New 1851 Navy

686 Shooter

686 Shooter

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She just arrived yesterday, and of course it is raining today. :mad: So I'm in the house on the net. Anyway, here is my new revolver. I cant wait to get it out to the range.

 
Congrats! Percussion revolvers are lots of fun. I recently purchased a Ruger Old Army but circumstances have not allowed me to shoot it yet. Have you had previous experience shooting this type of firearm?

SJ
 
My first black powder gun was a repro 1851 Navy. Could not hit much but it was so much fun. Everyone on the range had to quit shooting after I would fire my six shots. After the third time i had reloaded I was asked by an old time "what kind of dirty harry magnum gun is that?".

Cheers. SJ
 
I've a 1851 Navy repro Pietta; I'd say they are much more of a ' Natural pointing ' pistol than the Ruger. I had a Ruger and got rid of it, too big and no Panache.
The Ruger fan's will flame me on it, but it's how I found the comparison of the two.
Personally I find the 1851 to be a good shooter too,enjoy your new purchase and be careful.
Stay safe
Tokguy
 
Well good on you and welcome to the club, odd coincidence really as I got one just about a year ago and fired it for first time today.
However after 20 or 30 rounds the hand spring crapped out �� Now I will be posting on this subject as well.

I have replaced the nipples with stainless slick shot ones from track of the wolf and would recommend this as it aids in the nipples blowing down into the action ( but does not completely eliminate the problem)
 
686 Shooter said:
She just arrived yesterday, and of course it is raining today. :mad: So I'm in the house on the net. Anyway, here is my new revolver. I cant wait to get it out to the range.

Click to expand...

I just bought a Remington myself, to fulfill a desire to recapture my youth, when I owned my first Remington in the 70s.

I've looked longingly at Marstar's other Piettas and decided that my next would be one of the .44 cal. 1851 Navies.

These were rare variants and used "unobtanium" cylinders back in the 1850s and 1860s. :rolleyes:

I would like to get a .58 Pedersoli Zouave to go with it, as my personal post-civil war fantasy presentation.

Also, a musket flask, Green River knife, puffy-sleeve pull-over shirt, black boots, and a low-crown flat brim plains hat.

Oh yes, use #10 Remington-made caps from Cabela's. They fit snugly on the nipples. #11 CCI work, but you need to squeeze them a bit so that do not fall off.
 
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I just bought the pietta 1951, .44 from Questar, they had some NOS from a close out purchase, ( still have one) , what other gear do we need to get started, loading gear, bore butter,cleaning gear etc. Also I guess there are YouTube videos on loading/ care of them!? Thanks.
 
Bob, there's oodles of videos on YT. Just stick "black powder revolver reloading" in the search line on the YT page and watch a bunch of them.

One thing that you'll find on these unless they've got around to fixing them is the front sight bead is way too short for close in shooting. Write ups on this suggest that they are sighted in for out around 100 yards or that they are sighted for out around 50 yards but you're supposed to aim at the guy's horse and the guns are set to hit the rider when sighted this way along with other tales of wondrous dreaming. But bottom line is that for us folk shooting closer in at paper which isn't sitting on the back of a horse that the front sight is WAY too short and the guns shoot crazy high.

As a result I've replaced the front sights on my 1860's and my 1851 with taller front sights and then trimmed them until I got them sighted in for around 15 yards.

The other thing I did for older eyes attempting to see the barely visible shallow "v" on the hammer is to use a small needle file on edge and form a nice "U" notch. This was done in small stages using a very thin file with the teeth on the face ground off so it cut more like a fine saw blade. The resulting improvement in sight picture is all that us old semi blink guys that need reading glasses could ask for. If you qualify for that sort of club I can assure you that you'll be way happier with your new gun if you can do these sight mods or are willing to pay a local smith to do them.

In the meantime if it does shoot high use a felt marker to put an aiming point on the center of the lower edge of your targets so the shot group lands somewhere in the middle.

Do a bit of searching to find out which caps are the right size for your Pietta's nipples. It makes a huge difference. Also learn to roll your hand over strongly to the right when cocking the hammer to encourage the cap shards to fall off to the side instead of down into the hammer well.

For loading you'll want a flask with the powder valve on top along with the proper size screw in spout that measures out your charge of powder. You didn't say if it is the proper Navy .36 caliber or the fictitious, but oh so fun to shoot .44 version. That matters. But either way you can use 3Fg powder and it'll be suitable.

The other problem is finding a source for round ball that fits. Again do some searches on YOUR gun and find out if they do better with .454 or .457 size ball. You want to be able to shave off a light ring of lead as you ram the ball home but not to where it feels like it wants to snap off the loading lever.

It is round ball that made me finally get into casting. They want way more for round ball than for lubed bullets these days. So depending on how much you shoot your new toy keep it in mind. If you'll only go through a couple of hundred per year I wouldn't bother. But if you really get into it give it some thought.
 
BCRider said:
Bob, there's oodles of videos on YT. Just stick "black powder revolver reloading" in the search line on the YT page and watch a bunch of them.

One thing that you'll find on these unless they've got around to fixing them is the front sight bead is way too short for close in shooting. Write ups on this suggest that they are sighted in for out around 100 yards or that they are sighted for out around 50 yards but you're supposed to aim at the guy's horse and the guns are set to hit the rider when sighted this way along with other tales of wondrous dreaming. But bottom line is that for us folk shooting closer in at paper which isn't sitting on the back of a horse that the front sight is WAY too short and the guns shoot crazy high.

As a result I've replaced the front sights on my 1860's and my 1851 with taller front sights and then trimmed them until I got them sighted in for around 15 yards.

The other thing I did for older eyes attempting to see the barely visible shallow "v" on the hammer is to use a small needle file on edge and form a nice "U" notch. This was done in small stages using a very thin file with the teeth on the face ground off so it cut more like a fine saw blade. The resulting improvement in sight picture is all that us old semi blink guys that need reading glasses could ask for. If you qualify for that sort of club I can assure you that you'll be way happier with your new gun if you can do these sight mods or are willing to pay a local smith to do them.

In the meantime if it does shoot high use a felt marker to put an aiming point on the center of the lower edge of your targets so the shot group lands somewhere in the middle.

Do a bit of searching to find out which caps are the right size for your Pietta's nipples. It makes a huge difference. Also learn to roll your hand over strongly to the right when cocking the hammer to encourage the cap shards to fall off to the side instead of down into the hammer well.

For loading you'll want a flask with the powder valve on top along with the proper size screw in spout that measures out your charge of powder. You didn't say if it is the proper Navy .36 caliber or the fictitious, but oh so fun to shoot .44 version. That matters. But either way you can use 3Fg powder and it'll be suitable.

The other problem is finding a source for round ball that fits. Again do some searches on YOUR gun and find out if they do better with .454 or .457 size ball. You want to be able to shave off a light ring of lead as you ram the ball home but not to where it feels like it wants to snap off the loading lever.

It is round ball that made me finally get into casting. They want way more for round ball than for lubed bullets these days. So depending on how much you shoot your new toy keep it in mind. If you'll only go through a couple of hundred per year I wouldn't bother. But if you really get into it give it some thought.
Click to expand...
Thanks, good info, I spent a couple hours last night looking at yet videos, got some good info,cheek like its .454 but I will confirm that, got any names for good flasks/ spouts? I understand there are stainless nipples available that are better quality and are easier to remove etc? Thanks again.
 
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Finally got my 1851, very nice indeed, looking forward to getting dirty with her! I have one problem, the hasp under the front of the barrel that holds the plunger handle, fell out of its dovetail groove!! I just felt something fall in my lap luckily! How should I fit that back in? Use a chisel/ pin punch and tap the edge of the dovetail, a tiny dab of JB weld. Locktite! Not a big deal but wondering what would be best.
 
On the topic of flasks. I've got three that came with the different guns I've bought. Because I didn't actually "pay" for any of them I have no "buyer's loyalty".

There's a large oval, smaller oval and the smallest is the short round CVA flask. The other two are so generic and seen under so many brands I can't tell you which name to look for. But I've seen both sizes at Wholesale and Cabela's at different times as their black powder stock fluctuates. But most outfits that handle black powder supplies have these same flasks. There's really nothing magical about one over the other.

The idea of stainless measures isn't a bad idea. But because I dispense straight from the flask to the steel cylinders I'm a bit leery of the idea of steel against steel. Even if one of the steels is something with a very low spark risk. The brass spouts do get a little discoloured but it's not a big deal. When it gets really bad after a couple of years I clean them. Otherwise it's called "patina".... :d

The valves all work just as well from one to the other. No advantage one way or the other. The measuring tips all share the same threading so they are all universal to swap from one to the other. I've got a long 30gn spout, a shorter and more stubby 30gn and a 20gn. The two 30's are just as good as each other. But if you have shorter fingers the "short and stubby" would be better as you don't need to reach.

The ONLY advantage I find between the three flasks is that I really like the screw on caps of the round CVA style "pipe" flask. The only downside is that the one I have is the smallest one I have. I can't quite get through a day of cowboy action shooting with it doling out 60 charges of 30gns at a time. So I use one of the oval flasks that has the somewhat pesky three set screws I have to carefully loosen to lift the top and let me pour from the bottle into the flask. And which needs to be carefully set back to line up the set screws to the undersize holes in the thin stamped metal of the flask body.

So no really hard suggestions here. Take what you read and buy what you figure fits your situation. Likely as not the easily filled round tubing style with the threaded end caps will work like a charm for your needs. Few of us are prepared to load and shoot more than 50 rounds of cap and ball revolver at one session. And if you are one that stays for the day and shoots more than 50 simply bring along a bottle of 3fg and refill the flask. It's so easy to do with the neatly threaded end caps that it's not a big deal at all.

The catch in the dove tail should be shimmed to give it a snug fit that requires tapping it into place with firm love taps from a brass drift and hammer. The shim being one that fits only on the flat inner surface between the bottom face of the fitting and the bottom of the dovetail cutout. It would not be out of the question to stake it in place with a hardened punch or a slightly rounded over chisel point to go along with the good firm fit.
 
Nice gun
I sold a unfired Uberti New Model Remington 1858 in the box last December and now I want another Uberti.
The Colt models are beauty's but I like having the top strap and the ability to convert it to cartridge.
 
Shot my .44 Remmies for the first time today in our monthly CAS event. Had one cap that needed a 2nd hit in four stages. I'll be shooting them against the Colt "wedgies" that show up at our July annual event.
I've owned or currently own all the "wedgies" from the .31 Wells Fargo (for sale) to the '47 Walker. Only one I want to retain is the Colt 2nd Gen 3rd Model Dragoon. It works, never fails and hits hard, but for me, it's a two-paw gun and I shoot "Double Duelist".
 
BCRider said:
On the topic of flasks. I've got three that came with the different guns I've bought. Because I didn't actually "pay" for any of them I have no "buyer's loyalty".

There's a large oval, smaller oval and the smallest is the short round CVA flask. The other two are so generic and seen under so many brands I can't tell you which name to look for. But I've seen both sizes at Wholesale and Cabela's at different times as their black powder stock fluctuates. But most outfits that handle black powder supplies have these same flasks. There's really nothing magical about one over the other.

The idea of stainless measures isn't a bad idea. But because I dispense straight from the flask to the steel cylinders I'm a bit leery of the idea of steel against steel. Even if one of the steels is something with a very low spark risk. The brass spouts do get a little discoloured but it's not a big deal. When it gets really bad after a couple of years I clean them. Otherwise it's called "patina".... :d

The valves all work just as well from one to the other. No advantage one way or the other. The measuring tips all share the same threading so they are all universal to swap from one to the other. I've got a long 30gn spout, a shorter and more stubby 30gn and a 20gn. The two 30's are just as good as each other. But if you have shorter fingers the "short and stubby" would be better as you don't need to reach.

The ONLY advantage I find between the three flasks is that I really like the screw on caps of the round CVA style "pipe" flask. The only downside is that the one I have is the smallest one I have. I can't quite get through a day of cowboy action shooting with it doling out 60 charges of 30gns at a time. So I use one of the oval flasks that has the somewhat pesky three set screws I have to carefully loosen to lift the top and let me pour from the bottle into the flask. And which needs to be carefully set back to line up the set screws to the undersize holes in the thin stamped metal of the flask body.

So no really hard suggestions here. Take what you read and buy what you figure fits your situation. Likely as not the easily filled round tubing style with the threaded end caps will work like a charm for your needs. Few of us are prepared to load and shoot more than 50 rounds of cap and ball revolver at one session. And if you are one that stays for the day and shoots more than 50 simply bring along a bottle of 3fg and refill the flask. It's so easy to do with the neatly threaded end caps that it's not a big deal at all.

The catch in the dove tail should be shimmed to give it a snug fit that requires tapping it into place with firm love taps from a brass drift and hammer. The shim being one that fits only on the flat inner surface between the bottom face of the fitting and the bottom of the dovetail cutout. It would not be out of the question to stake it in place with a hardened punch or a slightly rounded over chisel point to go along with the good firm fit.
Click to expand...
Thanks, it slides out one side only and is quite snug while in there but I can push it out with my finger, so I will find some thin shim material and then give it a tap to hold the little buggar in place. I think I will strip it anyway and see if anything needs stoning or tidying up while I clean an lube everything! The more I look at it the more I like it!
 
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