Saga of the new '62 begins.

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Ugly Sauce

Ugly Sauce

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I finally got to shoot the '62. A couple of days ago, I loaded it up with about 19 grains planning to use a ball. But, the chambers are nice and "big" and my .375's pulled back out with the plunger. Dang. So I went ahead and seated some 120 grain slugs, which normally, in this small of a gun, I would only put over about 15 grains. With the 18-19 grains the slugs barely seated deep enough.

Then our power went out, and didn't come back until today. I didn't want to clean the gun by lamp light, although that's how most of them were cleaned back in the day. !!! Or outside, it's kind of cold around here right now.

Anyhow, went out back with my new Tesco/Tresco nipples, and CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK. That's five clicks. Dang. Had CCI mag caps on it. Dang it. What the heck? Went back to my room, put the nipples on the gun that it came with, put on some Remington #11 caps.

Fired fine every time, but the hammer was blowing back, and you know what happens. I wasn't too miffed, and plan to shoot ball in this, as it's going to be a wilderness survival small game gun, but I sure wish they put stronger main springs in these things. A ball should produce less pressure, I hope.

Maybe the Tesco's would have worked with the Remington caps, I'll have to try that. However, the CCI's would not fire with repeated blows. The Tesco's do seem to be a hair shorter than the Uberti nipples. But the hammer seemed to be smashing them. At any rate, the accuracy is good. Interestingly it shoots a bit high even with the tall front sight. Ball should bring that down a little. We'll see.

Not super happy, but not bummed either, she'll require a bit more fine tuning. And...wait for it....bigger balls!
 
Yes I'm happy with the accuracy, two of those slugs didn't start straight, went in a bit catty-wonkus, it was difficult loading them, the base is full diameter so they have to sit on the chamber mouth just right.

And then two went a little high. Coincidence, or just me? Hopefully a lighter ball load will bring the POI down a bit. I'm still surprised she was a little high, the front sight I put on is quite tall. I was expecting the group to fall under the bulls-eye. But, four of those five shots are minute of wabbit for sure.

Yep, the Remington is more my "personal protection" wilderness gun, or "wolf gun", with small game taking ability. The '62 will be more of a rabbit gun, although it will still get a bigger critter's "attention". It did seem to have some authority with the slugs, but yeah, the Remington is going to be the "slug gun". And I've got some great ones coming from the Kid. Cannot wait to start experimenting with them.

Thanks for the tip on the .380's. Dagnabbit, I've got lots of .375's, and I think the mold I have is .375". Might even have two, but I think they are both .375". Time to dig through the molds. !!!
 
arcticap said:
Maybe you can put a shim under those nipples and they'll work and reduce the back pressure too.
Click to expand...

I did have great hopes for them nipples. Not sure where I'd find a right size shim, I guess if I took one with me to town I might find such a small washer/shim.
 
What has been suggested before is to find a piece of wire and wrap it around the base of the nipple, and then flatten it out by whacking it with a hammer.
Then use that flattened piece as a washer.
But before doing that you could also try to back the nipple out a turn to see if it will snap the cap.

I had found this supplier of ultra thin O-rings.
Some of them may work and O-rings are used as shims for sealing the 209 primer wells of inline muzzle loaders to control back pressure.
In their table of offerings were these sizes:

I.D. -----W. --->>> https://www.applerubber.com/products/o-rings/
0.240 x 0.018 --->>> This and the next may be 2 of the 3 best options.
0.240 x 0.020
0.242 x 0.031
0.242 x 0.037
0.244 x 0.020
0.244 x 0.039
0.248 x 0.020 --->>> This one may work and fit fine, perhaps the best all around.
0.248 x 0.028
0.250 x 0.032
0.250 x 0.035

There's more sizes available from that manufacturer.
 
Good info! I can't believe you know where all this stuff is. !!! I've never thought of the wire trick...and I have some copper wire that just could work.
 
Yeah, put a Tesco/Tresco/whatever back in, backed it out two turns, popped a cap off just fine. You'd think the Track or Possibles Shop, or Gun Works or someone would sell steel or copper shims just for that purpose.

Found a place called McMaster-Carr. Has shims. You just have to do the math to get the right size.
 
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I use small safety pin wire or spring steel wire to make a small ring and use these as a spacer for nipples that are too short. Uncle mikes nipples are just a hair too short on a couple of my guns so i had to do the wire trick. Works great and i have no problems
 
I am going to say this, I am not surprised. Standard Uberti nipples such as those used on 1858 Remingtons will also screw into these newer 1862 repros (Uberti). They are little longer and have thicker cones. I am not sure even those are long enough in the one I have seen, and I mean even with the cylinder pressed right up against the recoil shield (there is noticeable gap,) although I do not know for sure since the one I know of was never tested with a percussion cap.

My take on this is shims under the nipples are the easiest fix however be careful not to shim it the point where the caps come too close to the recoil shield (doubtful but just a thought.)

This one absolutely needed the arbor bottomed out (they say all Uberti open tops do I say especially this one, I hate to say) but I really don't think that alone is going to have any effect on it's inability to fire percussion caps since the gap is likely too wide on the one I saw even if the cylinder was wedged right up against the recoil sheild , shimming the nipples probably will fix the too wide gap.
 
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The other fix (easier) would be to remove material from the forward inside curve of the hammer. Using marker, you can identify the contact areas and using a dremel with a 1/2" sanding drum, you can remove enough material (doesn't take much) to move the hammer nose forward enough for contact with the nipple. IMO, that would be the better fix than making shims for nipples to work with an "ill fitted" hammer.

Mike
 
Slow and moderately tedious when using a sharpie marker with a small file on the outside curve where the hammer rests so current production hammers become a drop in fit without any modification (confirmed by 2 hammers) but the advice from 45 Dragoon should pan out and should work great.

I imagine VERY CAREFUL use of a dremel will make fast work of it.

I suppose either should fix the problem once and for all. Then there are shims.
 
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Great ideas and tips. I believe I'll wait until the "bigger balls" arrived that I ordered, and see how she does with the original nipples, which are in it now, and which seem to be sure fire. The back-pressure should be much less with 15-17 grains behind a ball, compared to the 120 grain slug over 19 grains.

Having said that, I do like, and I would like to use the Tresco nipples, so I'll probably make them "longer", one way or the other, after I do some reliable shooting with the Uberti nipples. I notice with the Uberti nipples, that the hammer does not actually touch the nipple. Would anyone like to weigh in on the theory that the hammer should not touch the nipple? The hammer on my 1860 has always touched the nipples, and over tens and tens of years, there's no battering of the nipples. ?? I'm pretty sure my Remington's hammer rests on the (un-capped) nipples also.

The reason I ask, it seems like a tiny gap, no matter how tiny, is kind of an invitation to miss-fire. I know there are those to who swear by it....but..?? Or, I suppose that gap would never increase, so if it fires reliably to begin with, it should stay that way. ? On the other hand, when it is set up perfectly for one set of nipples, another nipple only needs to be the slightest bit short, and you wind up with a "non firing replica". The difference in length between the Uberti nipples on the gun, and these Tresco's is so slight that you almost can't tell the difference visually.

I think that personally, IMHO, I'd rather the hammer rest, ever so slightly, on the nipples. (uncapped)

And that brings me to, yeah I can shim, I can relieve some metal off the hammer where it contacts the frame, but DANG! Should I have to do that with a brand new gun? Maybe so, maybe it's just the nature of a cap and nipple fired gun. If I had a wish, it would be there was more of a variety in cone length with new nipples, and that shims were widely and commonly available from the companies that supply nipples and parts and possibles, like the Track, etc.
 
I think the idea is to not mushroom the ends of the nipples, Ruger did it on the Old Army with good results. I have done it on most of my revolvers. Once it's set up there should be no need to change from that setup.
 
I would agree that
Jackrabbit1957 said:
I think the idea is to not mushroom the ends of the nipples, Ruger did it on the Old Army with good results. I have done it on most of my revolvers. Once it's set up there should be no need to change from that setup.
Click to expand...

I agree that that is the reason. Although my 1860 nipples never mushroomed. I did put new stainless nipples on it recently, but there was nothing wrong with the old ones, which had been on many years. But I also agree/think that once it's set-up, and reliable, there's no mechanical reason that the "gap" or clearance could get bigger. If anything, it would get smaller with enough wear. So, I'm thinking that either way is "good", or will work.

I hope the Kid chimes in on this, I'd be interested in his opinion.
 
As far as weighing in on "dry fire safe" open top revolvers, yes, it can be done but only after the arbor length is fixed/adjusted. That said, competition revolvers need to go bang every time so they are tuned to have an "interference" (contact) hammer/nipple interface (which all cap guns are set up as from my shop).
I'll be setting up "new in the box" revolvers which will be completely disassembled (arbor removed for hand clearancing as well), hammers will be fitted and they will go bang every time. Along with an Outlaw Mule service and a few extras, they will be "pricey". (Of course, you won't need to do any dremeling so . . . ) That is the difference . . . you can pay the price or " do it yourself " . . . the Italians make these revolvers to a price point . . . you get what you pay for.

Mike
 
Hey thanks. Duh, I'm so dumb, didn't realize that you was one of the Goons. Or is it Goon singular? That's not a bad plan. I think Uberti could get a higher price if they made their revolvers tuned right out of the box. I think you'll have a winner.
 
By removing the arbor are you then fitting it for full contact in the barrel lug? My own thought was to square up the hole in the lug with a proper fitting end mill and go from there, very interested in your thoughts on this.
 
Jackrabbit1957 said:
By removing the arbor are you then fitting it for full contact in the barrel lug? My own thought was to square up the hole in the lug with a proper fitting end mill and go from there, very interested in your thoughts on this.
Click to expand...

Actually, it really is to clearance the side of the arbor so there isn't any hand /arbor interference with or without the cylinder installed. It also allows a matched fit with the barrel assy when the arbor is reinstalled (that's not done at the factory of course).
I've also done enough open top platforms that had loose arbors from the factory that I just don't know how "torqued" the arbor actually is!! So, I'll know MINE are "Goon" TORQUED!! Lol!

Mike
 
I had the same issue with the .375 balls.
I was able to find a .380 mold. That problem was solved
Then came the jams. I got some ss nippled from TOW. BUT still had cap jams.
Then I read how to install a "Penny Rake"

Bam, the cap jam problem solved..now I have a fantastic shooter.
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