Pietta Smith Problem

[jack 8thVirginia]

I've got a Pietta Smith that won't go off using brass tubes. Flash channel and nipple has been cleaned, cap will burn masking tape placed on the end of the cartridge but will not ignite the powder charge. Any suggestions or solutions? Thanks in advance!

[Muley Gil]

Try scotch tape.

I don't tape the end of my tubes after loading them. I keep them in MTM cases, inside of an ammo can. I've haven't had any problems using tubes that had been stored for over a year.

[Joseph Plakis Jr, 00302V]

Does the nipple go to the bottom of the hole? If it does not you are not getting the full effect of the percussion cap??
Is the Smith tube a little short and is there a space when you close the action? Was the fire channel for the cap aligned
properly when it was made? Is the fire channel burned out? All of this causes problems.

One of your teammates in the 9th VA fixed my Smith. I can put the fire from the percussion cap through anything now.
I personally tried tape, round stickers & a lot of other things. I now use cheap fingernail polish that I buy at the
dollar store. It burns the fingernail polish off of the back of the Smith tube now.
Give Bob Gorsky a call. If he can't fix it nobody can.

Joe Plakis Jr
Hampton Legion
00302V

[jack 8thVirginia]

Thanks for the reply! The tape was only put on the case to check alignment of the flash hole to the case hole. It is lined up so that wasn't the problem.



Try scotch tape.

I don't tape the end of my tubes after loading them. I keep them in MTM cases, inside of an ammo can. I've haven't had any problems using tubes that had been stored for over a year.

[jack 8thVirginia]

Thanks for the reply and suggestions. The fire channel appears to be aligned, that was the purpose of the tape. I'll check out the nipple and the case length. Don't think the channel is burned out.



Does the nipple go to the bottom of the hole? If it does not you are not getting the full effect of the percussion cap??
Is the Smith tube a little short and is there a space when you close the action? Was the fire channel for the cap aligned
properly when it was made? Is the fire channel burned out? All of this causes problems.

One of your teammates in the 9th VA fixed my Smith. I can put the fire from the percussion cap through anything now.
I personally tried tape, round stickers & a lot of other things. I now use cheap fingernail polish that I buy at the
dollar store. It burns the fingernail polish off of the back of the Smith tube now.
Give Bob Gorsky a call. If he can't fix it nobody can.

Joe Plakis Jr
Hampton Legion
00302V

[Lou Lou Lou]

For what its worth:
Teammate had a pietta with ignition problems. Receiver is cast not forged. Giant hole under nipple seat. Had to install a bolt with a hole in it through the drill hole to make a new flash channel.

[Maillemaker]

Larry Flees can also clean up the fire channel on Smith carbines.

I had one that came from the factory with a drill bit broken off in the receiver through the cleanout screw hole! Larry fixed it up.

For our family's Smiths, we put tape over the holes while in the ammo box but when the kids load up their cartridge boxes they remove the tape first. Since they are nose-down in the cartridge box they don't leak much powder before use.

Steve

[RaiderANV]

I had the same problems decades ago with a Pietta Smyth. As Lou Lou Lou described the one beneath the nipple was too deep and messed up the pressure wave from the cap. I cleaned it out down there spotless, took a dental bit to it with my Dremel the rough it up a tad down there then used high temp JB weld and filled the depression. I then used the dental bit Dremel combo to carefully form a curved ramp directly the cap blast right into fire channel. Never ever had another problem and the JB weld held the exact same for years that I and another shot it.

[Tom Magno, 9269V]

Had the exact same problem with mine many years ago - switched to a Maynard! Anyway, filled the cavern under the nipple with JB weld just to the bottom of the flash channel. That effectively redirected the cap fire and increased fire to the charge. No more misfires or no-fires.

[Maillemaker]

Part of what Larry Flees does is re-work the fire channel to fill up some of those massive "nooks and crannies" with metal so that you end up with a more efficient fire channel.

Another problem with some of the Pietta Smiths is that the hole for the nipple often intersects the threaded portion of the hole for the cleanout screw. The cleanout screw often doesn't have many threads of engagement anyway, and when 3/4 of them are missing that is a real problem. You don't want to blow out a cleanout screw into your pard next to you.

Larry fixed both of these problems for me on 2 different Smiths.

Steve