This is interesting... Pietta and Euroarms

[Frenchie]

Okay, let me see if I can describe this well enough so you all who know your way around a cap 'n' ball revolver can "see" this and give me some comments.

I have a Pietta Remington .36 caliber with a 6.5" barrel, and a Euroarms Remington .44 caliber with an 8" barrel. Side by side I noticed that the Euroarms frame is somewhat shorter and smaller in other dimensions than the Pietta. The Euroarms grip is also smaller than the Pietta grip.

I have read in a couple of places that the original Remingtons were made in two frame sizes, a smaller one for .36 Navy guns and the larger one for .44 Army guns. If that's so, then what I'm seeing seems to confirm something I've suspected for a while, that the Euroarms in either .36 or .44 is closer to the actual size of an original Navy model .36 Remington, and that the Pietta in either .36 or .44 is closer to the actual size of an original Army model .44 Remington. Let me see if this can be said another way:

The Pietta in both calibers is closer to the actual size of an original .44 Remington. The Euroarms in both calibers is closer to the actual size of an original .36 Remington. Does that make sense to anyone else?

Also, the cylinders are for all intents and purposes identical except, of course, for the bore size of the charge holes (and the Euroarms has stainless steel nipples). I decided to test this by seeing if they could be exchanged: They can! The .36 Pietta has the Euroarms cylinder in it, the .44 Euroarms has the Pietta cylinder, and they both index and lock up just fine. This may mean that Euroarms gets their cylinders from Pietta, or vice-versa, or they both get their cylinders from some third party.

Now my head hurts.

So okay, if a Euroarms .36 Navy model is closer to the actual size of an original Remington .36 Navy model, then I want one. I have a really nice, NIB Euroarms .44 with an 8" barrel to trade for it.

One more interesting thing about the Pietta, which I've had for some time now and have handled without ever loading (and of course never firing) it: When I unlatched the loading lever to remove the cylinder pin, the small lever on the rammer that connects it to the web of the loading lever popped out of its slot. Looking closely, I saw that the pin connecting the two pieces had not fallen out... it appeared to still be in place, both in the web and in the rammer lever! In other words, the pin has separated into three pieces, one in the rammer lever and two in the web. Weird, man. I think it's a case of metal fatigue due to torque, but this is an almost-new gun that has been handled gently. Obviously a workmanship problem.

So anyway, I thought you guys might be interested to know that, at least with these two examples, both Euroarms and Pietta use cylinders that are, if not identical in their dimensions, at least close enough to interchange. Or is this something that everyone already knew?

[Yankee John]

Hi, Hope your head feels better now! 

I don't know about the Euroarms .36 Navy,  but I do know this:  The Euroarms .44 Army is an almost exact copy of an original Remington New Model Army. Near perfect dimensionally- especially in the grip area.  The grips on an original are MUCH smaller than the Pietta version of the .44 cal Army.

Also, I can use the cylinder from my Uberti Remington Revolving Carbine in my original Remington NMA! The Pietta cylinder is too big for the original.  I haven't tried a Euroarms cylinder in my original yet.

For what it's worth!
John

P.S.  Here's a pic of my original!

[44caliberkid]

   The Euroarms 44 frame is nearly identical in dimensions to an original Remington NMA .44.  The Pietta 1858 NMA is grossly oversized, especially in grip dimensions.   Couldn't tell you how an original Remington Navy .36 matches up, I've never had one to compare side by side.   If you want to pose this over on the NCOWS or Scors board, I know Ottowa Creek Bill and Joss House are pretty informed on this topic. 

[Frenchie]

Thanks for the info, pards! I think I'll try to go with Euroarms when possible since my hands are smaller and the Euroarms grips seem to work better for me, and the lighter weight is better too.

John, that original is sweet! It's not for sale... is it?  (where's the 'wistful' emoticon?)