1862 Army I put an offer on

[Zulch]

Great news there AR!! Very happy for you. I cannot wait to see the pictures. Exciting indeed.

[AR. Hillbilly]

Trying pics

[Hawg]

It's not too bad. The trigger guard looks a little flattened. From what I can see of the ratchet teeth they don't look too bad. You probably have a weak or broken hand spring. The hand could be worn down too.
Give her a little TLC and she'll most likely be a good shooter.

[Marshal Will]

What a cool find! Great pics. You must be tickled to land one like that. Congratulations. thanks for sharing the pics.

[AR. Hillbilly]

I watched the video below about the evolution of the Army.
I removed the cylinder and looked inside. I believe this is an early cylinder with the non concave cylinder bores.
The end of the bores is square to the sidewalls of the bore.

[Zulch]

I watched the video below about the evolution of the Army.
I removed the cylinder and looked inside. I believe this is an early cylinder with the non concave cylinder bores.
The end of the bores is square to the sidewalls of the bore.

AR. What video are you referring to?

[AR. Hillbilly]

Zulch the early cylinders weren’t very strong. I believe the bore went up to the smaller diameter of the cylinder and they would blow up.
The newer ones have a concave end to the bore leaving a little bit more meet at the shoulder between the step in the cylinder.

[Hawg]

Colt 1860 chambers were not tapered. The bottom of the chamber at the nipple shouldn't be cut square it should be slightly rounded. It was the fluted cylinders that blew up.

[AR. Hillbilly]

Thank you Hawg.
I truly appreciate the learning experience I receive here.

[Marshal Will]

I think you're both right. I read somewhere that the early un-fluted cylinders would fail at the bottom of the bolt notch because the metal was so thin. They went to a tapered chamber after that to correct the problem.

[Hawg]

 The fluted cylinders were made from wrought iron. The later cylinders were made of Bessemer steel. A process invented in the 1850's to remove impurities by blowing air through the molten steel. Colt called it Silver Spring Steel but that was just a marketing ploy. Colt could have kept the flutes after the switch to steel but I assume the fluted cylinders had a bad reputation by then.

[AR. Hillbilly]

These are cut square to the end of the cylinder. Not round whatsoever.
That guy in that video made mention of this.
They are concave on my replicas.

[AR. Hillbilly]

I spent time on it tonight.
As Hawg said the hand spring or hand is worn/broken. After studying on it I think the hand spring is broken.
I can  point it straight down and it will rotate the cylinder.
Is this something I should tackle or leave to a pro?

[Hawg]

I spent time on it tonight.
As Hawg said the hand spring or hand is worn/broken. After studying on it I think the hand spring is broken.
I can  point it straight down and it will rotate the cylinder.
Is this something I should tackle or leave to a pro?

it should be an easy fix. You can make a new spring out of a bobby pin, you just have to be careful getting the broken piece out.

[AR. Hillbilly]

Thank you Hawg.
I may be back with questions this weekend regarding this.