mrdeltoid
Member
My two Pietta 1860 Army revolvers and my Pietta 1851 Navy revolver are locking up after loading. All three are .44 caliber. The guns are placed on half cock during loading. After loading the chambers in a cylinder, the hammer must be placed at full cock before being brought forward. Once the hammer is brought forward, the problem occurs: the hammer cannot be cocked. The hammer binds on something and won't move backward more than a quarter inch or so. In order to free the gun up, I have to pull the barrel off and allow the cylinder to slide forward a bit on the arbor.
I have not been able to determine what is causing the problem. Here is what I know so far:
- It happens with all three revolvers, and one of them is new.
- It happens even when the gun hasn't yet been fired.
- It only happens when a loaded cylinder is in the gun. I can cock the hammer and lower it all I want with an empty cylinder in the gun, put it on half cock, pull it backward all the way, lower it, etc.
- It happens regardless of whether the cylinder was loaded on or off the gun.
- The wedge tightness doesn't seem to affect whether or not the problem occurs.
- No balls are protruding from chambers; and the problem happens regardless of whether I've used bore butter.
- Once I free the cylinder the first time, it doesn't happen again until a new cylinder is loaded.
- The guns have been consistently fired throughout the time I've owned them with 15-20 grains of "FFF" and all were purchased new.
Any help with this problem would be appreciated. I am going to disassemble them tonight and check for pieces of caps, unusual wear on the parts, or anything else that might be an issue.
I have not been able to determine what is causing the problem. Here is what I know so far:
- It happens with all three revolvers, and one of them is new.
- It happens even when the gun hasn't yet been fired.
- It only happens when a loaded cylinder is in the gun. I can cock the hammer and lower it all I want with an empty cylinder in the gun, put it on half cock, pull it backward all the way, lower it, etc.
- It happens regardless of whether the cylinder was loaded on or off the gun.
- The wedge tightness doesn't seem to affect whether or not the problem occurs.
- No balls are protruding from chambers; and the problem happens regardless of whether I've used bore butter.
- Once I free the cylinder the first time, it doesn't happen again until a new cylinder is loaded.
- The guns have been consistently fired throughout the time I've owned them with 15-20 grains of "FFF" and all were purchased new.
Any help with this problem would be appreciated. I am going to disassemble them tonight and check for pieces of caps, unusual wear on the parts, or anything else that might be an issue.
