new for me sixshooter

[sethwyo]

Did some trading and package arrived by mail, I've got an 1860 army replica again.

I've had a handful of these over the last 25 years but economic ups and downs and some dishonesty on the part of others cause me to have to separate from them.

The 1860 like the 1851 Navy and a few other handgun and rifle styles have always been a big nostalgia thing for me, a lot of it has to do with my childhood of seeing these in history books , museums and on the tables at the gun shows and occasionally used in an old movie I got to watch if I was somewhere where there was a TV and anything good was playing.

A couple years ago I got a sheriff's model 58 army and it' a far superior piece compared to the colt, strength of the frame ease of disassembling and quick cylinder change out as well as the sites, but it just didn't really fit with what I'm wanting, back when I was a 10-year-old exploring the Black hills of Wyoming or a or a 12 year old on the plains of Texas, or when I was a 15-year-old exploring the Badlands of North Dakota, I was always wishing I had a colt style to carry, I did appreciate the little Ruger single six and sometimes the Smith & Wesson 38 special that I had free access to,
But things just wouldn't be quite right until I had my reproduction colt to carry.

And I remember the first round I let loose on the first one I owned at an old mine up in Oregon.

Someone else has the 58 army sheriff's model now, although things seem to be going okay , I've lost a little bit of sleep as when he received it it was covered in rust,
I had cleaned it up and oiled it before packaging it and mailing It off, what I thought was thoroughly.
wanting him to get a nice lookin clean piece when he opened his package as I was wanting to give him what I like to get myself.

He has been quite gracious about it however,
He said he was able to clean the gun up nice, and he said he's happy with what he's gotten.

And right now I got the day off from work and I'm ready to get back to exploring the West with my six gun.

 

[sethwyo]

That's better

 

[sethwyo]

Now them bushwacking , side winding
red eye guzzlin local weed smoking,
Ingin scalping horse molesterin hide thieves won't get away !

 

[sethwyo]

I may need to rethink this before I go chargin in shooting
Missin a screw out of the back strap and the catch for the loading levers about to fall out looks like it was rusted out real bad and was sandblasted

 

[CyrusP]

Nice looking 1860! Was that factory antique or done by the previous owner?

 

[Bad Karma]

I may need to rethink this before I go chargin in shooting
Missin a screw out of the back strap and the catch for the loading levers about to fall out looks like it was rusted out real bad and was sandblasted

View attachment 319797

Oh boy… I’d solder the catch into place. If it’s not rusted in the bore, shoot the heck out of it!

 

[sethwyo]

Nice looking 1860! Was that factory antique or done by the previous owner?

I thought it was the aged antique finish also when I saw pictures of it online,
But parts of it like the cylinder and Hammer have been totally stripped down to the bare metal so I'm going to have to touch it up with some cold blue to try to get that Pantene look back

 

[sethwyo]

It does not hold the figure 8 groups like was advertised, I've tried 6 451s and six 457s it throws about a 3-in group at 30 ft

More than two decades ago when I was shooting my first one
Out in the desert there was a dump wher people came out from the big city and dump their garbage and I remember finding one of those old chairs that was made out of rounded metal that was about 3/4 of an inch in diameter that the whole frame of the chair was made of and I could sit there and shoot the legs off piece by piece,

 

[sethwyo]

Didn't get to 18 shots, one of the nipples blew out when i fired it, it skipped the cylinder locked the hammer back and blew red grease out on my hand.

 

[sethwyo]

Well at least it was just a bunch of red Grease that the previous owner packed inside of the gun and not bloody mush from the stumps of my fingers

 

[Bad Karma]

The grease is a great idea. But Bubba the gun crank has struck again…

 

[Smokerr]

If you use white grease it does not looks so bad!

45D aka Mike is going to tell you the Colt is as strong as a top strap type, what you really need is a 47 Walker! Now that is a Country Carrying gun and a new one is not messed with.

Worst case if you can't hit something you can beat it to death with the 4lb behemoth that is a 47 Walker!

3 inch groups are not bad for one like that. The 47 Walker I have will do 2 inch at 25 yards.

 

[n3wyu]

Didn't get to 18 shots, one of the nipples blew out when i fired it, it skipped the cylinder locked the hammer back and blew red grease out on my hand.

View attachment 319817

When I first looked at your pic I thought something bad happened. Glad to hear that it was red grease.

 

[Loja man]

When I first looked at your pic I thought something bad happened. Glad to hear that it was red grease.

Those were my first thoughts!!! Glad to know all the hand digits are where they’re supposed to be!!

 

[B P Arn]

I like that holster shown in post #2.

 

[Jappo]

Didn't get to 18 shots, one of the nipples blew out when i fired it, it skipped the cylinder locked the hammer back and blew red grease out on my hand.

View attachment 319817

Ah, its red grease.

 

[sethwyo]

If you use white grease it does not looks so bad!

45D aka Mike is going to tell you the Colt is as strong as a top strap type, what you really need is a 47 Walker! Now that is a Country Carrying gun and a new one is not messed with.

Worst case if you can't hit something you can beat it to death with the 4lb behemoth that is a 47 Walker!

3 inch groups are not bad for one like that. The 47 Walker I have will do 2 inch at 25 yards.

I do like my walker, I need to work on a new holster for it to take it on walks as the one I have now is not working too good for carrying it

 

[sethwyo]

If you use white grease it does not looks so bad!

45D aka Mike is going to tell you the Colt is as strong as a top strap type, what you really need is a 47 Walker! Now that is a Country Carrying gun and a new one is not messed with.

Worst case if you can't hit something you can beat it to death with the 4lb behemoth that is a 47 Walker!

3 inch groups are not bad for one like that. The 47 Walker I have will do 2 inch at 25 yards.

Technically a top strap revolver should be stronger than an open top , but this is one of those things, and I can't quite think of the term right now, but for going on over 175 years now , these open tops have sure put a heap of lead downrange, an have proved themselves very tough

 

[Notchy Bob]

Congratulations on your new sixgun, @sethwyo !

Your hogleg appears to be a Pietta, born in 2020. It has acquired a lot of character in four years!

The original M1860 was very popular in the west, and in fact, “cleaned & refurbished” ones were being reissued to the troops even after this revolver ceased production. Collectors call these “C&R” Colts (not to be confused with the term “Curio & Relic”). I recently found documentation of a field report from Benteen to the Ordnance Department concerning the cavalry’s arms in (I think) early 1874. The only complaint about the Colt was with regard to its ammunition… the paper cartridges that were issued tended to open up and spill powder after jostling around in the troopers’ ammo pouches. Benteen indicated in his report that the “cylinder spring” (hand spring?) of the Remington ‘58 was prone to getting out of order in the field, and these were evidently hard for the armorers to fix while on campaign. They preferred the Colt.

As for strength, I don’t think the open-top design of the Colt really gives up much. That massive arbor (compared to the skinny little cylinder pin on the Remington) gives a lot of support.

That blown-out nipple on your revolver concerns me. Are the nipples secure in their seats? I think I would pull them all and inspect them. Maybe replacing the nipples would help, although if the seats are rusted out it might take a little gunsmithing to make things right.

I would examine that cylinder very carefully. We hear about chain fires occurring when flame from one chamber mouth somehow gets into the chamber next to it, but Elmer Keith suggested that the “web” between chambers on neglected cap & ballers might be rusted through on occasion. That would result in a chain fire, for sure, although if you have already fired 18 rounds, you’re probably good.

That’s a lot of pitting on the barrel, but it appears to be bad on just one side. This suggests to me that the rust may have been acquired in storage, with the gun lying on that side. The bore, chambers, and mechanics will hopefully not be so bad.

It was mentioned that this gun may have been sandblasted to remove rust. I find that interesting. I kind of like “the look” this revolver has. If it were mine, I wouldn’t worry about touching up any of the finish, but would leave that as it is. That’s just me, though.

Enjoy your new sixgun, my friend!

Notchy Bob

 

[sethwyo]

I am