I had intended to buy one of these from Cimarron and make a trip by the Enchanted Rock at the same time. Cimarron was Out of Stock and I don't abide transcontinental back-orders very well. Happens that Midway had a several day sale and I saved $100.00
I've had a leverless Paterson for some times and this one behaves about the same if not somewhat worse out of the box. Out of the box, it would not fire until I relieved the hammer nose a bit and it developed that there is still a major difficulty setting off caps. Like the earlier revolver, the sear rides the hammer face -possibly at or near the half cock notch slowing down the hammer. The hammer also slows down against the left side of the frame as it drops- shifting visibly to the right near the nipple. I found that fireing deliberately produced many failures to fire with good ignition on the second strike. Also due to minimal clearance between the cylinder and frame and no groove in the right side of the reciever for cap travel, It would hang up on every shot.
At 60 feet, it hit high and a bit to the left. I clocked Goex 3f and some 3fg I removed from some 90 year old revolver cartridges. Heretofore, the goex has recorded higher velocities. This time the old powder took the lead:
The velocity for the goex (obscured) is 879fps.
Interestingly, the chamber capacity is somewhat less than a Navy and .22 grains is a full load.
Additional problems with basic function include a near non-existent frame relief next to the loading lever. There was no way to seat a ball without hammering it into the chamber before rotating it under the lever.
I have done several things that seem to be making the revolver function better. I relieved the portion of the breach to the right of the hammer to reduce the cap hang ups to something less than 100 percent. It now functions very well with caps only- poping them in the living room.
Looking at pictures of historic Colt Patersons, I note that most of them have much deeper frame relief in front of the loading lever. I had to removed a radical amount to get the balls to seat freely and turn under the loading lever.
To partially correct the light hammer strikes, I attempted, with little effect to polish and stone the hammer face over the half cock notch and just before it where it seemed to have been polished by contact with the sear. I did improve ignition by relieving the side of the hammer and the inside of the frame cut where the hammer rides. I can still induce misfires by attempting a slow trigger pull but I no longer have to slap the trigger to get the sear to ride free of the hammer and set off the caps on first strike. Having to pull the trigger with some speed militates against fine accuracy but at least I anticipate that the gun will fire most of the time
I've had a leverless Paterson for some times and this one behaves about the same if not somewhat worse out of the box. Out of the box, it would not fire until I relieved the hammer nose a bit and it developed that there is still a major difficulty setting off caps. Like the earlier revolver, the sear rides the hammer face -possibly at or near the half cock notch slowing down the hammer. The hammer also slows down against the left side of the frame as it drops- shifting visibly to the right near the nipple. I found that fireing deliberately produced many failures to fire with good ignition on the second strike. Also due to minimal clearance between the cylinder and frame and no groove in the right side of the reciever for cap travel, It would hang up on every shot.
At 60 feet, it hit high and a bit to the left. I clocked Goex 3f and some 3fg I removed from some 90 year old revolver cartridges. Heretofore, the goex has recorded higher velocities. This time the old powder took the lead:
The velocity for the goex (obscured) is 879fps.
Interestingly, the chamber capacity is somewhat less than a Navy and .22 grains is a full load.
Additional problems with basic function include a near non-existent frame relief next to the loading lever. There was no way to seat a ball without hammering it into the chamber before rotating it under the lever.
I have done several things that seem to be making the revolver function better. I relieved the portion of the breach to the right of the hammer to reduce the cap hang ups to something less than 100 percent. It now functions very well with caps only- poping them in the living room.
Looking at pictures of historic Colt Patersons, I note that most of them have much deeper frame relief in front of the loading lever. I had to removed a radical amount to get the balls to seat freely and turn under the loading lever.
To partially correct the light hammer strikes, I attempted, with little effect to polish and stone the hammer face over the half cock notch and just before it where it seemed to have been polished by contact with the sear. I did improve ignition by relieving the side of the hammer and the inside of the frame cut where the hammer rides. I can still induce misfires by attempting a slow trigger pull but I no longer have to slap the trigger to get the sear to ride free of the hammer and set off the caps on first strike. Having to pull the trigger with some speed militates against fine accuracy but at least I anticipate that the gun will fire most of the time
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