Pistol Brass Frames

[torn moc]

Zonie! I didnt mean "I" was 34 in my last post!
the gun is !!!!
Heck brother..I am 55...and deserve to be a little GRAY....
as to the original Gunnison & Griswold pistols...the frame were cast from "brass" Church bells...at least thats what ALL the documented accounts say....not bronze....
the south really didnt manufacture very many of them either....and of course a soldier would exchange his brassie for a steel framed pistol if He had a chance.......
LONG LIVE THE SOUTH!!! :applause:

 

[Blizzard of '93]

You are correct J.S., above 25 grs. powder charge groups opened up with my '58 Rems. But I shot many 'hot or max' charges out of them w/no problems, mostly when I took them bear hunting and emptyied the pistol after. (shot at a target) did not count but somewhere in neighborhood of 200 shots, probably some more.

 

[Rogerm]

I find this subject interesting.
But what I dont understand, or maybe I'm missing something here is,Brass is softer, ok,Civil War brass certainly was softer. I dont think theres any argument there.However isnt modern day alloy "brass" much stronger then the Civil War era brass?
Are we comparing apples and oranges here possibly?

 

[Blizzard of '93]

You may be onto something but I'm not gonna take an original apart and do a Brinnel hardness test on it! anyway there were many brass-barreled single shot percussion pistols made not to mention blunderbusses. no doubt brass is not the ideal material to make a revolver frame out of but it is beautiful and will do fine unless it is charged to the max hundreds maybe 1000's of shots.
The South was limited in the amount of machining facilitys it had and brass was used because it could be cast very close to finish dimension and is easier to machine to finish making the revovler.
I have had 3 brass-framed '58 Rem. Piettas and wish I had kept one of them, I sold/traded all and now have a steel framed.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Bell metal is actually a very hard bronze. The ratio is 3 parts copper to 1 part tin. It will stand up to abuse and use far better than brass will. Some years ago, there was an outfit that made a huge .45-70 caliber revolver that used a bronze frame and they seemed to hold up well. There's all kinds of brass alloys and all kinds of bronzes, too. Bell metal is a pretty good one. After all, it has to stand up to a beating every Sunday without breaking or denting.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

I remember that big pistol now that you mention, was that by the 'Linebaugh' outfit?

 

[John Taylor]

I took one in on trade a while back that went through a fire. I think the brand is century arms. The back strap and springs didn't make it through the fire very good but the frame is solid. Another customer gave me a good used barrel for it so when I get a chance to make up some screws, springs and fix the back strap I should have it shooting again. Remember these were designed for factory loads which are the same pressure as the BP loads used in a trap dore.

 

[Poor Private]

Well I am glad that i started an interesting thread here. Some of the reason that I asked the question was that I have a 62 pocket police pistol with a brass frame and I use it for blowing powder at some civil war reenactments and I like it so much I didn't want to ruin it shooting balls thru it. Also most catalogs have that lovely disclaimer about brass pistols coming untimed I think it keeps people from buyin them. Also I like the wood/brass/steel look of a brass pistol.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

Doubtful you will damage it shooting RB's with light-medium loads.

 

[faw3]

And I could be way off base with this BUT I doubt the frames are even close to 100 % brass, Im guessing that because of the price of a cast iron cannon, mortar,ect vs a brass one the brass is about 1/2 again as high. This is just a :hmm: Fred :hatsoff: