pietta 1858 timing question

[shoestring]

hi all, I have a '58 pietta in .44. i have had it for a couple of years and i can't go to the range without it. starts alot of conversations. my sons 21st birthday is coming up and i bought one for him, i got the blued, 8" target model. in looking it over i see that it has a timing problem. in half cock when you rotate a chamber under the loading lever, when you hear the hand click into the sprocket, you have gone too far. in order to make it work you would have to hold the cyl just before the click in order to load. I haven't had a chance to look it over too much yet but in my minds eye i can see it being one of two things. one, the hand is too long and needs to be shortened. as long as it will still reach lock up at full cock that seems easy enough to do. two, the half cock notch in the hammer needs to be adjusted away from the full cock notch. this looks doable enough as long as sear depth and notch angle are kept in tolerance. or maybe a little of both. I'm planning on giving it a good looking over this weekend and probably making the repairs. I can't return it and have a replacement in time for b-day. i would give it a fine file and hone job anyways just to smooth things up a bit. I did this to mine and it cleaned up real nice. i didn't remove enough metal to change timing, but on this new one it looks like i will have to. if i screw it up i can always buy new parts and start over. is there anything else i should look at that i have missed? thanks

[Old Ironsights]

I have a Stainless Uberti version.

Mucho nice gun except for its propensity to throw unfired #11 caps everywhere - even wearing #11 Tresco nipples..

#10s don't fit, and I have a few thousand #11s, so I'm not really sure what to do...

Fortunately it shoots .45ACP as well, but still...

[shoestring]

mine calls for 11's i like 10's better. they stay on without a problem. every once in a while i'll have a fired one fall off and jam the action but not often. i have stock pietta nipples. dang these guns are fun. more than i expected. i bought my first one just as a novelty, but it always tags along to the range with me and always gets dirty.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Chuck your overlarge pistol nipples in a drillpress or hand drill and use a coarse stone to reduce the diameter while turning them. Occasionally grind a a little length if too long to seat. Most nipples are hardened. Don't custom fit for one box of no name carpy caps. Fit for Remingtons, RWS, CCI, Winchesters.

Go for a snug fit with the foil resting on the cone. You want to be able to seat them with something like a firm push of the eraser on a pencil. Your Colt won't jam as much with fitted caps, most misfires go away, caps no longer get blown off loaded chambers(There is your flashover firing potential) and if well done they will be waterproof.

Do not be pushing hard with one of your your digits when capping.

While you have them out for fitting clean the cylinder nipple threads with a q-tip and the nipple threads also. I always used wheel bearing grease to relube both. Hi Temp, waterproof, no WB grease in the barrel so don't whine about petrolium products & BP. Three finger snug only when seating the nipples. You don't want to be taking them out very often, they are hardened, the thread holes are not. If one is stuck, soak with Kroil, or Ed's Red. If its still stuck and the chambers are unloaded, drill for a small easy out and it's easy out. While you have the nipples out seat a lead RB just below each hole in the cylinder face, remember the hole # by referring to a mark on the cylinder face and there by slug each chamber. Good to know. The nipples are out so you can drive the RB out via a punch in the nipple hole. Sorry I can't help with timing. I always took mine to a real expert on Timing.

BvT

[John Taylor]

shoestring, looks like everyone went away from the question. I would not start by shortening the hand. You may end up out of time at full cock. The notch in the hammer can be deepened a bit so the hammer is not back so far at half cock and the cylinder will line up for loading. Go slow and check often.

[Old Ironsights]

Sorry. I don't know anything about the timing, but I do know that there is a mod for the 1858 that replaces the somewhat fragile hand spring with a coil spring.

Nate Kiowa Jones (http://stevesguns.com/) does it for a pretty reasonable price...

[shoestring]

shoestring, looks like everyone went away from the question. I would not start by shortening the hand. You may end up out of time at full cock. The notch in the hammer can be deepened a bit so the hammer is not back so far at half cock and the cylinder will line up for loading. Go slow and check often.

i am about to start on the timing, i checked it closely and see the timing is perfect at full cock, so i will start adjusting the half cock notch. slowly like you say. thanks

[shoestring]

that was easy, a fuzz over 1/32" depth added to the half cock notch and we are in business. cleaned up a few other things while i was at it. looks to be a-ok now.

[SPRINGFIELDM141972]

Good for you. Now go make lots of smoke! Congrats.

Regards,
Everett

[John Taylor]

Glad I could help.