I recently purchased a Pietta Paterson from Dixie Gun Works. It is a very good looking pistol. However, it is without a doubt the worst cap and ball pistol out of the box that I have ever owned. The cylinder doesn't lock well if you pull the hammer back quickly. The nipples are horrible. It is supposed to take #11 caps, but I have tried two different brands of #11 caps niether of which worked. I had to grind the nipples for the caps to fit and the hammer still has to fall twice on each cap before it explodes. The hammer seems not to strike the caps very hard. The barrel is very difficult to remove and the loading tool doesn't seem to be very sturdy. Like I said, the gun is really a neat reproduction of a piece of American history, but I'm really concerned about attempting to load and shoot it. Has anyone else experienced this same thing with a Pietta Paterson?
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Pietta Paterson
- Thread starter logan
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Sounds like you ended up with #10 nipples instead of 11s. That happens occasionally. That would also explain why the hammer has to fall twice to set them off. The first hammer drop seats them and the second ignites them. Try #10 caps and see if that doesn't solve the problem.
Can't help with the other problems. I don't buy Pietta because of quality control issues they used to have in the past. I had heard that they have improved quality quite a bit in recent years, but perhaps they still slip up now and then.
Can't help with the other problems. I don't buy Pietta because of quality control issues they used to have in the past. I had heard that they have improved quality quite a bit in recent years, but perhaps they still slip up now and then.
Doc Arroyo
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My loading tool has held up for many years. Rapidly cocking the hammer does over-rotate the cylinder, but that is a flaw to the Paterson design. It loads easily, and mine holds about a 12" group at 30 yards...one hand offhand. Fun plinker. I finally broke a spring a couple of years back, and after it was fixed it has been religated to educational purposes instead of a shooter
Poor Private
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My patterson I use occaisionly for civil war reenacting (early War). I have no problems with misfires, and it's a Pietta have had it a for about 3 years. I get it out to fire live every once in a while. I have bbenm working on getting a presentation setup for it. About 1/2 way there just need the box and a nice .36 cal. mold. The special patterson loader is kinda neat to use.
Logan:
Cock the pistol slow and easy. Remember, the Patersons were Colts first revolver and they had some basic design faults.
At the time, just having a pistol that could repeatably be fired was an amazing thing to most folks and even though they "babied" their guns parts still broke.
The reproductions seem to have carried forward the design faults which, if you think about it is just what we want them to do so, take it easy with your gun and it will work rather well.
Cock the pistol slow and easy. Remember, the Patersons were Colts first revolver and they had some basic design faults.
At the time, just having a pistol that could repeatably be fired was an amazing thing to most folks and even though they "babied" their guns parts still broke.
The reproductions seem to have carried forward the design faults which, if you think about it is just what we want them to do so, take it easy with your gun and it will work rather well.
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I was much taken by the thought of having the orignal design Colt revolving pistol.
My love affair lasted about three weekends of shooting - with all the points you raised.
Since here in the UK there is no point of going to all the trouble of having a firearm on your Firearms Certificate that is no fun to shoot or own, I got rid of it as soon as I could.
I 'replaced it' with a non-working replica, probably by the same maker if the truth be told.
But if I lived in the US, where it really doesn't matter how many real guns you have, I would probably still have it...but not to shoot.
tac
My love affair lasted about three weekends of shooting - with all the points you raised.
Since here in the UK there is no point of going to all the trouble of having a firearm on your Firearms Certificate that is no fun to shoot or own, I got rid of it as soon as I could.
I 'replaced it' with a non-working replica, probably by the same maker if the truth be told.
But if I lived in the US, where it really doesn't matter how many real guns you have, I would probably still have it...but not to shoot.
tac
Cap sizes are essentially a manure shoot. I've measured dozens of caps of various sizes and manufacturers and compared measurements with other people, and I can't draw any conclusions except:
CCI and Remington caps have no relationship to each other with respect to size. CCI No. 10's are not the same as Remington No. 10's; the same is true about No. 11's. And RSW No. 1075's are somewhere inbetween, maybe.
One manufacturer's No. 10's may in fact be larger than another manufacturer's No. 11's. Even worse, a given manufacturer's caps can vary greatly in size from one batch to another despite being marked the same size.
CCI and Remington caps have no relationship to each other with respect to size. CCI No. 10's are not the same as Remington No. 10's; the same is true about No. 11's. And RSW No. 1075's are somewhere inbetween, maybe.
One manufacturer's No. 10's may in fact be larger than another manufacturer's No. 11's. Even worse, a given manufacturer's caps can vary greatly in size from one batch to another despite being marked the same size.
