1873 remington revolver (updated, repaired, new pix)

justashooter · January 23, 2003, 20:02

just got back from an odd gun auction, and brought home a new toy.

the sale was advertised as "30 guns", so the kid and i we packs us up and heads up the road. that ol' curious george and the man in the yellow hat thing that sometimes brings us the irish.

well, it didn't look too bright from the start. the only item of interest on inspection was a very tight belgian double hammer gun that had been bobbed to about 28" with the old ten degree hacksaw trick. would have made a passable cowboy gun, but the rest of the sale looked to be rusted pellet guns.

we were about to trash the card and head out the door, when i hear the seller call out, "remington 32 caliber revolver!"

well, you'd of thought i was in an old 70's demonic posession movie to see my head spin 180 degrees that fast. he called for 50, and got a hit at 10.

i walked up to look at the piece, and found it to be 95% nickel, perfect grips, and marked

"E.REMINGTON & SONS. ILION. N.Y. PAT. W.S. SMOOT. OCT.21,1873."

needless to say, i gave the nod a few times, and took it home C&R for the sum of, oh, hell, you'd never believe me if i told you anyway.

anybody care to hazard a guess as to the marketability of this little handful of five aces?

had time this morning to detail strip and clean. seems that the mechanicals are just fine. pawl was stuck, but WD40 was the solution (pun intended). see the detail pix and description posted in the thread. 1-25-03

BlasterLP · January 23, 2003, 23:36

Marketability? how bout double what ya paid for it??

No? damn

I have no idea what its worth but whatever it is, looks like you found a dandy piece there

Derby FALs · January 24, 2003, 01:45

That would be a "Number Two" revolver IMHO. I'd say it might fetch around 3-4 clams. Maybe a little more.

NHBandit · January 24, 2003, 05:29

Is that what they call a "carriage gun" and how do the wheels attatch ??

justashooter · January 24, 2003, 06:28

you guys are gonna die then, when i tells yuz that i got it for seven to ten cents on the dollar. thirty bucks and out the door. how many revolvers did remington make? i remember reading that they made them for just a few years.

does old western scrounger still offer 32 rimfire, and is this supposed to time on cocking, or was it hand timed at half cock? the hand engages the cylinder, but cocking the hammer does not rotate the cylinder, and i see no pawl. i suppose it's time to get out the screwdriver...

gunzilla · January 24, 2003, 08:07

The hand spring is probably gone - very common on those old timers. If your handy with the dremel, and you have some clock springs kicking around and a piar of needle nose pliers, you might be able to cobble yourself one up. Kind of tricky getting just the right bends and all, so that it works and stays in place but if you have the patience it can be done. Nice buy!

justashooter · January 24, 2003, 08:11

the hand comes up into the cylinder slots at full cock and assures the timing. what doesn't happen is a rotation of the cylinder by a pawl from the breech face. does this gun have a pawl that rotates the cylinder as you cock the hammer? we are talking jesse james, here.

gunzilla · January 24, 2003, 16:30

You say potato and I say hand - or pawl, same thing. I always called the gizmo that locks the cylinder in place the "bolt". Anyway, you need a new pawl spring. I've never worked on an old Remington and don't own one so I can't take a look to find out what it looks like. I just made a hand spring (or pawl) for a Colt New Line .22. Takes some patience if you don't know the exact shape that it needs to be. Tweek and try, tweek and try and whoops! to short so start all over. I have seen tiny v-springs used for this application in some revolvers and also a hoopy shaped spring like in the Colt. Actually, I don't know what the original Colt sring looked like. I just made one that worked and it picked up the 2 notches, one in the pawl and the other in the frame and looped around the side plate screw. It was hard getting it to stay in place but I'm there now.
Have fun.

justashooter · January 25, 2003, 04:58

had time this morning to detail strip and clean. seems that the mechanicals are just fine. pawl was stuck, but WD40 was the solution (pun intended).

see the pix of the stripped gun. a very simple machine, yet cleverly designed and skillfully crafted.

grip screw and grips were removed, two screws retaining the lower were removed, and the lower assembly, which contained the trigger and hand springs and components, was seperated.

the cylinder pin was moved forward in the grooved underbarrel lug, which also carries the ejector rod, and the cylinder removed. there is a coil spring (the only coil in the gun) in between the cylinder pin and the ejector rod, which is retained in this channel by a solid pin at the muzzle end.

the mainspring retainer screw at the heel of the butt was removed, and the mainspring was freed. pinned to the spring leaf, there is an interesting transfer bar, which tees into a stirrup that is machined in the rear of the hammer (very delicate machining). the pivot pin for the hammer assembly was unscrewed and the hammer assenbly removed through the bottom of the frame.

i was amazed at the precision in machining and fitting evidenced in the hammer assembly. the malfunctioning pawl is a delicate lever, approx 5/16 length, 3/32 width and thickness, and is pivoted on a pin of about 1/16 diameter. it's eccentric pin is driven by a leaf of about 3/32 width X 1/2 length X a few thousandths thickness, which is retained in a slot on the front of the hammer by a 1/16 solid pin. a little cleaning and lubrication freed the pawl, restoring the gun to full function. there is also some fine work on the right side of the hammer that is related to the cylinder timing hand. as fine a work as any i have seen in the ansonia clocks i have which were made in the same period and section of the country.

i did not strip the components of the lower, rather cleaning them with a toothbrush and WD. reassembly of the gun was accomplished in a matter of minutes.

i have stripped many a revolver, and have seen few designs as elegantly planned and executed as this.

justashooter · January 25, 2003, 05:05

another

gunzilla · January 25, 2003, 07:00

I've never seen one of those taken apart before. The way that piece breaks down is very interesting, especially the trigger mechanism being part of the lower half of the grip frame. You were lucky again that it was only hardened oil that caused it to malfunction. Now I am really jealous

Cobra69 · January 25, 2003, 07:13

I'll give you forty for her.

She's real pretty

January 24, 2003, 05:29	#4
NHBandit Registered Contributor FALaholic #: 7986 Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: East Tennessee Posts: 3,933	Is that what they call a "carriage gun" and how do the wheels attatch ?? __________________ Live Free or Die

January 24, 2003, 06:28	#5
justashooter Registered FALaholic #: 5967 Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: york, pa. Posts: 4,497	you guys are gonna die then, when i tells yuz that i got it for seven to ten cents on the dollar. thirty bucks and out the door. how many revolvers did remington make? i remember reading that they made them for just a few years. does old western scrounger still offer 32 rimfire, and is this supposed to time on cocking, or was it hand timed at half cock? the hand engages the cylinder, but cocking the hammer does not rotate the cylinder, and i see no pawl. i suppose it's time to get out the screwdriver... __________________ If the concept of heading on down to the local Home Depot and transforming $100 worth of random pipe bits into a killing machine doesn’t appeal to you, you’re a frikkin' pansy. Also, you’re probably sane and will live significantly longer than I will. Nonetheless you disgust me, and I take comfort in the knowledge that your obituary will be nowhere near as humorous as mine. The next time I hear "THE RANGE IS NOW HOT", it just wont be the same. Max tried another question. "What sort of people live about here?" "In THAT direction," the Jin said, waving its right paw round, "lives a Han: And in THAT direction," waving the other paw, "lives a Ming Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad." "But I don't want to go among mad people," Max remarked. "Oh, you can't help that," said the Jin: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." "How do you know I'm mad?" said Max. "You must be," said the Jin, "or you wouldn't have come here."

January 24, 2003, 08:11	#7
justashooter Registered FALaholic #: 5967 Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: york, pa. Posts: 4,497	the hand comes up into the cylinder slots at full cock and assures the timing. what doesn't happen is a rotation of the cylinder by a pawl from the breech face. does this gun have a pawl that rotates the cylinder as you cock the hammer? we are talking jesse james, here. __________________ If the concept of heading on down to the local Home Depot and transforming $100 worth of random pipe bits into a killing machine doesn’t appeal to you, you’re a frikkin' pansy. Also, you’re probably sane and will live significantly longer than I will. Nonetheless you disgust me, and I take comfort in the knowledge that your obituary will be nowhere near as humorous as mine. The next time I hear "THE RANGE IS NOW HOT", it just wont be the same. Max tried another question. "What sort of people live about here?" "In THAT direction," the Jin said, waving its right paw round, "lives a Han: And in THAT direction," waving the other paw, "lives a Ming Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad." "But I don't want to go among mad people," Max remarked. "Oh, you can't help that," said the Jin: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." "How do you know I'm mad?" said Max. "You must be," said the Jin, "or you wouldn't have come here."

January 25, 2003, 07:13	#12
Cobra69 Registered FALaholic #: 7838 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 277	I'll give you forty for her. She's real pretty __________________ That which does not kill you ONLY makes you stronger. This is why I walk the thin Blue line. 82nd Airborne Div. 1988-1991 In theatre-Panama, Gulf War I Retired Police Officer http://militarysignatures.com/signatures/member3476.png

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January 23, 2003, 23:36	#2
BlasterLP Registered FALaholic #: 2081 Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Kansas but now Iraq, wtf was I thinking?? Posts: 950	Marketability? how bout double what ya paid for it?? No? damn I have no idea what its worth but whatever it is, looks like you found a dandy piece there

January 24, 2003, 01:45	#3
Derby FALs Supreme Leader FALaholic #: 2361 Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Louisville, Kentucky Posts: 2,610	That would be a "Number Two" revolver IMHO. I'd say it might fetch around 3-4 clams. Maybe a little more.

January 24, 2003, 08:07	#6
gunzilla Registered FALaholic #: 5947 Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: NH Posts: 108	The hand spring is probably gone - very common on those old timers. If your handy with the dremel, and you have some clock springs kicking around and a piar of needle nose pliers, you might be able to cobble yourself one up. Kind of tricky getting just the right bends and all, so that it works and stays in place but if you have the patience it can be done. Nice buy!

January 24, 2003, 16:30	#8
gunzilla Registered FALaholic #: 5947 Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: NH Posts: 108	You say potato and I say hand - or pawl, same thing. I always called the gizmo that locks the cylinder in place the "bolt". Anyway, you need a new pawl spring. I've never worked on an old Remington and don't own one so I can't take a look to find out what it looks like. I just made a hand spring (or pawl) for a Colt New Line .22. Takes some patience if you don't know the exact shape that it needs to be. Tweek and try, tweek and try and whoops! to short so start all over. I have seen tiny v-springs used for this application in some revolvers and also a hoopy shaped spring like in the Colt. Actually, I don't know what the original Colt sring looked like. I just made one that worked and it picked up the 2 notches, one in the pawl and the other in the frame and looped around the side plate screw. It was hard getting it to stay in place but I'm there now. Have fun.

January 25, 2003, 07:00	#11
gunzilla Registered FALaholic #: 5947 Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: NH Posts: 108	I've never seen one of those taken apart before. The way that piece breaks down is very interesting, especially the trigger mechanism being part of the lower half of the grip frame. You were lucky again that it was only hardened oil that caused it to malfunction. Now I am really jealous