Tips for 1851's

[joatmon]

Any good tips for smoothing up some import 1851's. I have several that are rough as a cobb! Most are the 36cal and a couple 44's. Any hope for these?
Aaron

[LAGS]

Dont really know.
That is why I bought Colt Second generations.
They are still Imports, but a better fit.
Only have the one 1851 square back left, ( Unfired )
But I dont see why a little work couldn't be done on the others to bring them up in fit a little better.

[doc1876]

There are several things that can be done. What exactly are your issues? One of the members here posted a link to a site that is based on working on the Pieta 51, &60. I can't post it from the phone, but if you check, you should find it.

Otherwise honing the sear, & the cylinder pin are a start..... But remember that you have to do little bit at a time.

[Vann]

I pull out all of the flat springs and install a music wire trigger/cylinder stop spring. Then deburr the hand, hammer, cylinder stop and the groove that the hand rides in. Basically just deburr everything. Be careful of the sear and hammer, they are case hardened you don't want to remove much metal on them just do a light polish. You can also install a reduced power hammer spring but in some cases you'll run into hammer rebound problems.

Another thing you can do to improve reliability is to remove the hand spring and install a Ruger hand spring/plunger assembly. This involves taking off the back strap and drilling a small hole through the frame and into the channel that the hand rides in. It's not hard to do a quick search on the net will show you how to do this mod. I won't make the gun smoother but it will make it more reliable.

[joatmon]

Thanks all, I guess the biggest hassel is the 38# cocking force (feel's like it anyway) I'll pull some grips and take a looksee at that spring for starters.

Thanks again Aaron

[Vann]

You can remove the hammer spring and thin it down a bit. That will lighten up the hammer pull. The metal is hard so you'll have to grind it, the main thing to remember is not to over heat the spring if you do grind it. Also be sure to round any sharp edges and lightly polish it, sharp edges will make it prone to breaking.

[doc1876]

THe roblem with lightning in a mainspring is that you can get the hammer blowback van mentioned.

[Mk42gunner]

The old timey way of lightening the cocking effort was to put a leather washer between the spring and trigger guard. A more modern way would be to use a rubber o-ring.

If you do grind on the mainspring, do a little at a time and grind in line with the spring, not across it.

Robert

[joatmon]

Thanks All, I had forgot about the washer trick!
Aaron