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1860 army

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stacks

32 Cal.
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I have an 1860 new army, it's been fired about one hundred times now. I've had to replace the nipples on the cylinder because they seem to flatten out and dont accept the #10 caps. I fired it the other day and the nipples are ready to be replaced again. Is this normal?, should I be expected to replace the nipples every 75 rounds or so?....
 
What brand of 1860?

Did you buy it new? If yes, this may be warranty issue since nipples should not flatten down that fast...

If a used gun, may have wrong nipples, hammer nose may come too far forward, mainspring may be way too heavy, or a combination of things. Most of the replica cap & ball revolvers have mainsprings that are way too strong and really hit hard.

I like to lighten the mainspring and/or place a homemade leather "washer" between the mainspring and triggerguard on the Colt styles.

(Sidebar Note: The Ruger Old Army is so precise that it may be dry fired without damage to the nipples as the hammer does not come into contact the nipples)

If you have access to a lathe or drill press you could turn down the nipples with a file and sandpaper and reuse them.

If you can diagnose the cause that will help solve things... might help to buy high quality nipples with better steel.

Please post what you find out.
 
Sorry about that, It's a Remington 1858 new army, got a little confused... I bought from cabellas, I felt the trigger was falling too hard, how do I lighten the load on that sucker...?
 
Its a very common too heavy mainspring. They are a bit tricky to remove if you have never done it.

Can not shim with a leather washer like a Colt style... you can carefully file spring down a bit at a time. File on the wide part's thickness; i.e. the sides that face to front/back of Remington.

You will probably void the warranty if you file the spring, however, as I said too heavy a mainspring is very common.

Gotta go out so will check back later and see what others have to offer.
 
The Remington has a mainspring tension screw on the front of the grip strap. Some claim that isn`t for reducing the tension on the spring but it will reduce the spring weight if ya back it off some.
 
Some factories don't use the best nipples. You might want to replace them with something better. I've had good luck with Treso in my revolvers. If you still get nipple peening, then you know to look for a cause in the gun itself.
 
Suggest you remove the grips - should see the mainspring tension screw positioned through the front of the lower grip area of frame.

In my experience with various Remington replicas often times the tension screw is just barely/not even touching the mainspring. Several times have seen the screws too long and had to shorten them to back off the tension on mainspring.
 
The spring on my Uberti definately loads up as you tighten the screw. Backing it off will reduce the strength to some extent.

You can take the spring out rather easily but getting it back in requires flexing it until the bottom will fit into the slot in the grip. I place a fulcrum between the front of the spring and the front of the gripframe and thumb it down even with the slot. Then it goes in easily. A rifle case of 8mm- 30-06 is about the right size.

If I try to tighten the tension screw with the hammer down, the spring will snap out of the seat in the back of the hammer. I have to cock the hammer and then tighten the screw. This is probably not common and one individual pointed out that it may indicate a marginal fit of the mainspring. Nevertheless, it never pops loose during use once successfully installed.
 
Just ordered a six pack of Treso nipples, I'll report on my results as soon possible, thanks for the help......
 
if your going to modify parts, buy replacements first and modify them. at least if you mess up you will still have the originals to fall back on. nothing worse to have a firearm that doesn't work because you "fixed" it.
 
W-skid, "10-4", that's exactly what I was thinking when I decided to start with the replacement of better quality nipples. At first I pulled the grips off the gun and started looking at the mechanics. I must have looked like a starved cow figuring out to get past a cattle guard crossing "perplexed".....that's what makes this forum so good, alot of input from so many resources gives us newby's a chance to make more informed decision......
 
In mine(Rigarmi)if the tension screw is loosened the spring will drop down in the lower notch too far and it won't fire. I had to put a small sliver of wood under mine to keep it from dropping down.
 
Hi again stacks!

I have looked like that "perplexed" starving cow at the cattle crossing many times.

One thing I tried with my first cap & ball revolver to reduce nipple damage and the hammer nose peening was to lay strips of masking tape in the hammer slot in the frame... used a tweezer to lay strips in. This reduced the hammer's too hard striking force. At first I used too much masking tape and got no boom.

Over time gained the confidence to reduce the mainspring's thickness and power. This seemed to improve accuracy as the hammer really slapped hard when it hit. Not sure if more accurate since I was just enjoying plinking tin cans.

When you get the new nipples, suggest you compare their installed protrusion length against the original installed nipples to see if they are any different... maybe new ones will be a bit shorter which should help.

Have fun and let us know what happens.
 
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