1851 Navy timing problem

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cougarmagnum

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I have a Pietta 51 Navy that is battering the cylinder stop notches up. Does that mean the hand is too short or too long? The part taking a beating is the groove on the edge of the notch. Bolt seems to be coming up too soon. The guns a real joy to shoot,but I'd like to get the timing better. I relaxed the tension on the bolt spring a little, but no difference. Any help would be appreciated.
 
the bolt should drop in the groove/lead just before the rectangular notch. if the bolt is too long, it will hit the far edge of the notch if it is too short, it will land on the cylinder before reaching the lead and leave a line. If it is buggering up the lead, I don't know what to say.
 
coug said:
I have a Pietta 51 Navy that is battering the cylinder stop notches up. Does that mean the hand is too short or too long? The part taking a beating is the groove on the edge of the notch. Bolt seems to be coming up too soon. The guns a real joy to shoot,but I'd like to get the timing better. I relaxed the tension on the bolt spring a little, but no difference. Any help would be appreciated.
If the bolt is hitting just before the little "ramp" leading into the cylinder stop notches, then you likely need a longer hand. What's probably happening is that the hand isn't coming up far enough in its recess to index the cylinder to the proper position before the bolt pops back up. You could get a replacement hand and file a little off the top at a time, until it works. There could be other issues causing the problem that I'm not aware of (such as the hole in the hammer that the hand pin fits into not being dead-on, etc.), but this seems like the most expedient fix. :v
 
The bolt pops up when its tail slides off the cam on the hammer and the hammer also controls the movement of the hand. Th tail on the bolt that slips off the hammer cam could be worn or faulty.
I have also been told the hand should fit tightly in its slot without a lot of side play,in other words the hand may be long enough but if it wobbles around in its slot- that could cause problems. And you don't want to move the hammer back much farther after the cylinder locks, the trigger should lock within about a 1/4" backward movement on the hammer spur, too much movement stresses the parts.
 
Look at the cam on the hammer and springy element (the arm)of bolt. Maybe the cam isn't tall enough or the arm of the bolt is too short and arm of the bolt drops too early.
 
That's also a possibility. I think it's gonna be a process of elimination. If the new hand doesn't solve the problem, you (coug) may want to try a replacement bolt too see if you can get better cam engagement. Don't fret, though. We'll eventually get that SOB timed, one way or the other. :haha: :hatsoff:

P.S. Perhaps a schematic is in order: 1851 Navy

If the hand doesn't do it for you, check to see if the "tail" of the bolt (#12) is slipping off the face of the hammer and into the notch too soon.
 
with my Pietta 1860's and the fix was replacing the main springs - the spring that powers the cyliner stop. It was galling the cyliner - timing was fine, but it came up too hard.

So after reading about using a SAA piano wire replacement, I ordered one and installed it- did have to bend the longer side out to reach the trigger but it works great and the galling has stopped.

In fact, on one, I installed a replacement cylinder and it show's no wear at all after initial use.

If this is a Pietta, that may be what's going on - Cabelas has the replacement cylinders and Brownells has the springs. Sorry I don't have the item number handy...
 
Well now this is strange - I thought I had hit the reply for "1851 Navy timing problem" thread...
 
You probably did, but as soon as you changed the topic, it became a seperate thread under that topic. Some boards do that and some don't.
 
Replaced hand, filed untill length was right, replaced bolt with new one, works good now, thanks for help guys!
 
Glad we could give you a "hand". :haha: I knew between us we could get that baby properly timed. :v
 
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