Author Topic: Just lost my faith in Pietta (Read 1581 times)

willysjeep134 · « **on:** January 14, 2006, 05:23:27 PM »

I have been the owner of a Pietta "Buffalo" .44 remington for many years now. I shoot on average about a can of powder every two years through it. I wouldn't say I abuse this revolver, but it has had a few subtle problems.

The first problem is that the nipples that came with it are getting mushroomed. The mushroomed nipples didn't allow me to seat a cap all the way, so I would get a lot of missfires. Also, the caps, not being supported all around when they went off, would blow off the nipple and the flash would jerk the hammer back. When this problem was at it's worst it would unlock the cylinder. Not much more force would have brought the revolver to half cock! I turned down the mushroomed ends of the nipples and this problem has gone away.

Second, when the hammer was being violently thrown back (even with 15 grain loads) the hand was taking a serious beating. I broke the spring in cleaning one time and Pietta sent me a replacement free of charge, but the spring should not have lost its set in the first place.

Third, just today I was shooting some 30 grain Pyrodex and 200 grain conical loads. On shot number five the stud for the loading lever catch popped off. I found it in the snow, thankfully. It looks like it was resistance welded on there. Only about 20% of the surface of the bottom of the stud was actually welded by the looks of things, the other part must not have stuck as well. I managed to soft solder the stud back on, but I am afraid I might need to send it to a gunsmith and have it silver soldered if it lets loose again.

Pietta must have been having some metalurgy problems when they built my revolver. They have been pretty good at sending replacement parts when I have asked, but I don't like the fact that I have had all of these problems in the first place! I am planning on getting a new set of higher quality nipples, and that should completely remove the excessive flash and damage to the hand.

Right now I have trimmed my flask loading spout down to 27 grains. I was shooting over a chrony today with a peice of cardboard infront of it to block the smoke. With 30 grains of Pyrodex P and a 200 grain Lee conical I was getting on average 920FPS. I didn't have enough time to try my newly trimmed 27 grain loads, perhaps tomorrow.

gmatov · « **Reply #1 on:** January 14, 2006, 08:42:42 PM »

Talk to MEC. Only one here I know who has a chrony.

It sounds to me like you are shooting way more than the 27 to 30 grs you say you are.

You are pushing a 140 gr round ball with bigger loads of BP or subs at a lower velocity.

To get 920 from 27 to 30 grs doesn't sound right, with a 200 gr bullet. Silly question, are you weighing the charge, or measuring with a BP measure, by volume?

All the back blast, the hammer near reaching half-cock seems to be both an overcharge and worn nipple holes, eroded too much, should be about .028, some even smaller to "concentrate" the flame. Same with the cylinder being "unlocked", the hammer is being blown back to near half cock and, you know, when you reach near half-cock, you can turn the cylinder.

You have either extreme loads, I don't care what you say you are loading, or badly eroded nipples, a wide open hole in them to allow way too much powder gas to come out the nipple holes.

Cheers,

George

Curiousity, What year 134 F-head do/did you have? Mine was a '52 CJ3B. Pulled loaded trailer trucks up icy hills with it. Great machine.

Remington Kid · « **Reply #2 on:** January 15, 2006, 01:11:24 AM »

There is no doubt that you have been useing way to much powder or your Rem is creating way to much preasure for some reason. I agree with George 100% here .There is no way that 15g of any powder is going to allow the hammer to blow back unless someone has reduced that hammer spring down to a bobbie pin and your shooting some kind of smokeless powder :?
I have been shooting 40g of Goex with 200g conicals many times from my Rem. 44 with no problems at all. The blast hurts your ears and raises the gun in the air so that someone would think your shooting a 44 mag. Never had a bit of trouble . In fact, my normal loads run 35-40g of Pyrodex "P" and a 454 ball and I shoot more than the average bear and have done so for several years with both of my Remingtons.

alpini · « **Reply #3 on:** January 15, 2006, 04:17:58 AM »

I think too much powder shooting those conicals. Lots of pressure. I'd go back to shooting round ball or lower the charge some as others have suggested. I'd try about 20 with the conicals to begin.

As for nipple mushrooming, just buy new ones. I find the aftermarket nipples to be a much better product than the originals that came with the gun. (I never dry fire a percussion as a rule of thumb)

Maybe you could peen the lever catch in place, that would be the cheapest route.

Hand springs are a common breakage on many percussion revolvers and not just Pietta's. As cheap as they are, I'd buy two. No big deal.

willysjeep134 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 16, 2006, 02:44:56 PM »

I will say this, when I e-mailed pietta about the hand spring they sent me a free replacement. That was a few years ago and I haven't had any problems in that department since.

As to the powder charges, I got the same exact results with the hammer blowing back using any charge from 20 grains of FFg Elephant as measured by a brass click type pistol powder measure to 30 grains of Pyrodex P as measured by a 30 grain flask spout with both roundballs and conicals. I have since cut the flask spout down to 26 grains and I now get on average about 890fps from Pyrodex P. Remember too, my revolver has a foot long barrel, which I think accounts for the extra velocity.

I don't think the gun is being overloaded, I just think the junky nipples are eroded out too much. I know aftermarkets will solve that problem. I took the factory nipples out once and chucked them in my lathe. I turned a slight chamfer onto each one and turned down the mushrooming and the problem went away for a while.
h
My soft solder job seems to be holding on the stud after about a dozen shots.

willysjeep134 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 16, 2006, 03:40:13 PM »

I just got struck with a bolt of inspiration. I remember that whenever I load my revolver I see a little powder dribble out of the nipple! If the nipples don't allow the caps to seat all the way, and let powder dribble into the flash channel and cap, maybe the hammer gets blown back not from the chamber pressure but from the explosion of the loose powder in the cap! It's like shooting ultra-ultra hot caps. It would explain why I get problems no matter how light the load, and it would explain why turning the nipples and allowing the caps to seat all the way seems to lessen the problem.

So, does anybody know where I can get a good set of replacement nipples?

gmatov · « **Reply #6 on:** January 18, 2006, 12:52:07 AM »

First, you are seeing that dribble while you are priming and seating the ball.

When you point the muzzle down to cap, powder is not dribbling into the cap. So you aren't having a mini-explosion under the cap before the flame front hits the main charge.

Turning the nipples down to fit the caps better, I would say, is in your head, that the blowback doesn't occur till they get mushed over again.

If you have or can get some small drill bits, try them in the flash holes till you find one that is close and mike it. Or even look through the hole. I'd bet you are up near .050 in size, and that would be approximately 3 times the are of a .028 hole. TONS of gas coming out the wrong end.

As far as the super light spring, I don't think you would get reliable ignition, if at all, if the spring was allowing it to blow back that much with unworn flash holes.

Cheers,

George

jgalar · « **Reply #7 on:** January 18, 2006, 01:25:40 AM »

Replace the nipples, the holes in them are way to large!