Fluted Cylinder

[Marc Adamchek]

It seems when I ordered my Uberti 1860 Army I checked the one with the fluted cylinder by mistake.
I didn't even KNOW they had one with a fluted cylinder(!).

I've since read on other sites (where I'm NOT a member)that the fluted cylinder isn't as strong as the, uh, other one.

Any truth to this? If so, what should be my load cutoff?

 

[pargent]

You can't get too much powder into the chamber,(in2f & 3f )

 

[Shoeless]

This is my first post here so I'll jump right in. The fluted cylinders were in the first releases of the 1860 issued to the Army. Those had weaker cylinder and thus came the rebated cylinders. That being said I have a pair of fluteds I shoot in matches. The newer metals are strong and I load 30 grs of fff with no issues and have put about a 1,000 balls thru them without issue. VTI can even get fluted cylinders for the 1861........

 

[Rifleman1776]

You jumped in barefoot? :rotf:
Actually, welcome to the forum.
Yes, you did jump into it. :shocked2: :wink:

 

[Shoeless]

Thanks, I have just found this forum after getting into Flintlock rifles but my passion is Civil War arms and especially Colts and have collected all variations from the Paterson to the Pocket Police in Uberti and 2nd-3rd Gen Colts. I have spent most my time on the CAS forum......

 

[Marc Adamchek]

Many Thanks, Shoeless, for your contribution on this thread as well as others. Although I've many blackpowder firearms, original and replica, I've just decided this week to enter the world of the cap 'n ball revolver.

 

[torn moc]

You are going to love that shootin iron..
they have a class all their own.

 

[mtmshieldshotmail.com]

...I didn't even KNOW they had one with a fluted cylinder(!)...

Of the first 8000 1860s produced, about half of them had fluted cylinders. This is according to "Firearms of the American West" by Garavaglia & Worman. They say it was a short-lived attempt to reduce weight.
Perhaps it was short-lived because the added machining was not worth the insignificant amount of weight saved. Congrats on the new gun!

Regards,
Mike

 

[George T.]

Yeah I am on a revolver hunt also. The way the pistols are fluted all the length puts me off a little. I dont know what to do at this point. I love the looks of the 1851 and 1861 but having two 44's right now I am looking at 1860's to avoid additional supplies! Geo. T.

 

[George T.]

By the way do you mind saying where you bought your's? Geo. T.

 

[Marc Adamchek]

I bought the 1860 Army from DIXIE and the 1861 Navy from The Possible Shop.

The 1860 Army is offered with the "regular" cylinder if you don't want the fluted one. In fact it's cheaper.

 

[Shoeless]

Cap and ball revolvers are addicting, it soon grows to pairs of everything. The pricing is reasonable and stack well in the gun safe......

 

It's worthy of note that the full flutes are historically correct for the model, the half flutes are not.

While I doubt that it ever had any impact upon strength in the 1860's, it absolutely has no bearing now. Even in high pressure cartridge big bores.

 

[Shoeless]

Per R.L.Wilson,the early fluted cylinders had issues with weakness and explosions and they were originally called Texas models. They new ones can take all the black powder that will fit and still seat the ball.....

 

Which book did he write that in? Not that I don't believe you, just like to know for future reference.

 

[Shoeless]

Colt,An American Legend 1985........

 

[Zonie]

The only thing I can find in R. L. Wilson's
*C*O*L*T*
AN AMERICAN LEGEND

is on page 98 where, writing about the Colt 1860 he says,

"A scarce variation dating from the first year of manufacture is the fluted-cylinder version, identified in the original shipping ledgers as the "cavalry" model. To the confusion of the novice collector, specimens were made in 7 1/2" and 8" barrel lengths, and with Navy and Army-size grips..."

The comment about a "Texas" model may be somewhere else in that book as I didn't feel like reading all of it.

Not to hijack this thread but I read Wilson's comments about and looked at photos of the interim pistol that was a modified 1851 Navy.
Like the Italian .44 cal "Colt 1851 Navy" it had the rebated cylinder and the frame had been cut to clear the enlarged area.
Unlike the Italian .44 model, the modified gun has the streamlined barrel and creeping loading lever commonly used on the Colt 1860 Army. It does not have the 1851 style loading lever or the octagon barrel.

The only thing that ties it to the Colt 1851 Navy is its serial number, marked on the frame and being one of the 1851 Navy series.

 

[Shoeless]

However, there were early problems with the design of the 1860 Army's fluted cylinders, and before April 1861, at least one dealer, H.D. Norton, had returned 120 of his 240 Colts to Hartford citing "burst cylinders." A March 25, 1861, letter to Colt informed them that "with the cylinder burst...It blew out at the place in the cylinder where the catch enters... the thinness of the cylinder here has often been urged as an objection to them and if many of them do it they will not sell at all." Colt, not desiring to create alarm in the marketplace (or even worse, jeopardizing his large government contract with "bad press"), wrote to Norton "we will repair or replace these arms immediately." Replacement Armies with rebated Army cylinders were apparently sent. It is possible that he used the same policy for problems that occurred on weapons sent to the other dealers, but there are no known letters to that effect.

 

[Shoeless]

The Quote above is from Hansen & Hansen Arms & Antiquities. I'll have to look in the R.L.Wilson book again to get exact text.....

 

Thanks, I've got that one and will have to crack it open this week. I always like reading about those minute details. :thumbsup: