Question about Pietta 1858

[El Gaucho]

Just got a remmy from a pard here on the forum. Beautiful gun. Anyway, there are times that if I cock it back and don't complete the cock and it rides forward a bit, the gun will lock up in what appears to be half-cock and doesn't budge. The hammer won't go back, and the trigger won't release the hammer to let it go forward. The only way I get it back to normal is to take te cylinder out, which then allows the hammer to travel back to full cock just as if nothing was ever wrong.

Question:
-Is this normal of the Remmy
-If it isn't, is there a decent fix?

Thanks for all your help.

-El Gaucho

[sundance44`s]

Have you had the gun apart and put it back together ... or was it doing that when you got it ?  sounds like it could be eaither inproper reinstalling the innerds or a timming issue// not a big deal to most of us that have`em have many and have learned all the tricks to gunsmithing on them // it doesn`t take much to throw one off .. but don`t get mad and force anything .. its probally an easy fix .. many a remmie has been repaired from the good info on this site .

[El Gaucho]

Nope, I haven't opened her up yet. That was gonna be my next step, but I wanted to mine for gold on this forum before I did, so I'd be a bit better armed going in.

-Please keep the ideas coming!

-El Gaucho

[Yankee John]

Thats really odd EG.  

Even though I never fired it,  I must have cocked/de-cocked it a hundred times when I owned it- It didn't do anything like that for me. It was timed perfectly.   Weird.

John

[Yankee John]

PS.  Is this with the Colt cylinder or the ACP cylinder?

I put the ACP cylinder in it a time or two,  but otherwise kept the Colt cylinder in it.

John

[El Gaucho]

John,

Hey there pard! To answer your question, it's with the long colt cylinder. The ACP works but the timing isn't as tight as the long colt. Here's the cincher: I'm not sure if it's a timing thing or a trigger mechanism thing. Were I to hazard a guess, I'd say it has nothing to do with the pawl or cylinder but maybe the sear or hammer. Not sure. It only happens when my finger slips as I cock and it locks "inbetween" if you will, so that it looks as though it's in half cock but it's not. Once the cylinder is out, I can complete the motion, so maybe it is the pawl after all??? Hmmm....

She has a pretty nice trigger otherwise, so long as I complete the full motion of cocking the hammer, but my rugers or any other revolver for that matter that I've handled doesn't lock up if you slip inbetween- it just drops to half cock and stays there waiting for you to complete the motion.

I'm trying to get it figured out as I don't want to part with it, even for a day, and send it to a gunsmith. Plus I'm of the school that part of owning guns is know how to fix them at the least on a basic level.

-Gaucho

[El Gaucho]

p.s. John,

-I've also cocked it, pulled the trigger, de-cocked it a hundred times. So long as I complete the cock properly, she's fine. It's just the few times I slip, not completing the cock, that she'll lock up. She is smoothing up though, or my thumb is getting stronger 

[sundance44`s]

Something ya might want to check .. just take the trigger guard off and check the screw that holds the tension on the trigger spring ... i seem to remember buying a Pietta that the screw was over tightened at the factory and causeing a sometimes problem , not every time and would have probally straightened its self out had i fired it a few hundred times .... but in anycase i just backed the screw off about a quarter turn , and it was fine .its rare to buy a new Itilian made repro and not do some tuneing .. all my Piettas got better with the age i put on`em from doing a lot of shooting .

[deucedaddyj]

Fan of the Dark Tower, eh?

Yeah, those pietta screws can be a real bear. I bought a used Walker in need of some repair, but I can't get that screw out for anything. I'll have to figure it out somehow.

I had a similar problem after reassembling a heritage rough rider once. I originally thought I had broke it, but after taking it a apart and re-reassembling it, it worked just fine. Sometimes you gotta mess with them for a bit.

I still remember the first time I reassembled a Ruger Super Blackhawk.......

[El Gaucho]

Sundance,

I don't know why, but I think you have the winning ticket- just a tinkerer's hunch. I'll try it tomorrow and post on Monday. Thanks for the advice. Stay tuned for how it turns out.

[El Gaucho]

P.S. Deuce,

Yep, I'm a HUGE Darktower fan. It grabs the best of many of my interests and mixes them into a great story.

-Gaucho

[deucedaddyj]

I can't argue with you. I'm a big fan myself!

[El Gaucho]

Ok gentlemen: I know the problem, and I'm a bit disturbed by it. It seems the firing pin on the kirst is interfering with the turning of the cylinder. It looks as though the spring is tired and not keeping the firing pin back so she stays forward when you draw the hammer back and occasionally catches on the arms of the star in the back of the cylinder!

This is not good, and I have no idea what to do about it since I can't take out the firing pin and replace the worn spring- which is exactly what I need to do. Here's the part the disturbs me: why is the spring wearing out? A heat treated coil spring shouldn't wear out due to being compressed such as the hammer laying on the firing pin. This makes me think the kirst conversion is a might finicky and needs to be closely checked before competitions.

The R&D has notches and six firing pins so the hammer never needs to rest on the pins, thus avoiding wearing a spring out. I might have to buy one of these real, real soon.

As for the kirst, I don't know what to do with it except send it back and hope Mr. Kirst will fix it- even though I bought it second hand. I haven't even shot the piece yet- just got it from a pard here in the forum. At least there's nothing wrong with the gun!

Tell me what you guys think!

-Gaucho

[Marshal Will Wingam]

The R&D has notches and six firing pins so the hammer never needs to rest on the pins, thus avoiding wearing a spring out. I might have to buy one of these real, real soon.

The R&D doesn't even use springs so you'll never wear one out. The firing pin is held up by the primer and is a fairly fool-proof system. The only caution from the manufacturer is to not dry-fire them. Give Walt a call or an email and see what he says. Whenever I've talked to him he has been very helpful. I have both Kirst and R&D cylinders. Both systems seem to work good. Due to the difference in frame milling from the factory, either one may require a little fitting but basically they are good to go.

[El Gaucho]

Thanks Marshall- I do that!