Remington Revolver Rebuild

[Fox Creek Kid]

This is an article from the U.K. by noted mould maker Jeff Tanner. He's a great fellow and at one time, when I had a round ball rifle, I bought patches from him as he can get the old good Irish twill fabric.

http://www.jt-bullet-moulds.co.uk/docs/remington_revolver_rebuild_BPS2014.pdf

[Professor Marvel]

My Dear Kid -
this is a great little article, my thanks for posting it.

It looks like the concept of drilling out a worn frame cylinder pin hole might be just the  ticket for a beat up '58 with a wobbly cylinder such as I have languishing in my pile of trash chest of precious items .

However, I do have a minor question on the British nomenclature -
whateverthehell is a "whistle cutter" ? I can only imagine it is some sort of home-made drill?

perhaps our friend Palladin might chime in ?

yhs
prof marvel

[Fox Creek Kid]

https://www.hoffmann-group.com/DE/en/hom/Mono-machining/Solid-carbide-drills/Solid-carbide-high-performance-drill,-Whistle-Notch-shank-DIN-6535-HE-TiAlN-3-mm-HOLEX/p/122408

[Professor Marvel]

ah my dear kid-

my unending thanks for your effort, but the drill you found does not appear to match the pdf photo or the
description:

"a 7mm piece of silver steel ground as a whistle cutter then hardened and tempered..."

and

"Once this was done I cut the end from the whistle cutter to use as a new cylinder pin"

I will try pestering emailing Mr Tanner for clarification, and hope he is still accessible.

Another alternative of course is to bush out the frame with a steel or hard oil bronze bushing, which I have been considering in the first place....

yhs
prof marvel

[Montana Slim]

Humm...I think the whistle-jiggy referred to is a carbon steel rod, hardened/tempered (having a chip/lube notch feature) and brazed onto a drill bit. After using it to cut the new holes in frame & cylinder, he's then removing the carbon-steel shank to use as the cylinder pin.

Another helpful method would be to put the drill bit into your lathe & grind the end to a pilot diameter to follow the exisiting holes better. I suspect the old Remmington is not made of a hardened alloy steel (just like the repros) and would cut easily.

Similarly, I was "gifted" a NM Pemmington (Pietta) a couple years ago. It's had a few prior owners and some unusual gunsmithing performed to it. It could benefit from a custom cylinder pin along with setting the barrel back a turn or three and just a few other minor tweaks. Another retirement project, I suspect.

Slim

[Professor Marvel]

I have emailed Jeff and he offered a first reply:

"Hi Prof, If you take a piece or round silver steel or tool steel and grind an angle on one side, then harden and temper it you have your whistle cutter. The flat should be honed on a whetting stone until the edges are very sharp. It can then be used as a reamer for odd sized holes.

I will try to send a picture when I am not so busy. We are just back from the MLAGB range near Birmingham and having unloaded the car Hi Prof, If you take a piece or round silver steel or tool steel and grind an angle on one side, then harden and temper it you have your whistle cutter. The flat should be honed on a whetting stone until the edges are very sharp. It can then be used as a reamer for odd sized holes.

I will try to send a picture when I am not so busy. We are just back from the MLAGB range near Birmingham and having unloaded the car ..."

I am unable to conjure up an image based on the description ... either an angle to the axis of the rod? or a flat profile like a "d-reamer" or D-profile" drill ?

more fun!

in the meantime I am working on another pietta 1858 frame that I got cheap that "someone" had cut the barrel back to ~ 2" ... I am trying to turn it into a poor-man's  bird-head "webley manstopper" ala the short barreled  Webley RIC . with a .45 ACP conversion cylinder I expect to get enough velocity to penetrate a board instead of bouncing off...

yhs
prof marvel

[Fox Creek Kid]

Thanks, Prof. Marvel. Those dang Limey terms are confusing!!