Need advice on a Uberti 1861 Pistol

[PaPaBruce]

I am a new BP pistol shooter and took my 1861 Uberti Navy to the range last week end for its inaugural firing and would appreciate some advice on a problem I ran into. I could not get one cylinder to fire - cap would not go off. on close inspection the nipple appeared to be shorter than the others. Swapped the nipple to another cylinder and the problem followed the nipple. I also was not pleased with the way the caps fit 10s were two small and 11s seemed to loose. Got home and decided I would upgrade all nipples to high end SS nipples that saw some people mention on the forum. When I called Dixie (from whom I had purchased the Pistol), they told me they only carried the factory nipples from Uberti.

Can anyone recommend a nipple and source me? Any other ideas?

Thanks, PaPaBruce

 

[FishDFly]

Tresco, call Log Cabin, they can help.

 

[TFoley]

It sounds to me that one nipple - the one giving you the trouble - is shorter than the others. Tresco are good, and so are Uncle Mikes - I've had both over the years, and regularly supply Uncle Mike's sets to my shooting pals here in UK. They are made for just about every 'brand' of percussion gun on the market - mine come from Joe and Suzi at the Rifle Shop in Springfield OR, but then we live not too far away over Route 5 for part of the year.

 

[arcticap]

I have heard of shimming nipples using thin copper wire that can be salvaged from an old electric or electronic device.
The wire can be formed into a circle or semi-circle and pounded as flat as one would need it to be in order to work.
I would request that Dixie send you a new replacement nipple.
After all, if the nipple was too short out of the box then it's defective.
I'm sure that they have many of them and can spare one to send to you.
There shouldn't be any need to buy a new nipple for a brand new gun unless you dry fired it and it got damaged.
I don't know which size #10's you were using but CCI #10's tend to be tighter than others.

 

[bang]

As far as primers being tight, you want them snug. Too loose and you can get hot gas chain fire. 10s are common for pistols. It's recommend to use a piece of wood to press primer onto nipple to insure full seating. Primer skirt will flex some to obtain good seal. As far as special nipples I've never purchased any. All my pistols, some 10 plus years, have the originals and never failed me. Dry fire causes biggest problems.

 

[PluggedNickel]

TRESO's are very good, I have SlixShots on my Uberti Walker. They are stainless steel and are made for #10 Remington caps. The factory nipples on the reproduction guns are not the best, it is a common fault, and often times as you say, they don't seem to like #10 or #11 of some makers. Left picture is SlixShots, right picture with blue back ground is SlixShot, TERESO, and factory Italian nipple. I think I paid $40.00 for a set of six SlixShots for the Walker on Badman Bullets web site. See link below:

https://www.badmanbullets.com/OnlineStore/proddetail.php?prod=SliXshot-Black-Powder-Nipples

I think they are $36.00 for a set of six for the 1861 Navy Uberti. I got their SliX Driver tool as well, fits the nipples like a glove and seems plenty hard. My Uberti Walker with SliXShot nipples installed. Factory nipples sucked on the Walker as well. I think you may be able to get a set of the TRESO nipples for a bit less than the SliXShots. They are very good as well.
If you are new to shooting black powder percussion revolvers, here is a link that will tell you more than you want to know about nipples and caps. Turns out, caps aren't just "caps, is caps!" One manufacturers revolver might like a size #10 cap, another might prefer #11, and some factory nipples aren't all that great either. The CAD drawings of the different types of nipples and manufacturing differences is great in this article. It has great CAD's of the after market nipples compared to factory ones as well. Turns out all #10 caps or #11 caps are not even the same dimension from one manufacturer to another either.
Some of the Italian factory nipples are not consistent in size/length, although from reading this forum, I believe they have gotten better than they used to be. It is possible for one or two nipples to not (using the same size/brand percussion cap of course), seat to full depth, so that the cap can drag as you are trying to cock the hammer and rotate to the next chamber. You can check this easily, with the revolver unloaded, and just capped, shooting dry fire so to speak, just busting caps with each shot. Inexpensive way to try and figure it out. Safer too. If you find the nipples are at fault, flip side of that coin is what your getting, fail to fire, either nipple is short, or too fat in diameter, and cap isn't seating all the way down on the nipple rim, but is low enough it isn't dargging or locking the cylinder up.
Link to article on Nipples/cones/caps:

http://www.theopenrange.net/forum/index.php?topic=9093.0

Left SlixShot, Middle TRESO, Right factory Italian nipple.

 

[PluggedNickel]

Bang is right, never dry fire. Always load and pop caps to dry fire. (best to do this outside, scared the bejesuses out of my wife one time in the house) ! The hammer is case hardened and tempered, the nipples, especially the Italian factory nipples are very soft by comparison, the brass of the caps acts as a buffer, you will peen the factory nipples flat if you fire without capping. It's a good idea to pop a cap on each cylinder before shooting anyway, in case there is any residual oil in the cylinder or nipple from storage.

 

[arcticap]

I've read about a poster getting a free replacement part and satisfaction for a defective one by calling Beretta customer service.
That's the company that now owns Uberti.
It shouldn't be too difficult to find their phone number.
There's more than one way to skin a cat!

I know someone who bought a "problematic" new Paterson C&B revolver that Uberti couldn't fix and then didn't want to try to fix
[because it was discontinued] until they finally offered him a replacement of another model of his choice.
Of course he was happy in the end with his new Dragoon, but it did take a while.

 

[PaPaBruce]

To all of you who took the time to reply, Thanks a million. If I can't solve the problem with al of that info, I don't deserve to have it go BANG. By the way, although this is my first BP revolver, I have been shooting modern arms for over 50 years, Hell will freeze over before you catch me dry firing a pistol with out snap caps or spinning the cylinder. When I get this thing running right I will post a note. Meanwhile, thanks again to all of you.

 

[William P Sepessy]

You didn't mention what brand of #10 caps you tried, but I'll bet you they were CCI's. They are so small they don't seem to fit anything anymore. Try Remington#10s. They are longer in length and larger in diameter. If you read the conversations about caps over the years, Remington #10 caps are considered the closest thing to a " one size fits all ".
Concerning the one stock Uberti nipple that appeared a little short, you are correct. Had that happen to a NIB Uberti 2nd Model Dragoon. One chamber would not fire until I backed that particular nipple out about one full turn--then it fired every time. I replaced the nipples with Tressos.
You will find that most factory nipples are not consistent in size. Not to disparage Uberti, but I have a bag full of new or once fired factory nipples. First thing I do now is remove factory nipples from any cap & ball pistol (Uberti or Pietta) and replace them with Slix-Shots or Tressos. If you intend to do more than occasional shooting, just consider the additional cost of new nipples to be part of making the guns run right and you having an enjoyable afternoon of use. That Uberti 1861 Navy is one beautiful gun, is it not?