2nd Gen Colt 1851 Navy.

p53Enfield

p53Enfield

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I have found myself a nice, cased 2nd Gen 1851 in .36 Cal. Do they shoot well enough for serious blackpoder competition work, or are they a dog...? Should i sell it on, and find something else? Would appreciate your comments.....
 
Some say that the 1851 Colt is the best pointing gun there is,your second generation should be a good shooter. It might take a bit of experimentation to work up the best load for it.
I have tried Goex FFFG and Triple Seven (777) and prefer the Goex as there is far less carbon fouling. When using the 777 I had to completely disassemble the gun after about 100 shots as the carbon got into the trigger works and jammed it up.
A good place to start would be 15 grains Goex FFFG and put corn-meal on top of the powder leaving enough room for the ball. The ball should be flush with the top of the cylinder put some vegetable shortening around the ball to prevent chain-fires.
If you find you don't like the gun send me a PM and if I have any money at the time I will buy it.
 
Oh no, those guns are just awful, I might have to take it off your hands just to be a good neighbour you know ;-) Hehehe. Sounds great, I think you will be very happy.
 
p53Enfield here is a Question and it is no way meant to impune the quality of your gun:
Were the 2'nd Gen 1851's made by Colt or Colt Blackpowder Firearms Co.???
Just curious as I seem to remember something about this. Is the box marked or maybe even the gun???
 
Colt Blackpowder Arms Company..that is it,here is a link to a detailed discussion on this matter:
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=248553
 
Colt 2nd gen guns

I've got a 2nd gen. .36 Navy and a 3rd .44 Model Dragoon. The Dragoon is a delight, the only open top revolver I have had any use for.
The Navy over rotated on a 'speed ####'. Had it worked on and it was fine - unloaded. With the extra mass of a loaded cylinder, it still over rotates. I'll give it one more go and if it doesn't perform, it's on the block. Pretty gun, hate to see it go. My pals with Uberti/Armi spaghetti Navy's have no issues with them.

Finally got around to shooting a spaghetti 9" Paterson I've had for years. PITA as it has to be disassembled to load and cap, but it put 10 rds into 2 1/2" at 15 yards! This one I'll sell/trade for another Dragoon or a good .36 Navy.
 
Sharps 63....sounds like the cylinder bolt is not timed right. If you take the cylinder off and pull back the hammer the bolt should start moving into the frame right away and be fully retracted about one third the way to half ####. Pull the hammer to full #### and see when the bolt springs up..it should snap up just as you reach full ####.
You probably know all this but I thought I would mention it in case you didn't.
Does the cylinder lock in place when cocked slowly??? If so it could be a weak Trigger/Bolt flat spring.
 
1851display.jpg


this was my baby.. Zero'd to 100m and would hit what you aimed at. Could never figure out why a 160 year old gun could hit a 100m target with a round ball but my new fangled autos wouldn't..

I still regret selling that gun.

- Dave.
 
.36 Navy

Skinny - Yep, came to the same conclusion after conferring with the local 'experts'. The guy that 'fixed it' once before wants another crack at it.

Dave - sweet looking '51! I think we all have a list of guns we wish we had kept.
However, it's a renewable resource and our toys will belong to someone else someday - just as we acquired them from others.
 
Broken spring

Took my 2nd Gen '51 Navy apart and the two-pronged locking bolt/trigger spring was broken - again. Gonna hafta lay in a supply .....
I had a spare on hand (stainless) and after some fitting, the gun is operational. It required shortening of the trigger arm by 1/16th". Learned from Chicoine's book that the tension for the bolt arm is from 5 to 5 1/2 lbs and for the trigger arm 1-1/2 lbs.

With no way to check this, I simply tested for function and timing. Now backattherange ..... tomorrow.
 
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