Concerns over Track's SS Nipples

[Bottom Dealin Mike]

This is an update on the stainless steel nipples from Track of the Wolf.

As you may recall I posted that I'd used them on an Uberti 1862 Navy with good results. Unfortunately the results weren't so good on a pair of 1851 Navies...one Pietta, the other an Uberti.

The Pietta was a brand new revolver. The Track SS nipples wouldn't allow the gun to set off caps unless the nipples were backed out a half a turn or more.

The same issue was recently reported in a Firing Line Forum post

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=481816

The 1851 Uberti had the opposite problem, after  15 rounds I realized the hammer was getting cratered by the nipples. I wrote to Track today, and I'll let you know what they say.

[hellgate]

Man, a lot of my gun hammers get "kissed" by the nipples but that looks like rape (or at least getting "frenched")! The dimensions on the nipples or the cylinders must have changed as I have two older Euroarms Remingtons (one Navy & one Army) with the TOW SS Nips that barely touch the hammer face. Two of my other guns have Uncle Mike's/Butler Creek SS nipples that just kiss. The one Pietta (US Marshall) has Tresos.  I can't remember if I had to shim up any of the TOW nipples to get them fitted (so many guns, so many brain cells lost). I do remember shimming some SS replacement nipples on various guns.

[Pettifogger]

That's amazing.  Hammers look like that if they have been dry fired or shot a LOT.  But, not after only fifteen rounds of shooting.  In addition to the nipples being a little long, the hammer might also be soft.  There's another "new" nipple out that is designed the same way, i.e., longer than stock.  The theory apparently being it helps ensure ignition.  What I do for longevity is once the arbor is fixed on a Uberti, so you can maintain a constant end shake, is mill the hammer so it just touches the nipple with all the end shake removed.  Then I mill "X" inches off the face of the hammer and silver solder on a hard plate.  (X being the thickness of the plate.)  This makes the hammer nose more durable and gets rid of the notch (which the fired caps can get wedged in).

[Bottom Dealin Mike]

Just an update. The folks at TOW sent me a very detailed email about nipples in general and how theiras are designed...good gouge. They told me that they are having trouble with Pietta nipples due to dimension changes by Pietta over the years. They had me ship the SS nipples back to them along with one of the stock nipples from that gun.

They said they will make me a set of nipples that will work with that gun.

I've decided to keep running the Uberti 1851 with the TOF SS nipples as is, since everything seems to be working fine despite the cratering.

I'll give you all an update when the TOW Pietta nipples come home.

[olnumber4]

Mike ,

you must have another problem there.

I have been shooting my 1860 Pietta's for six months with the longer SilX-Shot nipples. The hammer notches are welded and the hammers are relieved so there is absolutely NO frame contact.  I have no such dimpling as your pictures show. The hammers have just a hint of deformation.  And, that's after about 15 matches.

Something smells in denmark,

Ol' #4

[bear tooth billy]

I have a Pietta 51 navy, with the original nipples #10s were too tight, and #11s would fall off. I ordered a set of #11 SS from
TOW and now I too have to have them backed out about 1 turn to get them to go off. I'll call them tomorrow with both sets and
my caliper in front of me. I don't do much cap and ball, but what a hassle

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Howdy!

My 1860 Army (Uberti made, Iver Johnson marked) has a hammer face that looks just like the one you pictured, Mike.  It has been like that since shortly after I bought it and began shooting it in 1976.  I'd guesstimate that it's had over 5,000 charges shot through it.  It "cratered" early, then never got any worse.  (That I could see.)  I still have the originals, but since I have about 5 or 6 sets of original nipples with only the last couple marked with what they came on, I can't say if they made contact with the hammer when fired.  The Uncle Mike's SS nipples I bought and replaced the original nips with, had about .008" gap between the face of the nipple and the "crater" of the hammer.  Which is pretty close to ideal, by the maintenance hints I've read and heard about.  To ME, making a nipple long enough to touch every time it is fired is gonna do damage to either the nipple or the hammer ... or both.  And that's withOUT a cap on it.  I don't WANT the hammer to touch the nipple the few times it gets dropped on an un-capped nipple or dry-fired accidentally by some "newbie" who is examining my revolver and doesn't KNOW that C&B guns should NEVER be "dry-fired."  (And I don't catch on to what they're about to do.)  Good, solid ignition is better regulated by the mainspring, IMHO.