Colt 1860 Army

[beagle6]

I Have a Umberti replica 1860 Army.While I like the gun and it is quite accurate, it has given me fits with the fired caps falling off the nipples and down into the mechanism when the hammer is cocked. This happens with both #10 and #11 caps. I thought this might be due to hammer lift so I replaced the mainspring with a replica for an original Colt Army from Lodgewood and fitted it which made the hammer a lot stiffer to cock. I also replaced the nipples. The problem persists. The charge is 21 grs. of 3f and a round ball, well below the service load. Was this a problem in the Civil war or were caps stronger then? Modern caps look like stars after firing. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Beagle6

[Will]

Beagle6; what you describe is a common problem with cap and ball revolvers. I have seen a pin installed in the hammer mortice that deflects the cap. I had a picture of this installation at one time but can't find it now. I remember there was a fine line for the pin to deflect the spent cap and still clear the full down hammer.<br><br>Will

[Mike Stein]

I'm using microsquish exploder so dont' have the ability to make paragraphs so bear with me. Firefox, Chrome and Opera follow a different set of rules so don't have this problem. Do a Google search on this: MAKING A COLT CAP AND BALL REVOLVER WORK

By Utah, SASS #11601 The document will be a six page PDF with pictures showing the pin modification half remembered above. The other things you can do is the Tom Mix style of fire, bring over the shoulder, cock and bring back to battery but this will get you bounced off of most shooting ranges for safety violation or the more acceptable twist the pistol to the right with muzzle down range as you cock to dump the spent cap and return to battery.
Also do a Google search on Tuning the Uberti Open Top Revolvers

By

Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933 Life
There are four parts and are in PDF as well.

[beagle6]

Thanks to both Will and Mike for the information. The 2 videos were great,watched the one on making a Colt work 3 times and will try it. Wonder if John Wesley and Wild Bill knew about this? I'm always amazed at the ingenuity of the shooting fraternity.

[Southron Sr.]

That slot cut in the nose of the Colt hammer (that is meant to rest on the pins in the rear of the cylinder as some sort of "Safety") tends to mangle caps pretty badly when it strikes them during the firing cycle. Some SASS shooters fill that slot with a metallic epoxy obtained from an auto parts store.

The Metropolitan revolver, which was a "Colt Clone" utilized a circular shield that fit over the rear of the cylinder-the only openings in the shield was for the hammer nose to hit the cap of the chamber that was aligned with the barrel and, of course, at the "cut out" in the frame where the caps were placed on the nipple. The flat shield was mounted on the revolver's arbor.

Apparently, this system was pretty effective in keeping cap fragments out of the action. It was patented-so Colt could not copy it!

[Mike Stein]

I've got Colt Colts with hammer as described by Southron and el cheapo made in Italy,Spain,Brazil sack of doughnut Colts with flat-face hammers. All can fragment a cap well enough it no longer holds to the cone, falls off and jams the action. Two surest ways to prevent the spent cap jam on an unmodified colt pattern is the safety violating where is the muzzle now Tom Mix flip over the shoulder, cock and repoint or the twist, cock and realign. The rest is doing something physical gunsmith-wise option to the pistol as is suggested in several of the above posts . I'd love to see the Manhattan shield that Southron mentions. Can you post a picture?