Parts bag?

[Slowhand Bob]

Guys, I know many of you are pretty good at keeping your personal guns running and so might be able to help me with a spare parts kit for range and home.  I recently found out that the trigger bolt spring on my old Pietta Navy was not a drop in part but needs a fair amount of fitting.  Seems to me that spares that need fitting will go ok for a home parts kit but would be of little use for quick repairs during a match.  I guess my question would be what can we carry to the range, spare parts only and we can talk tool kit later, for quick fixes at the range?  Next would be what are those parts you always consider as must haves in the parts drawer at home?  Naturally I am talking my Uberti and Pietta cap and ball Colt clones.  Thanks for any help guys, I do want to shoot more cap and ball next year. 

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

For competition purposes, the best "parts kit" would be a spare gun.

[Lefty Dude]

I shoot a pair of pietta 51/44's, I always have my 1860 as a back-up. Range repair's are always a disaster ready to happen.

[Old Top]

I agree with Sir Charles, carry a back up gun in the same caliber.

Old Top

[Pettifogger]

99% of trigger/bolt springs are drop-in especially for Pietta cap and balls.  I don't ever recall having to fit a Pietta bolt/trigger spring into a Pietta gun, they all dropped in.  (Assuming, of course, that you have the correct part.)  I used to carry a footlocker of spare parts.  Not worth the trouble.  As noted, most field fixes turn into night mares unless you are towing a trailer with a workbench and a full range of tools.  C&Bs are cheap, buy a spare.

[fourfingersofdeath]

I shoot a pair of Pietta Colt Clones. After much agonising about what parts to pack, I bought a spare gun. I did the same with the ROAs. I need a holster as well as the third ROA is a long barrellled one.

[Mako]

Amen on the spare.  

A broken hand spring will put you down and unless you have already fit and timed a hand with a spring attached fitting a new one is not a field exercise.  Even trying to replace the spring on the hand is fraught with problems.

Like Pettifigger said, a spare C&B is cheap.  You can get a brass frame Pietta of the caliber and style to fit your holster for no more than $180 and on sale for a lot less.  That would serve as a nice spare if you had steel frame revolvers.

You said Navy so I am assuming .36 caliber, but Cabelas has their "1851" .44 caliber brass frame pistols on sale for $130

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Pietta-Model-1851-Confederate-Navy-44-Caliber-Revolver/740536.uts?WTz_l=SBC%3Bcat104792580%3Bcat104701680%3BMCcat104503680

Or you could go authentic and get a pretty nice reproduction of a Griswold and Gunnison which originally had a brass frame for $180

http://www.cabelas.com/pistols-pietta-griswold-gunnison-36-caliber-revolver.shtml

That would be cool and they handle and feel just like your Colt's pattern Navy model.  I have a pair of Leech and Rigdon Ubertis that feel and handle just like my 1851 models.  They fit the same holsters, have the same grip, same sight picture, use the same load, and you wouldn't know the difference unless you start looking at them.

I hope you don't think we are a bunch of snobs telling you to buy another pistol.  We just have learned that the care and feeding of a cap gun is tenuous enough and you don't need to be worrying about field gunsmithing at a match.

The best to you,
Mako

[Montana Slim]

Another vote for a spare revolver.

BTW, if your revolver doesn't rotate during a stage (as result of a broken hand spring), just tip the revolver muzzle "down" slightly.....then try cocking it.  Sometimes gravity is your friend.

..course, you could just help it along with your other hand.

Slim

[Slowhand Bob]

Guys, you have come in loud and clear and it is do-able right now with the .36 calibers but since I traded my pair of standard '60s I do not currently have a backup for the Pietta hybrid .44 Navies, other than a Walker.  Was planning to get a new Uberti Army Model when I traded the pair of Piettas but just haven't gotten around to it yet. 

Pettifogger, when the Navy bolt/trigger spring recently broke on my old Pietta Navy I ordered the full parts kit from Cabellas and the spring did not come close to fitting.  Both legs of the spring were well to long and the leg with the curl was not even shaped the same.  When I inquired over on the WIRE, someone suggested that Pietta had perhaps done a bit of change on the newer guns internals??   

Just something else that I did not understand with the parts kit, its marking suggested Colt Navy but I would have thought that the internal parts in this type kit would have been common between the Navy and Army models???   Just a thought and I may be wrong, it happened once before.  OK, no range fixes, what about spares for common fixes in my home parts box?  Figuring the Cabellas parts kits are good for Piettas but they do not offer kits for Ubertis, just replicating the same parts for a Uberti would be fine?  My eyes are about gone now and one of my biggest parts problems is dropping the small stuff and not being able to find them.  It is a really big pain to need a $2 screw and find out that they want $10 to ship it!

[Noz]

Order spare parts from VTI or Taylor's. Cabela's kits leave something to be desired.
I carry: 1 mainspring, 1 trigger/bolt spring, 1 bolt, 1 hand. Then several backups for each. This is in addition to small files, fiber hammer, screwdriver set(three most used bits in the handle) 3 types of lubricant(Gunslic, Bore Butter and antiseize), nipple wrench and six nipples.


Just in case I also carry 2 complete revolvers.


That's why guncarts were invented.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Noz;  I'll bet you are a belt & suspenders guy!

I think you might be pondering Velcro as well

[Noz]

Noz;  I'll bet you are a belt & suspenders guy!

I think you might be pondering Velcro as well

Nope, just had one break one time and had nothing to fix it with. It was a local shoot and nothing was lost but I hated the experience.  An example: I broke a mainspring on my 1866 (at a major match)and was not aware of it until I went to the loading table for the next stage. I got my main spring replacement and my tool kit, went to the repair bay, replaced the spring, back to the stage and only lost 2 places in line.

But, maybe you are right? I carry 200 rounds of rifle ammunition to shoots where I know the round count is "50 rifle". My excuse there is that "someone might need it". And that doesn't count the 250 rounds of rifle, 100 round balls and wads, a tin of caps and 50 shotgun shells in an ammo can behind the truck seat.
If I could figure out how to mount the 80# anvil and forge in the bed of the truck I'd do that too.

[Mako]

Noz;  I'll bet you are a belt & suspenders guy!

I think you might be pondering Velcro as well

Noz is a light weight, this is my list...

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,38167.msg486836.html#msg486836

~Mako

[Mako]

Guys, you have come in loud and clear and it is do-able right now with the .36 calibers but since I traded my pair of standard '60s I do not currently have a backup for the Pietta hybrid .44 Navies, other than a Walker.  Was planning to get a new Uberti Army Model when I traded the pair of Piettas but just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Bob,
If you're shooting those '51 .44 caliber "Navies" then you are the perfect candidate for those $130 brass frame .44 Navies Cabelas has on sale.


http://www.cabelas.com/pistols-pietta-1851-confederate-navy-44-caliber-revolver.shtml

They have it for the same price in the 5 1/2" barrel as well.



~Mako

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Mako;  Re;  guncart load table;

Could I expect any less from you, Mako

[Mako]

Mako;  Re;  guncart load table;

Could I expect any less from you, Mako

I try... I'd bring the semi with the shop contained in a 53' trailer, but some of the ranges don't have the space or access for it and the diesel generator to power the shop tools is frowned on by some.

~Mako

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Back awhile, when I was a regular and frequently leading or competing on shooting teams, the most valuable insurance policy was the presence of a "Tiffy".

Tiffy is short for a weapons Artificer.  He came with a toolbox, some valuable repair parts, and more competative experience than most coaches.  A team would soon be out of action without him!

[Mako]

Sir Charles,
Of course I am kidding about the trailer and even the Bridgeport mill, but I carry a pretty good field kit of tools with me.  I have learned that I will spend an inordinate amount of time fixing others peoples guns if I'm not careful.  I rarely have to work on one of mine and I just switch to a spare if needed.  I usually give a spare to a fellow shooter if needed, a few balk and insist on trying to get their own working.  By the end of the match they have usually messed it up.  Those type rarely come looking for you after a match because they are too stubborn (which is fine by me, it sort of makes it easier for me).

After a match when we can sit down at a picnic table or the tailgate is when we determine what is really wrong.  I have found the most useful article after correctly fitting hollow ground screw drivers are plastic storage boxes with lids to hold the parts.  I have a box they call a shoe box size and inside of that I have a couple of "sandwich" size boxes.  I have a cream colored towel that goes down as the work surface and every part goes in a box and the lid is replaced after every part goes in, sounds like I have learned from experience doesn't it?

Often it will be a missing part like an ejector housing screw, a broken hand spring, on '66s broken ladle tabs, missing ladle screws, rarely a broken trigger/bolt spring, missing sights, missing '97 extractor parts, '97 ejector springs, '97 action slide lock spring, Marlin extractors w/springs, Marlin Ejectors w/springs, (I don't mess with the Marlin firing pins, I tell them to look at after market pins), extra Lever Spring Screws (for missing ones when people try to lighten the action by backing the screw off).  I also have odds and ends parts for primarily Uberti percussion and conversion revolvers.  Whenever I order a replacement part for a friend like a Marlin part for instance, I order a spare since I assume it means it may be a higher failure part.  Their "charge" for the work is that they buy the spare as well as their own part and that way they get to help out with the next pardner we help.  That's how the spare parts came about.

Most fixes take a couple of minutes since you are simply replacing parts and then assuring they function correctly.  M97s can be a pain, originals are usually so worn replacing one part can just show how everything else is worn out as well.  I don't shoot pumpguns in CAS but I spent a lot of time with '97s and '12s in school, so I'll try to help.  I find the Take Down models seem to have more problems from people bending things during dis-assembly over the years.  Anything like a sight replacement I send them to a full time gunsmith, There are a lot of things I just will diagnose and write it down.  This way they can take it to a local smith and they can get it fixed.  I just don't have time to do major work anymore.

~Mako

[Slowhand Bob]

Thanks for the lists guys, now I gotta decide what I can and cant do.  Pretty much limited to parts swapping as me and a Dremel are awfully scary to watch!   

[Noz]

The Dremel is known as the gunsmith's friend. Makes them lots of money repairing Dremeled guns.