Interesting! Those freeze-frames are definitely pretty telling.

you are correct..i came to the same idea from working with my guns over the yrs often springs are weak to keep cocking light and not feel heavy ..this lets lots of back pressure rebound the hammer

Fantastic video!! From my experience the nipples wall thickness can receive alot of the ignition that should be directed inward. This adds to any blowback and extreme fragmentation of the cap. Nipples with consistent size and thickness and a slight inward taper make a huge difference. Track of the wolf nipples work great. Of course at a range we cannot handle a gun the way we need to so as to avoid cap jams. Modern handling of the BP revolver is in my opinion the major reason for cap jams. Seeing your FB video when you first got the 1860 fluted cylinder I had to get one myself! I've owned hundreds of black powder revolvers and currently own 36 of my favorites. This fluted 1860 is probably the finest made reproduction I've seen, function is perfect and made well, truly a gorgeous gun. As always great well done video with great information and perspective.

I have measured main spring on five original colts. As cap jams were a big problem for all my Uberti models. The main spring on the original revolvers was 40-50% higher weight in all. The spring were also wider at the hammer slot. Thus having a longer width throughout the entire taper. I made new springs for 4 of my Uberti models. They can be made easily from 1095 spring steel sold at Mc Master Carr. I use .068” thick sheet. My way is make the length and drill the hole then grind ( while cooling) the width. Then bend the shape. Heat with acetylene torch to cherry red, quench in oil. Then polish bright and propane torch to blue violet and quench again. Then final fit and grind the outside to the correct weight.

Interesting to note that most caps from the 1800s are heavily splined, when they are detonated they just break up into small pieces, that would prevent any pressure pushing back the hammer, also the cap breaks into such small pieces ,(most of which fly off to the side) ,so do not drop down into the action and block the hammer fall, whereas "modern" caps are more often solid drawn cups, so remain intact, acting like a piston and pushing back the hammer, I have never had a cap jam using old splined caps, also, most people lighten up the main spring until it will just set off the primer ,for ease of cocking, a very interesting video. Thanks for posting.

The heavier mainsprings I made work well but I had a softer hammer on one of my Uberti 1860 army fluted cylinder. The hammer was dented by the nipples after being fired 20 rounds or so. I will re harden that but I ordered a replacement hammer from Taylor’s and company.

Mark, On the pistol you say you have repeated cap jams, I want to suggest that you remove the hammer and "break" the edges of the safety pin slot. My logic is that under the back blast, the cap is being forced into the path of least resistance, the void in the slot on the hammer, and the hard, sharp edges of the slot are causing micro-chips in the softer metal of the cap, wedging it into that space. By "breaking" the edge with a fine file or even emory board, the cap will press in but without chipping allowing it a better chance to spring back out once the pressure subsides. I've done this operation on my Pietta 1851s, (Piettas are notoriously left un de-burred from the factory,) and it seems to have reduced the issue to few, if almost none on both pistols. I only have the two pistols from one manufacturer to go by though which is not a statistically substantial data set. I'd love to see if you find the same results.

It'd be interesting to see if the hammer still rebounds with slixshots. But I've been suspecting this for a while. When I've gotten a cap jams (rare) in my 51s I've only ever seen the classic notch indentation once, on a gun I hadn't slicked the hammer on yet. The rest were either blown off or fell off. My slixshot equipped gun does it a whole lot less often, but on the extremely rare occasion when it does, it usually is blown off. At least with those it seems to function as designed 99% of the time.

Excellent work. I have been studying before getting into black powder. This is very much a concern.

Originals had stronger springs, I believe. Would sugest to make an experiment with only cap, no powder and ball to see if there is any blowback by only cap going off, if there is, need heavyer spring then or vented niples. that's what I think anyway.

That’s a grate noteworthy ponder & most likely the problem ! My leach & Rigdon doesn’t have the problem but I’ve had others that did !

Very interesting analysis, thx for the vid.

Thank you Mark good video

My Uberti 1860 seems to have a strong enough mainspring but my Uberti 1851 had a huge problem with back pressure and failure to set caps off. I couldn't find replacement springs strong enough so I simply placed the spring on a concrete floor with the bow facing up and stood in the spring a couple of times to lengthen it which increased the spring power. I filed it down until it fit under the hammer again and it worked perfectly, The spring tension increased about 20 - 25% and caps ignite reliably now and I believe the hammer holds itself down upon firing. That along with using SlixShot nipples has made a huge difference.

thanks for the sharing *LIKED* another fine day at the range.

The fluted cylinder colt 1860 army is the most attractive hand gun ever made. I own a brace of them. Great video. Thanks

That was interesting research, indeed!

Very Interesting. Makes perfect sense now. Thanks Mark.

Thank you so much for your interesting channel, I always watch it with interest ........ Udvchi to you!

I just bumped into your channel by accident, but that slow motion observation is intriguing. I've got a brace of .36 Navy revolvers that very rarely have cap jam issues if I use Triple 7, but with real 3F black powder, they occur pretty frequently. It's been a mystery for a long time and maybe has several factors at play all at one time. You got a new sub!

@erasgonehistoricalmolds2400

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks Kurt!

Wholly agree .

I think you are on to something here Mark, I have just measured the spring weight on a number of original and repro Colt pistols, and I find that my Uberti 1860 has a hammer draw weight of 5 lbs, when I measure an original 1860 that has a draw weight of just over 10 lbs, my Walkers a Colt signature and a Uberti, (both made by Uberti) have 10 lbs draw weight, the Walkers no not shed their caps, so the extra hammer pressure could be the answer, especially as most people are now fitting aftermarket lighter springs, an easy job to make up some new heavier main springs. I also see that the original nipples have a cone shape with the hammer end wider, but that could be due to wear, it would be quite difficult to machine these with a tapered bore.

Hello, were the nipples replacements and did you use #10 or #11 caps? Thanks for your videos!

I have a Pietta 1861 that had a very heavy mainspring no problems with cap jams. I replaced it with a lighter spring, now I have cap jams. Anyone know where heavier springs are available?

Cap rake