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.
Timing is great, mainspring soft compared to my 1912 police positive special and 1937 Detective special. Lockup is good. I’ll be using it for civil war provost this year following my heart attack...no rifle this year
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.
I disagree, not in this condition. Edges are not as sharp as they should and there is clearly buffing evident (although it has been buffed a long time ago) and the brass has been cleaned. The trigger and mainspring are replacement parts.
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?
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.
I also have a very early 1849 Colt Pocket. According to its 21782 serial number, it was produced in 1851. It has a 6 inches barrel, all parts have the same serial except the wedge which has none. The cylinder scene is 100 % present, the back strap and trigger guard still have about 95 % of their silver and the grip 98 % of its original varnish.
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