Colt 1860 Army..strange marks on cylinder?????

[Skinny 1950]

I recently bought an 1860 Army .44 cal. made in mid 1862 and while examining the cylinder I noticed some strange marks on the areas between the nipples. The pictures show a stratified pattern which is similar on all the chambers,I am wondering if anyone has seen this before and also what caused it.
The gun's timing and lock-up is excellent and there is no side to side play on lock-up, the bolt and notches on the cylinder are is very good condition.
Any ideas on this welcome.

 

[mooncoon]

I am pretty sure that at some point there has been a lock up problem and the marks are made by the hammer striking the side of the nipple recess. Noteworthy that the marks are all on one side of the recesses

cheers mooncoon

 

[trevj]

That sounds plausible enough to me, though there are marks to both sides of the nipple on a couple of them.

Some time spent as a kids toy, perhaps?

Cheers
Trev

 

[oldiron]

How does the Hammer look? (if original). I think the hammer would be beat to rat-schlit before it could do all that to a cyl. Maybe someone machining for some reason? I looked at some, 49's,51,60's,62's, some very worn, and no marks even started like that. Nipples look in good condition too. Dunno. Bill..

 

[Skinny 1950]

Here is a picture of the hammer and the bolt...both in very good shape. The metal on the rear of the cylinder is not peened it is gone.
I posted the same pictures on an American gun forum and it was suggested that the old mercury fulminate caps were highly corrosive and this could be the result of flame cutting/corrosion.

 

[H Wally]

I was thinking it might have been corrosion - seensomething similar on the frame of an 1849. If the iron is good quality it might also be more likely to corrode like that - think of the old iron you find rusting away under ground - it often has similar layers.

It's odd it shows the same pattern for every recess though - consistantly more wear on one side than the other. I wonder if it's a combo of somewhat rough machining and corrosion. The rough machining would initially be the reason for the shelves, then the corrosion would exagerate it?

 

[John Sukey]

There should be little pins in those areas for the hammer to rest on so you can carry a fully loaded cylinder without the hammer resting on a nipple. Note the slot in the hammer face.
The rust is due to neglect to clean the revolver after using it.

 

[mooncoon]

I am sure you would not get selective corrosion from fouling or priming residue, like the pattern you have. Corrosion would give you a pattern like the hammer face. If the hammer face was case hardened, it might not distort that much or the hammer might have been replaced long ago. I would be suspicious of a broken spring on the cylinder lock allowing the cylinder to be out of position.

cheers mooncoon

 

[oldiron]

There should be little pins in those areas for the hammer to rest on so you can carry a fully loaded cylinder without the hammer resting on a nipple. Note the slot in the hammer face.
The rust is due to neglect to clean the revolver after using it.

I had noticed the lack of saftey pins, even when worn completly out, you can still see signs of where the pins were. Is there any SN. on the cylinder?

 

[Skinny 1950]

The cylinder has the last four digits of the serial number on it,they are faint but present,here is a picture of the cylinder showing the condition of the notches: