The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

I've just bought one of these five shot pea shooters. Bought it in "seldom used, looks like new condition" from a fairly well known dealer.
I was going to buy brand spanking but this one came up at an agreeable price and did look like it hasn't been used much since new.

BUT !!!

When capped with CCI No.11s it regularly will go three spins (fifteen opportunities) without going bang. Hammer looks good. Spring feels proportionally powerful enough to do the job. Nipples seem in good shape. I've stripped it and can't see anything in the guts that would cause a weak strike. Caps are mushrooming on the tops - so they are being struck pretty decently.

Eventually, after enough goes one or two will go off. But before leaving the range today I had to remove the nipples and drive out the rest of the charges with a punch and brass hammer.

Is this a common issue? My plan is to try replacing the main spring and nipples to see if that fixes it. Having said that I've seen plenty of videos on YouTube saying they are poorly finished at the factory and require a bit of fettling to get them smooth and reliable.

Anyone else had this problem with this model?

I don't think the 1849 is anymore poorly finished than other Uberti guns, which I've found over the years to be good. But what I have found buying second hand M/L revolvers is that they may not have been fired a lot, but they've been dry fired loads!

This means that the nipples have taken a battering and become either "shortened" by effectively being crushed, or the outside edge of the nipple mouth becomes a little rounded and so the cap doesn't have that sharp edge to use as an anvil and all that happened is that the cap ends up being crushed and eventually may fold its base on itself and use the side wall of the cap as the anvil and go off! If you see what I mean?

And just check that the mainspring hasn't been shimmed where it screws into the grip frame. Sometimes this is done to "improve" the trigger pull...

If a Colt--and most others--designed revolver is made and set up properly, then the hammer fall should stop at the exact point where it touches the nipples. This means that the cap will receive an adequate impact but, if the revolver is dry fired, then the nipples will not be crushed. Uberti is a quality manufacture and the set up will have been correct when the gun left the factory, but things happen in use----.
Check wether the hammer fall actually reaches the nipples. If not, new nipples or, possibly, copper washers under the nipples.
Fred

Thanks, chaps.

I found that I have a set of nipples that came with a kit if replacement screws. I put one of the suspects alongside a new one had a good look with a magnifying glass. Looked identical in length but the suspect nipple has a rounder outside profile to the cap-side opening. I've swapped them all out. Stripped the gun completely. Everything looked standard. I found a number of sharp edges and areas that dragged which I cleaned up, guided by Mike Beliveau's excellent vids:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-7rodPgOC0&t=316s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHY8sAdg5BU

I found the side of the hammer was catching a burr and had a slight distortion on the edge. Polished it up using grades of wet n dry on a glass tile (to keep things square).

All back together now and ready for testing on the range. I could test to see if the caps will now go off at home but that might cause a few raised eyebrows from the neighbours. Fingers crossed this has done the trick.

Dark Skies wrote: I could test to see if the caps will now go off at home but that might cause a few raised eyebrows from the neighbours. Fingers crossed this has done the trick.

You could test it in the kitchen and you wouldn't hear the caps in the garden.... they're not loud.

Sim G wrote:

Dark Skies wrote: I could test to see if the caps will now go off at home but that might cause a few raised eyebrows from the neighbours. Fingers crossed this has done the trick.

You could test it in the kitchen and you wouldn't hear the caps in the garden.... they're not loud.

Whilst working late at night I came to the same conclusion and capped them all.
My Pietta Remington .44 capping off sounds like an even more efficient 'Hollywood silencer" "phut phut".
Barely audible.

"The most I should worry about is the potential for sparks. I know! I'll point it at the toilet pan. Sorted!"

The bang was actually really loud! Louder than the toy cap guns of old. I guess that tiny short barrelled gun wasn't meaty enough to contain and dampen what should have been a tiny 'phut'. And, of course, amplified by the echoing bathroom.

I scared myself silly by the unexpected 'real gun going off in the wee small hours' loudness of it all. I hurriedly de-capped, chucked it back in the gun cabinet, sprayed bog freshener everywhere, and practised my 'innocent look' for the inevitable cops kick my door in whilst helicopter circles overhead with search light scenario.

Note to self ... "that was bloody stupid, berk." :)

Fortunately nothing came of my nocturnal faux pas because my innocent look isn't even this good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=jEbl-umsFOM