The method to stop used caps jamming in the hammer is to shoot like Chill Wills did in the old westerns. Pull the trigger to fire and then raise the pistol straight up while cocking again. Look for him in either Gene Autry or other vintage cowboy westerns.
I recently bought an Armi San Marco 1849 "Wells Fargo" model, the one with the round trigger guard and without the loading lever. When I bought it, it didn't have a mainspring. I was able to replace it with an Uberti mainspring from Taylors, but it wasn't a direct fit. I had to grind off about a quarter of an inch from the hammer end of the spring to get it to fit in the pistol. The spring seems fairly stiff, but I haven't had a chance to shoot it yet. Because it has to be taken apart for loading, I'm not sure if I can load the conical using the cylinder pin as the ram, but probably not due to the point on the conical. I'm probably going to have to make a loading tool for this little pistol.
I had a similar spring issue with my Uberti 1851. After buying a couple of replacement main springs that were no stronger, I simply laid the spring on my basement concrete floor with the 2 ends facing down and stood on it a couple of times to lengthen it, thus making it stronger. I then filed off enough from the top of the spring so that it would fit back into the frame. It worked perfectly. It added enough spring tension to set the caps off and also prevented blow-back cap jams. Since I had a couple of extra main springs I had nothing to lose if my plan went sideways.
I have an Uberti 1849 that I purchased nearly 20 years ago. I used it a couple of times when I was doing CAS. I have it in a little green velvet case with accessories. I had some problems with it, then, but am getting back into my percussion revolvers, watching yours and others videos of tuning and deburing them. So, I will put a little work into it and see if I can get it running better. Enjoy your videos, mark. Oh...you look good in a top hat!
I had that problem with my pietta 1860, I replaced the nipples with Slixshot and the problem virtually went away. Thanks for the video always enjoy watching them and I'm as always looking forward to the next.
As of 02-18-24 I bought another 1849 pocket from midwayusa on sale It had arrived yet. I hope it is made beter than the 1862 Navy that had every singe issue cap&ball revolvers have. Lose arbor short hand timing problems etcetera. Well the1849 came today (02-20-24) I was presently surprised I had to do very little just the basics you do to every BP revolver kind of made up for all the work and parts replacement on the 1862 Navy.
I've had the same cap jam issues with my Colt Navy. Thanks for the educational parts of the video - your family history, manufacturing, and of course time on the range. *LIKED* another fine video pard
Such a bummer dude the new models at least 2021 and up are pretty nice when it comes to the hammer Spring. I never have problems with the Popping off from backpressure. It's also a very accurate. I'm able to put all 5 in relatively the same hole. It hurts my soul to see the misfires. The 1849 pocket is one of my favorites. I swear it looks more pocket size the more I look at it and it still packs a small punch. Also homemade Caps stay on a little bit better but you have to know exactly what you're doing with those or they can cause even more problems lol. Anyways love the videos and I need to try some of those casted bullets. They look beautiful.
I had one many yrs ago and had to fit two main springs to get consistent ignition. I recall it being a Pietta but it may have been Uberti. I ended up selling it.
That was really interesting thanks. I might be ordering one of your molds soon. I just posted a video of shooting my pocket revolver and it had a real tight group at 10 feet.
Outstanding! G r e a t production and editing with additions of historical content, photos, your period dress and and and! Grand! Just g r a n d . The H. Deringer and the story of the court case. I love this kind of thing and am always rooting out historical accounts of how these old pistols were used in the day, their affects, the consequences etc. I have all the old Colts and only do period/historical shooting, comparrisons and so on. Your mentioning that the only source for one of these is Uberti, ALSO!, there are a l o t of Authentic Colt 'Baby Dragoons' available as well as CBAC 1849 Pockets! I have both and they are fit/finished and they fire v e r y well! With NONE of the issues that the Uberti Replicas have. I fire a 50g round, 57g light elongated and a 95g heavy elongated from them. The best performing is the 57g 'Richmond' style elongated. 2.5 pine boards (back in the day, 1 full board penetration was considered a lethal hit. Determined by the military) at 25y. 16g FFFg GOEX. The heavy with 12g holds good energy past 25 yards for good smack up to 50y. The heavier elongateds actually have better performance over the round ball, past a certain distance because of mass energy carrying.
The board penetration thing I mentioned. I replicate the old style target by layering 1'' pine boards 1 1/4'' apart. This gives great penetration and ball track results that are very visible/evident. The sharding/splintering of the boards replicate the effects like when a person is hit. The ball track goes awry as the ball strikes the splinters/shards etc. Like bone and muscle etc. , and the ball is recoverable for inspection and so on.
The military determined that one full board penetration indicated lethality. I haven t found anything on whether this included clothing. Probably so though. A shirt, undershirt and a light wool coat. I figure three full board penetration is the equivelent of a heavily outerlayered person.
Geffrey, thanks for the kind words. I'd like to try a board or better yet, a gelatine test. The public range where I shoot will not allow either. I'll have to find some private land to do those tests.
It s generally legal to shoot in Federal and State lands such as State forests etc. Each State has their own laws about it. Check with a Forest office. Here in CA I can just go into the forest and shoot. There are basic common sense laws about shooting near roads/buildings etc. No 'Range restrictions' on the type of targets etc. How s this sound?
It's been years since I've shot a black powder pistol or anything like that. I owned a couple, but never had the time to play around with them. I shot my one friend"s a couple of times. Black powder is something you have to be careful with and use caution when using them.
Great video. My Uberti 1849 has no problem firing Remington #10 caps. No need for second strikes. The problem is cap jams. The spent caps get stuck between the cylinder and frame and I can't get more than two shots between jams. When firing .32 S&W with the conversion cylinder, the shots hit about a foot high at 7 yards. Still, the little revolver is a nice addition to my collection.
I had a similar problem with my 1862 factory nipples and sort of cured it by using Remington #11 caps which seem to have a shorter skirt n and slip right down.Now I only have a n occasional second strike, but not often. Good video thanks
Very good, thank you. Another issue I have experienced with the "cap jam" is that sometimes the hammer cannot fall far enough to reset the locking bolt, then the gun is totally locked up. You cannot re-cock the hammer because the ratchet hand is trying to rotate the cylinder which is still locked by the bolt. The only solution is to remove the barrel and force the cylinder forward off the arbor which will result in a deep scratch on the surface of the cylinder, OR, you can completely disassemble the gun to reach the locking bolt and free the cylinder.
Any luck with replacement nipples? I have the 1849 and Wells Fargo models, never experienced that blowback, I've seen it happen in friends guns. Those factory nipples are typically not consistent in size and thickness and often have varying tapers. This makes a cap poor fitting and often struck at wrong angles and the cap doesn't fit the end of the nipple in a stable way. Track of wolf nipples solved the cap ignition issue for me, a firmly seated cap on a proper size nipple being stuck flat on by the hammer utilizing all the caps power was noticed immediately. I do believe they are weak in the spring but a more complete strike with good nipples can help tremendously. The taper and wall thickness on a nipple can determine how much a caps power is focused where it should be, let alone issues with a cap that has a potential wobble factor due to the taper. Always great videos sir!! Thank you!
I replaced the factory nipples with good Tesco brand Ampco nipples with have a very small vent compared to the factory ones. It only improved by a slight margin. I think it still needs a heavier hammer spring to prevent the hammer from being pushed back under pressure.
@@erasgonehistoricalmolds2400 Great to know! Thanks for the results with the treso. I have a set I'll be testing this weekend, if it's not 100°+ here. Try track of the wolf nipples, they can be purchased in singles, which makes testing them cheap. Track nipples fit the 11 caps better than any other brand. I use a leather tipped dowel to give caps a final seat. I would agree the springs are typically light, mine might be slightly better, but probably not by much and I've never had any blowback issues. My little wells Fargo Colt spring feels like an 1860 Army however. Such fun guns otherwise! They ain't much against groundhogs though, need big guns for them critters! I saw a video by Duke Frazier with the pocket model, his hammer blowback was quite dramatic. Thanks again and safe shooting!
I've seen some replicas that had way too light a spring. I think part of it was due to modern shooters complaining out heavy springs, but cap and ball revolvers need a heavier spring. Good thing they are not hard to make.
I think all recent Ubertis are coming with too weak mainsprings. This might be to try to appeal to the cowboy action shooters who want a light hammer pull but many people report ignition problems and cap jams from hammer blowback on these Ubertis.
The elongateds definately perform better. I cast from the Colt molds,- Light (57g), medium (65g) and heavy (80g) elongateds. 16 FFFg, 14g and 11g. At 12, 25, 35 and 50yds, the balls went through a 2'' fir board. I only fired 2 round balls at 50yds. They didn t go through the boards. I noticed a g r e a t performance variation depending upon how much the powder is compressed. When I can t compress the powder anymore a n d the rammer still hasn t bottomed out, this is the most powerful charging. With this, the ball is flush with the chamber enterance.
Mark, I've been arguing with myself about getting one of these to have in my saddlebags or coat pockets for reenactments. I was wondering if Colt Cartridge Works, or any other munitions manufacturer, ever produced a paper cartridge for the 1847/1849 pocket revolvers? If I got one, I would like to be able reload it during battle and still be period correct.
Jake, yes Colt produced ready made .31 cartridges for these just as he did for other caliber. Except, of course, they came in 5 round packs instead of 6.
A cheap and easy way to help cap jams is to clean up the face of the hammer and file a very small grove in the nipple where it will be at the bottom or to the inside of the cylinder when screwed in. The grove will make a weak point for the gas to escape. You can buy expensive nipples but this was my solution for no money. I had so much trubble with the 1849 I had I traded it for an 1860 Army by pietta. I g had similar issues with the 1852 Police pocket model and swapped it for a Uberti 1847 Walker.
It would be interesting to see the velocity difference between a round ball and the conical, both with full loads. I have one of the 1849 Wells Fargo models, fun to shoot but a pain to load since it doesn't have a loading lever.
I did like your video 😁 maybe a stronger mainspring. I watched another video where the guy claimed that he doubled up on uberti mainsprings. He said he ordered a mainspring from uberti and oiled it up real well and slipped it in position on top of the original mainspring. So that way it is twice as strong. I'm not sure how good this will work but it could solve the problem of the caps not igniting on the first try.
There s alot of talk about the weak mainspring. Spacing it with a firm rubber washer between the spring base and the back strap can give it j u s t enough of a power increase. What do you think of this?
A gun that size can still instill the fear of God in the average criminal if you make it clear the first shot is aimed for the nuts. You don't actually need to sheet him there to make him think twice.
I like...., using #0 buckshot... it runs about .321... this is large enough to fit tightly and... it and they are 'pure' lead... the cost is like $30 for 10 lbs of em.... LOl... That is Thousands of rounds for almost nothing. regular balls cost around $10 for 100. While not crazy... it is ten cents for each shot plus powder and caps. The buck shot is like ten cents for 50 or so.
I use eras gone by mold......I also got a slix hand cheater bar.....and.....the bullets are tight.....the cheater bar just bent heck out of the loading lever.... so I'm only using ball now....unhappy with too tight bullet...weak heat treat lever and poor fit slix hand.
Soft lead. Clean.....hey update..i been in contact with pat at slixspring/slixshot. He has cut new notch in side of slixhand to FIT 1849...says hes gona send me one to try out. Pretty dam cool...hes just an hour or so down the rd from me...
Actualy i used birdshot...had a old bag full. Used it for bullets. Had not gave a lot of thought to how hard birshot lead might be...old old bag. Was spliting. Was not steel shot. Was lead.
Anything blackpowder I like, an thx for the vid, always interesting to learn new stuff. An I had one thought come to mind while watching this, how about some sort of roll crimp at the front of the cap to hold it on the nipple, mite be enough friction to hold it, your thoughts please, as I hunt w/ .44 cal 3rd mod Dragoon for hogs an have had this problem myself.
+William McCaslin Replace the stock Uberti nipples with quality aftermarket nipples having very tiny flash holes like original Colt nipples had. I use "Track of the Wolf" nipples and you can get them in stainless steel or blued hardened steel like original Colt nipples. Stock Uberti nipples out of the box usually have flash holes that are 3 or 4 times proper diameter, allowing incredible amounts of back pressure that reduce velocity, cause cap jams and allow way too much fouling into the action. I never shoot a Uberti C&B revolver out of the box without changing the nipples. Uberti puts out a quality product, but to keep prices reasonable, Uberti cannot fit, finish and tune their C&B revolvers to the extremely high quality of original Colts. Tuning and slicking the Uberti revolvers is a bit time consuming, but an easy mechanical job. Uberti revolvers are well made, and if a shooter were to completely slick, and tune them, plus get proper casehardening done, then the Uberti C&B revolvers would be about as good as a pristine original Colt.
I just got one of these. It over rotates the cylinder so the hand is too long. Also, at the first click (half cock) the hand moves the cylinder ever so slightly forward. Maybe the thickness of a sheet of paper. When placed in full cock, it will not fire a cap. Now, if you cock it and apply rearward pressure on the front of the cylinder, it will pop the cap. You may want to check and see if your cylinder is moving forward.
Most hands are too long. One of the things that causes over rotation is a weak or not tightened trigger/bolt spring. If the bolt doesn t have crisp and sharp edges, this contributes. Also the bolt cam spring may be too long (cam/bolt release is out of time).
The 'too long' ref means the bolt may not be inserting fully into the stop. Great care must be observed in attempting adjustment. One 1/1000th either way can ruin the actions timing, requiring new parts(s).
@erasgonehistoricalmolds2400 I'd even like to see 6" and 3" barrels! I wished someone else would think about making extra barrels in sizes we want. People make grips, caliber conversions, etc. Why not barrel assemblies?
Read SIXGUNS by Elmer Keith for a great introduction to the history of the revolver from the Patterson Colt up to Ruger's entry into the market in the late 1950's.
So I have a colt 1849 Wells Fargo I wanted the 1849 with the loading lever but they were out of stock if I buy the barrel with the lever for the 1849 could I swap it for the one that's on the gun now that doesn't have it,?
I get a privacy error-alert and my browser stops me from visiting your site. I expect some certificates or some such thing are expired, or you work for the Russians?
It s a shame that Uberti lacks the pride enough to finish these guns to a standard of , , yeah!, pride and responsibility for a quality product! The Walker is incredible! Uberti slaps them together k n o w i n g that the base pin/barrel insert has headspace!!! The Walker! The most powerful and most likely to suffer damage from such a mis fitting!!! In Colts patent from 1850, he states how important it is to NOT have headspace here because of the problems that w i l l result ,. Incredible! Where s Uberti s pride and basic product quality and responsibility?! Ok, back then these guns were actually needed for life/death. Still, there s a basic quality of product issue here. Discraceful really.
Geffrey Bolster: I think the quality is very much in line with the price you pay, if any more time was spent perfecting these issues the cost would very quickly double, then people would complain and not buy them, I think most shooters of these pistols get as much pleasure out of working on them as they do shooting them, that said I have never seen these problems on pistols sold in Europe, but they are typically 2 or 3 times the price, maybe the American importers are cutting Uberti down to a price that causes pistols to be shipped there that are of lower quality, just have a look on a European website at the prices.
I don't think they really understand how the colt was manufactured, or how it is supposed to work. What i really don't understand is, why they dont make a 6 shot. Colt did it with the advent of colts special silver steel.
@@453421abcdefg12345 Another reason that Uberti has lost quality is because their demand has increased substantially. Make it as fast as you can, even if quality suffers. Fortunately many simple fixes can be made if you are familiar with their products. I have had to fix factory burrs that would not allow a cylinder to turn, among other things. Most problems I have encountered have been on firearms from their Accomac, VA facility.
I wonder why you are not shooting original revolvers? Uberti and other replicas are cheap but nor particularly interesting. Don´t you have access to original Colts and Remingtons? The originals are made from another type of steel and have qualities much different from the replicas.
The thing is, original Colt,or Remington revolvers, or anything from that time period, are rare, and valuable. If, I had an original one, I certainly wouldn't take it out and use it?
Love my Remington no cap jams
The method to stop used caps jamming in the hammer is to shoot like Chill Wills did in the old westerns. Pull the trigger to fire and then raise the pistol straight up while cocking again. Look for him in either Gene Autry or other vintage cowboy westerns.
Can't wait to cast me some! Bought a mold from you just like this and just need spare time.
I recently bought an Armi San Marco 1849 "Wells Fargo" model, the one with the round trigger guard and without the loading lever. When I bought it, it didn't have a mainspring. I was able to replace it with an Uberti mainspring from Taylors, but it wasn't a direct fit. I had to grind off about a quarter of an inch from the hammer end of the spring to get it to fit in the pistol. The spring seems fairly stiff, but I haven't had a chance to shoot it yet. Because it has to be taken apart for loading, I'm not sure if I can load the conical using the cylinder pin as the ram, but probably not due to the point on the conical. I'm probably going to have to make a loading tool for this little pistol.
Thanks you for your video and details of model pocket Baby Dragoon cal 31 🇫🇷
I had a similar spring issue with my Uberti 1851. After buying a couple of replacement main springs that were no stronger, I simply laid the spring on my basement concrete floor with the 2 ends facing down and stood on it a couple of times to lengthen it, thus making it stronger. I then filed off enough from the top of the spring so that it would fit back into the frame. It worked perfectly. It added enough spring tension to set the caps off and also prevented blow-back cap jams. Since I had a couple of extra main springs I had nothing to lose if my plan went sideways.
I have an Uberti 1849 that I purchased nearly 20 years ago. I used it a couple of times when I was doing CAS. I have it in a little green velvet case with accessories. I had some problems with it, then, but am getting back into my percussion revolvers, watching yours and others videos of tuning and deburing them. So, I will put a little work into it and see if I can get it running better. Enjoy your videos, mark. Oh...you look good in a top hat!
Thanks, Jason!
I had that problem with my pietta 1860, I replaced the nipples with Slixshot and the problem virtually went away.
Thanks for the video always enjoy watching them and I'm as always looking forward to the next.
You can double up the hammer spring on alot of uberti revolvers to relieve the cap issue I've done it with both my colt walker and 1860 army
How the heck do you double up the mainspring of a Walker/Whitneyville?
As of 02-18-24 I bought another 1849 pocket from midwayusa on sale It had arrived yet. I hope it is made beter than the 1862 Navy that had every singe issue cap&ball revolvers have. Lose arbor short hand timing problems etcetera. Well the1849 came today (02-20-24) I was presently surprised I had to do very little just the basics you do to every BP revolver kind of made up for all the work and parts replacement on the 1862 Navy.
I've had the same cap jam issues with my Colt Navy. Thanks for the educational parts of the video - your family history, manufacturing, and of course time on the range. *LIKED* another fine video pard
Such a bummer dude the new models at least 2021 and up are pretty nice when it comes to the hammer Spring. I never have problems with the Popping off from backpressure. It's also a very accurate. I'm able to put all 5 in relatively the same hole. It hurts my soul to see the misfires. The 1849 pocket is one of my favorites. I swear it looks more pocket size the more I look at it and it still packs a small punch. Also homemade Caps stay on a little bit better but you have to know exactly what you're doing with those or they can cause even more problems lol. Anyways love the videos and I need to try some of those casted bullets. They look beautiful.
I bought one back in the 70's! Never had problems like yours has! Maybe made a little better back then? Was fun to shoot!!
I had one many yrs ago and had to fit two main springs to get consistent ignition. I recall it being a Pietta but it may have been Uberti. I ended up selling it.
That was really interesting thanks. I might be ordering one of your molds soon. I just posted a video of shooting my pocket revolver and it had a real tight group at 10 feet.
Thank you for posting another good video. I enjoy your work.
Outstanding! G r e a t production and editing with additions of historical content, photos, your period dress and and and! Grand! Just g r a n d . The H. Deringer and the story of the court case. I love this kind of thing and am always rooting out historical accounts of how these old pistols were used in the day, their affects, the consequences etc. I have all the old Colts and only do period/historical shooting, comparrisons and so on. Your mentioning that the only source for one of these is Uberti, ALSO!, there are a l o t of Authentic Colt 'Baby Dragoons' available as well as CBAC 1849 Pockets! I have both and they are fit/finished and they fire v e r y well! With NONE of the issues that the Uberti Replicas have. I fire a 50g round, 57g light elongated and a 95g heavy elongated from them. The best performing is the 57g 'Richmond' style elongated. 2.5 pine boards (back in the day, 1 full board penetration was considered a lethal hit. Determined by the military) at 25y. 16g FFFg GOEX. The heavy with 12g holds good energy past 25 yards for good smack up to 50y. The heavier elongateds actually have better performance over the round ball, past a certain distance because of mass energy carrying.
The board penetration thing I mentioned. I replicate the old style target by layering 1'' pine boards 1 1/4'' apart. This gives great penetration and ball track results that are very visible/evident. The sharding/splintering of the boards replicate the effects like when a person is hit. The ball track goes awry as the ball strikes the splinters/shards etc. Like bone and muscle etc. , and the ball is recoverable for inspection and so on.
The military determined that one full board penetration indicated lethality. I haven t found anything on whether this included clothing. Probably so though. A shirt, undershirt and a light wool coat. I figure three full board penetration is the equivelent of a heavily outerlayered person.
Geffrey, thanks for the kind words. I'd like to try a board or better yet, a gelatine test. The public range where I shoot will not allow either. I'll have to find some private land to do those tests.
It s generally legal to shoot in Federal and State lands such as State forests etc. Each State has their own laws about it. Check with a Forest office. Here in CA I can just go into the forest and shoot. There are basic common sense laws about shooting near roads/buildings etc. No 'Range restrictions' on the type of targets etc. How s this sound?
It's been years since I've shot a black powder pistol or anything like that. I owned a couple, but never had the time to play around with them. I shot my one friend"s a couple of times. Black powder is something you have to be careful with and use caution when using them.
Great video. My Uberti 1849 has no problem firing Remington #10 caps. No need for second strikes. The problem is cap jams. The spent caps get stuck between the cylinder and frame and I can't get more than two shots between jams. When firing .32 S&W with the conversion cylinder, the shots hit about a foot high at 7 yards. Still, the little revolver is a nice addition to my collection.
I had a similar problem with my 1862 factory nipples and sort of cured it by using Remington #11 caps which seem to have a shorter skirt n and slip right down.Now I only have a n occasional second strike, but not often. Good video thanks
Very good, thank you. Another issue I have experienced with the "cap jam" is that sometimes the hammer cannot fall far enough to reset the locking bolt, then the gun is totally locked up. You cannot re-cock the hammer because the ratchet hand is trying to rotate the cylinder which is still locked by the bolt. The only solution is to remove the barrel and force the cylinder forward off the arbor which will result in a deep scratch on the surface of the cylinder, OR, you can completely disassemble the gun to reach the locking bolt and free the cylinder.
Any luck with replacement nipples?
I have the 1849 and Wells Fargo models, never experienced that blowback, I've seen it happen in friends guns.
Those factory nipples are typically not consistent in size and thickness and often have varying tapers. This makes a cap poor fitting and often struck at wrong angles and the cap doesn't fit the end of the nipple in a stable way.
Track of wolf nipples solved the cap ignition issue for me, a firmly seated cap on a proper size nipple being stuck flat on by the hammer utilizing all the caps power was noticed immediately.
I do believe they are weak in the spring but a more complete strike with good nipples can help tremendously.
The taper and wall thickness on a nipple can determine how much a caps power is focused where it should be, let alone issues with a cap that has a potential wobble factor due to the taper.
Always great videos sir!! Thank you!
I replaced the factory nipples with good Tesco brand Ampco nipples with have a very small vent compared to the factory ones. It only improved by a slight margin. I think it still needs a heavier hammer spring to prevent the hammer from being pushed back under pressure.
@@erasgonehistoricalmolds2400 Great to know! Thanks for the results with the treso. I have a set I'll be testing this weekend, if it's not 100°+ here.
Try track of the wolf nipples, they can be purchased in singles, which makes testing them cheap. Track nipples fit the 11 caps better than any other brand. I use a leather tipped dowel to give caps a final seat.
I would agree the springs are typically light, mine might be slightly better, but probably not by much and I've never had any blowback issues. My little wells Fargo Colt spring feels like an 1860 Army however.
Such fun guns otherwise! They ain't much against groundhogs though, need big guns for them critters!
I saw a video by Duke Frazier with the pocket model, his hammer blowback was quite dramatic.
Thanks again and safe shooting!
I've seen some replicas that had way too light a spring. I think part of it was due to modern shooters complaining out heavy springs, but cap and ball revolvers need a heavier spring. Good thing they are not hard to make.
I picked up a slightly odd Uberti 1849. It has a driftable front site.
I think all recent Ubertis are coming with too weak mainsprings. This might be to try to appeal to the cowboy action shooters who want a light hammer pull but many people report ignition problems and cap jams from hammer blowback on these Ubertis.
The elongateds definately perform better. I cast from the Colt molds,- Light (57g), medium (65g) and heavy (80g) elongateds. 16 FFFg, 14g and 11g. At 12, 25, 35 and 50yds, the balls went through a 2'' fir board. I only fired 2 round balls at 50yds. They didn t go through the boards.
I noticed a g r e a t performance variation depending upon how much the powder is compressed.
When I can t compress the powder anymore a n d the rammer still hasn t bottomed out, this is the most powerful charging. With this, the ball is flush with the chamber enterance.
I bet these heeled bullets would work for reloading Australian .310 cadet cases. Will they chamber in a conversion cylinder made for .32 S&W?
Can you tell me where I can find the main spring for the Uberti 1849. Thank you
I bought mine from Taylor's & Company. They carry parts for most percussion revolvers.
Mark, I've been arguing with myself about getting one of these to have in my saddlebags or coat pockets for reenactments. I was wondering if Colt Cartridge Works, or any other munitions manufacturer, ever produced a paper cartridge for the 1847/1849 pocket revolvers? If I got one, I would like to be able reload it during battle and still be period correct.
Jake, yes Colt produced ready made .31 cartridges for these just as he did for other caliber. Except, of course, they came in 5 round packs instead of 6.
CapandBall has some materials for that, including cartridge boxes with period correct markings.
A cheap and easy way to help cap jams is to clean up the face of the hammer and file a very small grove in the nipple where it will be at the bottom or to the inside of the cylinder when screwed in. The grove will make a weak point for the gas to escape. You can buy expensive nipples but this was my solution for no money. I had so much trubble with the 1849 I had I traded it for an 1860 Army by pietta. I g had similar issues with the 1852 Police pocket model and swapped it for a Uberti 1847 Walker.
It would be interesting to see the velocity difference between a round ball and the conical, both with full loads. I have one of the 1849 Wells Fargo models, fun to shoot but a pain to load since it doesn't have a loading lever.
Not a problem. I shoot snub nose guns and simply load off the gun with a loading tool.
I have the same Wells Fargo I am getting ready to purchase the 1849 barrel with the lever attached so I can load on the go without dissambling the gun
I did like your video 😁 maybe a stronger mainspring. I watched another video where the guy claimed that he doubled up on uberti mainsprings. He said he ordered a mainspring from uberti and oiled it up real well and slipped it in position on top of the original mainspring. So that way it is twice as strong. I'm not sure how good this will work but it could solve the problem of the caps not igniting on the first try.
What diameter or round ball do you recommend?
Most folks use .323 or .330 at most.
There s alot of talk about the weak mainspring. Spacing it with a firm rubber washer between the spring base and the back strap can give it j u s t enough of a power increase. What do you think of this?
These springs can be slightly bent too! This w i l l affect its power. A shim/washer as I described. This can be copper or whatever.
Both are good suggestions. I may try an little wooden wedge between the base of the spring and the back strap. That may give it a little more "ummph"
Good idea! Just above where the spring is mounted by the screw. G r e a t .
This video and your follow up video were helpful to me. Thanx for making them.
A gun that size can still instill the fear of God in the average criminal if you make it clear the first shot is aimed for the nuts. You don't actually need to sheet him there to make him think twice.
Could you harden the spring by heat treating it?
Potentially, but their is not much "meat" on the spring to start with. They are cheap, about $8 so it might be worth giving that a try.
Just buy a second one and place it behind the original that's what I've done and works fine
does the 44 cal have the same issues
Any BP revolver had the potential to have this issue, especially the Colt open top designs. Each individual gun can have different personalities!
I am curious what is the groove diameter?
Hey Mark.....Could you also review the Remington Pocket Model....maybe do a side by side?
If I had an original as a basis of comparison I could do it. But, alas, I dont have access to one.
I like...., using #0 buckshot... it runs about .321... this is large enough to fit tightly and... it and they are 'pure' lead... the cost is like $30 for 10 lbs of em.... LOl... That is Thousands of rounds for almost nothing. regular balls cost around $10 for 100. While not crazy... it is ten cents for each shot plus powder and caps. The buck shot is like ten cents for 50 or so.
I use eras gone by mold......I also got a slix hand cheater bar.....and.....the bullets are tight.....the cheater bar just bent heck out of the loading lever.... so I'm only using ball now....unhappy with too tight bullet...weak heat treat lever and poor fit slix hand.
Did you use soft lead or a mix with something harder?
Soft lead. Clean.....hey update..i been in contact with pat at slixspring/slixshot. He has cut new notch in side of slixhand to FIT 1849...says hes gona send me one to try out. Pretty dam cool...hes just an hour or so down the rd from me...
Actualy i used birdshot...had a old bag full. Used it for bullets. Had not gave a lot of thought to how hard birshot lead might be...old old bag. Was spliting. Was not steel shot. Was lead.
Anything blackpowder I like, an thx for the vid, always interesting to learn new stuff. An I had one thought come to mind while watching this, how about some sort of roll crimp at the front of the cap to hold it on the nipple, mite be enough friction to hold it, your thoughts please, as I hunt w/ .44 cal 3rd mod Dragoon for hogs an have had this problem myself.
+William McCaslin Replace the stock Uberti nipples with quality aftermarket nipples having very tiny flash holes like original Colt nipples had. I use "Track of the Wolf" nipples and you can get them in stainless steel or blued hardened steel like original Colt nipples. Stock Uberti nipples out of the box usually have flash holes that are 3 or 4 times proper diameter, allowing incredible amounts of back pressure that reduce velocity, cause cap jams and allow way too much fouling into the action. I never shoot a Uberti C&B revolver out of the box without changing the nipples. Uberti puts out a quality product, but to keep prices reasonable, Uberti cannot fit, finish and tune their C&B revolvers to the extremely high quality of original Colts. Tuning and slicking the Uberti revolvers is a bit time consuming, but an easy mechanical job. Uberti revolvers are well made, and if a shooter were to completely slick, and tune them, plus get proper casehardening done, then the Uberti C&B revolvers would be about as good as a pristine original Colt.
Uberti/Pietta really need to make 1849 with a six inch barrel.
I'm looking for a steel frame for a 1851 navy revolver can anyone help me.
Dixie Gun Works.
Gunbroker
I just got one of these. It over rotates the cylinder so the hand is too long. Also, at the first click (half cock) the hand moves the cylinder ever so slightly forward. Maybe the thickness of a sheet of paper. When placed in full cock, it will not fire a cap. Now, if you cock it and apply rearward pressure on the front of the cylinder, it will pop the cap. You may want to check and see if your cylinder is moving forward.
Most hands are too long. One of the things that causes over rotation is a weak or not tightened trigger/bolt spring. If the bolt doesn t have crisp and sharp edges, this contributes. Also the bolt cam spring may be too long (cam/bolt release is out of time).
The 'too long' ref means the bolt may not be inserting fully into the stop. Great care must be observed in attempting adjustment. One 1/1000th either way can ruin the actions timing, requiring new parts(s).
Replace the nipples wirg slixshot ones. Seat your caps correctly when loading, 90% of these issues will go away
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They should be making 6 shot. Sam figured it out, no reason they can't 😏
I agree. Sam started it when better steels were available. No reason they can't make them now. I'd like to see a 5 inch barrel version too.
He did. In 1851.
He later did in same model.
@erasgonehistoricalmolds2400 I'd even like to see 6" and 3" barrels! I wished someone else would think about making extra barrels in sizes we want. People make grips, caliber conversions, etc. Why not barrel assemblies?
I really enjoy your videos. Where should a guy start to gain more knowledge of black powder history?
Read SIXGUNS by Elmer Keith for a great introduction to the history of the revolver from the Patterson Colt up to Ruger's entry into the market in the late 1950's.
I size my bullets down to avoid using a cheater. I've had that slixhand destroy my rammer.
So I have a colt 1849 Wells Fargo I wanted the 1849 with the loading lever but they were out of stock if I buy the barrel with the lever for the 1849 could I swap it for the one that's on the gun now that doesn't have it,?
That sounds like a question you should call Uberti or Cimarron about directly.
Sure you can!
I get a privacy error-alert and my browser stops me from visiting your site. I expect some certificates or some such thing are expired, or you work for the Russians?
They cost 400 dollars
I can't see the money in them.
Well you're welcome to spend thousands on an original in good condition if you want to
People pay that for a plastic glock.
I would rather spend 400 usd on on a glock, than repro.
It s a shame that Uberti lacks the pride enough to finish these guns to a standard of , , yeah!, pride and responsibility for a quality product! The Walker is incredible! Uberti slaps them together k n o w i n g that the base pin/barrel insert has headspace!!! The Walker! The most powerful and most likely to suffer damage from such a mis fitting!!! In Colts patent from 1850, he states how important it is to NOT have headspace here because of the problems that w i l l result ,. Incredible! Where s Uberti s pride and basic product quality and responsibility?! Ok, back then these guns were actually needed for life/death. Still, there s a basic quality of product issue here. Discraceful really.
Geffrey Bolster: I think the quality is very much in line with the price you pay, if any more time was spent perfecting these issues the cost would very quickly double, then people would complain and not buy them, I think most shooters of these pistols get as much pleasure out of working on them as they do shooting them, that said I have never seen these problems on pistols sold in Europe, but they are typically 2 or 3 times the price, maybe the American importers are cutting Uberti down to a price that causes pistols to be shipped there that are of lower quality, just have a look on a European website at the prices.
I don't think they really understand how the colt was manufactured, or how it is supposed to work. What i really don't understand is, why they dont make a 6 shot. Colt did it with the advent of colts special silver steel.
@@453421abcdefg12345 Another reason that Uberti has lost quality is because their demand has increased substantially. Make it as fast as you can, even if quality suffers. Fortunately many simple fixes can be made if you are familiar with their products. I have had to fix factory burrs that would not allow a cylinder to turn, among other things. Most problems I have encountered have been on firearms from their Accomac, VA facility.
I wonder why you are not shooting original revolvers? Uberti and other replicas are cheap but nor particularly interesting. Don´t you have access to original Colts and Remingtons? The originals are made from another type of steel and have qualities much different from the replicas.
The thing is, original Colt,or Remington revolvers, or anything from that time period, are rare, and valuable. If, I had an original one, I certainly wouldn't take it out and use it?
I love the repros and since that’s what I own that’s what I want to see videos on.
Just buy a Walther PPK and move on..
It's not as cool.
so its basic crap , do not buy one ..thanks unless some one makes a .32 smokeless cylinder
Taylor’s 32 S&W
@erasgonehistoricalmolds2400 >>> 👍👍