Nickled '51 joins the stable

[Abilene]

Picked this one up Saturday afternoon.  The seller had first described it as stainless steel.  I assured him it would be nickled, not SS, but that I wanted it anyway.  When received, I can see why he thought it was stainless.  The cylinder looks like regular shiny nickle, but the rest of the gun is more of a satin finish.  I've never seen this nickle finish on an Uberti.  Anyway, this one was imported by Taylors and the appearance is VERY clean.  No visible proof stamps except on the cylinder.  The address on top of the barrel is stamped very lightly.  It almost looks cyrillic.  It isn't because it was overpolished.  Anyway, it does look pretty much like regular nickle in these pics due to lighting.

The action was "Uberti lousy".  After changing out the super heavy main spring, a hitch in the giddy-up became apparent.  The bolt head was too high, which put a line around the cylinder, plus would not drop out of the cylinder notch before the cylinder started turning.  Well, it was dropping but because the head was too tall, it was catching the edge of the notch before the cylinder could turn.  My last conversion, a .44 Type II, had the exact same problem.  So I filed down the bolt head until it cleared the notch.  Lockup is still like a bank vault.  A little deburring of the ratchett and hand.  Hand slot looks good.  And then an Evil Roy spring kit, and it feels great now!  I pulled the magnatusk grips from Arizona Custom Grips off of my .44 and put them on this one so it will match up with my oldest RM which will be its shooting mate.  Next Saturday will be the match debut.

The screws are blued, which I am not crazy about.  On a nickle gun they should be nickle, or fire-blue.  I think I will flame blue these screws.  Never did it before but it looks really easy and I have a torch.  I've seen it done and there's a short Larry Potterfield video on it.

Oh yeah, one more thing.  Like my latest conversion, there is no room for a washer inside the arbor hole.  Not even a tiny washer.  So, maybe Uberti is getting better about that.

Hmm, should I call them ebony and ivory or salt-n-pepper? 

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Man, those are a beautiful pair! Congrats. The nickel one is a fine compliment to the other. "Salt & Pepper" gets my vote because "Ebony & Ivory" could be confused with the grips. Unless you put ebony grips on one.

[Rube Burrows]

Great looking pair. My last two newer Uberti Conversions were done well and needed no arbor work. Maybe they are getting better. Sure hope so.

[Coffinmaker]

  Abilene 

I've decided I think I HATE you!!    That there Nickel 1851 is just TOO KOOL!! 

[DeaconKC]

  Abilene 

I've decided I think I HATE you!!    That there Nickel 1851 is just TOO KOOL!! 

I hate Abilene, cause he beat me out on that one! Ya Stinker! Maybe "Blue & Gray"?

[Galloway]

I see buds has nickel 7.5s in stock very cool.

[Rube Burrows]

Does AZ grips only have the eBay page now or do they have a website? Can't find them anywhere. I'd love to get a pair of the Magna tusk one piece grips for two of my 51 Conversions.

[Abilene]

Ordering is only through ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/264886499476?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=564729994545&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

[Rube Burrows]

Ordering is only through ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/264886499476?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=564729994545&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

Thanks.

[Abilene]

And now for the after-action report.  Well, it shoots great and I love it!    Shot a clean match today, so this gun has never had a miss!  All stages in the mid-20's except one with a shotgun makeup and rifle reload.  I was expecting the shiny gun to get a little sooty around the cylinder gap area, since they often do even with smokeless.  But the first pic below shows the gun before wiping it down.  Really nothing to wipe down except fingerprints.  Maybe WST powder is just really clean? 

The trigger pull on this gun is currently 1.5 lbs.  The older gun is 1.75 lbs, so the lighter trigger gun always get fired first.  I like the triggers fine, but may change or play with the trigger spring to get it up to the same 1.75 lbs of the other.

[DeaconKC]

Congrats! Glad to hear it shoots as good as it looks.