can see where the hammer has hit the side of a couple of the cylinders.
Cylinder is quite pitted. I picked up some of the .375 Hornady balls because that was the only thing I could find locally. Just dropping the ball in the cylinder it sits down 80% of the way into the cylinder using just the weight of the ball.
I broke it down as far as I could. The trigger/bolt spring the screw would not budge. 3 days of hosing it down several times a day with PB Blaster and it still wouldn't budge. I don't have the right blade for the screw as all my hollow ground screw drivers are still too fat for it. Unless I use a size that is about 1/2 the width of the diameter but it's starting to tear the screw up so I decided to leave it alone. The trigger screw it also stuck. I can rotate it about 1/2 turn then it sticks. It looks like the screw has an ever so slight bend in it so when I try to unscrew it, the screw binds. I decided to leave it alone too. I did take everything I could out and hit it with an air eraser to knock off the rust and gave it a light coat of CLP.
Then I tried to take the nipples out of the cylinder. I didnt have a wrench I could get down into and engage the flats. So I took a 3/16" deep socked and used a carbide bit to cut a slot into the socket. I got really good engagement but even after 3 days of PB blaster, heat, bloody knuckles, and a new broken 3/16' deep well socket I couldn't get the nipples to budge.
So knowing that I got it cleaned up as best I could. The inside of the cylinder is still pitted. After cleaning and oiling it up most of the timing issues went away. If I cock the hammer as slow as humanly possibly I can get one or two of the cylinders to not lock up correctly. Normal speed cocks of the hammer will drop the cylinder into the correct spot.
Outside of what I've done what else should I check to make sure this thing is safe to fire? I'm thinking the pitting in the cylinders could lead to much easier chain fires. I might just to single shot with it to start off. What else should I check? Any tips for someone who has never shot a C&B before?
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Obvious timing problems. You can see where the hammer has hit the side of a couple of the cylinders.
Cylinder is quite pitted. I picked up some of the .375 Hornady balls because that was the only thing I could find locally. Just dropping the ball in the cylinder it sits down 80% of the way into the cylinder using just the weight of the ball.
I broke it down as far as I could. The trigger/bolt spring the screw would not budge. 3 days of hosing it down several times a day with PB Blaster and it still wouldn't budge. I don't have the right blade for the screw as all my hollow ground screw drivers are still too fat for it. Unless I use a size that is about 1/2 the width of the diameter but it's starting to tear the screw up so I decided to leave it alone. The trigger screw it also stuck. I can rotate it about 1/2 turn then it sticks. It looks like the screw has an ever so slight bend in it so when I try to unscrew it, the screw binds. I decided to leave it alone too. I did take everything I could out and hit it with an air eraser to knock off the rust and gave it a light coat of CLP.
Then I tried to take the nipples out of the cylinder. I didnt have a wrench I could get down into and engage the flats. So I took a 3/16" deep socked and used a carbide bit to cut a slot into the socket. I got really good engagement but even after 3 days of PB blaster, heat, bloody knuckles, and a new broken 3/16' deep well socket I couldn't get the nipples to budge.
So knowing that I got it cleaned up as best I could. The inside of the cylinder is still pitted. After cleaning and oiling it up most of the timing issues went away. If I cock the hammer as slow as humanly possibly I can get one or two of the cylinders to not lock up correctly. Normal speed cocks of the hammer will drop the cylinder into the correct spot.
Outside of what I've done what else should I check to make sure this thing is safe to fire? I'm thinking the pitting in the cylinders could lead to much easier chain fires. I might just to single shot with it to start off. What else should I check? Any tips for someone who has never shot a C&B before?
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