1851 Pietta 45 Colt Stainless Engraved

[Sharps40]

Time for a Dress Up Revolver. Pietta 1851 Stainless, engraved, Navy Marshall, .44.

Primary external change will be conversion to 45 Colt with the 5 shot/safety chamber stainless Howell Conversion Cylinder, Nickle trigger guard/backstrap, Jigged black faux horn grips.

Since I already have a hand carved crossdraw Tom Threepersons for my 1860 Army Blackhawk .357 mag, I might not change the barrel length.....maybe.....??

 

[paxton62]

Hold!!

 

[Sharps40]

Yea Pietta, great arbor fit and it ain't loose.

Boo Pietta, the interior finish and frame floor is quite rough.

 

[Sharps40]

Yank the tiny bead, jig, cut, file a new dovetail.

 

[Sharps40]

Install the Marble Adjustable front sight. I left a bit of the original sight hole up front so there'd be room to use the screwdriver on the adjusting screw of this lowest of the adjustable sights. The position of the original sight hole makes a fine marker for centering the sight as well. Roughed in the 11 degree crown, a bit of site groove edge smoothing and polishing the crown will follow.

 

[Sharps40]

Blackened some of the parts, screws and wedge, before and after for the comparison.

 

[Sharps40]

Better in nickel.

 

[Sharps40]

I think I'll spend some time on this one working the mainspring Pietta Provides just to see what can be done with minimal effort. Original trigger pull was 2.5 lbs after cleaning but no other work.

In the left photo you see the factory mainspring. Its typical heavy for caps and crowded with flaws. A crimp line across the spring at the mid point and plenty of sharp edges left over from being stamped out.

The crimp line is not easily visible in the left photo but pops out in the right photo after thinning about 1/3 from the sides, rounding the edges and a light polish on the buffing wheel.

I'm not really interested in much more work on this particular spring. If it snaps, I'll simply insert a reliable wolff mainspring or convert to coil spring and strut.

 

[Sharps40]

Casting flash on the trigger guard loop and the guard itself interfered with the mainspring, the spring pressing hard on the inside of the guard at the springs midpoint when the gun is cocked.

I inserted a soft plastic spacer between the spring and guard, still in contact, the spring being bent hard at the midpoint.

Removed the casting flash, better but still only using half the springs length.

Finally, clearances the trigger guard bow and now at full cock, there is clearance for a sheet of paper or three to slide neatly between spring and guard. Now the whole spring is flexing without bind.

Final trigger pull, no other work done in the action.....1 lb 14 ounces. Very good.

And, wonder of wonders, the Kirst 2 step hand works great with the percussion cylinder.....with any luck, it'll work as nicely with the Howell 45 Colt conversion cylinder.....I'll know this week I suspect.

 

[Sharps40]

When folks dump their .17 caliber what-evers because ammo is too expensive, performance don't meet ad copy, hard to clean, etc......I take the brass jags off their hands. They are at least nifty nice for making front sight sleeves.

In this case, the Marbles sight bead is just a whisker over 1/16" so I drill a 1/16" hole in the threaded end of the jag for a snug fit, turn off the threads, and I have a .089" bead, a good size for my eyes and handguns.

Next step is filling off one side to create a slip on sleeve.

Add some 609 sauce or silver solder the sleeve to the sight....you can buy these sleeves....or make them free, and its satisfying to get some solid use from that other guys .17 frustration.

Clip, file and leave the snout long enough to daub in some Testors Orange Paint.

When dry, check out the view.....nice. Incidentally, 1 turn of this front sight is .025" change in elevation, so it becomes possible to even calculate the required amount of change for a given load or three.