Video - Modifying the Pietta 1851 Navy for reliability

[Bottom Dealin Mike]

This is the second installment of my video series about modifying the Pietta 1851 revolver. In this segment we'll make some changes to the Pietta 1851 Navy revolver to improve its reliability. We'll fill in the safety slot on the hammer face. We will istall after-market nipples and we will smooth up the action.

[hellgate]

What a sweet 15 minutes I just spent watching you do what I have done about 25 times only you did it with the right tools (proper grit sandpaper, stones, gunsmith screwdrivers, etc.) and with APLOMB! I have jeweler's files and stones but not the gunsmith ones you have. Now I know what I should get to do it properly.

After I do all the deburring I grease the heck out of all articulating parts except the trigger sear. What are your thoughts on internal lubes? I use automotive grease on everything for both lubing and rust prevention.

For showing up rough spots, I just use a Magic Marker/Sharpie permanent felt tip pen to show rub marks. The machinist's dye is truly professional however I can see myself getting it all over my hands.

I also like high temp antiseize grease on the nipples but I assume choke tube lube is similar. If I don't get any cap jams, have reliable ignition, and the nipples fit Remington #10 caps I leave the nipples alone. When I have looked at originals I was surprised at how large the flash holes were. Maybe they were shot out or normal, I don't know. But if it ain't broke I don't fix it.

The hammer safety notch fill in was suggested by Noz who relayed it to Fingers McGee who recommended it first on the SASS Wire a couple of years ago. I discovered the process on my own and reported it in an article for the SASS Cowboy Chronicle as a simple non mangling modification to prevent cap jams. All 11 (or so, lost count) of my Colt type guns have the mod. It makes a big difference in reliability, requires no special tools and is a completely reversible change.

Thanks for such a clear visual lesson. To put the "slicking up" into a written article would be more tedious to learn from. Many like myself are visual learners. Your videos are user friendly and succinct.

[Bottom Dealin Mike]

Hi Hellgate,

I'm glad you liked the video...God bless Brownell's...

Internally I just use a quick spray of aerosol Ballistol. About 10 years ago I saw the results of a study where about thirty pieces of steel were coated, each with a different lube/rust preventative. Then they were put into a humidity box for 30 days. At the end of that time they were all examined under a microscope for rust. Ballistol was rated the #2 product in that test...Whatever #1 was, I had never heard of it, and it dropped out of my head. I saw the pictures, and the Ballistol coated steel was visually rust-free.

Anyway, Ballistol is a great rust preventer and a light coat gets into the pores of the steel and doesn't pick up grit.

[hellgate]

I would have used more Ballistol (other than as a moose milk base) but it seems to form a sludge on the outside of the little squeeze bottle I keep some of it in. There must be some part of the formula that either evaporates, oxidizes, or polymerizes and the loose Ballistol turns into a mush. Maybe that doesn't happen on clean steel. I used to hose the gun innards down with (horror of horrors!) WD-40 and had no rust either. Just lots of black mush from accumulated fouling.

[Johnny McCrae]

Howdy Mike,

Many thanks for posting this video and sharing your knowledge with us. Your videos are excellent and a pleasure to view. My first Cowboy gun was a Pietta 1851 Navy.

As soon as they are on sale, I'm going to pick up a Pietta 1858 Remington. Would you suggest replacing nipples on any Pietta one buys?

[Bottom Dealin Mike]

I'm kind of like Hellgate. If I don't have a problem, I don't replace the nipples.

I own three Pietta Remingtons, one ASM Remington and two Ubert Remingtons; one pistol, one carbine...never needed to change the nipples on any of them.

But my Colts are a different story...most of those have aftermarket nipples.