1851 .36 Navy info

[Remington Kid]

My wife is giving me $200.00 to play with as one of my Christmas presents as she knows I have been thinking about the Navy in Cabelas catalog for about $148.00 or so.I know allot of you don't like the Pietta's that Cabellas sells but they have been a good gun to me with a little tuning and cleaning and to me that's all part of the fun. Many of the  Uberties need work too.
I have been playing with and building BP guns for many years and my two favorites are my Remington .44 but have always thought about the owning a .36 navy.
My Remingtons and other guns are tuned and running so smooth they feel like the actions are on ball bearings and it was fun doing that along with a few other things. Now I would like to try to tune the Navy as well if that's the gun I go with.
Can anyone tell me the do's and don'ts of these guns? What works best in them for loads and so on. Any tuning tricks or particular problems with the Navy?
Thanks for any info you may want to share, Mike

[Dai.S.Loe]

I have had a brassed framed Pietta .36 Navy now for about 12 years.

I love to shoot it but havent for quite a while. I just brought it back to New Zealand from the UK. I stripped it, cleaned it, replaced the springs etc. Basically I gave it a good tidy up for being so patient with me. I am getting some ball this weekend as I do not have a mould, and on Monday I am going to give this beauty a good run out at the range.


I had left this revolver in the care of a friend in the UK, he had shot about 100 rounds through it and hadnt cleaned it in 4 years. I was dreasding the cleaning. I shouldnt have. A good soaking of Balistol, a boresnake through the barrel, strip and clean, and it was not as good as new but looking sweet. The bore hadnt suffered at all. Lands and grooves are clean and crisp.

I love this little gun. She even feels right in my hand.

Buy yours and have a lot of fun. I know I am going to.

Dai.

[Cactus Cris]

Load her up with 18-22 gr 3f, add a little lube on top and grin a lot.  I have 6 of the .36 cal C&B's and love to shoot them almost as much as the .44's.  The little short barrel ones are a real hoot.  Only problem is the short lever and I solve that with a cheater bar.
   Pietta has come a long way in the recent yrs. and I  have quite a few of them.  They are equal or better than some of the Uberti's that I have.  Parts won't interchange between them tho.  Both have made them a little different for the Colts & 58's.  I get spare parts from VTI & keep hands, wedges, bolt springs, hammer springs on hand when I shoot.  The hand springs are the worst.  VERY BRITTLE & snap very frequently.  The VTI ones are good, & I usually swap them out when I get a new pair of Colt C&B's  B4 I ever shoot them.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Howdy, Remington kid!

Along with polishing the internals, I added a Wolff wire bolt/trigger spring to my 1860 Army.  It replaced the (roughly) horseshoe shaped spring that you can see when the triggerguard is removed.  What a difference it made!  I don't know if Wolff makes one of these wire springs that will work in a Remington, tho, since the equivalent spring in a Remmie is longer and the Colt spring is too short.  (I tried!)

Also, a friend told me about this:  to replace the hand spring which is THE OTHER PART which breaks easily, use a piece cut from a bobby pin!  You'll have to carefully bend the small metal tabs that hold it in place, but mine has lasted a couple years, now.  Admittedly, it has not been shot much in the last few years, but I cycle the action A LOT, so it's gotten a workout.

[Remington Kid]

 ;DThank you for the replys and It looks like Im leaning towards the 61 Navy. Also found a place that sells the .380 swaged balls. Everyone tells me the .375 is just a little bit to small.

[Mason Stillwell]

Wow I use .379  and have great results.
Mason

[Remington Kid]

Mason, Where did you find the .379 swaged balls? They would be a little easier on the ram and Im sure they would still fit snug enough to get good accuracy. Never know untel the barrel is sluged but it sure sounds good to me. 

[Mason Stillwell]

I make them . Have even sold them at $5.00 per hundred.

Mason

[Mason Stillwell]

OH OH I messed up you want swaged. I mould mine. Sorry

Mason