Prologue
Bought a stainless 1858 recently. Price was too good to pass up so why not? You only live once.
Mine was made March of ’08 and still in good shape. Previously fired and shows minor handling wear but nothing bad. The reviews all seem positive so maybe, just maybe, I wound up with a good deal.
…but wait. The first time I held it up I had a hard time getting a sight picture. Turns out the blade was milled too wide for the buckhorn and it had an obvious bend off to one side.
Scheduled a visit to the ‘smith and in the meantime picked up a conversion cylinder for .45 Colt. The price tag on the cylinder stung a bit but practically speaking I can put more rounds downrange with smokeless.
...A few days later I walk into my smith’s shop. I unbox the Pietta and I can tell just by his look he’s not fond of these things. I showed him the front sight and we both agreed the milling work was atrocious. Rough cut, too wide and appears as though it left the factory bent. Closer inspection revealed it was installed off center, more to one side of the barrel than the other.
At first he suggested, only half jokingly, I throw it off the side of a boat and use it as an anchor…
After a few more witticisms he sat down and gave it a good look. Timing with the black powder cylinder was just okay but he seemed pleased with the conversion. This mirrors what I found when tinkering with the gun: Cap & ball cylinder has some slop but nothing that’d prevent use or detract from function. The Taylor cylinder is much tighter. Cylinder gap on both is quite good.
Once we determined the piece was worth the $30 it’d cost to true up the sight he put it in his machine and worked some magic. A little while later I had a front blade dead center relative to the bore and thin enough to get a usable sight picture. Now all I had to do was shoot it…
Pre-Range
Before the outing I stripped ‘er down as far as I felt comfortable. Pretty nifty on the inside.
Figured I’d hose the action with Ballistol to see if I could improve the not so great trigger. Almost immediately a black funk came leaking out. At some point in the near future I’ll get a can of gun scrubber and do a proper cleaning. As it stands I did what I could and let it sit “open” for 48 hours to let any excess drip out.
Meanwhile I developed a smokeless load. Hodgdon data gives the range for .45 Colt/Clays/200 gr LRNFP as 4.6 gr min (777 FPS/5,900 CUP) and 5.9 max (931 FPS/13,100 CUP) at 1.60”. I went with 4.8 grains in Winchester brass, CCI large pistol primer and 200 grain SNS coated bullet at 1.58” COL.
The coating is, in effect, a dry lube that completely encases the bullet. Offhand I can’t say whether it offers any accuracy or performance benefit but it does make for less lead exposure while reloading and a friendlier bullet for situations where exposed lead or cast bullets are frowned upon.
SNS markets this particular 200 grain RNFP for 45 ACP but it’s the exact bullet they use for non-coated 200 grain .45 Colt, crimp groove and all. It has a nice beveled base for ease of loading…
…it might even be possible to use these directly in black powder cylinders as a conical. Experiment for another day, perhaps?
Christmas Eve
By the time I got to the range temperatures had bottomed out and the wind was whipping pretty hard. Neither helped group size but I was only trying to gauge whether the gun delivered acceptable accuracy.
I brought along my Taurus Judge as a control. It was an impulse purchase like the Pietta and despite friends and internet experts telling me it’s an absurd piece of garbage I can keep the 185 grain Hornady FTX inside 1.5” at 12 yards when I’m doing my part. I bet the gun is capable of better.
To start I positioned myself at the 12 line and fired a cylinder's worth of Hornadys. I didn’t measure groups but it’s about 2” at the widest point. Not too bad.
Next I loaded the SNS homebrew and fired at the upper right bull. Not snappy like the Hornady at 920 FPS so I'm guessing I hit the desired velocity range (or came reasonably close). First three were touching and one I let fly.
Proceeding to the upper left bull I loaded a cylinder of bullets lubed with bore butter. This was a mistake first of all because it’s unnecessary and second because it caused erratic velocity. The first one was really light and the rest random. There was unburnt powder in the barrel so I’m assuming I used too much lube and fouled the charge. Won’t be doing that again.
For the bottom left bull I went back to regular unlubed bullets. It’s hard to see in the photo but three rounds went into one hole.
Now I moved to the Pietta. For the rounds near the upper right bull I was aiming dead center so the gun shot about 4” high and 3” to the right. Didn’t bring a screwdriver for the adjustable sight so I just held on the lower left for center, and center for upper right.
Not too shabby for the first rounds downrange.
I replaced the target and moved back to 20 yards.
It’s again hard to tell from the pic but three rounds went into one hole. I was so pleased with myself I proceeded to wing the next shot six inches to the right.
By the time I got back to 30 yards I was freezing. I just wanted to finish and get home for some nog. Pretty terrible group but I know the gun can do much better.
Conclusion
The trigger felt improved after the action got some cleaning and lube. Smoother and feels lighter, in the range of being acceptable but still heavy for my taste. Either way the gun and cylinder performed better than expected. From the results today I’m fairly confident this particular Pietta can shoot better than me, which is really all I can ask for.
I’ll take a screwdriver next time and hopefully have it shooting to point of aim. If I can’t get it dialed it’ll give me an excuse to lop off that terrible sight and dovetail a new one on there. I think down the line I’ll end up replacing it regardless. Had the pistol wrapped in a generic holster to get it to the range and that evil front blade snagged and made it near impossible to pull out…final nail in the coffin as far as I’m concerned.
Forgetting the rotten front sight for a moment the only thing that gives me pause is a bit of peening on the hammer from the conversion’s firing pins. All my other guns are transfer bar so this may well be normal but it’s something I want to keep an eye on.
Assuming it doesn’t shoot itself apart in a thousand or so rounds I think I’ve got a keeper. The conversion cylinder looks like it’ll last a couple centuries so worst case I can pitch the revolver and get a new one (although I’m keeping my fingers crossed). To Pietta’s credit I’m not seeing any evidence of wear on the backplate after 40+ smokeless rounds, not a scratch. I imagine if the smokeless loads were too much it’d show signs of noncompliance right off the bat.
To wrap it all up, totally worth the money. A friend pointed out for what I spent on everything I could’ve gotten a pretty nice modern revolver in .45 Colt or any caliber I wanted but of course it wouldn't have the presence and panache of an old Remington. With the black powder cylinder it looks like ye olde pistole, with the conversion it's vaguely reminiscent of Firefly/Bladerunner.
I do have to temper my enthusiasm a bit by touching on Pietta's inconsistent quality control. I've already mentioned the blade ad nauseum and on top of that the grips and guard don't have a great fit (although I consider them both acceptable). In short you may have to drop a few dollars to get it right. Don’t know I’d recommend buying one that didn’t have some sort of return or exchange policy but if you get a solid piece it’s a good deal.
Well folks I’m about three nogs deep and this here’s the end of the line. Hope you got some useful information and above all…
…Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
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