New Pietta 1851 Navy

[oldman]

This is my first question for the pros on here, I got a feeling this make raise a few eyebrows? Well I just got in this new Pietta 1851 Navy revolver and it is awesome. Very good finish and I am very surprised at the entire gun. My initial take down and removing all the factory grease and put back together was uneventful, now that is coming from a Colt replica newbie now. As I have no idea what would be wrong if I saw it LOL, the 1858 Remington is a different animal altogether as you all know. As I cast my own boolits for smokeless, and have a .380 mold already bought for this, I am ready to start down the path of a Colt shooter. I wanted this gun for target shooting only as no SASS in my future. So now is the question for the group. Should I shoot the thing and see if it needs anything, or send it off to Mike for the Goon treatment. Please remember I do not want to do work on this revolver myself. I need more experience before going down that path. Thanks Guys

[Captainkirk]

Well, first off, having several Goon guns myself, I can say that Goonerizing a gun is never a bad idea. Don't expect to have others be willing to reimburse you for your efforts should you decide to sell down the line, but anyway...
It's kind of up to you. You state you aren't interested in competition; well neither am I. But for my own satisfaction, I can honestly say stock factory guns pale in comparison once you've shot one of Goon's masterpieces even though the new ones are really, really good. Being as yours is a Pietta, you most likely won't have any short arbor issues. But the improvement in lockup and timing, trigger pull and hammer pull alone are worth the money spent IMHO. Plus, he does a beautiful job fire-bluing the screws, should they need it.
Will a stock out of box gun do you fine? Yes. Absolutely. Will you notice a difference with a Goon gun? You'd better believe it!

[oldman]

Well I understand completely but from a newbie perspective I figured someone would say shoot it? Well coming from a Ruger background I understand that but I am dumb on Colt revolvers  or should I say replica and I don't want to mess up. I we enjoy a fine revolver as much as anyone but with the cost of reloading smokeless I choose bp. With my current job and traveling I don't have the skills or the time to work on the 1851. Mike has done great work for others and I respect that but its only a replica and not a real Colt. So it's hard to justify the cost for a newbie especially since I sold an original in my younger stupid years lol. Thanks for the help and I am done with smokeless now and this is my main revolver now for range time. Gonna wait for other replies before sending in a new revolver for work. Thank you

[Captainkirk]

That's perfectly OK. As I said, the new Piettas are very, very good. And a custom job is not going to necessarily buy you anything other than satisfaction. As I said also, your choice...you know your needs better than anyone else!

[Hawg]

I've never sent a gun off to be improved and they've always worked like they should. Some of them do need a little smoothing inside but use them enough and they will break in. I've never heard anything bad about Goons work and I know it would feel like a different revolver if he did work it over but just to shoot and have fun with it's not necessary.

[45 Dragoon]

Wow Cap!!! Thanks so much for the glowing recommendation!!

Oldman, the only thing I can tell you is, with a new revolver you get to correct  things before they start causing problems.  For instance, heavy factory springs promote and accelerate wear. Bolt arms that aren't flexible will wear themselves, hammer cams or both out fairly quick.  Typically the timing is late so the bolt will peen the short side of the notch (heavy spring will smash them quickly).  There's a few things to think about.

You say your background is Ruger and that's great .  .  . you're familiar with revolvers that have considerable longevity!! Changing the springs in your Pietta to coils, adding a bolt block and an action stop will  turn your Navy into a "Ruger" that looks like a '51 Navy !!!

 So that should give you some things to consider,  in the meantime   thanks for asking about me, I appreciate it a ton!!

Mike

And welcome to the forum!!!!
And, Hawger hasn't had any work done before but it's not for lack of trying!!!! 

[45 Dragoon]

Here's a typical open top action.

[Marshal Will]

If it were mine, I wouldn't hesitate to get the thing worked over. These pistols come from the factory barely workable and in some cases not. Yeah, you can go shoot it but there are things that will need to be re-done. Getting the action working right is definitely money well spent. The bolt or hand spring will go, possibly fairly soon, and you will be sending it off to be fixed anyway. Get it done up front and avoid hassles later on.

[Hawg]

The bolt or hand spring will go, possibly fairly soon, and you will be sending it off to be fixed anyway.

I'm wondering how many have actually broke a bolt or handspring? I've only broken one hand spring since 1969 and that was on a new G&G. It had a ledge in the hand channel and broke on reassembly. I've worn out a few hands but it took years to do it.

[AntiqueSledMan]

Hawg,

I have an A.S.M. which came to me with a broken Bolt Spring, it was N.O.S. when I purchased it.


oldman,

I had Mike rework my 1851 Pietta Fantasy (44) Conversion Revolver, what a fantastic job!


AntiqueSledMan.

[oldman]

Well good answers from a few folks and Mike himself that's impressive, guys I appreciate the replies and as a newbie to the forum and Colt replicas I am totally confused as to what to do? Before I do anything I will have to ask Mike some questions off forum and with the current cap problem it may not be a problem for getting anything done quickly. I appreciate the responses from everyone, and with my current problem with no primers in the house, it looks like no smokeless for the 45 colt Ruger for me lol. In my research I went with the 1858 Remington first due to strength of the design but with me selling the original Colt 35 years ago I had to try the Pietta version again to satisfy my curiosity. I would like to have a Walker as well but right now the Navy will have to satisfy my need for a range gun. I have plenty of 3f and caps but no time to shoot so just to make up my mind what to do?

[Zulch]

oldman. Yes, time and indecision, it plagues me as well. Mike is a great guy. You will never meet a friendlier and helpful guy. Always willing to talk and share from his wealth of knowledge, and man does he have it!!  Good luck to you sir in your endeavors.

[Marshal Will]

The bolt or hand spring will go, possibly fairly soon, and you will be sending it off to be fixed anyway.

I'm wondering how many have actually broke a bolt or handspring? I've only broken one hand spring since 1969 and that was on a new G&G. It had a ledge in the hand channel and broke on reassembly. I've worn out a few hands but it took years to do it.

I've only had one not break the bolt spring before getting to the range. Any more, the first thing I do is make new trigger/bolt springs from piano wire. Handsprings seem to let go fairly soon, too. I replace those with piano wire, also.

[Captainkirk]

I've had at least 3 hand springs break on me (fixed with the bobby pin trick) I also had a bolt spring break before I even fired the NIB gun. It happens. Mike's coil springs are amazing. And the best part for Open Top Colts is getting a cap rake and action shield installed. You will never worry about a cap frag jam again.
As far as caps go, keep looking. They eventually pop up but you have to be ready to grab them. Watch Cabelas and Bass Pro online sites daily. Last time around I snagged 1000. You can also make your own. Several of our members have posted excellent "How To" threads detailing this. Just use the search bar or view the caps section:

https://coltcountryforum.com/index.php/board,36.0.html

[ssb73q]

This is my first question for the pros on here, I got a feeling this make raise a few eyebrows? Well I just got in this new Pietta 1851 Navy revolver and it is awesome. Very good finish and I am very surprised at the entire gun. My initial take down and removing all the factory grease and put back together was uneventful, now that is coming from a Colt replica newbie now. As I have no idea what would be wrong if I saw it LOL, the 1858 Remington is a different animal altogether as you all know. As I cast my own boolits for smokeless, and have a .380 mold already bought for this, I am ready to start down the path of a Colt shooter. I wanted this gun for target shooting only as no SASS in my future. So now is the question for the group. Should I shoot the thing and see if it needs anything, or send it off to Mike for the Goon treatment. Please remember I do not want to do work on this revolver myself. I need more experience before going down that path. Thanks Guys

Hi Old, I bet I am older than you. lol I have 60+ BP revolvers that have never seen a gunsmith and they all shoot great. Since you already disassembled the gun and didn't lose any parts you are well qualified to determine if you need a gunsmith to go over your revolver.  Shoot it and learn to maintain it! 

Regards,
Richard