Review - Euroarms Remington New Model Navy .36 Revolver

[Frenchie]

I just got one of these from S&S Firearms and I want to talk about it. There's things I like and things I don't like.

On the good side, it's a bit smaller and easier to grip than a Pietta and, I think, a Uberti. It looks like a .36, instead of a .44 with a smaller bore and charge holes. The 6.5" barrel isn't as heavy (thick) as the Pietta .36 barrel. The cylinder rotates and locks up perfectly. Cylinder gap is very small, maybe 2 or 3 hundredths at most. The finish is the usual mass-produced black ferric oxide but is evenly applied; a bit boring, but then I can change that any time. In fact, I intend to age it slightly, just a few year's worth. The hammer seems to just barely kiss the nipples at the top, which means the hammer face is angled just a tiny bit too far forward; again, that's a minor thing, it'd be much worse if it battered and bent the nipples. The trigger is perhaps too light but it breaks clean with very little creep and I think I'll leave it that way.

On the bad side, it has the usual three-men-and-a-boy hammer spring; I'll be getting to that with the grinder soon. You know that little screw in the front of the grip frame that pushes against the bottom of the mainspring to adjust the tension? Well, it doesn't even come close to reaching the spring, and even if it did I doubt it would do any good, because the bottom of the spring (folded over, not cast thick like a Pietta's) has no room to move in the slot anyway. It is locked in one position and can't move back and forth, so grinding the edges of the spring is the only way to adjust its tension. The top of the cylinder stop bolt is very rough, but fortunately it has a sort of peak in the center and hasn't scored a ring around the cylinder, just made tiny bright spots on the edge of the notches. I'll polish it smooth too.

The hammer won't engage the safety notches between the nipples; the hammer nose is too deep and hangs up on the edge of the ratchet ring - more grinding there. Getting the cylinder out and back in is real work because the arbor is too long; it just barely sticks into the frame window and hangs up the cylinder, which is a tight fit in the window to begin with. The grips fit but have some gaps and sanding scrapes, nothing major. The brass trigger guard has a gap at the frame on one side, and I don't know if anyone else has this, but the front edge of the trigger opening catches the skin on my finger; I need to file that away and smooth it, and I'll polish the inside of the trigger guard while I'm at it.

So I figure I got what I paid for and am not unhappy with it. I hope to find a gated Kirst cartridge conversion cylinder and make it look like one of the Navy Remingtons that were converted about the mid-1870s.

[Alabama]

Hi Frenchie ,
but where's your pictures of your new toy !!! 
Sounds like all is fixable , and that's always allot of fun getting a gun " right " anyway .
I doubt the conversion cylinder will work , without massive work , but that's just my opinion .  Euroarms are nothing like Pietta or Uberti as far as size . I doubt the hand or cylinder stop notch will be anywhere close to either Makers revolvers and am sure timing would be way off anyway , let alone length of frame to fit the cylinder since my Uberti's are tighter than my Piettas to start with there .

Lets see some pics though !!!!! Befiore and after would be cool  Let us know how she shoots too . I love the .36 Navy its awsome !!!!!!!

Alabama

PS.. I almost forgot , Congratulations !!!!

[Frenchie]

Very close cylinder/barrel gap.

Thin barrel, looks better than the thick one on a Pietta. That's lint in the bore.

The cylinder is very well-finished. If the rest of the metal looked like that, the gun would give the impression of higher quality.


Mainspring tension screw is all the way down, doesn't touch the spring.

[Frenchie]

Hmmm... the more I look, the more I see. The hammer sits too low in the frame. I can't get clear pics that close so I have to describe it. Look at the hump where the hammer arc and frame don't match. There's a shoulder on either side of the nose that's supposed to match the shoulders on either side of the opening where the hammer nose pokes through. At the bottom of those shoulders on both the hammer and frame there's displaced metal. Sitting too low is why the hammer nose won't engage the safety notches. The nose does just barely touch the nipples so I think the hammer will fire the primers, but it won't do the other things a hammer is supposed to do.

Well, like I said, I didn't spend a lot of money and can't expect the quality of a Colt or a Ruger. I think I can file down the hammer and frame so they don't beat on each other too bad and the hammer will engage the safety notches. I'm going to get a spare hammer too, of course. I think I'll "play" with this thing more than other guns, try things I haven't had the nerve to before, like refinishing it some day. And I think I'm going to shoot this thing a lot. No more "safe queens". 

[Alabama]

Very clean cylinder ,
good gun to tinker on for sure , nothing too big of a problem to fix though .
Little work , lots of shooting comming up for ya , that's a good thing ! 
I think Tony in quality control may have been out that day or at lunch when this one went out the door . But like you said , it aint a Ruger or Colt is it . And you didn't pay Ruger or Colt price so it aint all bad here 
Plus , you get to learn more hands on gunsmithing too , BONUS !!! 

Sincerely , Alabama