Introduction
I decided I wanted to get back into shooting black powder.  I already have a stainless-steel Ruger Old Army “Liberty” model built in 1976 but wanted to add a more authentic replica to my collection.  There are a number of excellent Italian-made replicas on the market, and Cabela’s seems to have the best prices.  I never liked the looks, function, or assembly of a Colt (despite the historical significance), so I decided to purchase two Pietta 1858 New Army Sheriff’s models.  This Sheriff’s model is not exactly historically authentic because of the shorter 5.5-inch barrel.  These revolvers are replicas of the Remington revolver which has a top strap and is much easier to remove the cylinder than the Colt.  From now on I will refer to each revolver by serial; #28 and #41.  These were purchased at separate times so the serial numbers are not consecutive.

Unpacking and Initial Inspection
Since these are black powder revolvers, I purchased them directly from Cabela’s with no additional paperwork required.  They came in a very nice box packed in Styrofoam.  Included in the box were instructions and safety warnings from both Pietta and Cabela’s.  The gun itself was wrapped in plastic and dripping with oil.  I think they sprayed each gun with oil then dropped it into the plastic bag to prevent any corrosion.  I’m sure this is because once the gun leaves the factory, they have no control over how long or where it will be stored until final delivery to a customer.  Unfortunately, they didn’t do a very good job coating the bore or chambers.

I wiped off what oil I could from the exterior surfaces, chambers, and bore.  The bore in #28 and the chambers in #41 had surface rust.  I ran a few patches coated with gun oil through the rusted bore and chambers until they came out clean.  When I cocked the hammer, it felt like I needed a crane to get everything to move.  They started to loosen up after a few more tries, but the internals definitely needed some polishing.

Planned Improvements

Disassembly
Blackie Thomas has a video on YouTube showing how to detail strip and tune a Pietta 1858 New Army https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4jUmjB5QZw&t=2579s.  I pretty much followed his video.  By the way, he has many excellent videos on everything you might want to know about black powder revolvers.  As I disassembled the gun, I cleaned the excess oil from each part and placed it in a tray.  I ordered the following Magna-Tip bits from Brownells to fit the screws on this gun:

• 120-3   - hand screw
• 150-3    - all other small-head screws
• 180-3   - hammer screw
• 210-3   - grip screw
• 240-3   - trigger return/bolt spring screw

Now I have a dedicated set of bits for this model.  It’s important to always use hollow-ground, properly fitting screwdriver bits to prevent buggering up the screw heads.

Repairing a Stock Ferrule
I had trouble removing the stock screw from #41.  Apparently, the threaded ferrule was crooked in the stock and someone cross-threaded the screw during assembly.

I ran a metric M4 x 0.7 tap through the ferrule and cleaned up the damaged threads on the screw with the corresponding die.  After cleaning the threads on the screw, I blued them with Brownell’s Oxpho-Blue.

Repairing the Loading Ram Lock Notch
On gun #41 the loading ram would not lock into the notch at the end of the barrel.  I used a flat jeweler’s file to reshape the angle on the notch, then polished it with a 320-grit polishing stick following by a Cratex bit.  I cold blued with Brownell’s Oxpho-Blue, then applied a bit of SFL0 grease.  Now the loading lever snaps into place easily.

On gun #28 there were burrs on either side of the notch leftover from the milling process.  I used a small jeweler’s file to remove the burrs, then cold-blued the exposed metal again using Brownell’s Oxpho-Blue.  There were no burrs on gun #41’s notch indicating different levels of quality control between the two guns.

Polishing Burrs
To my surprise, the internals of both guns were already pretty smooth.  I used my Boride Abrasives stones to remove burrs left inside the frame where they drilled the hammer and trigger pivot pin holes.  I found one burr in the hammer cut inside the frame of #21 which I polished off with a 320 stone.  I polished the sides of the trigger and hand and removed burrs from the bottom edge of the trigger cutout in the frame.

I purchased Brownell’s MF-414 hand slot stone #657-414-002 and polished the cut where the hand rides in the frame.  This is usually rough milled as it comes from the factory.  This stone is tapered to fit into the hand slot.  This was especially helpful in polishing the edge where the handspring rides.  This edge was very rough cast as it came from the factory.

In the past these Italian-made guns were rough, but to be competitive in the Cowboy Action Shooting game, they had to improve their manufacturing methods.  I was very impressed with the fit and finish of these guns.

Polishing the Hammer
Caution:  The following procedure requires special tools and jigs to maintain the proper angles of the hammer and sear and should not be performed without them.

(Pietta 1873 Hammer)

I performed the same processes on these 1858 New Army revolvers as I did on my two Pietta 1873 single action revolvers (refer to my article Slicking Up a Pietta 1873 Single Action Revolver).  The sear ledge on the hammer measured 0.034-inch which created a long trigger pull with a lot of creep.  I placed the hammer in my Power Custom Series 2 stoning fixture that I purchased from MidwayUSA.com #411263 using the universal adapter.  I used a 220-grit stone to reduce the depth of the sear notch to 0.020-inch.

Once the depth of the sear was set, I polished the face of the sear.  I discovered that the Pietta hammer had a shelf that the trigger rode on.  When I reduced the depth of the sear, I removed that shelf. 

I rotated the universal adapter and adjusted the fixture so I was polishing the sear flat and at the proper angle.  The angle of the sear should be in line with the center of the hammer pivot hole as shown in the above diagram.

I first polished with the Power Series II India stone #080-815-000 until the sear ledge was smooth and shiny.  I then finished polishing with the Power Series II Hard Arkansas stone #080-815-001. 

On the hammer for #28 I found a sliver of metal next to the bolt cam.  This was left over from when they milled the cam hole at the factory.  I could feel the leg of the bolt hit this piece of metal.  I took a pointed pick and was able to remove the sliver.  Now the hitch I felt when cocking the hammer was gone.

Polishing the Trigger

I made sure there were no burrs around the trigger pivot hole.  I also slightly beveled the edge of each side of the hole with a cone-shaped burr.  This will help to hold lubricating oil.

The surface of the trigger that mated with the sear ledge on the hammer was very rough and had visible tooling marks as you can see from the above photo.  I mounted the trigger in the Ruger Single Action adapter for my Power Custom Series 1 stoning fixture I purchased from MidwayUSA #743549.  I didn’t have the Colt Single Action adapter, but the trigger fit closely in the RSA (Ruger Single Action) adapter.

I coated the trigger engagement surface with a blue marker and adjusted the jig until my fine ceramic stone #080-721-604 was polishing the surface flat.  I polished until all the tooling marks were removed.  I finished with the extra-fine ceramic stone #080-721-601 to get a very smooth glass-like surface.

Lightening the Hammer Spring

The hammer springs on both guns were built like the leaf spring on a truck which made it very stiff and difficult to cock the hammer.  This also made it difficult to remove and reinstall the spring in the gun.  I believe they made it this way to reliably ignite the percussion caps.  I couldn’t find any lighter springs, so I decided to lighten the springs myself.

There are various methods for lightening this type of spring; thin it, narrow it, mill out the center, or bend it.  I chose the last method.  I placed the folded end of the spring in a vise and used a soft mallet to bend the folded end of the spring in the direction shown in the above diagram.  I didn’t bend it too much!  This made it easier to reinstall in the gun.  On gun #41 after I bent the spring the end was rubbing against the rear of the hammer.  I had to grind about 1/32-inch off the end so it wouldn’t touch the hammer.  I still wanted the tension screw to put some tension on the spring, but I wanted a lighter cocking and trigger pull.  After I bent the spring, I reinstalled it in the gun and turned the tension screw in all the way, then backed it out 1/4 turn.  This made the gun easier to cock and lightened the trigger pull. 

Lightening the Trigger and Bolt Spring

Inside the bottom of the frame is a flat spring that has two functions; the long leg presses against the trigger and causes it to return to the forward position, the short leg presses against the bolt (sometimes called cylinder stop) to hold it in a cylinder notch.  This is typically one of the weakest parts and is prone to breakage due to excessive stress on the spring.  Blackie Thomas backs off the mounting screw until there is just enough tension on the spring, but I didn’t want the screw to back out even with Loctite.  I took a #8 flat washer and turned down the outside diameter until it would fit in the frame.  I installed it underneath the spring and tightened down the mounting screw.  This lightened the spring which aided in reducing the trigger pull.  Originally, I tried installing two washers, but then the spring was too weak, and the bolt wouldn’t function correctly.

After performing the action job, the trigger pull measured a little over 2-pounds on each gun with just a bit of creep.  I left the creep to ensure the trigger was safe.  Still, it’s much better than what came from the factory.

Cutting Grease Grooves in the Cylinder Base Pin
Blackie Thomas cuts grease grooves into the cylinder base pin of his revolvers with a triangular file.  As the gun heats up from firing the excess grease in the grooves flows onto the base pin and prevents the cylinder from binding.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbrJ95NapjY

I removed the loading ram locking notch and removed the loading ram screw so I could remove the cylinder base pin.  The locking notch on each revolver was brazed on.  I tapped it with a brass punch and mallet, and it came right off.  I cleaned the braze with a 1/8” round burr and my Dremel tool so the notch would fit flush in the cutout in the barrel.

I chucked the base pin in my lathe and used a 60-degree carbide insert to cut grooves in the base pin.  Blackie uses a 60-degree triangular file, so my bit did the same thing.  I started 3/4” back from where the front of the cylinder left a ring on the pin and cut seven shallow grease grooves 0.015” deep 0.200” apart.

I ran some 600-grit wet/dry sandpaper over the pin to remove the burrs raised by the turning.  I didn’t want to ruin the bluing on the barrel by applying heat, so I reattached the loading ram locking notch with JB Weld epoxy.  JB Weld epoxy has iron in it and resists high temperatures, so we’ll see if it stands up to use.  After the JB Weld set up for 24 hours, I clicked the loading ram into the notch many times to test the strength of the bond and it seemed to hold up.

I made a mixture of 10-parts Crisco to 1-part beeswax to use as a lubricant.  I cleaned the base pin then lubed it with the Crisco/beeswax grease.  I made sure all the grease grooves were filled.

Dry Firing

You really shouldn’t dry fire a cap and ball revolver because you’ll crush the nipples.  I rolled up a piece of leather and placed it between the hammer and frame to prevent the hammer from falling against the nipples.  Now I can dry fire the revolver to work-in the action without damaging the nipples.

Measuring the Cylinders
Now that the action job was completed, I wanted to perform the accuracy improvements.  Using my calipers, I measured the chamber in each cylinder in relation to the bore.  As you can see from the below table, all the chambers were slightly out of round.  This was to be expected with a mass-produced revolver, but if the bullet is not the correct size and is not seated tightly in the chamber, without grease or a wad, a chain-fire could occur.  The average chamber measurement was 0.446” with the smallest being 0.445” and the largest being 0.449”.    

What concerned me more was the bore diameter.  I removed the cylinder from each revolver, oiled the barrel, then drove a 0.457” round ball through the bore from muzzle to forcing cone.  I measured the slug with calipers; each bore measured 0.451” which was what I expected.  A 0.446” chamber and 0.451” bore cannot be good for accuracy!  The chamber swages the bullet smaller than the bore diameter, and when fired, the bullet wobbles down the barrel which causes gross inaccuracy and leading due to gas blow-by.

As a comparison I measured the cylinders of my Ruger Old Army and they measured between 0.451” – 0.453”; not exactly perfectly round either, but they were all 0.000” – 0.002” larger than the 0.451” bore.  This made sense to me because when loaded into a chamber the ball gets swaged to ~0.452”, then when fired fits tightly into the 0.451” barrel.  This is also why the Old Army requires a 0.457” round ball and is known for its accuracy.

Reaming the Chambers
Long ago I purchased a .45 Colt cylinder throat reamer from Brownells #513-000-001 to open the cylinder throats to 0.4525” on all my .45 Colt revolvers.  It came with a pilot because it is designed to be inserted into a chamber from the cartridge end.  The pilot keeps the reamer centered in the chamber.

The pilot was 0.448” in diameter which would not fit in the chambers of my 1858 New Army cylinders.  I turned a new pilot out of stainless steel that measured 0.442” diameter x 0.495” long with a 1/4” hole in the center.  I removed the C-clip that held the original pilot onto the reamer, replaced the factory pilot with my new pilot, then re-installed the C-clip.  I installed the T-handle that came with the chamfering kit I purchased from Brownells #080-479-451.

I put the cylinder in a padded vise with the chambers up.  I lubricated the cylinder throat reamer with cutting oil, inserted it into a chamber, then turned the reamer by hand.  I turned the reamer until the pilot bottomed out in the chamber.  This reamer was designed to be used in a bored-through chamber, which of course, a black-powder chamber is not.  When the reamer bottomed out each chamber had a ridge 0.535-inches deep from the mouth. 

I purchased a 0.4525” chucking reamer from Suncoast Precision Tools Inc. to finish opening up each chamber.  I didn’t want to adjust the independent 4-jaw chuck in my lathe for each chamber, so I attached a vise grip to the shaft of the reamer, inserted it into a chamber, and while pressing down on the rear of the reamer with one hand, I rotated the reamer with my other hand using the vise grip.  Because the chamber was already partially reamed the reamer fit perfectly and was properly aligned.  The reamer cut the steel of the chamber like butter.  I reamed each chamber until the reamer bottomed out.

I thoroughly cleaned each chamber with brake parts cleaner to remove all the chips, then oiled it.  I cut a notch in a piece of 3/8” dowel and wrapped some 400-grit wet/dry sandpaper around the dowel.  I oiled the paper and ran it in each chamber with a drill on low speed.  I replaced the 400-grit with 600-grit and finished polishing each chamber.  After polishing I again thoroughly cleaned each chamber with brake parts cleaner, then oiled the entire cylinder.  Now that the chambers are opened to 0.4525” I will have to use 0.457” round balls like my Ruger Old Army.  Since I already have a 0.457” round ball mold this will not be a problem.

Chamfering the Chamber Mouths

After polishing, I used a counter-sink bit to carefully chamfer each chamber mouth.  I turned the bit by hand because I didn’t want to remove too much metal.

Lapping the Muzzle
I lap the muzzle on all my firearms to ensure the rifling is sharp and even at the muzzle.  Uneven rifling at the muzzle causes the bullet to be thrown to one side which causes inaccuracy. 

First, I made sure the muzzle on each gun was square.  I laid a machinist’s square against each flat of the barrel and the muzzle.  Each muzzle was square as it came from the factory.  If it hadn’t been square, I could have squared it with Brownell’s 90-degree muzzle facing cutter and pilot.

(Note:  Lapping compound not shown)

I applied some 400-grit lapping compound to a .45-.50 brass muzzle lap I purchased from Brownells #080-764-500 and put the lap in my variable-speed drill.  I touched the lap to the end of the muzzle at the angle shown and running the drill at less than 700-RPM, I rotated the lap keeping the angle shown.  I performed this action for 1-minute, replacing the lapping compound twice.  This made the rifling nice and sharp and removed any burrs or imperfections in the muzzle.

I cleaned the muzzle with brake parts cleaner, then ran a patch from forcing cone to muzzle.  I continued to run patches until they came out clean, then ran an oily patch through the barrel.

Cutting the Forcing Cone to 11-Degrees
I’ve had very good results from opening the forcing cone on my revolvers to 11-degrees, so I decided to do this to these two as well.  Long ago I purchased a Revolver Chamfering Tool Kit from Brownells #080-479-451.  It contains tools that allow me to cut a forcing cone to either 5-degrees or 11-degrees and square off the barrel face.

I installed the centering pilot on the rod, ran it through the muzzle, then screwed it into the 11-degree cutter.  I installed the T-handle to the rod, oiled the cutter, and pulled the cutter into the forcing cone.  I turned the handle and cut the forcing cone until the front of the forcing cone met the inside edge of the barrel, NOT the outside edge.  I then removed the cutter and rod and cleaned the barrel with brake parts cleaner.

After cutting the forcing cone I wanted to polish it.  I screwed the rod onto the 11-degree brass lap and applied 400-grit lapping compounding to the lap.  I pulled the lap into the forcing cone and turned the handle to polish the forcing cone.  I pushed the lap out, then pulled it back in again several times to ensure there was lapping compound on the polishing surface of the lap.

After I finished polishing the forcing cone, I removed the brass lap and the rod, flushed the barrel with brake parts cleaner, then oiled the barrel.

Installing Slix-Shot Nipples

I replaced the factory nipples with SliX-Shot nipples I purchased from Long Hunter Shooting Supply.  These nipples are supposed to be more reliable than the factory nipples.  The opening in the cap-end of the nipple appears to be larger than the factory nipples, and there is a hole in the side of the nipple that allows back-pressure to escape without blowing the cap off the nipple and possibly jamming the action.

Installing Conversion Cylinders

Happy Valentine’s day to me!    February 14^th, 2019 was a special day for me; it was Valentine’s day, my wedding anniversary, and pay day.  I received a very large bonus from my company with this paycheck, so I decided to purchase two R&D .45 Colt conversion cylinders from Taylors & Company.  Each cylinder will chamber six .45 Colt cartridges and comes with an end cap that has six firing pins.  The flat-faced hammer strikes the firing pin to set off the primer. 

Taylor's recommends the conversion cylinder be installed in steel-frame revolvers, and shoot ammunition rated at or below 850 fps.  My reloads shoot a hard-cast 230-grain .45 Colt load at about 800 FPS which should work well in these cylinders.  If you notice in the above photo, the walls between the cylinders are thin which limits the pressure of the loads I can use.

Checking Chamber Throats
In keeping with my attempts to maximize the accuracy of these revolvers I measured the chamber throats of these conversion cylinders. I was happy to see they all measured 0.4525” which matches the black powder cylinders, so I didn’t have to do any reaming.

Milling a Safety Notch
Unlike the black-powder cylinders, these conversion cylinders had no safety notch between the firing pins.  If I was using these guns in a cowboy match, I would only load five.  But if I wanted to carry the gun safely with all 6 chambers loaded, I needed to keep the hammer off a firing pin.

Notice in the above photo the rear of the black powder cylinder is built up and almost square compared to the conversion cylinder (red arrows).  This built-up area contains the safety notch between the nipples where the tip of the hammer sets.  When the hammer is between firing pins on the conversion cylinder, the hammer rides on a ridge indicated by the blue arrow.  I’m sure I could mill a slot between the ridge and knurled bottom of the firing pin plate to act as a safety notch.

I needed to be careful because if I milled at the wrong angle, I could break into the cutout for the hand (red arrow) which could cause the hand to hang-up on the edge of the cut when rotating to that chamber.

I set the assembled conversion cylinder in the vise for my CNC mill with the knurled edge even with the indentation below the rear edge (blue arrows).  This way I could mill a notch and not cut into the knurled edge or the ratchet wall.  I used a 1/8” square end milling bit to mill a 1.500” slot in the position shown in the previous figure.

Range Day
These revolvers were a blast (literally) to shoot, both with black powder and with the conversion cylinders.  I had made black powder paper cartridges which made the loading process quick and easy (refer to my article Making Black Powder Paper Cartridges). 

Modifying the Frame and Ram
I don’t plan to shoot conical bullets from these revolvers.  If I did, I would need to modify the frame and loading ram.  Mark Hubbs of Eras Gone Bullet Molds has a YouTube video on how to modify the frame and loading ram to accept conical bullets.  I can load my paper cartridges with no modifications, but if I wanted to shoot conical bullets, I would need to make these changes.