1851 London Navy

Quite a few years ago Colt offered its second generation cap and ball revolvers with a serial number range supposedly continuing from where they left off a century or so before. I acquired several of them and found them to be mighty fine guns. One which I shoot often is the I’ve made a few modifications to it that make it a more enjoyable gun but I’ve always had a problem with it. Its trigger guard is the square-back version (second version of the original Navies) which is just too small for me.

It’s always been tight on my trigger finger. There’s another version of the gun that has always appealed more to me and that’s the London-London 1851 Navy. These were made entirely in England and feature a large trigger guard on an "iron" frame instead of silver-plated brass, as on my 2nd Gen. Colt. I looked for an original for along time but never found the one I wanted.

Unfortunately, prices for the good old original ones from the Civil War era have gone higher than I’d like to pay for a gun I want to shoot, so I was compelled to do something entirely sensible: I bought a Uberti London Navy from Cimarron Arms. This gave me a brand-new gun that looked pretty much exactly like it ought to look. My finger fits the trigger guard nicely and my bank account has not been sucked dry.

With along, hard look in Nathan Swayze’s ‘51 Colt Navies, the bible on the original 1851 Navy Colts, I see that Uberti did an extremely good job of copying the London-made Navy, with most of the details done exactly right. Uberti, most likely under the direction of the good folks at Cimarron, Top: "Ringer" is a good word to describe Uberti/Cimarron’s London Navy.

This .36 caliber cap and ball sixgun exactly matches in most details the original London-made "London" Colt Navies, including the all-steel grip straps… except this one is brand new. It needed some coaxing for easier and more-fun shooting.pots.

The author worked some simple magic on it to make it even better. correctly created the thick lug at the back of the barrel where it attaches to the frame; the correct later-type latch for the loading lever; the correct V-shaped loading notch on the right-rear side of the barrel lug; and matched quite a few other details. Of course Uberti could not duplicate the Colt markings, but the Uberti does have "LONDON" on the top of the barrel.

Happily all the Uberti manufacturing nomenclature is hidden on the bottom of the barrel under the loading lever. So I have the Cimarron/Uberti in hand and it’s about as slick and

smooth as my 2nd Gen. Colt Navy, which is saying something because that Colt Navy feels as smooth as a Swiss watch in all its operations. Uberti builds some mighty fine guns and has done so for along time. So with a slick gun right out of the box, I knew I would not have to tinker with the action. The trigger is extremely good, a clean break at just under a pound. The timing is excellent, the gun locks up securely, and it seemed to be all ready to go. But I don’t shoot black powder in untreated guns.

Having learned the hard way over many years, I go to the trouble of anointing the guts and garters of all my blackpowder guns with Ox-Yoke’s amazing yellow product called Wonder Lube 1000 Plus. You can get it from RMC & Ox-Yoke Rmc Ox Yoke. com), Track of the Wolf, Inc. Below center: The more-common nipple wrench is a T-handle tool. Be sure it fits your gun because the wrenches come in different sizes. This one has a knurled brass nut on the top that features a stiff wire to poke through the nipples.

This one is an antique I’ve had for about 50 years. The long leg ends in a screwdriver that fits the rest of the gun. Track Of The Wolf. com) and other places. I suggest getting some because I have found nothing like it. Ditto the lubricated Wonder Wads that go over the powder in the chambers, though one can make something similar at home. I have used Wonder Lube many years now on all my black powder guns and there’s not a trace of rust on any of them. I’m most certainly not a stickler for obsessive maintenance.

Heck, I’ve put black-powder-fired guns away for years after a basic simple cleaning and have encountered exactly no problems, Far Then take off the cylinder from the main pin.

I recommend replacing the originals with non-rusting ones. There are several versions on the market. Above center: Loosen the upper two screws first and the lower one will be easier to remove. The wood was a single piece of walnut carefully inletted. Kudos to Uberti for that. This was easily corrected with the gentle poke of a center punch where the edge of the dovetail meets the latch. no rust, nothing. I live in an area where lots of humidity might be all of 60 percent, but it’s still significant.

Ox-Yoke products work well and they vastly simplify the cleaning procedure. So before I shot the Uberti London Navy I prepared it and what follows is exactly how I did it. Besides anointing the guts The ram is loose enough that oil can easily be washed out and Wonder Lube 100 Plus can flow into it. This is how it’s seated within the frame. of the gun with goo, there are some simple tricks that make for easier and more fun shooting, easier loading, and something you can do to get the gun to shoot where it looks.

Take It Apart The first task is to remove all the oil inside and out with hot soapy water and that means complete disassembly. Full disassembly might seem like a pain, but with Wonder Lube in place you’ll have to do a complete tear down only about once a year instead of every time you shoot the gun. Taking the old guns apart is pretty simple. First give the wedge a mighty blow with a suitable non-marring tool. I’ve used my Brownells screwdriver handle, a block of wood, and even a made-for-the-task brass tool.

The latter, or tool made from an old toothbrush handle, is handy if the wedge doesn’t fly out the far side of the frame. With the wedge out to its limit put the gun on half-cock and use the loading lever against the cylinder, between chambers, to shove the barrel off its pin. Pull off the cylinder and you have the three basic pieces of these early guns, barrel, cylinder, and frame. Each must be taken apart fully. Barrel: Undo the wedge screw and remove the wedge.

Take out the rammer’s axle but not the screw between the rammer and lever. It’s generally locked in securely. Cylinder: If you don’t already have a suitable nipple wrench you’ll need to get one and keep it close to your gun. I have two types, one a modern T-handle wrench and the

You’re almost done. There are a lot of parts to the single action sixgun but they’re straightforward and relatively simple. other an ancient L-shaped device with the wrench on one leg and a screwdriver on the other. Make sure the T-handle device fits your cylinder. While it’s not mandatory to replace the nipples with stainless or other non-corroding ones, it’s a Mighty Good Idea. On the subject of nipples, a good tool to help clean them after a shooting session is a pipe cleaner.

Frame: Loosen the rear screws that hold the rear grip strap to the back of the frame, then remove the single screw on the bottom. The top two screws often create some tension Cold bluing hid the bare steel. on the bottom one. If the top two are loose the bottom screw comes out easily. Remove the wood and the back strap. A pleasant surprise was finding Uberti’s wood grip to be a true one-piece stock, not the common two chunks of wood glued together with a spacer. Nice.

Next, take off the long hammer spring by removing its screw. Mine was Loctited, which I didn’t know, so I used force. Heat would have helped. Now take off the trigger guard (three screws, the two rears being longer) and then remove the two-fin- Boil all the parts in soapy water and dunk ‘em into clean, very hot water so they’ll dry quickly. When they’re dry and still warm, anoint them all, inside and out, with Wonder Lube 1000 Plus. Now it’s time to go to work.

Fix It Up The first thing to do is remove all the little burrs at the edges of the various parts with a file or threecornered scraper. This includes the sides of the hammer, the razor-sharp cutting edge of the loading vee on the right-rear end of the barrel lug and anywhere else you find nasty edges. The edge of the loading-vee notch on my gun was sharp enough to cut paper and it’d do your fingers no good. By the way, the London Navies do not have the deep gouge commonly seen on the later U.

S.made Navies at that point. Uberti got it just right. gered spring. Then, in order, take out the trigger, the bolt, and the hammer. The hammer must be pulled downward to free the hand and its spring from the recess. The hand lifts off the hammer once it’s out. Be careful of that small leaf spring. One of the nastiest group of sharp edges is at the front end of the wedge. Gently bevel the entire leading edge of the wedge so it can be driven more easily back into place.

More sharp edges are commonly found on the top edge of the frame just under the cylinder, particularly between the end of the cylinder and the back of the barrel where your fingers will be during loading. The

A bit of work with the Dremel gave a smooth, polished inner surface. main lump of the loading lever on my gun had sharp "flanges" on its edges that had to go. You can do as much or as little of this deburring as you want, inside and outside the gun. If you don’t do any of it, your gun will eventually cut you long before the razor-sharp edges wear away. By the way, it is not necessary to grind off these sharp edges. The so-called case hardening is not very hard on this Uberti.

The casehardened parts cut easily with a file. The colors on there are mostly decoration or window-dressing, though in fairness the parts are not dead soft and the case colors look really right. Gone are the days when they looked like blue paint. They ought to be file-hard, like they are on my 2nd Generation Colt Navy, but they’re not. Another area I like to redo is the checkering on top of the hammer.

I used a small square file with sharp corners to point-up the existing cuts there, which made for a more secure grip. Some 44-40 cold blue from Brownells on all the exposed edg- Some gentle work with a file fixed that. I left the tiny bare edges white. It is pulled gently into the forcing cone and cleans up any roughness there. Be careful you don’t go too deep as it works efficiently. es—or not, as you personally see fit—fixes the white-metal problems and it’ll wear soon enough to look just right.

Be sure the fronts of the chambers have a slight chamfer. This permits the ball to be more or less swaged instead of cut during the seating process. Uberti did a good job on my gun. I had to cut chamfers on my Colt’s chambers. Again I recommend stainless nipples. There are several versions today but I have no experience with any of ‘em. A few decades ago I used Uncle Mike’s on my Colt but they are no longer available. Do you want to remove the finish on the grips and rub ‘em with linseed?

Now’s the time to do that, but be careful to maintain the perfect edges there and the fine fit to the metal. I’d suggest that if you have little to no experience in stock refinishing you leave ‘em alone. I did one more thing to my gun, which I heartily recommend. Get one of Brownells Revolver Chamfering Tool Kits and recut the forcing cone and polish the recut area. Go lightly! This eliminates all roughness and thus all leading in that area. Should you fire-lap the bore? I don’t think it’s necessary.

Shooting and careful maintenance will generally get you a mighty slick barrel. The next thing to do is put it all together and go out and shoot it. I use a full charge of FFFg Goex (nearly 24 grains) with a Wonder Wad over the powder, then swaged 0.375-inch lead balls. What you’re doing is twofold. You’re working the Wonder Lube into the pores of the barrel and also checking the point of impact. My gun shot about three inches high at 15 yards and on the money for windage.

You can cut the top edge of the hammer down easily to lower the impact point and can then cut a larger vee into

the hammer to make a better, more easily seen set of sights. Remember I told you the case hardening is not that hard? I used a coarse sanding wheel on my Dremel to lower the top edge of the hammer, maintaining the same angles, and then cut the vee-notch deeper and wider with a triangular file. It went easily. Of course one tests the impact point as I used a file and some 44/40 Cold Blue. one goes along. I settled for one inch high at 15 yards. Now comes the fun part: Cleanup.

I use Ox-Yoke Originals Liquid Wonder Competition Bore Cleaner. All the Ox-Yoke products have been kind to my hands, unlike the nasty stuff required for smokeless powder. Track’s Best Black Powder Bore Cleaning Solvent seems to be similar, though I have not tried it. CVA’s Barrel Blaster is another possible watery juice, as is Birchwood Casey’s No. 77 Muzzle Magic Cleaner, but I have no experience with these.

The Brownells tool did a superb job of smoothing it up, which eliminates leading there and helps accuracy and cleanup. Some of them may not interact well with Wonder Lube. Don’t use any oil-based cleaners, and that means any products designed for smokeless powder, such as Hoppe’s No. 9, nor any common gun oil. These will destroy all the hard work you did to get Wonder Lube 1000 Plus onto and into your gun.

After your shooting session a couple wet patches and a dry one will generally be all the cleaning you need to do on barrel and chambers and then shove a patch with Wonder Lube on it into each chamber and through the cylinder-pin hole and the bore. Wipe down the rest of the gun in a similar manner. You can even wipe down the grips with Wonder Lube. That’s it. No boiling water, no huge mess.

There’s no major disassembly needed, except you might want to do that once a year, or maybe every two years, depending on how much you shoot. Best of all, there’s no need to clean after every few shots. I made a test with my 2nd Gen. Colt Navy awhile back and shot 42 shots in succession with zero cleaning along the way. The gun was just as easy to load, cock, and shoot, and just as accurate at the end of the test as it was at the beginning.

And that, fellow shooter, is why I go to all this trouble with each and all of my cap and ball sixguns. One final suggestion: Don’t fill in the notch in the hammer. It is there because it permits the safe loading of all six chambers. Rest the hammer between chambers with one of the cylinder’s pins locked into the hammer notch. Colonel Colt knew more about that than some of today’s You Tube "gunsmiths." AG