PICs of restored FIE Kentucky

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MMA1991

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Here she is...my first restoration.

Not bad for a newbie me thinks...a utilitarian rifle all the way.

Thanks to all who commented and assisted.

Any idea where I may be able to find a replacement nipple? I have some nipples from a Colt 1851 Navy I thought would fit this rifle....they don't. Original rifle nipple has fewer and larger threads.
 

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MMA1911, not too shabby, definitely a utilitarian BP rifle that should give ya years of enjoyment. The only thing I woul have done is polished the area of the barrel near the nipple and put some Birchwood Casey bluing on it. Never-the-less it looks like a pretty neat smokepole.;)
 
Thanks Loose....believe it or not I did polish the barrel in way of the nipple. I do not think the person who owned it previously cleaned her very well and the only areas on the barrel exterior which looked a little rough were the areas where the cap may have over sprayed the barrel upon being struck.

I wish had a bore scope to get an idea of how ptted the interior of the barrel is.
 
MMA1991 said:
Any idea where I may be able to find a replacement nipple? I have some nipples from a Colt 1851 Navy I thought would fit this rifle....they don't. Original rifle nipple has fewer and larger threads.
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Being able to find a replacement nipple should be a consideration when buying an older, used gun. We can't even see the size of the nipple compared to a standard Spanish nipple or revolver nipple.
There are several suppliers that stock many nipples and perhaps if contacted, they are experienced enough to know which nipple size fits the FIE Pietta Kentucky that you have.
Those suppliers include:

1. The Log Cabin Shop

http://www.logcabinshop.com/

2. Track of the Wolf

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/

3. Dixie Gun Works

http://dixiegun.com/

If they don't know which nipple it takes, then you could try to measure all of it's dimensions and possibly identify the threads. A trip to the hardware store might help if you can find a bolt with the same threads and you may need to bring the barrel or the nipple. It probably has coarse metric threads as you mentioned.
If none on the suppliers listed knows which nipple your gun needs, and you can't match up the threads, then you may need to send it in somewhere to have them match it up.
Of course that's risky, because once you send it in you won't have any sample nipple left if it gets lost.
I would inquire with each company about what it is that they need to know to be able to match it up, or what they can do for you, and how they want you to proceed.
There's one other supplier that's a replacement nipple manufacturer that supplies Dixie and others, and that's Ron Blomquist at Blomquist Percussion Works. He might also know which nipple it takes or can match it up personally.
When his website went down, it listed an incorrect phone number. AbitNutz has talked to him at one phone number and I was able to find another phone listing for him which both numbers are shown in this post:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=8349805&postcount=10

There have only been a few reports about the same FIE Pietta Kentucky rifle that you have. And besides that model, I've only heard of a double barrel shotgun that was made by Pietta which was sold by Navy Arms. It may have a common nipple size or it may not. But we can't see it, and I don't know if the other FIE Pietta owners know it's size, or if the suppliers know it's size, but you need to call them to find out if they know or not. And then go from there about trying to identify the threads yourself, obtaining the dimensions and/or finding out which one of them can match it up for you.
 
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I wish had a bore scope to get an idea of how ptted the interior of the barrel is.
Click to expand...
If it's a .50, drop a shiney 9mm case down the Bbl head up, shine a lite in there and the bore will light rite up.
A .22 works in smaller calibers.;)
 
Damn, Jim, that's a good idea. Nickel plated 9mm brass should be perfect.
 
If you decap it first, youll have something to grab onto with the ball puller when the 9mm gets stuck in your .45 barrel, down where the nipple enters the gun.
 
Doesn't every body have a metric and US standard thread guage in their tool box?
The other option,as suggested, go to a good hardware store with the old nipple and match the threads and try it into a nut also.
 
Thanks for the great suggestion about using a thread pitch gauge 44 Dave.
I don't have one and never used one before. But I did look it up and learned that one needs to measure the diameter of the threaded section in mm, and then match up the proper pitch blade with the threads to find the distance between each thread in mm. The number that's stamped on the blade will indicate the metric thread pitch.
A metric thread pitch gauge is relatively inexpensive at ~$10 - $15 depending on its quality.
And a caliper or a micrometer is needed to measure the diameter of the threaded section with. A measurement of the height of the nipple above the base may also be useful, along with the overall nipple length.
 
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Here are the possible nipple thread sizes:
NippleThreadSizes.jpg
It's a simple matter to match the nipple's threads with a bolt in one of those threads at a hardware store.
 
I once worked at a plumbing supply store and behind the counter we had a board made of metal with a bunch of threaded holes in it, and next to that was a short piece of all thread.it covered inch pattern and metric, up to 3/4'' hose. Now years later Ive seen similar gadjets in hardware stores, so it should be a simple matter to dismount the nipple, and take it down to the local hardware store or supply house, and match it up, like Dave said.
 
It is an Italian rifle, so the threads will be metric. I think Dixie's catalog used to have a chart of what thread nipple went with what rifle.
 
Nice to see you back around Chawbacker.

I looked in a older Dixie catalog and there was no listing for an FIE.....but this looks much like a CVA rifle and all of them used the same 6-1mm nipple.

I also saw that "some Italian Hawkens" used a 6-.75 mm nipple and seem to recall that is what I needed on my Spanish split stock.

What with all the effort and wheel spining on getting thread messuring ect might it not be just as easy to just go ahead and order one of each of these two sizes and if one or either does not fit offer them up for cost around here?...or just toss the extra (s) into the old parts box for some future project (let he or her among you that does not have some gribbly/parts that floated in a box someplace for a decade before you discovered there was a need for it cast the first stone)

-kBob
 
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