1858 Pietta reassembly question

[Mike1911]

I removed the cylinder from my new Pietta 1858 .44 New Army to familiarize myself with it.

It took me about a half hour to replace it correctly. There must be a tip or two you guys can share with me as I got very frustrated doing it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Black Powder]

All of mine go in easy. Put the hammer at half cock put the cylinder in from the right side. Sometimes you may have to turn the cylinder a little. B.P.

 

[Zonie]

It's been my experiance that I always had to rotate the cylinder as I was putting it back in.

Like Black Powder said, put the cylinder in from the right side with the hammer at half cock.
Notice that the hand that rotates the cylinder is sticking out over on the left rear side of the frame.
The cylinder must push that hand back into the frame so that it can move further in.
To do that the cylinder must rotate clockwise (aft looking forward).

After the cylinder is all the way in it sometimes takes a bit of fussing to get the cylinder pin to slide back into position.

Makes one wonder just how ol' Clint managed to do it so easily in the movie doesn't it?
:rotf:

 

[Mike1911]

Thanks guys. I guess I need to practice.

 

[JJB22]

I have tried to do the Clint thing tons of times. CAN'T DO IT. I imagine the hammer was ground, no hand, etc. to do it that smoothly. Then again I am not as cool as Clint. :bow:

 

[tv_racin_fan]

I was able to do the Clint thing a couple times out of about 20-30 tries with reasonable speed. The trick seems to be not pushing the cylinder to far when trying to slip it by the pawl, that takes some practice. I'd just as soon carry three or four revolvers and not bother with trying to swap a cylinder in a hurry, I believe the whole point was to show just how cool he was under pressure. I believe "Josey" carried two 1847 Walkers an 1849 Pocket and an 1860 Army and if you look real close you will find that the firing models were converted to 45colt for blank firing.