1860 Army Overhaul

[Hawthorn1213]

Howdy Folks,

Starting a build diary for my recently overhauled Traditions 1860 Army. This was the first firearm I ever bought and after close to 20 years thought she deserved a complete overhaul. The goals I had for this build were:

1. Refinish and refit the brass frame, trigger guard, and back strap
2. Make new walnut grips
3. Reblue the barrel and cylinder with LMF
4. Complete trigger job

All in all in came out pretty good - Here are the before and after results/photo.

 

[Hawthorn1213]

First up was refitting the brass components and cleaning up all the mating surfaces followed by a mirror shine polish. I refitted the mating surfaces by lapping them on a granite plate and took the polish process from 120 grit to 2500 grit (wet) followed by white rouge. Of course refitting the mating surface on the trigger guard resulted in too much clearance on the back strap which meant I needed to reduce the angle with the help of a vice (images attached.)

 

[Hawthorn1213]

Next up were the new grips. I don't quite have a setup to do a one piece grip so instead opted for a three piece grip using some leftover walnut from a live slab counter top I finished up a few months ago.

 

[Hawthorn1213]

Last was re-blueing the barrel and cylinder along with a trigger job. I didn't document the blueing process since it's pretty straight forward and has already been covered quite a bit on the forum. I did decide however to switch the cylinder out with a fluted variant during this step which I feel goes much better with the curves of the 1860 barrel. I also followed Pettifogger's open top revolver trigger job guide. Here's a quick picture of drilling out for the Ruger paul and spring.

 

[Hawthorn1213]

Overall I'm pretty dang happy with how it turned out along with the new holster I just finished up.

 

[garypl]

Overall I'm pretty dang happy with how it turned out along with the new holster I just finished up.

You did a great job on this one!

 

[Gtrubicon]

What did you use to re blue it? It seems it has a matte finish? It Looks really good!

 

[Hawthorn1213]

What did you use to re blue it? It seems it has a matte finish? It Looks really good!

Thanks! I used Laurel Mountain Forge rust blue to re-blue. I stripped the old/factory blue off using vinegar and left the bare metal as is and didn't do any further polishing. I also carded with white Scotch Brite which tends to leave a more matte finish versus a carding wheel.

 

[Frontstuffer070]

Nice work! It looks fantastic!

 

[RMFnLA]

Nice work, and on the Ruger hand spring; eliminates the weakest part of that gun.

That brass frame must have been much easier to drill than a steel one!

 

[Jappo]

Great job, especially the grips.

 

[JT1200R]

Looks great

 

[Snooterpup]

Beautiful job in all respects. Love the new grips and the Ruger style plunger/spring for the hand is awesome.
Congratulations on a great job.