Shootin snubbies??

[Andrew Quigley]

Hello the fire!!

 I got me a Pietta 1860 Army snubnose a couple years back and shoot it at some of our cowboy matches. Just curious if anybody else shot these much?
 Made my own cylinder loading stand and it makes loading a whole lot easier than that brass tool the send ya!

[StrawHat]

I have a 3" barrelled 1860 that I use quite a bit.

Mine likes either black powder, a wad and round ball or 777, wad and RB.

Groups about the same with both loads but the 777 seems to be a much stouter loading.

The addition of the higher front sight has helped a lot,(iit still needs to be filed down some.)

The other revolver in the photo is a clone 1862 Pocket Police, another sweet shooter.

[Andrew Quigley]

Those are two fine looking pistols. For the longest time I didn't want anything but long barreled pistols. But after picking up the snubbie c&b I find myself leaing more towards the  shorter barrel.
 Still like a long barreled rifle though.

[simonkenton]

I have a home made snubbie. I have a Pietta 1860 Army. The damn thing was just too muzzle heavy for me. I didn't see the need for the loading lever, so I took it off. That helped. Then I got out my Sawzall and cut the barrel down to four inches. It handles a lot better now.
I built a homemade loading lever from pine, works real well.
Then, I bought one of those Uberti Cattleman model 73 Colts in cap and ball. It came with a nice loading machine and I use that now for my Pietta.
I saw where someone did the ballistics, you don't lose that much muzzle velocity going from an 8 inch to a 4 inch barrel. I know I wouldn't want to get hit with it.

[StrawHat]

The 1860 in the photo started as an 8" gun.  A half hour or so with a jigsaw, file and some cold blue took care of the excess length.  About the same with a dremel and a file added the front sight.

What may not show up in the photo is that the front sight is cut to the "sourdough" configuration, one of my two favorite sights.

I am now in the process of fitting new grips to both of these, I guess all of my guns can be considered works in progress.

[simonkenton]

I mean, if you had a $800 Sig you would be a fool to do this "home gunsmithing."
But with a $180 Italian repro, who cares? Get out the hacksaw and get to work! It is fun.

[biermkr]

In addition to that just pick an extra "replacement barrel" and presto-INTERCHANGABLE

[Andrew Quigley]

I had to restrain myself the other day from buying another and makin a snubbie out of it.  Plan on gettin another one but just not yet.