Civil War relic

[RalphH]

Greetings, Gentlemen,

I am on the way out the door to shoot a revolver that probably hasn't been fired in almost a century and a half. Full report later if interested.

[45nut]

Greetings, Gentlemen,

I am on the way out the door to shoot a revolver that probably hasn't been fired in almost a century and a half. Full report later if interested.

Another "if these could only talk" guns. totally cool. I would love to hear about it and how you acquired it.
I wish my trapdoor had a voice.............

[shooter575]

Hey Ralph,That is a cool looking revolver.Strange firearms are one of my intrest
I want a report

[Ricochet]

That is cool looking! How's it shoot?

[Uncle R.]

Yes! YES! Report - please!
I love the weird ones too...
Uncle R.

[Ricochet]

Is that the 11.7mm French Ordnance cartridge?

[RalphH]

Greetings,

This is one of the earliest centerfires. 11mm Pidault. Actually 10.7mm(.420)
Remember, this is an 1860 revolver. About the only earlier one would be the 12mm Perrin. The French Ordnance was 1873. I will give some history on the Pidault in my forthcoming report. Here is a photo of my 1859 Perrin. Another Civil War relic. This one has never been fired. I have another that I shoot on occasion.

[Ricochet]

Very cool!

[TDB9901]

VERY VERY cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Follow-up please...

[RalphH]

Greetings, Gentlemen,

Did you ever have one of those days when things just didn't go as smoothly as planned? Yesterday, right after work, my wife and I set up the chrono and target in the shop to do the first testing of the Pidault.



First shot went well, considering I was not used to the trigger pull. Second round removed one of the sky screens from the chrono. Boy, that left in a hurry!
After a quick repair, with parts from my other unit, we resumed the test. The 11mm Pidault is actually .42 caliber. Boolit is 167 gr. pointed, flat base. Pushed with 10 gr. Pinnacle fffg it averaged 500 fps. Maybe just a tat faster than original.
First 2 or 3 rounds were a little out of the group, but the rest grouped about 2" at 30 feet.

When I was cocking the hammer for the 12th round, there was considerable binding of the cylinder. I had to help the rotation with my free hand. At first I thought the powder residue was locking it up, so I squirted some powder solvent on the cylinder axis. Didn't help, and with great difficulty I carefully cleared the chambers of the empties. I only had the 12 cartridges, so my initial test was over anyway.

We took this opportunity to try out my wife's Stoeger stainless Luger. I bought it for her as a present while she was having surgery in the local hospital. When she first saw it, she didn't like it. Said it wasn't a real Luger, and would probably give her problems. Well......after a few magazines were fired without incident and accuracy was better than expected, she LOVES it.



First on the agenda when we got home was to disassemble the Pidault.
Oh, wow! Major damage! This is the first time something this bad has happened in the many years I have been restoring and shooting these grand old machines.
And it would have to be one of my most valuable revolvers. Bummer.




Stay tuned, friends. As soon as I have repairs finished on Mr. Pidault, we will be back to complete the testing and submit detailed report on all work done to bring this revolver back for a second chance at life. I'll even throw in a little history.

[uscra112]

That looks as if the part was made of cast iron. Was it?

[Bret4207]

That looks like a perfect candidate for Brownells homoginized Hi Force 44 silver solder.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Yep, that has the distinctive graininess of a cast part. IF it has stampings and acceptance marks, I'd certainly go with Tpr Brett's suggestion of silver solder to keep the firearm original. Silver solder was used on firearms at that time if I remember right.

In addition, I would also make a part out of modern steels as a substitute for when I next fired the pistol.

Regards,

Dave