1860 colt army signature series almost ready to shoot

[K.A.T.]

I bought a slightly used 1860 colt sign. Then found the cylinder stop spring was broke. waiting on one from cimmaron.The gun is in good condition, the insides were a little dirty.I cleaned it all up with Lacquer Thinner,easy and spotless,kept it off the blueing.I'm a little confused about which size balls to use.Why did they make the two barrel alighnment pins to come out?What can you use to keep them in,maybe a touch of honey to make them stick.I don't know?There is 4 nipples I don't have loose yet broke a cheap wrench allready, waiting on a better one now.I hope this gets to be alot more fun,so far i'm still on the couch waiting on parts and getting frustrated.

 

[Snaggletooth]

Nipple Wrench

I made a nipple wrench from a hard bolt and have alot of success with it. I use it on the walker and the Dragoon. I cut off the threads and filed a notch in ihat end, cut off the bolt head and put a hole in that end and use a piece oh hard steel through the hole for leverage. Works great. I cant get my camera program to post pictures from this computer or I'd send some

 

[K.A.T.]

thanks for the idea, I think I can do that.I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

[mec]

Yeh. Those pins are pretty loose in the frame. what works very well is to take them out and then use a punch to slightly peen the holes in the frame.

the dovetail for the loading lever detent tends to loosen and walk out on some revolvers. tightening the dovetail only works for a short time. I finally dabbed some j&b weld and this does hold it in place. The pin that holds the latch in the tip of the loading lever also likes to walk out. Peening the hole with the pin in place seems to work.

 

[Bad Flynch]

I own 3 of these things and finally settled on round balls with a diameter of 0.454 inches. The main thing is that you find a ball size that shaves a little teeny ring of lead off the ball as it is seated in the cylinder. The tight fit helps to prevent flash-over and holds the balls in under recoil. Real message is not to be too glued to a certain size until you find that it really fits your revolver as a matter of practice.

About the nipples: it sounds like whoever had it before you did not clean the gun properly, or did not lube it properly when he put it away and it rusted. Be sure to soak the cylinder in penetrating oil for a few days before you get heavy handed at removing a stuck nipple. If you cannot get it out, take it to a gunsmith. If you get it out, then clean it well and relube the threads with anti-seize compound. That will stop future problems.

Have a gunsmith carefully stake the pins, as staking will affect the way the barrel fits there and there will need to be some adjustment and filing done to get it back to seating correctly.

 

[K.A.T.]

I finally got my stuck nipples out! I let them soak about three days with liquid wrench then tried, they would not move.I reapplied the liquid wrench heated the cylinder with the blowdrier and placed it on a phonebook and tapped on the nipple wrench with a brass hammer. It took about three times of rotating the cylinder and going from nipple to nipple before they came loose. They were not really rusted, I think they were installed without any grease on them.