The "Sheriff's Model" 1860 Rides Again On a Brand New Hoss.

[Ugly Sauce]

Well you seen her before, and she probably looks just the same. But if you were a Peeping Tom Turkey with X-Ray eyes, you would be amazed. My old wreck of a 1860 that I've had forever. I got to thinking one day how cool it would be to have it rebuilt into a fine tuned machine. So, I turned it over to Mr. Jack Rabbit.

He done some things I tells ya, things I can't explain. Arbors and forcing cones and barrel/cylinder gaps, frame milling, timing, hand building up, torsion springs, action stops, shields and swords, (maybe not swords) cap posts, Ruger type hand plunger things and springs. Dang!!!!

As you might guess, she operates and feels like an old Smith and Wesson. And I mean old as in hand fitted pre-CNC Smith and Wesson.

The field test was not exciting. I'm down to my last few Rem#11 caps, which are the only ones that fit perfectly. Seems like I shot it last with CCI#11's, but man they was tight, and a struggle to get on. Just need to turn those cones down a little bit in the drill press. Won't take much to get a good fit with the CCI's, which I have a bunch of.

I couldn't find any round-ball, and the only slugs I had were not pure lead, so they didn't shoot the best. The gun shot perfectly, the hard slugs, not so perfectly. For fun I shot at 50 yards. Funny how shooting a little left or right at 25 gets magnified at 50. So she was hitting a little bit (like almost a foot) to the right. However, if I was the Sheriff shooting at a Comanchero at 50 yards, and I was aiming at his right arm, I think all six shots would have landed in the upper torso of said Comanchero...if he didn't get me first! I have a ball mold somewhere will have to dig it out. Also have the mold for the 200 grain slug, so I'll cast up some with pure lead...and do some serious shooting.

So, kudos to Jack, he got way more than he bargained for taking on this wreck, but she ain't a wreck no more. Man it is CRISP! When he first looked at it, it was like: "do you want to proceed?"!! But I was like, yeah, Can't afford to buy a new gun, and wind up having to have it tuned...so do what you gotta do! And he did. And a fine job it is

The 1860 says: "thanks for listening".

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

Thanks Ugly Sauce! Appreciate the good word.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

You did good. Hope it was worth it to ya!

 

[Blackpowderwarrior]

Thats a sweet little shooter! Didn't you say it was a Armi san Paolo?

I'm sure Mr.JackRabbit did it justice and showed her lots of love.

What are your chamber dimensions on the pistol?
On my older Armi san Marco 1860 a .454 rb is to small and a .457 RB is almost too small. The .457 gets seated into the chamber and shows minimal if any lead ring fetting cut when ramming the ball home.

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

You did good. Hope it was worth it to ya!

Always worth it to have a happy customer in in the long run, so far my only advertising has been word of mouth through this forum.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Thats a sweet little shooter! Didn't you say it was a Armi san Paolo?

I'm sure Mr.JackRabbit did it justice and showed her lots of love.

What are your chamber dimensions on the pistol?
On my older Armi san Marco 1860 a .454 rb is to small and a .457 RB is almost too small. The .457 gets seated into the chamber and shows minimal if any lead ring fetting cut when ramming the ball home.

Oh yeah, the JackRabbit did far more work than was initially planned. The action is so "crisp" now. The hammer used to come back at least another 1/4" after the cylinder locked up...so nice to have perfect timing now. Before it was well worn and loose as a goose. Yes it is a Armi San Paolo/DGG.

I've never checked my chamber and bore dimensions. Afraid to look! But it's always been an accurate pistol. I used to shoot .452" balls in it, which were tight but did not cut a ring. Recently I began using the LEE 200 grain slug, which comes out of my mold at .450", but seem to seat nice and tight. Today I plan to dig out a ball-mold which I'm pretty sure I have, (I have a ton of molds) but I don't remember what size ball it throws. A .454" would probably be perfect for this pistol, but I suspect it's probably a 451-.452" mold.

Today is also "size the nipples down to fit the CCI caps-day". Should be able to get a perfect fit, which will be good as I have over 1K of them thar caps. But with the pistol now in better-than-out-of-the-box tune, I won't hesitate to try/buy some different nips if I don't get good results turning these cones down.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Just finished with the cones. Fast and easy-peasy, chucked them in the big drill press, took a needle file and emery paper to them and got an absolutely perfect fits with the CCI#11's. One interesting thing, the size of the cones to begin with was all over the chart. A couple just needed polishing with the paper, the rest needed a varying amount of file. I also think these cones/nipples are a bit too soft. Don't remember what brand, just stainless nips from TOW. Not Tesco or Slix-Shots. Again, no worry, I'll gladly spend some bucks on different cones for this pistol, to get a perfect set. These must have been the bargain basement brand. ? Okay, found my molds, so I'll wait to shoot again until I have cast up some pure lead slugs and balls, which I should be able to do today. If I can gather all my stuff!!

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Dang! I'm on a roll. The balls cast out to .454-.455", that should be a good thing. In the middle of a serious thunder storm, so won't be shooting until Monday.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Range Report: This was at 35 yards, sitting in a lawn-chair, crossing one leg over my knee and using the other knee as a rest. !! The first six shots was with the 200 grain LEE slug over 27 grains of 4fg. I aimed at the lower and left side of the plate. Then I reloaded with six ball over 35 grains of 3fg, but aimed bottom center of the plate. So they (round ball) don't shoot as far right as the slugs. I'll probably go with the ball, as it's faster to reload, and shoots more on center. At 25 yards she seems to shoot "on", (or has in the past) or at least the group is only a hair to the right.

All the ball and slug I cast up yesterday, turned out to be harder lead than I thought, (much harder) so this morning I cast up a new batch of ball out of what I know is pure lead. The pure lead ball seems to average out at .454" depending where I measure. The mold I have does not seem to cast the "roundest" ball I've ever seen. However, I think that after it's rammed down, and then kicked out, they are as round as the are gonna get, so it does not matter. Found a spent ball, and it had a nice wide shank-section.

She's a joy to shoot. STILL getting used to the perfect crisp action!! Different! Although I could shoot some bragging groups at 25 yards, I plan to shoot this and my Remington New Model Army of Navy caliber at 50 yards for a while, just for fun, and have the confidence that I can engage targets at that distance should I need to. If that makes any sense! Or to put it another way, if I'm confident that I can hit a wolf size target at 50, anything closer will be a walk in the park. A piece of cake. Done deal. Hold my beer!

 

[Blackpowderwarrior]

Good shooting brother! Your a dangerous man with a 6 gun