Doc1
04-28-2013, 04:28 PM
I recently posted about getting back into BP shooting with a blue steel Pietta 1858 I recently acquired. Sometimes it seems that when you start looking for certain things, they seem to pop out of the woodwork. A friend and I make it a social hobby to hit most of the gun shows in south Mississippi and Louisiana, but BP isn't very big down here. I was thinking that a killer deal on a stainless BP revolver would be cool, but I only recalled seeing one stainless BP revolver offered by a private seller in recent memory.
At a recent Mississippi show, one of my dealer buds offered me a deal: He had a (mostly) like-new stainless 1858 Pietta .44 for $150!!! Unfortunately, whoever owned it previously had dry fired hell out of it and mushroomed the nipples. Then they added insult to injury by apparently scratching the rear of the cylinder in ham-fisted attempts to remove them. I have spare blue steel nipples, but I want to preserve the all-stainless look so I'm spending a pleasant afternoon with a tiny vise and jewelers files recontouring the nipples and dressing the hammer face. I could chuck the nipples in my mini lathe, but I think the hand work is going to be fine. I'm going to polish out the scratches on the cylinder and she should look perfect. What's not to like for $150?
The latest stainless score was yesterday at yet another show. A private seller had a table full of mostly cheap guns, but lying amongst the dross I found a perfect, stainless Ruger Old Army. That went home with me for $450. I've fired a couple of my Pietta's too-small .454 balls through it, but the ROA really wants .457 so I have bids in on a couple of molds for it.
Now I have a severely-depleted gun toy account, but enough new BP toys to keep me happy for a while!
Best regards
Doc
At a recent Mississippi show, one of my dealer buds offered me a deal: He had a (mostly) like-new stainless 1858 Pietta .44 for $150!!! Unfortunately, whoever owned it previously had dry fired hell out of it and mushroomed the nipples. Then they added insult to injury by apparently scratching the rear of the cylinder in ham-fisted attempts to remove them. I have spare blue steel nipples, but I want to preserve the all-stainless look so I'm spending a pleasant afternoon with a tiny vise and jewelers files recontouring the nipples and dressing the hammer face. I could chuck the nipples in my mini lathe, but I think the hand work is going to be fine. I'm going to polish out the scratches on the cylinder and she should look perfect. What's not to like for $150?
The latest stainless score was yesterday at yet another show. A private seller had a table full of mostly cheap guns, but lying amongst the dross I found a perfect, stainless Ruger Old Army. That went home with me for $450. I've fired a couple of my Pietta's too-small .454 balls through it, but the ROA really wants .457 so I have bids in on a couple of molds for it.
Now I have a severely-depleted gun toy account, but enough new BP toys to keep me happy for a while!
Best regards
Doc