1860 armys wont shoot

[lucky lefty]

[img][/imHowdyg]  need help desperatly have two 1860 armys frome texas jacks neither one will not shoot all of the chambers on said pistols.  have tried all brands of caps remington 10&11s cci and rws all with the sam luck.Have changed nipples also replaced stock nipples with Ampco still same thing .    At end of my lariet dont know what to try know.   Any HELP will be appreciated   Lucky Lefty

[Fox Creek Kid]

When you switched nipples did the caps go off at all when struck? I mean the caps, not the loads. Is the hamer face clean? Is the wedge in enough? If they still won't pop then the hammer throw may be too short. If so, call Texas Jacks for their return policy.

[Cohagen]

I would try nipples from Thunder Ridge.  Very important....make sure wedge is in far enough to be sure the hammer is striking the caps hard enough.

Just shoot off the caps......

Make sure BP 20-30- grs. by volume is slightly compressed....

make sure there is no oil or water in chambers....

Make sure powdeer is dry....

Check caps to make sure there is chemical in them.....I usually find  1 or two per hundred that are not up to spec.

Hammer spring may be week......

If all of the above fail to get you five kabooms, get a set of Ruger Old Armies..


Good Luck


Cohagen

[Ransom Gaer]

Couple more things come to mind for me.  Check to make sure flashholes in nipples are not plugged up.  Also are caps seated all the way on.  Do the caps fail to fire first time and fire second time they are struck?  It\f that is the case then caps not on all the way.  I've done this one.

Ransom Gaer

[Noz]

When I ordered my Pieta 1860s I ordered TRESCO nipples for #10 caps at the same time. I never fired them with the stock nipples.
Mine have never failed to fire.
By the way, they fit my hands and shoot wonderfully for me.
Wedge may be the culprit. Tap the left side of the wedge sharply a couple of times? Might work?

[Cactus Cris]

You might have the hammer's that just barely slide past the frame too.  Have a pair of 60's that when the frame/hammer got some fouling on them,  the hammer slowed down just enough to not pop the cap the first time.
  If not- the caps are prob not seated all the way down.  My 60's (same ones) I have Treso nipps on - use CCI #11 caps and seat them with my antler push stick.  I use a straight line capper (TC).  Have shot a 12 stage match with them and they went every time.  They are Piettia.
  Ck. the play in the cylinder (back and forth) with the hammer back & then with the hammer down.  If the cylinder still has front/back movement with the hammer down, you need to adjust the wedge- in further.  There should be very little slop in the cylinder while the hammer is down.  The gap between cylinder and chamber is dictated by the cylinder pin bushing/frame.  I had to take a little off the chamber face on them to get enough gap so the flouling would not stop rotation after 5 shots.  Was told by an old timer not to take off any metal from the bushing on the front of the cylinder.

[hellgate]

If the caps aren't reliably firing:
1-Caps are too small and are not fully seated (first strike seats, second fires it), get bigger caps try Remington#10 or #11s
2-Hammer fall (mainspring) is too light, replace spring with stronger one
3-Nipples are too short, need to shim them closer to the hammer face
If the caps fire but no boom:
1-Plugged flash holes, use nipple pick to clear a flame path,
2-Oil in chambers/flash holes, Q-tip, blow out with canned air AND use nipple pick before capping

[Major 2]

If they are new, and assuming the is no Operator error... I'd look to the answers Hellgate and others have given including the wedge depth.
That said , Texas Jack has one of the best reputations... you got issues ? he has replacement guns.
I would not monkey with spring replacement, just send the gun(s) back, changing nipples back to OEM.

Personally , I like RWS Dynamit Noble Caps Red Label for Uberti's and the longer Green Label for my 2nd Gen. BP Colts.
I never had an issue in nearly 30 years with one of my BP series 1860's firing.
Unless ... of oil in the chambers, clear that,  and boom... or maybe a cap fell off , solved by switching to Green Label's on my Colt's.

Good luck, and I hope you get up and running, 1860's and their Conversions are my passion.

[Paladin UK]

Fer LL........

Gotta go along with whats already been said, the pards have given an answer to virtually every problem that can occur with `Cap Guns`

All I can add is...............  DONT FIDDLE!!!

iffn they aint workin and they are new   Send em back, from whats been said, I don't think you`ll have any probs regarding getting them replaced!!

Paladin (what lurvs his Navy's  ) UK