Pietta NMA Tuneup

[Eterry]

I recently bought a Flli Pietta NMA in 44 cal, used. Im not sure the year of manufacture, not sure if it matters.

The cylinders have a little rust inside but no pitting and one nipple is plugged. I'll use some steel wool on a rod to get it out. I may need to soak the nipples in break free or something to get them out.

The bore looks great. I need to order a nipple wrench. I haven't gauged the chambers but I think I have a .454 RB mold.

It locks up tight all 6 chambers, no rattle or looseness either way. Very tight cylinder to barrel gap.

The trigger isn't heavy, but has quite a bit of take up before releasing, almost like a 2 stage military trigger.

I haven't shot it, waiting on time to cast rb's, and I'd like a little info on take down before I get it scattered across my bench. The NMA is a new animal to my herd.

Also what tips do you guys recommend for a tune-up. Any links to articles would be helpful.

Thanks.
Eterry

 

[Gun Tramp]

I'll use some steel wool on a rod to get it out.

Bronze wool is available from Brownells (or others) and is a bit safer around bluing.

 

[RjSixgun]

Well its been a while since I did my revolvers so I dont remember any of the measurements but here is what I did to all mine.
Ream all the cylinders to be over the bore size
chamfer the cylinder mouths so that balls are swaged and no lead ring is cut off.
recut the forcing cone so that half the ball is in the forcing cone and cylinder at the same time
Replace nipples for Treso nipples
Trigger job
Trigger stop (over travel stop)
taller and dovetailed front sight
open up the grove in the rear sight (helps with old eyes)
and finally paint the front sight blaze orange (again helps with old eyes)

Alot of people talk about how they want a lead ring to be shaved off, not on my revolvers!!! I use a .457 round ball and swage the ball into the cylinder, changing the shape from a RB to a plug, as its fired the forcing cone of the barrel will swage it again into a longer plug with out shaving or spitting any lead.

in the end, I sight the pistols in at 25 yards to be point of aim. Using my tool box as a simple rest I can normally keep 12 shots inside a 2 1/2 inch circle.
Im sure a better rest and newer eyes could do much better, but for me thats pretty good

 

[rodwha]

Well its been a while since I did my revolvers so I dont remember any of the measurements but here is what I did to all mine.
Ream all the cylinders to be over the bore size
chamfer the cylinder mouths so that balls are swaged and no lead ring is cut off.
recut the forcing cone so that half the ball is in the forcing cone and cylinder at the same time
Replace nipples for Treso nipples
Trigger job
Trigger stop (over travel stop)
taller and dovetailed front sight
open up the grove in the rear sight (helps with old eyes)
and finally paint the front sight blaze orange (again helps with old eyes)

Alot of people talk about how they want a lead ring to be shaved off, not on my revolvers!!! I use a .457 round ball and swage the ball into the cylinder, changing the shape from a RB to a plug, as its fired the forcing cone of the barrel will swage it again into a longer plug with out shaving or spitting any lead.

in the end, I sight the pistols in at 25 yards to be point of aim. Using my tool box as a simple rest I can normally keep 12 shots inside a 2 1/2 inch circle.
Im sure a better rest and newer eyes could do much better, but for me thats pretty good

I really prefer not having to dig around for lead shavings. No need for it really.

Where did you have your work done? I’ve looked around locally but can’t seem to find any gunsmiths that state they work on BP guns doing such things. I’ve read often that one can hand ream themselves and cut dovetails, along with even cutting back the barrel and recrowning, etc. Not sure I want to take a chance of screwing it up though.

 

[M. De Land]

Well its been a while since I did my revolvers so I dont remember any of the measurements but here is what I did to all mine.
Ream all the cylinders to be over the bore size
chamfer the cylinder mouths so that balls are swaged and no lead ring is cut off.
recut the forcing cone so that half the ball is in the forcing cone and cylinder at the same time
Replace nipples for Treso nipples
Trigger job
Trigger stop (over travel stop)
taller and dovetailed front sight
open up the grove in the rear sight (helps with old eyes)
and finally paint the front sight blaze orange (again helps with old eyes)

Alot of people talk about how they want a lead ring to be shaved off, not on my revolvers!!! I use a .457 round ball and swage the ball into the cylinder, changing the shape from a RB to a plug, as its fired the forcing cone of the barrel will swage it again into a longer plug with out shaving or spitting any lead.

in the end, I sight the pistols in at 25 yards to be point of aim. Using my tool box as a simple rest I can normally keep 12 shots inside a 2 1/2 inch circle.
Im sure a better rest and newer eyes could do much better, but for me thats pretty good

All excellent accuracy and function enhancements ! Only thing I can add is crown and bore map/ check out for consistency as almost all factory barrels particularly on revolvers could stand some improvement.

 

[Eterry]

Bronze wool is available from Brownells (or others) and is a bit safer around bluing.

I'm only using steel wool on the inside of chambers. No issues on the exterior of revolver.
Thanks.

 

[Eterry]

Well its been a while since I did my revolvers so I dont remember any of the measurements but here is what I did to all mine.
Ream all the cylinders to be over the bore size
chamfer the cylinder mouths so that balls are swaged and no lead ring is cut off.
recut the forcing cone so that half the ball is in the forcing cone and cylinder at the same time
Replace nipples for Treso nipples
Trigger job
Trigger stop (over travel stop)
taller and dovetailed front sight
open up the grove in the rear sight (helps with old eyes)
and finally paint the front sight blaze orange (again helps with old eyes)

Alot of people talk about how they want a lead ring to be shaved off, not on my revolvers!!! I use a .457 round ball and swage the ball into the cylinder, changing the shape from a RB to a plug, as its fired the forcing cone of the barrel will swage it again into a longer plug with out shaving or spitting any lead.

in the end, I sight the pistols in at 25 yards to be point of aim. Using my tool box as a simple rest I can normally keep 12 shots inside a 2 1/2 inch circle.
Im sure a better rest and newer eyes could do much better, but for me thats pretty good

Thanks RJ for the drawings m details how you tuned your CnB revolver.
Some I feel comfortable doing, i'll try those first.

 

[Eterry]

I had a mental lapse last night, I'd forgotten about YouTube. I found plenty of info regarding take-down of the NMA.

 

[RjSixgun]

I really prefer not having to dig around for lead shavings. No need for it really.

Where did you have your work done? I’ve looked around locally but can’t seem to find any gunsmiths that state they work on BP guns doing such things. I’ve read often that one can hand ream themselves and cut dovetails, along with even cutting back the barrel and recrowning, etc. Not sure I want to take a chance of screwing it up though.

A guy named Rob Lewis in Ohio 513-897-2852 he has a booth at the N-SSA nationals. He did my last 2 revolvers. He will also check the crown and dress them if needed. None of this is really that hard to do yourself, heck I use most of it till I lost my tools in a move, Rather than buy all the tools again it was just easy'r to tell Rob what i wanted and leave it with him.
Ive been shooting N-SSA for about 30 years now, so I pretty much know what a new gun needs to shoot well. So to me its just not worth my time to shoot them unless this type of work is done first.
People always talk about the Ruger Old Army, But If you work a Remington right, you wont want a Ruger!!!

 

[M. De Land]

A guy named Rob Lewis in Ohio 513-897-2852 he has a booth at the N-SSA nationals. He did my last 2 revolvers. He will also check the crown and dress them if needed. None of this is really that hard to do yourself, heck I use most of it till I lost my tools in a move, Rather than buy all the tools again it was just easy'r to tell Rob what i wanted and leave it with him.
Ive been shooting N-SSA for about 30 years now, so I pretty much know what a new gun needs to shoot well. So to me its just not worth my time to shoot them unless this type of work is done first.
People always talk about the Ruger Old Army, But If you work a Remington right, you wont want a Ruger!!!

True enough as I have both and my worked over Pietta 58 is more accurate. I still need to lap the bore as my plug gauges show some inconsistency in bore diameter. All else that you have mentioned has been done with the exception of a trigger stop. I have them on some of my revolvers and not on others as I still cannot see any advantage one way or the other for me.

 

[SDSmlf]

Well its been a while since I did my revolvers so I dont remember any of the measurements but here is what I did to all mine.
Ream all the cylinders to be over the bore size
chamfer the cylinder mouths so that balls are swaged and no lead ring is cut off.
recut the forcing cone so that half the ball is in the forcing cone and cylinder at the same time
Replace nipples for Treso nipples
Trigger job
Trigger stop (over travel stop)
taller and dovetailed front sight
open up the grove in the rear sight (helps with old eyes)
and finally paint the front sight blaze orange (again helps with old eyes)

Alot of people talk about how they want a lead ring to be shaved off, not on my revolvers!!! I use a .457 round ball and swage the ball into the cylinder, changing the shape from a RB to a plug, as its fired the forcing cone of the barrel will swage it again into a longer plug with out shaving or spitting any lead.

in the end, I sight the pistols in at 25 yards to be point of aim. Using my tool box as a simple rest I can normally keep 12 shots inside a 2 1/2 inch circle.
Im sure a better rest and newer eyes could do much better, but for me thats pretty good

Agree with above post except the ‘Ream all the cylinders to be over the bore size’ suggestion.

Ream all the cylinders to be over the bore size

Suggest reaming to groove diameter plus .001”/.002”, probably .012” over bore diameter. At least that is my opinion.

 

[RjSixgun]

Thanks RJ for the drawings m details how you tuned your CnB revolver.
Some I feel comfortable doing, i'll try those first.

The other thing that I forgot to mention.......Nipples! Ok I said it! LOL
honestly buy some Treso nipples and shoot them and dry fire them a FEW times. This will help them take shape, to be at the correct angle to the hammer. As they wear, take one out, lock it in a drill chuck and spin a slight angle on the edge of the nipple with a file. Then replace it in the same cylinder you took it out of.
Repeat this for every nipple, NEVER mix up the nipples and cylinders because threads the hammer will hit each different.
The reason to spin and angle on the edge is to that you no longer have to worry about 10s&11 caps. both will fit as the nipple is now shaped like a cone, thin on top gets wider toward the base.
Caps wont fall off because of the "friction fit" and will split off when fired because the hammer is forceing a small cap onto a wider cone.
Hope that made sence.......OK picture a traffic cone with a donut on top!!! donut fits on the cone because it the tip fits in the donut, but if you force the donut down on the traffic cone, well you just destroyed a perfectly good donut!!!! Same thing with caps on properly shaped nipples.