First time results, good, bad and ugly

[JBMauser]

Well the Ugly results were with balls that would seat with finger pressure.  The ones that shaved a small ring did very well.  20 to 25gr of Goex or Tripple 7 ran the bullet way down in there!  I would have had to put lube in with a tea spoon to fill the cavity.  This is a brass framed 1851 Pietta/cabella pistol and they packed a slip saying to load light if you want the thing to last.  I decided to top each load with about 10 gr by volume of cream of wheat.  I figured it would be a good tell tale for a double charge and also prevent chain fire and also set the bullet up near the end.  It worked out OK but a bit dusty to work with.  I may look at wads as well.  The problem I think I have is one of timing.  the cylinder has marks in the the steel where the bolt engraved the hollow next to the notch it is supposed to fill.  I think this is not good as Martha would say.  spent caps fouling the action was a real PITA and it will be worse under the Cowboy clock.  Coments welcomed.  JB

[ribbonstone]

Think the timing may be OK...the little thin lin at the middle leading to the notch isn't uncommon. Bolt just falling a bit early, it still rotates (leaving that drag line) and falls into the correct notch. Can test it by cocking the gun slowly, looking and feeling to see if the bolt has locked into the notch.

Definately better acccuracy with ball that chaves a bit of lead in being seating (and proabably a bit safer from a chain fire).  Tripple Seven packs in a bit tighter...smaller garins, so it kind of self compresses leaving more empty cylinder ahaead of the ball.  The corn meal works...felt wads would work as well, and are worth a try (but cost a good deal more than corn meal if that's an issue).

Yep.. do tend to catch busted caps...harder to keep that from happening with Tripple Seven as it seems to promote that kind of cap-managling.  Are some mechanical modifications that might help....but one simple solution (seeing as you don't much care how fast the ball is going) is to try some Pyrodex RS.  Might be a bit dirty, but would be low pressure...and that might keep the cap from fragmenting and jamming up the works.  Could also try a differnt brand of cap...seems like they would be the same, but it turns out there is a pretty wide variation in cup harness.

Mehcanically, if you look at the recoil shield, will see a little "ditch" cut into the shield leading away from the hammer slot.  IDea is that that ditch is supose to help carry away blow caps as the cylinder roates and let them dump out the right side.  BUT most reproductions (1) have that ditch too shallow (2) don't have that ditch lined up with the nipples (3) have sharp burred edges on the hammer's slot in the frame.  Take off the burrs aroudn the slit and make it into a slight radius...deepwn and polish that ditch, deeping it off center so that it lines up with the nipples better.

Found that some lighet mainsprings contribute to this...makes it easier to cock, but if too light, the caps tend to blwo back the hammer enough to fall off freely..and they tend to fall into the lockwork.

[JBMauser]

Thanks for the tip with RS that makes sense, as for the bolt problem, it is not drag, there is no line around the cylinder.  this is a gauge about .020 wide on the right side of the bolt groove.  It looks like the bolt is fatter than it's indent and it made it's own footprint.  The more I look at it the more I don't like it. JB

[JBMauser]

Thanks for the tip with RS that makes sense, as for the bolt problem, it is not drag, there is no line around the cylinder.  this is a gauge about .020 wide on the right side of the bolt groove.  It looks like the bolt is fatter than it's indent and it made it's own footprint.  The more I look at it the more I don't like it. JB

[ribbonstone]

OK...then it sounds like the bolt is falling so that it's hitting the cylinder right at the edge of the notch befor rotaing in that last little bit.

Steel in most repros is not all that hard, it's pretty soft.  Soft enough that the hard bolt does make a dent in the cylinder where it makes first (spring loaded) contact.  Farter out, no problem with the slight dent but it leaves a drag line. Right on the money would be nice, but if you cycle the action too quickly are likely to have the bolt rebound back out.

With a dissassembly diamgram, will notice the bolt is a split tailed part...each leg is stmepered to be a spring. One of the legs has a semi-circular nothc cut out that fits on an inclide wedge shaped stud on the hammer.  Idea is tha the stud rotates this leg, pulling the bolt down, and once it reaches the end of the semi-circular cut, the leg falls off the the bolt pops up.

IF the leg were a little (very little) shorter, it would pop up a bit earlier...if the semi-circle were a tiny bit deeper, would pop up a bit later.

Better to order a replacement bolt right now as you're likley to foul up your first attempt.  Personally, I'd lightly polish (not really remove any stock) and give it a try after that....if you want to have a go at cahnging the bolt, then work in terms of a few 1/1000ths at a time....just don't over heat it and ruin the temper.

[JBMauser]

That sounds about right.  the cylinder is well scored or cut by the bolt.  As this is the first 25 rounds, should I be talking to Cabellas about an RMA for repair or replacement or am I SOL and in repair mode.  I think I will call them in the morning.  JB

[Will52100]

I had a pietta 51' navy steel frame do the same thing.  The gun was fairly poorly finished, and would eat cylinder notches up.  I tried a new bolt, reshaping the old bolt, changing the timing, a new cylinder, but it keep eating up the notches, just like you said.  Never could figure out the problem.  It's now a parts gun.  I've got several Uberti's and Pietta's that show no sign of eating cylinder notches, I'm not a gunsmith so maybe it's a simple fix?  Me I'd send that sucker back.

[Full House]

From my research, it was a given practice (with a Colt cap n ball) to raise the muzzle skyward a little past 90 degrees when cocking after a spent chamber.  This allows the cap fragments to fall free of the working mechanism.

I do this with all my Colts (it becomes second-nature) and never have spent cap malfunctions.

[JBMauser]

I had heard of the muzzle up to free the cap motion but I think in Cowboy Action that would be a "foul" and send you packing.  I need to check on the rule I think it is like a 160 degree cone.  Thanks for the advice.  JB