Pietta 1860 army in 44

[DCB]

New handgun 3-4th shot the barrel catch went flying off into never never land. It appears the edge of the dove tail sheared off.
Do you have any experience with warranty repair from Pietta.
I sent an email last week and one yesterday, Still waiting for a reply.
271447

[Cowboy32]

Talk to Taylor's Firearms. They did some repair work for me but I did buy the 1860's from them. Worth a try.

[quail4jake]

Do you mean the loading lever keeper? Forget any warranty, these foreign manufacturers usually take no responsibility,. This is no big deal especially if you can find the part and put it back with loctite or a drop of solder on the base and file to fit snug, just home smith it. I have many of these Piettas, Uberties, Chiappas etc and they're all OK but require extensive modifications to make them reliable and shoot straight. That 1860 is actually pretty well made but you will have to constantly do minor smithing to keep it tight and reliable, soon the arbor will stretch or wedge wear and cylinder gap increase out of spec and the ratchet will start to fail...sooo, you will file the mortise in the arbor to allow the forward assembly to move back about .010" and MIG weld the forward edge of the wedge to build it up and file it down to bring it back to spec. Then you will do it again but on a smaller scale after shooting a few hundred rounds and eventually it will reach a state of mechanical karma and stay tight, it will also feel better when you cock it and fouling becomes easier to manage. My Pietta 1860 is about 15 years old and has been smithed, modified, sighted and fires reliably with a 2" group at 25 yards given the front sight that I made from a nickle to bring the group down from the factory 24" high! Also replace the nipples with Treso ampco bronze .028" base hole nipples and use RWS caps. Recipe: 32 gr Swiss FFFg, .454 soft ball to seat firmly on the powder, seal with 60% beeswax, 10% lanolin, 30% jojoba oil. You will need another mix for hot weather and one for cold weather each with 10% more or 10% less beeswax, adjusting the jojoba oil to compensate. Keep the lanolin at 10% to make the lube sticky. Best of luck, do your smithing, be successful!
Just saw that Taylor post... good advice . Nice folks, best supplier for repro parts I've found. But I would order parts and fix it yourself.

[DCB]

Thanks, I have contacted Taylor looking for a tap 6mmx.80 for the nipple thread, correct me if that's wrong.
Q4jake, man That makes me think I should chuck it the back corner of the Safe and forget about it.
i did order a barrel catch from https://www.emf-company.com/store/pc/Pietta-Black-Powder-Parts-c505.htm
Before I found Taylor.

[quail4jake]

I don't think you need to tap the threads, Treso makes nipples in the right size for that Pietta. I didn't tap anything, try Track of the Wolf they have a great assortment of Treso nipples and a chart to tell you which ones are right. BTW, I tossed my 1860 in the back of the safe many times and vowed never again! But there it sits and after a few hours of amateur smithing...WOW! This thing shoots great! Oh, I forgot to mention aging...I greased the bore and chambers heavily then patted Laurel Forge browning solution on my hands and just handled it then let it sit out in humid air overnight to find it orange with rust in the AM, wash it off, rub with steel wool, repeat , repeat... you get the idea. the grips I tapped with a tack hammer, nails, stamped my name in, covered in shellac and set on fire ( I blew it out quick). Then I sat and rubbed the entire revolver on a shale rock to abrade and wear the sharp edges into worn rounded off roughness, rubbed leather with tripoli over it to simulate holster wear and corroded it more, etc etc. After all was said and done I replaced the front sight with one that hits on the top of the blade @ 25 yards completely cleaned it, lubed and it hit dead on with a 2" group.I like to wow my compadres by firing it prone at the 100 yard gong and hitting a very high percent ( 2' foot hold over). I will try to put a photo on here. Can you imagine doing this to a real nice revolver? No way! But take something like this that shoots really well and add that great patina...now ya got something. And if ya screw up buy another one and use this for parts. Glad you called Taylors, nice folks!271482

[Harter66]

Remember too that many of the Italian repros are exact copies of what they had for a Polish blue print . So if that guy had a last of production 1880 , gentleman's dueling set that was test fired , packed , and cased will be a somewhat different gun than the 1862 CSA officers gun that cowboy'd until 1890 and left the gun as a gratuity in Rome before getting on the boat to come home in 1910 .

I may be wrong but it seems like Pietta is under the Beretta roof now .

[Castaway]

Barrel catch? Are you talking about the barrel wedge that goes through the barrel and frame of pistol? I’ve had good luck with my Pietta 1860 as is. Only stoned rough spots and slightly chamfered cylinders. Found no modifications necessary. First set of original nipples lasted over 5,000 rounds before I replaced them.

[quail4jake]

Barrel catch? Are you talking about the barrel wedge that goes through the barrel and frame of pistol? I’ve had good luck with my Pietta 1860 as is. Only stoned rough spots and slightly chamfered cylinders. Found no modifications necessary. First set of original nipples lasted over 5,000 rounds before I replaced them.

5000 rounds in a cap and ball revolver is quite admirable! My compliments! I think he was talking about the loading lever catch... right?

[Beagle333]

I love my Pietta 1860s. I probably have 8 or more of them, along with Ubertis and Colts. I rarely have trouble with the Piettas. Usually just slight timing issues and the occasional broken hand spring.
And I shoot them a lot. :Fire:

[DCB]

Thanks for the info. elec. Power has been out since yesterday at noon Just got the puter back up and running.

The catch is for the loading lever.
I contacted Taylor and they got right back "great service!" I know where to go now.
The nipple is a standard size 6mm x.75 ...68 year old eyes are tired.
5000 rounds, wow. and I could not get 5, next try maybe.
Still have not heard anything from Pietta.
I wanted to get a 1851 in 44 or prefer 36 cal. But Im a little gun shy right now:shock:

[Castaway]

Had growing pains learning how to lube. First lube was Crisco, Murphy’s soap and beeswax. Cylinder would bind after two or three cylinders. Discovered Gato Feo #1 and have not had cylinder to bind yet. After 9 cylinders, it still turns freely and rifling in barrel Amazes onlookers with how “clean” it looks.

[leadeye]

Good info, I shoot more conversion revolvers these days than C&B though.