Stronger spring?

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thanks cooldill well I was gonna wait to see if the nipples work out before I decide to have my 1858 gonnerized, so if you would keep me posted as I am interested in having mine tuned up but wanna see how yours works out!
 
midland man said:
thanks cooldill well I was gonna wait to see if the nipples work out before I decide to have my 1858 gonnerized, so if you would keep me posted as I am interested in having mine tuned up but wanna see how yours works out!
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I'm not a video star, like brushhippie but, I have two "goonerized" guns. One is a Colt 2nd Generation 1851 C Series and the other is an Uberti Whitneyville Dragoon.
They are both sweet shooting machines. Due to health problems I haven't shot the dragoon as much as the 1851 but that 1851 can be fired a hundred times with zero cleaning or lubrication without misfire of any kind. The light hammer pull is one of the things that make it smooth 'N easy to shoot. I do have Treso nipples and use Remington #10 caps. I have also had this revolver loaded for several months at a time and it still fired every time I took it out.
My favorite load in the 1851 is 21 grains of 3F Swiss over a gatefoe lubed wad and 380 round ball.
I recommend Mike to everyone.
 
I would recommend trying just new nipples before trying a new mainspring. My new Colt 2nd Gen 1851 Navy was having a lot of misfires and I thought it was because the hammer was too tight. This condition would be similar to a light mainspring insofar as the hammer hitting the caps with reduced force. I didn't want to polish the hammer because I might loose the nice case colors so I decided to try Slix Shot nipples first. The result was 100% ignition with the Slix Shots installed.
 
I get a lot of misfires with my colt navy as well, I should get some slix shot nipples for the twofold benefit of less misfires and a lot less cap sucking.
 
I think they are bottoming out... hard to tell. Even when pushing with significant force with my dowel, the caps still weren't going off. At least half required a second hit of the hammer. None needed three hits.
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I guess it depends on what we mean when we say "bottoming out". To me that means the caps slip on so that the compound is resting on the ridge of the nipple. To you it sounds like it means that the skirt is wedging hard on the taper of the nipple before this occurs.

To get ignition the compound has to be pinched sharply between the hammer and the ridge of the nipple. The fact that the second strike sets them off all the time shouts that the skirt is binding on the taper before the priming compound is resting correctly on that edge. And that both you and I (yes, this has happened to me on more than one occasion as well) are simply not able to press it on without a hammer to make it fit correctly. The energy from the first strike is succeeding where we failed and that's why the second strike is doing the job.

So I'm still of the opinion that the proper solution, new nipples that hopefully fit the Remington #10's, is already on the way.

If the Treso's don't fit the Remington caps you have there is another option. Find a nut that has the same thread as the nipples you have. Mount that in a hand drill so you can use it as a chuck for holding the nipples. WIth the nut set so that it turns evenly with the nipple running close to true use a small needle file to dress the taper angle and diameter of the stock nipples to suit the #10 caps you have so that they fit down and seat firmly with a firm but easily managed push. You want the taper to flare the cap's skirt by enough to lock them in place firmly but not so much that it's tough to seat the caps. Typically this means you just need to file of a hint of metal from the base of the tip upwards so only the lower half or so of the tip of the nipple gets any filing. The mouth end should be left. How far up the side the filing is done depends on the angle you can hold for reducing the taper.

Howzatt?
 
Thanks! I've read many good reports of Treso nipples and Remington #10s, which is good because I have umpteen million of them. The 'ol hardware store downtown had them for $5 a tin a few months back. Sugar, I dang near filled that shoppin' basket up with caps!!

I'll keep everyone posted. Thanks for the help all!! :D
 
With stuff costing what it does these days if I tripped over a deal on caps at $5 per tin I'd have done the same.

I've come to consider the idea that if one had guns that share common thread sizes for the nipples of their guns that an assortment of sets of different brands to suit whatever cap sizes are out there and which may turn up might not be a bad way to go.
 
Thanks guys, I got the Tresos in today and they seem to fit the Remington #10 caps pretty nicely. I am still going to install a different spring (inbound from Dixie Gun Works) to see if it has more power.
 
You grind the sides parallel with each other and cool it in water often. Hold it with bare hands. Too hot to hold = too hot.
If the spring is fairly thick, you can thin it on a 1" belt sander or a sanding drum with a dremel. Same thing with the heat, cool it often (heat builds up fast thining it). Thining it reduces the tension rather fast also so test it often. Some folks cut a slot down the middle of the spring, that method is harder to control and the life of the spring isn't likely to be extended. If you watch videos to familiarize with it, there's a guy that has several videos about "tuning" and he preaches about getting a lot of spare parts. I don't recommend anything he does. It's scary the stuff he does! (Guess that's why you need a lot of spare parts!!)

Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com
Follow me on Instagram @ goonsgunworks
 
Cooldill, your spring is too light to be used in a stock revolver. There's way too much other stuff to do to make it work.
I still don't understand why it worked for me (with CCI #11s) but not you. That's the hardest cap that I know of, that's why I use them.

Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com
Follow me on Instagram @ goonsgunworks
 
45 Dragoon said:
Cooldill, your spring is too light to be used in a stock revolver. There's way too much other stuff to do to make it work.
I still don't understand why it worked for me (with CCI #11s) but not you. That's the hardest cap that I know of, that's why I use them.

Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com
Follow me on Instagram @ goonsgunworks
Click to expand...
Maybe it's my Remington #10s? All I know is that I was experiencing about a 50% misfire rate even after seating them very firmly with a dowel rod. Hopefully these trick nipples help out with the ignition problems. I think I'll still through the heavier spring in there just to make sure they are getting whacked hard.
 
thanks cooldill sure appreciate that! :) yep mine is really hard to cock the hammer back and with having carpul tunnel in both wrists its tough to enjoy this pistol, its the reason I don't get it out much.
 
A light spring that works is a thing of beauty. Faster and easier to cock and less chance of peening of the nipples and hammer. I would really try just the nipples first. Actually I would try it in every combo and see which I like best. Just the new nipples first. Then just the new spring. Lastly new nipples + new spring.
 
I really don't care if it's faster to cock. I'm not a cowboy action shooter. I am more concerned with reliability.
 
Everyone has suggested trying the nipples (which I would as well) but you insist on changing the main spring no matter what. I've posted in this thread (twice now) that I didn't have any problems using #11 CCI caps (You even asked if it may be the caps you were using). I test every revolver I work on. I think its fine for you do what you think you need to do to make you happy. I even made a helpful suggestion that you would need to adjust the action stop when you replace the spring. If you would like me to set it up with a heavier main (no charge since it's my service) I would be happy to do so.

Thank you for your business,

Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com
Follow me on Instagram @ goonsgunworks
 
Last edited:
Sorry everyone! I didn't mean to offend. I'll take your advice and give it a try with the spring that came with the gun to see if it works right. If not, I'll try the (hopefully) heavier mainspring I bought. It appears that I probably should do that first, no doubt.
 
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