Possible problem with Pietta 1858 - need advise

[mugsie]

I took my New Army 1858 to the range the other day and had two small problems with it. One - the loading ram kept popping out of it's little holder on the end of the barrel and kept flopping down - how do I fix this? File the notch a little deeper?

Two - and possibly more serious. The plunger, the round thingy which fits on top of the ball to push it into the chamber, kept popping off the loading lever. Seems the little pin which holds it in place is too loose and slides out extremly easily. I was thinking about peening the end of the pin / hole, but that would prohibit me from disassemblying it for cleaning. A larger size pin? This also would eventually wear in because of all the dis-assembly for cleaning (boy these things sure do get dirty!). Am I seeing this correctly as a problem, or should it push out this easily? I'm afraid of loosing the pin at the range then my day is over till I can either find it (good luck!) or get another.

thanks guys....

 

[Voodoochile]

I took my New Army 1858 to the range the other day and had two small problems with it. One - the loading ram kept popping out of it's little holder on the end of the barrel and kept flopping down - how do I fix this? File the notch a little deeper?

Yes a small triangle file or jewlers file on the retainer to deepen the area that holds the lever into place, just a few strokes of the file at a time should be sufficient.

Two - and possibly more serious. The plunger, the round thingy which fits on top of the ball to push it into the chamber, kept popping off the loading lever. Seems the little pin which holds it in place is too loose and slides out extremly easily. I was thinking about peening the end of the pin / hole, but that would prohibit me from disassemblying it for cleaning. A larger size pin? This also would eventually wear in because of all the dis-assembly for cleaning (boy these things sure do get dirty!). Am I seeing this correctly as a problem, or should it push out this easily? I'm afraid of loosing the pin at the range then my day is over till I can either find it (good luck!) or get another.

That's exactly what I had done on my older Remington copy many moons ago was simply use a slightly larger in diameter than the hole of the pin & Peened the pin into place, under normal use & cleaning you will never need to disassemble the lever & plunger assembly just unscrew the assembly from the weapon every once in a while for cleaning & lubing.

 

[Shultzhaus]

1858 problems

Check the spring loaded wedge at the end of the load lever. Some of them were weak or binding, and allowed the wedge to pop out of the groove. On the little pin coming out, I had the same problem, and solved it by taking the original pin out, and replaced it with a thing called a "roll" pin. This is a spring metal hollow pin that has a slit down the side, and can be driven into a hole, and will remain tight. If you need to remove it, just tap it back out. Roll pins come in many sizes, and can usually be found in automotive supply stores. You need one just a hair larger than the hole in the plunger so it remains tight.

 

[Mike 56]

Your loading arm wedge might just need oil i put a drop oil on mine after every cleaning.

Mike