Pietta 1858 C&B - Painful to shoot

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Hey, there's nothing wrong with having your open-top Colt on your belt as your New York reload after you empty your Remington. That's how I'd use mine if I got caught in a time vortex and sent back to the late mid-19th Century.
Use the Colt and you won’t need to empty anything… folks always forget that the point of shooting is hitting… ;-)
 
Use the Colt and you won’t need to empty anything… folks always forget that the point of shooting is hitting… ;-)
When there are seven or more bad guys in the street, hotel balconies and rooftops, you need that New York reload. With the Remington, you'll hit all six before you have to go to your standby Colt. As an added bonus, when you aim the Remmy at a bad guy's nose, your shot won't go zinging way over the top of his head, and your shots will count for good when they hit.:cool:
 
A few years ago Pietta made some .44 Remingtons with an extended grip. Maybe they still do. EMF would be who to ask. I use three Pietta Rems with my med/lg hands and never had a knuckle~rapture problem. If the shooter is able to keep his knuckle off the trigger guard he won’t get the shockwave.
 
A few years ago Pietta made some .44 Remingtons with an extended grip. Maybe they still do. EMF would be who to ask. I use three Pietta Rems with my med/lg hands and never had a knuckle~rapture problem. If the shooter is able to keep his knuckle off the trigger guard he won’t get the shockwave.
Well yeah,,the length of the grip isn’t really the problem.
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A few years ago Pietta made some .44 Remingtons with an extended grip. Maybe they still do. EMF would be who to ask. I use three Pietta Rems with my med/lg hands and never had a knuckle~rapture problem. If the shooter is able to keep his knuckle off the trigger guard he won’t get the shockwave.
Well yeah,,the length of the grip isn’t really the problem. It’s the distance between the trigger guard and the front grip strap. Notice the Colt, the 1890 Remington, the modified 1858 and the Super Blackhawk grip frames all have much more room than the stock 1858. When you have banana sized fingers it’s important…
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I made a set of grips that are longer at the bottom - they cover the frame and extend the length by quite a bit. That allows me to hold the gun lower and get out of the way of the trigger guard.
Someone should make and sell grips like that, they could make a million bucks - well, ok maybe a couple hundred bucks.
You by chance didn't draw up anything for those did you? I'm actually looking at designing an extended grip that I could 3d print. Maybe you've worked out some of the unforseen nuances that come with using an extended grip already? Anything that made you revise your design after your first idea?
 
I don't have any drawings, but here's what I did so far-
I have made two sets, both on Uberti brands.
The first time I used a set of "ivory" grips from Gripmaker. They come a little too big and he intends for you to trim them to fit. I left the length instead of trimming and used some extra material to make a filler piece for the bottom. This is glued to one of the halves. They are about 3/16 longer at the front, tapering to about 1/8 longer at the back. They look real nice and the extra length isn't very noticeable. That isn't really enough though, at least for me. My little finger still hangs over the edge.
On my other revolver, I traced the original grips on pieces of walnut, but left them a lot longer. They are about 1/2 inch longer at the front and 5/16 longer at the back. That length seems real good to me. I also made a filler piece for the bottom and glued it to one of the halfs. I made this second set thicker - about 5/8 thick instead of the originals which are about 1/2 inch thick in the middle. I maybe shouldn't have done that, or at least I should have tapered them front to back more, they feel pretty darn thick.
To do a really nice professional job, it would be good to make them both one piece, each one with a step at the bottom - half the thickness of the frame - so that there would be a single joint in the middle. This makes the fitting of them more complicated though. The fit at that rounded part on top has to look "just right".
After all, these are Remingtons, the best looking - straightest shootin revolver in the west!!
 
You by chance didn't draw up anything for those did you? I'm actually looking at designing an extended grip that I could 3d print. Maybe you've worked out some of the unforseen nuances that come with using an extended grip already? Anything that made you revise your design after your first idea?
As ugly as they are, the Pachmayr grip is very good. Something along those lines in wood really work well. Hogue, Sterrett, Eagle and others make grips designed to handle recoil and provide a repeatable grip.
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I don't have any drawings, but here's what I did so far-
I have made two sets, both on Uberti brands.
The first time I used a set of "ivory" grips from Gripmaker. They come a little too big and he intends for you to trim them to fit. I left the length instead of trimming and used some extra material to make a filler piece for the bottom. This is glued to one of the halves. They are about 3/16 longer at the front, tapering to about 1/8 longer at the back. They look real nice and the extra length isn't very noticeable. That isn't really enough though, at least for me. My little finger still hangs over the edge.
On my other revolver, I traced the original grips on pieces of walnut, but left them a lot longer. They are about 1/2 inch longer at the front and 5/16 longer at the back. That length seems real good to me. I also made a filler piece for the bottom and glued it to one of the halfs. I made this second set thicker - about 5/8 thick instead of the originals which are about 1/2 inch thick in the middle. I maybe shouldn't have done that, or at least I should have tapered them front to back more, they feel pretty darn thick.
To do a really nice professional job, it would be good to make them both one piece, each one with a step at the bottom - half the thickness of the frame - so that there would be a single joint in the middle. This makes the fitting of them more complicated though. The fit at that rounded part on top has to look "just right".
After all, these are Remingtons, the best looking - straightest shootin revolver in the west!!
I appreciate it. And the last part had me rollin.. thanks for the laugh!. 🤣🤣
 
I think people are gripping the guns too loosely in many cases. I wear a XXL glove and can palm a basketball, but I don't get my knuckle rapped. Single-action revolvers and muzzle-loading pistols don't require a firm grip to minimize muzzle rise and reliable cycling of the action as is the case with unmentionables, so that can lead to habituating a looser grip when someone shoots these kinds of weapons to the near exclusion of all others.
90% of my shooting is with Single Actions and a great deal of that is at Cowboy Matches. Over the years I occasionally start to feel "slow and awkward" and every time I trace it back to a loose grip. The heavier the load the more noticeable it becomes as you are quickly acquiring targets and the gun starts to squirrel around in my hand. If I am doing slow target shooting it is not as apparent as you re-acquire your grip after each shot. I mention this because I had a Remington years ago and did feel my knuckle crunched a bit, but I recently acquired a new pair of Uberti Remingtons and it dawned on me I wasn't feeling the same issue. It also dawned on me I had been retraining myself to maintain a very firm grip due to my experience at Cowboy Shoots. At least it worked in my case.
 
I really like my cap and ball Remington replica but, every time I fire it, the trigger guard hits the middle knuckle of my middle finger in recoil. Last time at the range I got a nasty blister (yes, too dumb or determined ....maybe both, to quit). Now, every time I think about taking it out for a range session my knuckle starts to ache just thinking about it. :( I thought about wearing a glove but, anything thick enough protect my knuckle would be too thick for safe handling. I also considered wearing a golf glove but, it may be too thin ?

Anyone else had this problem? If so, have you figured out how to avoid it ?

BTW .... I have a .45 Colt conversion cylinder (holds 6 rds) and it works great but, the problem occurs with either smokeless cartridge or BP.

I have always thought the Remington grip design was a poor one.
It is ok for pulling the gun out of a holster, but bad for recoil control.
 
A few years ago Pietta made some .44 Remingtons with an extended grip. Maybe they still do. EMF would be who to ask. I use three Pietta Rems with my med/lg hands and never had a knuckle~rapture problem. If the shooter is able to keep his knuckle off the trigger guard he won’t get the shockwave.
I believe Dixie still carries that over sized model.ive never handle one but it makes sense.some of us have grown over the last 150 or so years
 
This knuckle-rapping issue caused me to give up on the Remington years back, much as I love the superior sights and ease of removing the cylinder. Next time I get a chance to handle one, I will try the pinky under, but trying this with the Blackhawk I have at hand seems completely unnatural -- and a fine way to get it smashed by the recoil when shooting from rest.
 
This knuckle-rapping issue caused me to give up on the Remington years back, much as I love the superior sights and ease of removing the cylinder. Next time I get a chance to handle one, I will try the pinky under, but trying this with the Blackhawk I have at hand seems completely unnatural -- and a fine way to get it smashed by the recoil when shooting from rest.
If your unmentionable doesn't have a short grip, then there's no point in putting your pinky under it. The whole point in putting the pinky below the bottom of the Remington grip is to prevent an excessively high hold that is contrary to the way it was designed to be held.
 
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