Lets see your fixer upers

[Mike 56]

This CVA 45cal pistol belonged to a buddy of mine it was beat up. I took from him he thought he lost it. I fixed it up and gave it back to him. He thanked me then gave it to me. It was banged up it had light rust, I pulled two patched balls with charges. The nipple and cleanout screw were frozen in place. It was a kit gun the lock was not fitted as well as the nose cap. The only thing that saved the barrel is that it was soaked with WD-40.

 

[expat_alaska]

About six months ago I acquired a Pietta 1851 Navy (AZ/1990) 4-screw CFS (cut for stock). The reason I bought it was because Pietta 1851 Navy 4-screws are fairly scarce (I don't believe they have made one since ~2001).The worst part was that the cylinder would lock up on nearly every cocking of the hammer just about at the half-cock stage. Completely disassembled the gun and found that it has been shot and not cleaned at all: the internals were caked in BP residue. After a thorough scrubbing, and then polishing blackened areas on the brass TG and backstrap, I found that some Bubba had attempted to possibly repair some timing difficulties and had modified the bolt lug and the hand, and the modifications did not work out. I ordered a new bolt and hand from VTI, but found out that the new bolt was considerably different than the original (bolt screw hole in a slightly different location, the bolt arms were a different length and curvature), and the hand was of a different length. I judiciously lengthened the original hand and found (by sheer luck) an older unmodified bolt on Ebay. Success!

The wood was fairly scarred in many spots, which I refinished.

A word to the wise: parts for Pietta pre-CNC-machined revolvers (made before ~2001) are not the same as the CNC-machined parts available today from sources like VTI or Taylor's.

Regards,

Jim

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

My most recent one is an ASM brass framed 1858 Remmie with an outrageous12 inch barrel. It had been shot, put away without cleaning then disassembled and several parts lost. Was able to find parts thru VTI and clean it up. Barrel is pitted, l recrowned it, recut the forcing cone, reamed the chambers to .453. It is remarkably accurate. Sorry, no pics, will figure that out someday.

 

[expat_alaska]

Reference Post #2: This photo (it took me a bit to find it) is what the internals were like when I first disassembled it. Very ugly, but it actually cleaned up very well. The funny part (to me) is when I removed all of the "black" areas on the brass, it still retained a lot of patina and did not polish up "bright" like a new gun. That worked for me.



This is the same revolver with an ASM 1860 Army gripframe assembly so as to fit my 1860 Army shoulder stock.



I am a quintessential parts-changer.

This is only the second used C&B revolver I have bought in the last few years, and it was the worst by far. IMO, older used revolvers are a crapshoot. Unless one has a lot of time and patience to sort things out, fugettaboutit.

Regards,

Jim

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

Jim, you surprised me with " used revolvers are a crap shoot, " I always enjoy finding some POS neglected pistol and bringing it back to life. So far this year I have bought 3 ASM revolvers and a Pietta and have done my thing to them to make them right. Had one given to me, was brought to me in a bag. Needed a massive cleaning and was missing parts, it's a surprisingly good shooter. The Pietta was in new condition, however, when disassembled I discovered the lower grip frame was misdrilled and the holes didn't line up for the two screws behind the trigger gaurd. Guido's solution was to put the next size smaller screws in that barely grab threads on one side of the hole and call it good. A little work with a small round needle file and a trip to the hardware store resolved that problem.

 

[expat_alaska]

"Older" used revolvers, as in pre-CNC guns.

Jim

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

Gotcha, thanks.

 

[expat_alaska]

Gotcha, thanks.

The only reason I mentioned this is because, prior to Pietta going to CNC machining totally in house ~2001, Pietta would subcontract some parts production for their revolvers from various Northern Italy small manufacturers, and Pietta had to do much hand-fitting of such parts to market their guns.

I know I have posted this before, but here is Mr. Alessandro Pietta who runs the operation explaining why they went to CNC.



Regards,

Jim

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

Comes down to production, production, production, and the bottom line. And maybe give Guido the gorilla a different job rather than over tighten every fastener he sees.

 

[Ironhand54]

I was given a rusty pistol from the estate of a friend. Very poorly finished kit gun. No markings except for Spain inside the lock and 45cal on the barrel. When I took it apart I saw that it was not a pretty nice gun. It has a patent breech, an adjustable sear and an octogon to round barrel.

The stock was poorly stained and had some kind of laquer finish that was peeling off. I stripped the stock and used hot water to leech out most of the stain. Then I restained it and gave it an oil finish.

I removed the rust by electrolysis and cold blued in. Had to replace some buggered up screws but in the end it works. No prize winner, of course, but it never was to begin with.



IronHand

 

[Tommygunn]

That's really nice work Ironhand54, and that pistol would make Blackbeard truly proud!