Pietta 1873

[Murgatroy]

So, I bought a Pietta 1873 in .357 Magnum this afternoon as my Christmas gift. My wife says I have to wrap it up and have it under the tree by Christmas. I however took it to the range this afternoon after purchase. After the first box of Remington UMC .38SPC I started having failure to fire 5/6 rounds on the second box. I am not sure it this is ammo or gun. I saved the brass from all rounds, and I can't tell a difference in the primer strikes from the good to the not good rounds. The pin is extending into the chamber area maybe 1/16 of an inch.

 

I guess I will take my only other .38SPC that I know is good, a RIA M206, and try to fire off the rest of the box of Remington UMC, and try a known good box of Winchester .38SPC in the Pietta and see how that goes.

 

Anyone have an experience with these?

 

It is a range gun for fun, but that doesn't mean I don't want it to be 100% functional and reliable.

 

Edited November 25, 2018 by Murgatroy

[xsubsailor]

 I gave up on Remington ammo long ago.  I had the same experience with .22, 38, 357  and 380. I could load the round back in the chamber and it would fire the second time but I wouldn't  want to trust my life on it.  I would try a different brand of ammo or just gift me the '73 

[Raoul]

3 hours ago, xsubsailor said:

 I gave up on Remington ammo long ago.  I had the same experience with .22, 38, 357  and 380. I could load the round back in the chamber and it would fire the second time but I wouldn't  want to trust my life on it.  I would try a different brand of ammo or just gift me the '73 

I've had the same negative experience with Federal.

[Murgatroy]

This is my first big bore SAA. I learned on a Single Six, and have a brace of Rough Riders. For $350 I couldn't pass it up as it is something I have always wanted. My SAA clones are all range toys, but man, they bring such a smile to my face.

 

I am hoping it is the ammo to be honest.

 

 

[xtriggerman]

OK, this what you need to know. First of all, how is the cylinder end shake? That is the movement of the cylinders forward and back "with" unfired cartridges in the cylinders. It really should not make a difference between loaded or empty since the head space should not effect it "if " the head space is good. But lets start out with end shake first. The cylinders should have very little forward and back movement to the tune of .003 0r  .004 MAX. You can gauge it at the barrel cylinder gap with feeler gauges. If you have more than that, you start leaning on the head space to be more perfectly in step. It all boils down to how much cartridge movement do you have from the recoil face of the frame until the cartridge has a dead stop in forward movement from the firing pin forcing it forward.  All ready, you are in deficit with only 1/16th FP protrusion. There should be 3/32 minimum, not 1/16th. So any extra forward "slop" of the cartridge will yield light hits. And the case for that increases as you get to the last cartridges in the cylinder simply because the fired cartridges will take up more and more of the cylinder end shake by there expansion holding the cylinder more & more forward in the frame, making the FP protrusion more critical. The cheapest way to make it shoot anything is to get improved FP protrusion and secondly a stronger hammer strike if better pin protrusion doesn't fix the issue all together.  After that, it would be a cylinder end shake issue and or head space problem. Either of which is definitely a send it back problem. Pietta has a relatively good CS. So don't be afraid to send it back if you don't have a decent gun smith to tweek it right for little pocket change.  

[xsubsailor]

Google this "pietta 1873 ftf problems" and you'll see you're not the only one having this problem.

[xtriggerman]

 Yeah a quick search as suggested brought this up

"Just an update. I emailed pietta and they responded very quickly. A gunsmith from EMF called and explained a short transfer bar from a .22 had been factory installed by mistake. He also stated it had happened to a few. They were happy to take care of it. Thanks to everyone for the replies. "

  Ha, Ha.... a improper transfer bar will certainly disrupt proper FP protrusion! QC didn't catch that......

[gregintenn]

4 hours ago, xtriggerman said:

 Yeah a quick search as suggested brought this up

"Just an update. I emailed pietta and they responded very quickly. A gunsmith from EMF called and explained a short transfer bar from a .22 had been factory installed by mistake. He also stated it had happened to a few. They were happy to take care of it. Thanks to everyone for the replies. "

  Ha, Ha.... a improper transfer bar will certainly disrupt proper FP protrusion! QC didn't catch that......

An 1873 Colt copy with a transfer bar? Blasphemy!

[Murgatroy]

I finally got around to looking at my spent brass, there is a definite difference between the spend rounds, and the rounds that failed to fire. It is definitely a light strike issue. As this was bought for my Christmas gift, I will wrap it up, put it under the tree, then send if off for warranty work at the first of the year. This will be the first gun I have ever had to send off for warranty work, so I am clueless to the process. I read the warranty, it told me who to contact and what to do, but I am still unsure about the whole process and timeline. Anyone with experience in this? With Pietta?