Pocket Pistol and Original Colt .31 Mould

[mec]

This is the Colt Pocket Model termed "the wells-fargo." they call it this because there is no record that Wells-Fargo ever bought a .31 revolver. The leverless pocket models did exist though. Kind off a bargain loss-leader model for the masses. Steve Opperman has an original 19th century mould and he ran a generous pouch of bullets and balls for me to try out. The bullets are heavier than the ones from the Pedersoli replica moulds and both bullet and ball are somewhat larger in diameter. Like the replica moulds, the bullets come out a bit out of round, but they wage out nicely in the .317" uberti chambers.

the bullets have a generous rebate on the base. I tapped them in part way with a ball starter and then used the arbor to seat them. I modified the arbor so that it has a seating cone in the end like the originals. The bullets actually loaded more easily than the balls from the same mould.

Ten grains of Goes will drive these into the high 490 fps range so, I suspect that the same volume of pyrodex gives the bullets over 500 fps. They ( and the balls) hit about 6" over POA at 50 feet.

The balls seem to deliver about the same practical accuracy:

At 20 feet or so, both bullet and ball would go through both sides of this large steel can which is a shop vac drum of light guage. At 25 yards, both bullet and ball would get through one side only and put a healthy dint in the off side.

The recovered bullets and balls were fairly mangulated and would not doubt hurt and be lethal under ideal circumstances. This even witht the ball load which is two and a half to three and a half grains under a full chamber load:

 

[DixieTexian]

Cool stuff, but that is one ugly pistol without the loading lever. How does it perform, though? I have thought about getting one of the Remington pocket pistols.

 

[mec]

Hey! I think it has charm.
It's a shorter range proposition than a full sized navy, army, dragoon etc. It's easier to group with it than with the smallest modern auto pistols, not quite as shootable as a snum 38 and a great deal more shootable than the little remington replicas: It is reliable but, prone to cap jams out of the box. I relieved the breach on the right side of the hammer and deepened the groove in the for better burst cap clearance.
The remington is so small, it makes this colt replica look huge. Don't know if it matters, but the remington is so small that even the 60 grain replica mould bullets wont fit under the ram. I had to use two hands to get this at 30 feet and It hit about a foot high at that range: I broke one loading lever by overcompressing the dense swiss fffg load.

This particular Pietta Remington Pocket Model is very well made, well timed with good barrel /cylinder alignment.

 

[Low Key]

Mec,

Any idea where I could find parts for the Remington pocket 31? I got one for Christmas and I think one of the legs of the cylinder bolt is too short. The bolt pops up too early and is dragging the cylinder.

found one at vtigunparts for $11. Is this the cheapest I'll find?

 

[Steve499]

Mec, I'd be curious how your .31 shoots with balls and bullets cast with a new mold. Part of the larger size you mention is due to the old mold being corroded and with the halves slightly mis-aligned. The bullets it throws are out of round a little bit which can't help in the accuracy department.

Steve

 

[mec]

VTI gunparts lists the parts. They had the loading lever assembly I needed after I broke the first one.

Heck. I was hoping that mould was in original condition. My accuracy with this pocket revolver is so informal that I can't really tell much difference in accuracy with the various balls and bullets I've tried. The ovoid projectiles you sent me have an eliptic of >317- .322 or so and even out pretty much as you swage them into the chambers. Actually, the above groups represent just about the best "duelist" shooting I've done with that revolver. (that's the only way I shoot it)