Help with .36 1858 Police New Model

[Li'll Red]

I am looking for a few replacement parts for a "parts" Remington I picked up. It was @ gunbrokers, item 144394650. With a little penetrating oil, I have everything that is there apart and undamaged except for 2 nipples I am still working on (patience is a real virtue here). What I am looking for is the interchangeability of certain parts. For example, the cylinder pin was broken. Will a Peitta 1863 pocket model fit? How about the plunger? The model I have is not a spur trigger, but more like the full size version, this one looks to be about 1/2 scale to a .44. The barrel is 4 1/2 in from cylinder to end and the cylinder is a 5 shot. I found, aside from the barrel markings shown at the auction, the #503 under the grip and the #3 on the bottom of the barrel. I would also like to see if there is a trigger guard that would fit, but worst comes to worst here I can make a mold and cast my own brass one. Everything that was there works alright, headspace is a little excessive, but I am not looking to make a shooter, just a complete period piece that looks right. Thanks in advance everyone, John.

[Flint]

The frame on that revolver is a bit smaller than the Remington Navy, which in turn was a bit smaller than the Remington Army.
However, I doubt it's small enough to use a Remington Pocket cylinder pin.  You may have to make one for it, perhaps from an Italian 44 clone, some work on a lathe and mill could work to cut one down to size..

[Li'll Red]

Alright, changed my mind, I'm gonna make it work and not just be a display piece. Pretty much got it up and running. Timed real nice, good lock up. Cylinder pin from a Navy fits as far as diameter, but is too long and the head is not the correct shape. I cut it down, that was easy, and reshaped the head, also easy. A couple of days sitting in some damp powdered bromine and the look matched that of the original parts, slightly pitted. I then heated it up enough to impart a nice patina that matches the rest of the pistol too (most of the rust came off it the heating and penetrating oil treatment needed to remove frozen screws and nipples, etc). The trigger guard is a work in progress. Currently have one that fits well and looks factory as long as you do not compare it to the real deal. This one was made based on a full size .44 ASM rough casting. The front hole is near identical location to the factory one so very little fitting was needed there. The rear and sides were of course too large, but there was more than enough material to grind file and sand it down to fit. The major shortcoming (and it ain't that bad) in looks is the gap between the rear of the trigger and the back part of the guard is about double in size. The trigger will swing the complete arc in there, but only a portion of the space is needed to release the hammer. I will see if I can braze some more material in there and allow me to pull that back portion of the guard forwasrd a little to get a closer look to correct. The plunger was the toughest so far and although I have a working version that looks right it was trial and error and may be a little too weak for working purposes, thus I am going to redo it. For this I also used the parts off a .36 navy setup. I was able to cut it down to length, but the "web" was a little thick and incorrectly shaped. This is were I took off a little too much material and had to build it up with a welder. Then my cutting blade was a little too thick for the slot needed for the plunger itself and thus I ended up with a correct in profile look and correct function, but I suspect the first time I try to pack a ball into a cylinder I'll tear that thin metal...so for $15 I ordered another one to modify and this time I got this first attempt as a pattern. Should work just fine when done. Snapped a few caps, seems to work just fine but the nipples have worn holes that are about 4 times to large..any powder put in a cylinder would just trickle through the back at the nipple hole. Have a guy near me who does fine line welding who can weld a ring inside the nipple that will both give a smaller touch hole diam. for the cap fire and reinforce the ends of the nipple (age, use & corrosion have all conspired to wear them rather thin at the cap end). He will also run a bead around the end of the cylinder wear the hand wheel is located. About 1 mm is all and that will help reduce some of the head space. Speaking of the cylinder hand, one from the .31 version worked but was a tad bit short; a couple of taps with a hammer gave it just enough extra length to allow it to lock into battery very well. Altogether this has been a fun project and when I'm done I'll have a real rootin tootin working vintage Remmy to shoot!

[Li'll Red]

And here is the last one. Between the 2 posts are all the current photos showing what was done to date. All functions as it should with good lockup, even the plunger that was quasi hand made works as the original, not bad for what was going to be a shadow box item.

Oh, and the full size one is a 20year old ASM "fantasy gun", with the brass frame. I used a cold blue called "tetra blue" which I found makes a very decent "bluing" over brass. First time I shot it after that and cleaned, it did want to wear off. Since then I coated it with an automtive clear coat that is pretty near bullet proof (pun intended) as long as you don't hit it against something hard that chips it.