The Police are here...

[BobJ]

IS here to be grammatically correct, my 1862 Uberti Police revolver. What a little jewel! Fit, finish, lockup flawless. Made road trip to Dixie GW to break down and check before buying. Case hardening on R side of frame could be better, polish and blue perfect, stocks have beautiful fiddleback pattern.
 
Shooting, not so good. The recommended .375 ball doesn't shave lead, Rem 10 caps blow off and fall into action or jam between cyl and frame, have to turn gun upside to cock. Powder measure not good on small charges, had some balls bounce once on way to target, or pour some cylinders level full.
 
Will try different sizes of caps, find correct powder charge, get some 380 balls, maybe new treso nipples if cap change doesn't work. I use Duro Felt wads with mutton tallow and beeswax, I need some paraffin to add when I find some.
 
Incidentally, Dixie has tubs of mutton tallow in stock now, and sells Goex over the counter.
 
My Uberti 1860 Colt Army is totally reliable and outshoots most of the black plastic guns at the range, but it took almost 1,000 rounds to get to that point. I love my 1862 Police so far, and look forward to a lot of (fun) work ahead.

[AtlLaw]

Hey Bob!
 
I'm tickled for ya!     And it gives me hope for the future... I'm sure you read my posts about having to send 2 of the Police models back to Midway... 
 
Anyway, that was a great review, and a little humorous.     Keep us informed as to loads and performance and such!  I'm really interested! 

[StrawHat]

Uberti 36 caliber revolvers have always favored .380 round ball.  I have both Pietta and Uberti 36s and keep only the .380 on hand. 
 
My Pocket Navies and Pocket Police revovlers are a  lot of fun but when I get serious, the 1861s really shine.

[Nobade]

I have one just like yours. After a lot of tuning, and replacing the cylinder arbor after it bent from being too short, and replacing the front sight for one of the correct height, it really works well and I like it quite a bit. It fits my hand well and is easy to hit pop cans at 50 yards with it. It took a while to get to this point though, it was about useless when it was new. BTW, CCI #11 caps work fine in mine.

[Gatofeo]

I have an 1862 Police, made by ASM and not especially good quality. Yet, it's a fun little revolver for plinking. I use the .380 ball in all my .36 calibers. I have a variety of .36s and some take a .375 ball just fine, while it's a slip-fit with others. To simplify things, I just use .380s. There's no undue strain in the rammer with the slightly larger ball.
Fun little revolver.
My notes show that 20 grs of Goex FFFG is maximum in my beast. I note that I tried 22 grains but had a devil of a time getting the ball seated below flush, even without a greased wad. So, 20 grains gave me the extra room I needed for seating. I used CVA Grease Patch for lubricant -- no longer available, alas, and I recently used my last tube.
If I used a lubricated felt wad 1/8" thick, I used 18 grains of Goex FFFG to allow "good hotel" (ample ballroom).
This was with a .380 inch ball and CCI No. 11 caps, pinched to a slight elliptical shape.
The little devil shot about 8 inches above the point of aim at 25 yards. And that needle-sized sight is hard to pick up in bright sunlight, so I gave it and the sighting notch in the hammer a little shot of Birchwood Casey Sight Black. Good stuff to have in the shooting box.
I've never chronographed the 1862. I'd guess it runs around 600 fps at the muzzle, perhaps a little more.
My notes show that I lined it up on an abandoned tire in the desert, about 100 yards out, and was hitting its tread consistently. Every Colt I've fired shoots high at 25 yards, and about dead-on at 100 yards or a little less.
Sounds like you have a fun revolver. A good pocket companion if you take a walk in the woods, if you want to feel "old timey," though I'd be more inclined to slip my S&W .38 snubnose in my pocket with an extra speedloader or two.
But for an interesting, cute, enjoyable revolver the little 1862 is hard to beat.
 

[BobJ]

AtlLaw, your trevails were the reason for a road trip to inspect before purchase. My cylinder arbor is perfect, when bottomed out the barrel assy, twisted sideways, is exactly flush with the frame. The one flaw, my loading lever latch blew off, so I now have a tiny Colt Walker with a twist tie around the barrel. A gunsmith tried to punch it back in, but it blew off on the first shot, I think he will have to sweat it on or something.
 
So far, I have tried CCI 10, 11, Rem 10, 11, and Dynamit nobel 1075 (?). The DNs blow fire out the barrel! Rem 10s are long and snug, CCI 10 and 11 fit so snug I can't seat them all the way and have misfires. The problem, all primers blow off, blow the hammer back, and drop in the hammer recess. I read here before about weak main springs (?), Treso nipples, and will search back posts for info on this primer jamming topic. I know they wouldn't have put up with this in 1862, so I will persevere.
 
I had better groups with 15 gr, laboriously hand measured, but found a pretty CVA measure that throws consistent 20 gr, so have been using that. With wad, ball is just below cyl mouth. Penetration 1/2" or so in 2x4s. 8" or so groups at 25 yd, 20" high. All charges 12-20 gr blow off the cap.
 
I love this gun, I will continue to work with it. Thanks Nobade, StrawHat and ugly cat for suggestions and encouragement. It took many pleasurable hours applying the knowledge on this board to my Colt 1860 Army to be able to plink cans at 50 yd, and I know I will master my Police.

[BobJ]

Received Treso nipples for my Uberti 1862 Police revolver from Track of the Wolf. Installed them, and fired my last 10 balls. It shoots significantly better, no caps blew off the nipples into the action. The only problem so far was that the spent caps jam in the tight clearances of the small revolver. I also got a Lee 380 ball mold, will try to work out this reliability problem this weekend with 5 different cap sizes and adjusting powder charges. Can’t wait to shoot!

[StrawHat]

Colts revolvers had a clearance cut in the shield behind the cylinder to allow the spent caps more room to rotate.  Some of the replicas do not have this cut but it is not hard to cut it where it needs to be placed.

[AtlLaw]

Received Treso nipples for my Uberti 1862 Police revolver from Track of the Wolf.

 
Those Tresco's make a lot of difference!  When I shot my new Navy I had a problem with the caps fitting the nipples, unfortunately something I have come to expect.     I'm going to order a set of tresco's from TofTW for it today.  One foreseeable problem eliminated!   
 

I also got a Lee 380 ball mold,

 
I'm quite disappointed with my Lee .380 mould.     As I said in another thread it casts balls that measure, for the most part, .373.  I'm going to try to open it up to as close to .380 as I can before I give up and buy another mould.  I'd sure be interested in knowing the diameter of the balls that your mould casts.
 

will try to work out this reliability problem this weekend with 5 different cap sizes

 
I have settled on the DynamiteNobel RWS1075 cap.  It seems hotter and fits the Tresco's well.
 
Have fun and let us know what happens!   

[StrawHat]

I also got a Lee 380 ball mold,

 
I'm quite disappointed with my Lee .380 mould.     As I said in another thread it casts balls that measure, for the most part, .373.  I'm going to try to open it up to as close to .380 as I can before I give up and buy another mould.  I'd sure be interested in knowing the diameter of the balls that your mould casts.

AtlLaw,  get in touch with Lee and see what they say before you alter the mold.  They have replaced a couple of mine for me.  Also, if that is not satisfactory, contact  this guy.
 
http://www.biglube.com/
 
He is supposed to be making new 6 cavity round ball molds.

[BobJ]

StrawHat, a local dealer has TWO original 1862 Police, they are exactly the same as mine. A groove is cut from the hammer to loading gate, then flat. Didn't have the presence of mind to check the nipples or the asking prices. Have to go back there again later anyway.
 
AtlLaw, will try RWS caps more next range session. Have concentrated on Rem and CCI so far. My Lee 380 mold drops balls slightly egg-shaped, .378 x .380. Work great tho, and shave a microscopic ring when seated.