Colt Navy

[BobJ]

My friend has a Colt Navy revolver, a real Colt, he got it in the late 70's early 80's. He said it was made on the original small frame, and that Colt only made them a year or two. Anyone familiar with this? If he wants to shoot it, what size balls and powder charge to use? He may be keeping it NIB as a collector's item, for all I know at this point, just told him I had to see it! From the other posts here, it seems .380 balls work best in .36 Piettas and Ubertis.

To hijack my own thread, I have 300 shots thru my Uberti 1860 Army, and still learning. Busted an armadillo with it (serious pests to horses and livestock around here). It takes a lot of paper punching to figure out how low to hold, the only bad part about this fantastic and amazing weapon. Ordering a ball mould .457 and Gatofeo lube components this week.

[Fingers McGee]

2nd Generation Colt 1851 Navies were made from 1971 through 1982 in two distinct series.  C Series from 1971 through 1977 (SN 4201 thru 24899) and F series from 1978 through 1982 (SN 24900 thru 29150).  The C series came in one of three boxes, depending on year of manufacture.  First was the black Colt clamshell box, then the two tone brown Colt clamshell box, then the woodgrained box with styrofoam inserts.  The F series guns all came inthe Black & Gold Authentic Colt box with foam rubber inserts. 

There were a few limited production runs of specific models of '51 Navies; the brass trigger guard C series, and blank cylinder F series as well as some engraved and cased set models.

Colt recommended use of the .380 balls for their .36 Caliber 2nd Gens.  My 2nd Gen 51 Navies and '61 Navies work best with .380 balls.  The .375s do not cut a good ring when loading, and sometimes back out of the chamber. .380 round balls can be gotten from bpstuffllc, log cabin shop, and other bp suppliers for a reasonable cost.

[coyotejoe]

When you say "small frame" that makes me wonder if you're referring to the 1862 "pocket navy". Does it have a five shot cylinder or six shot. If it's six shot, I never heard that there was more than one frame size for the 1851 Colt.
 As to your 1860, it is really not at all difficult to replace the front sight with a taller one so that it shoots where it's aimed. I find it well worth while to modify sights so that I can actually use them to hit things.

[AtlLaw]

As to your 1860, it is really not at all difficult to replace the front sight with a taller one so that it shoots where it's aimed.

After my range trip I started thinking about doing that to the Pietta 1860 Army.  After I work up the most accurate powder charge that is!   

How do you correct/replace the front sight?  Can you correct windage as well as elevation?   

[coyotejoe]

The front sight is a brass blade staked into a lengthwise keyway slot in the barrel. It can be removed by gripping it in a pair of side cutters as close as possible to the barrel. Gripping it very tightly just lever the cutter handles down to pry the blade up. If you only need it a bit higher you may get by with just lifting the rear of the blade without entirely removing it. You can make a new blade out of 1/8" thick brass barstock filed down to fit the keyway slot. Mine was shooting a bit to the left so I cut and filed a blade to a dogleg, the the above barrel portion offset to the left of the lower, keyway portion. The other alternative is to cut a dovetail slot across the barrel.  My 1860 shot to POA with the dogleg front sight but after adding the conversion cylinder I dovetailed the barrel to give me more options for zeroing various loads. Once zeroed I locked it in place with JB Weld.

[AtlLaw]

Great Joe!  Thanks!   

[BobJ]

Sorry for tardy reply, but got word back, my friend's Navy is an F series. It came without box. Now I need to figure out how to get my hands  on it, sure would like to shoot.

Fingers, TX for info. Amazing. CJ, will try to work on my sights. and thanks for info, I need to get the Navy and my 1860 Army side by side to compare.

[Gatofeo]

Who's selling Gatofeo lubricant?
The last guy I authorized to use my name closed shop two years ago or so.

[AtlLaw]

Who's selling Gatofeo lubricant?

I had to go back and look for that.     Looking for your royalties there Gatofeo?   

Since I got you, I was not happy with the B'wax/Crisco mix.     Gonna try B'wax/Tallow (deer & mutton) next.  Sumpin tells me ima gonna end up using yours... 

I'd like a 2d generation Navy.  But I really wish USFA would start makin the '51 and '61. 

[BobJ]

OOps, sorry gatofeo, the dixie patch lube is not Gatofeo lube and is not marketed as such. It is a Mutton tallow/beeswax mix, no paraffin added. Will see how it works on my wads, but I don't know how much paraffin to add to the old zip mix (the tallow/beeswax mix ratio is not mentioned). I may have to experiment and mix in some paraffin to achieve the stiffness you mention to scrape the fouling better. That's the closest I can come to the proper mix being unable to get ahold of the raw materials.

Thanks to everyone for your help.

[Fingers McGee]

To hijack my own thread, I have 300 shots thru my Uberti 1860 Army, and still learning. Busted an armadillo with it (serious pests to horses and livestock around here). It takes a lot of paper punching to figure out how low to hold, the only bad part about this fantastic and amazing weapon. Ordering a ball mould .457 and Gatofeo lube components this week.

Often, just opening up the sight notch in the hammer will bring your groups down to POA at 20 yds rather than the 75 yards they were made for.  Deepening the slot will lower the group and widening to one side or the other will move the POI left or right.  

FM

[AtlLaw]

I'd like a 2d generation Navy.  But I really wish USFA would start makin the '51 and '61.

I'll quote myself since I'm my favorite author!   

I emailed USFA.  Here's their response.

Richard
Sorry, we have no plans to produce percussion revolvers in the near future.

Visit our website:
www.usfirearms.com
US Fire Arms Mfg. Co.
100% American Made

PH:860-296-7441
Fax:860-296-7688
445-453 Ledyard St.
Hartford, CT 06114

[BobJ]

Never thought of that, Fingers. Makes sense, I will shoot until I have my loads perfected and grouping well before I do any filing.  I guess you lay the tip of the front sight in the bottom of the groove, in effect lowering the rear "sight."

[Fingers McGee]

You'd be surprised how much the POI will move just by making the notch wider and deeper.  The notch in the hammer is so small, just to be able to see the front sight post/blade at all, you're pointing the barrel skyward.

FM

[BobJ]

Sounds logical. I will study that carefully this weekend.

[Gatofeo]

Atlaw wrote:
I had to go back and look for that.     Looking for your royalties there Gatofeo?   
Since I got you, I was not happy with the B'wax/Crisco mix.     Gonna try B'wax/Tallow (deer & mutton) next.  Sumpin tells me ima gonna end up using yours... 

I never received any royalties, though a verbal agreement was made. Not one cent.

I haven't tried the beeswax/Crisco mix myself. The finest tallow I've found remains mutton tallow. I've tried deer, bear, elk, bacon, pork, turkey, suet, lard and probably a few others I've forgotten. I always come back to mutton tallow because it works the best and never goes rancid while in storage.

Dixie Gun Works' "Ol Zip Patch Grease" is good stuff. I don't know what the proportions of beeswax and mutton tallow are, but you could add perhaps a Tablespoon of canning paraffin to the can  and it would be a good start. Or use it as-is; it certainly won't hurt anything.

The recipe for Gatofeo No. 1 Lubricant remains:
1 part mutton tallow, 1 part canning paraffin and 1/2 part beeswax. All measurements are by weight, not volume.

[AtlLaw]

The recipe for Gatofeo No. 1 Lubricant remains:
1 part mutton tallow, 1 part canning paraffin and 1/2 part beeswax. All measurements are by weight, not volume.

I think I'll just mix up some with mutton and some with deer tallow and see if I can tell any difference.  Maybe I just mixed to much Crisco with the b'wax, but by the time I had fired a few rounds the rest of the stuff in the remaining cylinders was melting.   

I wonder what the paraffin does the b'wax doesn't?

Is your mixture soft enough to scoop some out with a finger?