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Early 1864 Colt .31 Pocket Revolver

3K views 23 replies 7 participants last post by  Patbar 
#1 · (Edited)
Turned out to be very nice. Packing job could have been better; just in a medium box with a couple pieces of newspaper. All matched to the cylinder pin, wedge, loading lever, etc. Lots of light surface rust came off with a brass brush and jagged patch. Now to find a holster.
 

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#8 ·
Excellent. Looks like an old warhorse. Someone cleaned it up some time ago and I doubt thats the original trigger. Mainspring was probably replaced too as the originals are darn stiff.

With a light mainspring, prepare for some cap blowback and hard fouling in the nipple recess/hammer channel. These guns are great to shoot if the wedge, arbor and barrel fit properly. I shoot my Pocket made in 1853, have shot around 200 rounds through her now. I load 10 grains of FFFG BP, a grease cookie and a .328 pure lead ball I cast myself. You can bump it up to around 15 grains, not much room for a wad/cookie though. I recommend making a little funnel for pouring in the powder, a small pipe to fit over the loading lever as a small extension. Also a couple of needle nose pliers to remove stubborn cap fragments.

Hope this helps.
 
#18 ·
Very nice gun my friend.. And thanks for sharing it with us here on the forum.
 
#22 · (Edited)
FINALLY got to take the M49 out to play. Received a box of .315 balls in mail yesterday. Used new 3F powder, ~12gr, and with a 50gr ball was good for ~800fps. Turned out caps were old and bad...took between 1-4 caps per chamber. Shot a total of 12 rounds. Pistol shot high as expected, distance 30 feet. First cylinder I covered the end of the chambers with borecburltter. But as I had a good seal with a little lead shavings, I skipped that for the second cylinder and had no problems. Kinda miserable day; 80F, overcast, drizzle, still.

Only piece of hardware I’m missing is a nipple wrench. Ideas?

t
 

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#23 · (Edited)
Nipple wrenches are available but you can make one yourself easily. Good shooting! They are fun guns to shoot.

About the trigger and mainspring: I've made a comment some time ago about those being replacements, but they might very well be original. Sometimes parts from earlier productions are found on later guns. Also the mainspring tension depends a lot on very small tolerances, so some are weak and some really stiff. Hope this helps.
 
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